Word: mm
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...grass. Commanding General Navarre then built an entrenched camp 175 miles inside enemy territory. He dared the enemy to come and get him and itched for a set-piece battle instead of Indo-China's usual, fruitless chases through the jungle. Navarre flew in light tanks and 155-mm. artillery; his officers installed their mess silver, their embroidered white tablecloths and their wine cellars, and (though a few high-placed officers were dubious from the beginning) they echoed Navarre's confidence. "They will have to take more casualties than we," said one French commander. "And in any case...
Both weapons will be used to supplement the Army's 280-mm. atomic cannon (range: 20 miles) and the Air Force's radio-controlled Matador jets already stationed in Germany...
LEICA, which has been making the same basic 35-mm. camera since 1924, has just brought out a radical new model to meet increasing competition. Called the "M," the new camera has interchangeable bayonet lenses (instead of the usual screw-mounted type), a detachable automatic light meter, and a combination viewer and range finder that adjusts automatically for all lenses. Retail price...
DDay: Overcast and grey. At 1600, Giap orders gunfire against the five remaining French strongpoints in the 12-by-4-mile valley. At 1630, black-garbed Communist infantry come at a run for the southern strongpoint. It is only a feint. Half an hour later 105-mm. fire hits the northeast and southeast strongpoints, and Communist infantry moves into trenches near the French barbed wire...
Problem No. 3 was Giap's buildup. His 37-mm. antiaircraft guns were effectively harassing the French supply airlift to Dienbienphu, and his guerrillas were raiding French supply routes and depots near Hanoi. But Giap was able to move reinforcements and ammunition to his 40,000-man striking force in 200 new Molotov trucks down two open roads from Red China. The French could do almost nothing to stop him: they needed their very few combat planes for Dienbienphu itself...