FRENCH INVOLVEMENT IN VIETNAM & DIEN BIEN PHU 72662
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This 1962 episode of the TV show "The 20th Century" presents the story of the French involvement in Indochina and the devastating collapse at Dien Bien Phu.
The program starts with a short history of the region, beginning with the French struggle to control its colonies in Indochina - Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos following WWII. Despite financial assistance from the United States, nationalist uprisings against French colonial rule began to take their toll. On May 7, 1954, the French-held garrison at Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam fell after a four month siege led by Vietnamese nationalist Ho Chi Minh. After the fall of Dien Bien Phu, the French pulled out of the region. Concerned about regional instability, the United States became increasingly committed to countering communist nationalists in Indochina. The United States would not pull out of Vietnam for another twenty years.
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist-nationalist revolutionaries. It was, from the French view before the event, a set piece battle to draw out the Vietnamese and destroy them with superior firepower. The battle occurred between March and May 1954 and culminated in a comprehensive French defeat that influenced negotiations over the future of Indochina at Geneva.
As a result of blunders in French decision-making, the French began an operation to insert then support the soldiers at Dien Bien Phu, deep in the hills of northwestern Vietnam. Its purpose was to cut off Viet Minh supply lines into the neighboring Kingdom of Laos, a French ally, and tactically draw the Viet Minh into a major confrontation that would cripple them. The Viet Minh, however, under General Vo Nguyen Giap, surrounded and besieged the French, who knew of the weapons but were unaware of the vast amounts of the Viet Minh's heavy artillery being brought in (including anti-aircraft guns) and their ability to move these weapons through difficult terrain up the rear slopes of the mountains surrounding the French positions, dig tunnels through the mountain, and place the artillery pieces overlooking the French encampment. This positioning of the artillery made it nearly impervious to counter-battery fire.
The Viet Minh proceeded to occupy the highlands around Dien Bien Phu and bombard the French positions. Tenacious fighting on the ground ensued, reminiscent of the trench warfare of World War I. The French repeatedly repulsed Viet Minh assaults on their positions. Supplies and reinforcements were delivered by air, though as the key French positions were overrun the French perimeter contracted and air resupply on which the French had placed their hopes became impossible, and as the anti-aircraft fire took its toll, fewer and fewer of those supplies reached them. The garrison was overrun after a two-month siege and most French forces surrendered. A few escaped to Laos. The French government resigned and the new Prime Minister, the left-of-centre Pierre Mendès France, supported French withdrawal from Indochina.
The war ended shortly after the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and the signing of the 1954 Geneva Accords.
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The French did not like German occupation , As soon as they were liberated they went right back to occupation of Vietnam
So are you saying should have supported the germans invading france ?
ars No he’s pointing out the hypocrisy
@HELMUT ALTO
I did not say it clear, o.k.
(corrected some now)... and there is the interesting book, I hope it is available in English or French.
Short cut comment !!!
@@influencer8757 Ridiculous ...
Love this documentary. Respect to the Vietnamese for fighting against French colonialism and occupation.
Respect to Vietnamese and all free Méo Mountainers for fighting against communism and his ferocity
@@smat2899 thank you for countering this comment. It is truly amazing how dangerously ignorant remnant communist propagandists have made the young generation.
@@dp5475 shut up brainwashed
@@smat2899 but what about Russian occupation to Vietnam ?!
My father was in the Vietnam war. He raised me to admire the Vietnamese.
The former enemies of Vietnam now admire and learn from them.
❤️ To Vietnam from America.
I have been buying alot of product s made in Vietnam .
Green works pressure washer sold in Lowe's excellent quality.
@Frank F Kling I think you forgot what US/South Vietnam/South Korea did to 2 millions civillains
Thanks to them, now Vietnamese DNA from both north and south have Agent Orange
@@frankfkling304 get over it. its not your country. Your americans love to meddle in other ppls affair with lies propagandas and shi like that.
communism sucks yea, but its better than be an eternal colony or french/,US puppet (like cuba was before 59).
Im glad the North won. it wasnt them that used chemical weapons, massive overkill bombardment or raped entire villages.
@Frank F Kling in the words of many an anti-communist, "conquest is how history works." The story of Vietnamese independence mirrors that of American independence so much, it is astounding that the US fought them just to ensure that their other enemies (which Vietnam, in spite of it all, is allied with the US against) wouldn't get an ally.
