70 years of Dien Bien Phu victory: General Vo Nguyen Giap's shocking decision

With strategic decisions on the battlefield, the right decision will help win with little sacrifice; the wrong decision will become a disaster. The decision of General, Commander-in-Chief Vo Nguyen Giap in the Dien Bien Phu campaign further proves this.

"If we fight according to the old plan, we will fail."

On the morning of January 26, 1954, at the campaign headquarters in the middle of Muong Phang forest, the officers assisting General and Commander-in-Chief Vo Nguyen Giap met him studying the map with a bunch of mugwort wrapped around his head. He explained: "I have been thinking a lot for the past eleven days, I couldn't sleep last night. This afternoon the battle will begin, but our army has not yet fully grasped the factors that will ensure victory...".

Đại tướng Võ Nguyên Giáp quan sát trận địa — *General Vo Nguyen Giap observes the battlefield*

The General invited advisor Vi Quoc Thanh to an urgent meeting and that morning, Mr. Vi Quoc Thanh heard an important decision of "General Vo": "In my opinion, if we fight according to the old plan, we will fail... I realized that we must withdraw the units from the battlefield to study another way of fighting even though the troops had questions. We must change from the plan of "fighting fast, winning fast" to "fighting steadily, advancing steadily". That was at 11:00 a.m. on January 26, 1954, just a few hours before our troops opened fire according to the old battle plan. Based on all the information obtained from the enemy and our actual situation, the General made an important decision that shocked both the Campaign Command and the Chinese advisory group: Pull the artillery out, withdraw the troops to the assembly position, and prepare again according to the motto of "fighting steadily, advancing steadily". Later, the General said that this was the most difficult decision in his military career. Many opinions in the Party Committee meeting of the Front more than half an hour later still leaned towards the determination to fight quickly win quickly. But the Commander-in-Chief's argument based on the highest principle of "fight firmly, advance firmly" convinced the other generals to agree with the new plan.

Closely follow the battlefield reality

On the afternoon of January 12, 1954, the plan of "quick attack, quick victory" was proposed at the Party Committee Conference of the Front held in Tham Pua Cave. The battle was expected to begin on January 20 and last for two days and three nights. However, news reported to the Command Headquarters showed that the French were urgently increasing their forces and building more solid fortifications, especially at the high points east of the stronghold.

Bộ đội kéo pháo vào trận địa — *Soldiers pull artillery into position*

The General recalled: "I learned that in Muong Thanh, the enemy had more tanks and over forty 105mm and 155mm artillery pieces. In many strongholds, the enemy had built solid fortifications. I paid special attention to the system of secondary fortifications, the barbed wire fences and minefields that the enemy was constantly expanding every day, in some places it was more than 100m wide, even 200m wide. On January 24, 1954, Department 2 reported that during the day the enemy had just reinforced Dien Bien Phu with one more battalion, bringing the force to 10 battalions (in fact, at that time the enemy had 12 battalions). The western strongholds, where the main spearhead of the 308th Division would break through, although not as strong as some high points, were located on open fields, the troops had no terrain to hide, the enemy could easily use tanks, artillery, aircraft and counterattack forces to deal with them." Faced with important changes in the situation, General Vo Nguyen Giap made his historic decision: "Now decide to postpone the attack. Order the troops on the entire line to retreat to the assembly point and pull out the artillery. Political work ensures strict compliance with the order to retreat as a combat order. Logistics switches to preparing according to the new motto". With the new plan of "fighting firmly, advancing firmly", with the new tactic of encircling and attacking step by step, destroying each part of the enemy, gradually advancing from the periphery to the center to concentrate troops and firepower to create overwhelming strength, our troops won each battle decisively. The "Dien Bien Phu porcupine" was locked in a cage and had its sharp and poisonous quills gradually plucked out. One by one, each stronghold was destroyed. The remaining strongholds were under an increasingly tight siege. And the final tragic end for the French army in Dien Bien Phu came at 5:40 p.m. on May 7, 1954.

"What makes Dien Bien Phu famous is the way of fighting"

The highlight of General Vo Nguyen Giap's important decisions was his keen strategic vision, always firmly holding on to strategic goals but not being dogmatic, not thinking along "beaten paths" but always thinking independently and constantly being creative. The General remembered and followed President Ho Chi Minh 's advice on January 5, 1954, when he saw him off to command the Tran Dinh campaign: "This battle is very important, we must fight to win. Only fight if we are sure of victory, and not if we are not sure of victory."

Bộ đội xung phong cắm cờ ở đồi C1 — *Volunteer soldiers planted flags on hill C1*

Later, the General recounted his concerns before deciding to attack the Dien Bien Phu stronghold group according to the new plan: "I understood why everyone chose the quick attack plan? The difficult supply problem was just one reason. We were not completely without a way to overcome this difficulty. The main reason was that the preparation time was prolonged, the enemy would increase their troops, the stronghold group would become stronger, and we would lose the opportunity to destroy the enemy. Many people thought that the first appearance of howitzers and anti-aircraft guns would make the enemy dizzy. But we only had a few thousand bullets?". The General analyzed: "In particular, everyone believed in the spirit of the troops when they set out, believed in their spiritual strength. But spiritual strength also has its limits. It is not just with high spiritual strength that we can always defeat the enemy! We also cannot win at any cost, because we have to preserve our capital for the long-term fight". It was the important decision of General, Commander-in-Chief Vo Nguyen Giap to change the way of fighting at the last minute that decided the fate of the Dien Bien Phu stronghold. General Le Trong Tan later commented: "Without the above change, the resistance war might have been delayed by 10 years". Military historian Mac Donald in his work named Giap, an assessment (1992) wrote: "What made Dien Bien Phu famous was the way of fighting, the development of the war as well as the outcome and consequences it led to... All of these things made Dien Bien Phu become the decisive battle of the era and put the name of Vo Nguyen Giap in history books".

Thanhnien.vn