Where the French war ended

Asia » Vietnam » Northwest » Dien Bien » Dien Bien Phu
June 30th 2009

Published: June 30th 2009

Điện Biên Phủ is a remote city inside the Mường Thanh valley in the north west of Vietnam, only 36.5km from the Lao border. The ethnic minority people living in this area are the Thai and H'mong. The city is famous for the site of the battle, where the French troops were defeated by Việt Minh (the League for the Independence of Vietnam - Việt Nam độc lập đồng minh hội) force... Read Full Entry

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Hanoi_girl

theRedRiver

I am a Hanoi_girl who loves to travel. When working for a Japanese construction company in Hanoi, I had the chance to travel to 28 countries and to all the 63 provinces in Vietnam, including 25 trips to Huế city. Egypt, Mongolia and Italy are my love, and other favorite countries are Australia, France, New Zealand, Nepal, Fiji, Japan, India, Indonesia, Belgium, Netherlands, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, China (8 trips, 15 cities), South Korea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Cambodia (3 trips), Brunei Darussalam, the United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Laos (3 trips), Malaysia (4 trips), Singap... full info

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The French headquarters

The steel roof is still in good condition although 55 years were over.

Old Mường Thanh bridge

This bridge across Nậm Rốm river leads to the major sites of the French headquarters.

Center of Điện Biên city

This is the center of the city, where you can see D1 hill with over 300 steps to the Statue of Victory on the top of the hill. (Trung tâm TP với Tượng đài Chiến thắng trên đồi D1)

Vietnamese weapon at the museum

At the center of the city

The board shows distance from the city to the Lao border on the right side is only 36.5km.

At the museum

A cart used during the war to carry food for Vietnamese soldiers.

Next to the French headquarters

The French headquarters

The entrance gate to the former French headquarters of Colonel De Castries after walking down stairs.

The French headquarters

Inside the bunker, the steel material is original while sandy bags were replaced with concrete.

The French headquarters

View from trenches.

The most famous site

This is the former bunker headquarters of French Colonel De Castries in the center of Mường Thanh valley.

Inside the French headquarters

There are 4 rooms inside the bunker. Colonel De Castries used to live and work here.

Inside the French headquarters

A map showing major positions on the battlefield.

The French headquarters

An escape inside the bunker but now it's closed.

The French headquarters

At one of the 4 rooms inside the bunker.

Picture on the wall outside the cemetery

The Vietnamese leaders are discussing, while the soldiers are carrying artillery pieces to the battlefield.

At the cemetery

Graves of the two famous Vietnamese heroes at the cemetery.

At the cemetery

At the entrance, there are large boards recording names of the martyrs.

View of the cemetery

There are more than 600 graves of Vietnamese martyrs at the cemetery and most of them are anonymous.

At the cemetery

There are always flowers at the memorial house.

French major weapons

At the museum there are two separate areas for Vietnamese and French weapons.

30th June 2009

Batatawada
non-member comment

HAPPY Birthday....sorry a bit late....
HAPPY Birthday....sorry a bit late....

1st July 2009

Kob
non-member comment

The French War Ended
Dear Hong Ha Thanks for all of your phtos, with which I visually noticed how Vietnamese fighted with French army. I wonder why Majority of Vietmamese martyrs at the cementery are anoymous, or whether those martyrs are unidetified civilians. It's much regrettable that the war expanded to the proxy war between capitalist countries and communist countries in the field of Vietnam, and ended up when N.Vietnam entered Saigon in April 30 1975, leaving behind the great number of irreparable victim. Regards Kob

2nd July 2009

larry dinh
non-member comment

Happy Birthday!!!
Better late than never. Happy Birthday! I have heard of the battle in Dien Bien Phu but never pictured what the place looks like until I read your entry. Thank you for sharing! Where is your next destination?

10th July 2009

Marcus Schuetz
non-member comment

Very interesting ...
... entry. Hope you are fine and enjoyed your birthday trip. Greetings, Marcus

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Where the French war ended

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