Now if only they'd do better with the LGBT+ community, but the anti-communists don't seem to care about that issue at home or abroad.
@@frankfkling304 The French occupiers didn't belong there in the first place that was the root cause and we of all people did not belong there let that land mass look after their own regional affairs they and we will all be better off at the end of the day. Anywhere the army goes and if they need interpreters and interrogators that's the first solid sign we are somewhere we don't belong. Stay Home Stay Strong and Stay Respected.
Wow if they had listened to Ho in 46?
The money and lives that could have been saved.
What did he want?
Freedom for himself and country.
Ho was there in 1919 after ww1 in Europe asking for an audience and was rejected.
TITO was a communist...but Yugoslavia never joined the soviet bloc...we should have learned from that
Thanks bro ❤ ! It’s simple true but US’s leaders need 30 years to understand ! 😢
Just demonstrates how hypocritical the US has always been.
@@MarkMcMillen2112 Governments are made up of people...sometimes they male mistakes...just call it an error of judgement with tragic consequences
In 1953, President Elect Dwight Eisenhower sent a military “study group” of 10 senior officers from all branches of the U.S. military. They spent a month in Vietnam, studying the French military tactics and the tactical and strategic circumstances. Upon their return to meet with Eisenhower, to a man, they told him to not help the French in their colonial effort. This secret mission has never been officially revealed. My father was one of the ten; a Marine Colonel aviator who flew 10 sorties out of Hanoi in Grumman F9F Bearcats over Dien Bien Fu.
There were American "advisors" there in 1945 who after the Japanese surrender tried to get the British in to take over and keep the French out. Respects to your father. My father flew C-130s in & out of ever dirt landing strip in SE Asia during the war. He came home on a stretcher but alive.
Sounds like the Studies advising it would be a fiasco, but it was pushed on.
Perhaps if left alone the communist ideology would not have taken.
They sure surpassed the Yanks in rebelling to British, and many other rebellions.
The Americans left the French being overrun by the Vienminh at Dien Bien Phu. Not consistent with their huge support uo to that point, but ok, let say they had a change of heart.
But why did they go afterwards supporting a corrupted government and redoing everything the French did in 100 times worse?
@@fred8886
The US got talked into doing the left over French dirty work. I never met one single American who knows the French had their own Vietnam War from 1946-54.😕
Do you know which month it was? That would be interesting.
When i was a boy, i was a bully to my younger brother and one day he stopped reacting to my threats. He got smarter, and mentally stronger and i never went back to pushing him or anyone else around. The US followed the French in it's folly and is still thinking with an adolescent brain.
We are the boy who refuses to grow up and still wants to bully everyone around - the Russians in Europe and the Chinese in Asia.
Well said
WHO CARES ? WHO ????
Les américains n'ont pas besoin de suivre les français pour çà.
@@FrereAlain-dc3kl Mais nous l'avons fait quand meme. Et cela a coute des vies.
The Vietminh, Vietcong, and NVA were amongst the most dedicated soldiers in human history.
Im watching this from Da Nang, Vietnam. Visited the museum this afternoon. Saw many relics from this war. Such as French guns, granates etc. It give it a special sentiment watching it here. Great docu!
The foreigners came to Vietnam to destroy the country. That’s all they want and power, the Vietnamese people need to take control and defeat the foreigner never allow them rule Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh is truly Vietnamese hero.
I was stationed at DaNang in 1965, we knew then that it was all over, still we stayed until 73 -75, knowing in 65 that all was lost. I believe that according to Portland Cement, they sold enough cement to concrete the whole country. War supply companies made a ton of money.
.....don't they always?...@@Robert-eg2oy
"65?...don't think so...more like '68...@@Robert-eg2oy
Excellent film - made in 1962, using much film from the communist side as well as French film of Dien Bien Phu and earlier. The recollection by the CBS reporter David Shuman of his interview with Ho Chi Minh in 1946 is remarkable, along with his own impression when the international press visited Dien Bien Phu. This presentation of the French war is very accurate and contrasts with later US TV coverage of the second Vietnam War where the US forces were committed. The film almost by itself shows that the US would be making a huge mistake if it were to commit forces. It was three years after this film was shown on American television that the US did send in ground troops.
