Word: ghq
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...never really given the Vietnamese army a chance. The French had blocked formation of the Vietnamese army until 1951-five years after the war began; they had denied the Vietnamese a sizable share of modern U.S. equipment and financial aid; they had played down Vietnamese exploits in the GHQ communiqués. The French had also deliberately hamstrung the young army by training only companies and battalions at a time, by scattering these units piecemeal across Indo-China under French command and by holding back the training of Vietnamese officers. (There are today only 7,500 trained Vietnamese officers, when...
...sprang an oil leak and could not be repaired until morning. Promptly at dawn the Communists knocked the C-47 °ut of the war, and Nurse de Galard was marooned with the garrison. "The boys have invited me to stay for the siege," she radioed her mother via GHQ...
...with silk sheets, made from parachutes by one of General de Castries' orderlies, but more often she would sleep on a cot beside the wounded. Often, during the bitter days, she would take the last messages of the dying. "I am glad I am trapped," she once told GHQ. "I am proud to be here." Only once did she request a favor: she wanted new underwear, cosmetics and some clean blouses. But her package was dropped, like so much of Dienbienphu's supply, behind the Communist lines...
...week of freedom, De Castries presented her with the Legion of Honor, kissing her on both cheeks. "The entire garrison wishes it could do the same," said the general. On May 4 he presented her with the Military Cross with palms "for courage under fire." Privately, De Castries told GHQ: "It is tragic that she must live here in this manner. She never stops working until she falls on her feet." As the Communists came in for their final assault, she sent her own final message to Hanoi: "Tell my mother not to worry. All goes well...
Discovery at GHQ. At week's end a second French delegation flew to Dienbienphu. But around this time, it finally dawned upon the French commanders that they had been outwitted: the Communists were releasing no more than a pathetic handful of wounded per day, while their advance guards were driving down roads the French had agreed not to bomb (see below}. The French were risking defeat in the next battle to save a few gallant survivors of the last. So GHQ decided, "for technical reasons," to cancel the entire evacuation agreement, and to start bombing Route Coloniale...