Word: giap
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...stronghold, isolated between the Red River delta and Laos, was even more a psychological than a military pivot of the war. The French seized the saucer last November, built it into a bastion with a tireless airlift and talked of sucking the forces of wily Communist General Vo Nguyen Giap into an attack that they felt might hurt him sorely. For Giap, on the other hand, Dienbienphu became a challenge; to reduce the fortress could well deal a deadly blow to France's resolve to fight on in Indo-China...
After last fortnight's quick thrust by the Communists east from the Vietnamese coast to the Mekong River, General Henri Navarre, the French commander in Indo-China, guessed that the Reds might turn south and attack Savannakhet and Seno. But last week Communist General Vo Nguyen Giap, who directed the Communist thrust to the Mekong, was biding his time. Meanwhile, various spokesmen pointed out that the military value of the enemy operation was almost nil. Secretary Dulles pooh-poohed it in Washington; so did the Ministry of the Associated States in Paris. The fact indeed was that headlines...
...enemy side, the pieces added up roughly to this: the Communist forces of goat-bearded Ho Chi Minh. far too large and well organized to be called guerrillas, total about 300,000 men. They are arranged in six regular divisions, under able, boyish-looking General Vo Nguyen Giap. The U.S.S.R. is supplying them with arms, moved by Red China via the railway from Nanning, which runs south into the huge Viet Minh concentration in northern Viet Nam, crucial sector of the war. The Reds are well supplied with artillery, mortars and recoilless cannon, as well as machine guns and automatic...
...fine opportunity, and the French made the most of it. Red General Vo Nguyen Giap had become overconfident, counting on French reluctance to leave the safety of their forts. He reckoned without France's offensive-minded new commander in Indo-China, General Henri Eugene Navarre. The attack at Langson cost the Reds two months' supplies, and gave notice that from now on Giap would have to think of his supply line before rampaging around the countryside...
Luang Prabang would be defended, the French promised: "It is a matter of prestige." From Hanoi, the French began airlifting soldiers and equipment to Luang Prabang. Inside the Hanoi delta, Giap launched a surprise attack on Kien Airfield, clearly intending to delay air reinforcements to Laos. The Red guerrillas swarmed over the airfield, the finest in Indo-China and specially designed for jet aircraft, and dispersed the guard. They killed 20 Frenchmen, captured and executed Provincial Chief Trinh Nhu Tiep, burned the barracks, set off 3,000 tons of ammunition. A French counterattack killed 212 Viet Minh, captured...