After Indochina, North Africa ALGERIA! th-cam.com/video/8XTJomI91yo/w-d-xo.html
In the early days, before the French got back in, Ho Chi Mihn was a US Ally.
Later came the “Algerian Problem” th-cam.com/video/vRE3j8pDMds/w-d-xo.html
US paranoia in those days regarding Communism was at a fever pitch and the government was overrun with those who felt a military solution was preferable to doing nothing. Vietnam is now a huge economic trading partner with the US.
*And do not forget the Germans: Adolf Hitler’s Wehrmacht in Suomi-Finland, Lapland in 1944*th-cam.com/video/OGbr-aAnKTo/w-d-xo.html
A French writer Bernard Fall wrote "Street Without Joy" which was an account of the First Vietnam War and "Hell In A Very Small Place" about Dien Bien Phu. "Street Without Joy" was supposed to be required reading for policymakers in Washington and soldiers in the field. If they did read it, they learnt nothing. When you consider that book and this documentary it's incomprehensible why the US got involved in Vietnam. Even more amazing is that American OSS officers worked closely with Ho Chi Minh during WW2 and would have known that all he wanted was an independent Vietnam
simple. the independence Ho told the OSS was an opposite to what North Vietnam has become at that time - full blown communist nation. in 1946, Ho Chi Minh's Viet-Minh purged every single other parties and factions in his so-called Democratic Republic of Vietnam, ending democracy.
Getting involved was fine but they did not take in any, okay a few, Counter-Insurgency tactics and restricted their actions in stupid places. South-Vietnam did not want a communist government to take over, the people too by the way. However you are correct, if the Americans insisted on French decolonisation and built up Vietnam and it's neighbours, it could have been a reliable ally against the red Chinese and perhaps even the Korean War (A place to attack China at a stretch.).
We never saw anything by Bernard Fall, and I did not read Street without joy, till I was out by a couple of years, wished that I had read it before RVN.
In 1965 I was told "Street Without Joy" was required reading for Special Forces soldiers at Fort Bragg. After reading it I could argue either side of whether or not South Vietnam should exist as a country. As the Americans became more involved in Vietnam Fall interviewed the leadership in Hanoi. It was printed as an epilogue in later versions of the book. Their answer to his question of "What are you going to do if the Americans become militarily involved?" - was along these lines. Their first step would be to go toe-to-toe with U.S. units. If they could win, then they would continue with that plan. If they could not win, then they would engage enough to keep the war going; back off as needed; and continue until the Americans became tired and went home. Sounds pretty much like it later happened. I've wondered if the battle of the Ia Drang valley was that toe-to-toe moment.
Bernard Fall continued his involvement with Vietnam until he stepped on a landmine while on a sweep with U.S. Marines on Jan 21, 1967.
A Google search brings up great content about him. A prophet they did not want to hear.
@@danielcotts8673 I think North-Vietnam should not exist but I do agree with other's analysis was the failure of American leadership to engage in anti-colonial rhetoric early enough. Was he the only one writing this stuff? How much were land-mines used?
This show came on Sunday evenings in the early 60s. Remember watching it each week.
I used to watch the reboot on The History Channel with Mike Wallace.
It was an outstanding program, theme music composed by George Antheil was wonderful...
Walter Cronkite….Communist. The reason we lost the Viet-Nam war.
in the Geneva accord which established North and South Vietnam was a provision that in two years (then 1956 ) countrywide elections were to be held to elect a leader for the entire nation. Knowing that Uncle Ho would very likely win over the USA installed Ngo Dinh Diem , the USA cancelled the elections and the Viet Minh took the broken promise to go back to war. The CIA had Diem and his brother Nhu (leader of the secret police ) murdered shortly before JFK was assassinated. South Vietnam , essentially a creation of the United States and wholly dependent on US aid for its existence, fell into chaos through a succession of incompetent leaders. Theui and Ky proved no better. Sadly the US didn't learn the lessons of Vietnam when it invaded Iraq in 03. A war on false pretext, against unseen enemies and religious factions and a culture we did not comprehend and a failed effort to make a country over in our own image, where our democratic approach of compromise amounted to blasphemy.
Oh the US didn't care about creating another "quagmire", it would profit whether it had a conventional victory or not. Just destroying their infrastructure would take care of the real issue they wanted solved.
11:54 one of my favorite clips that highlights the Vietnamese ability to masterfully camouflage themselves. From the air it looks like nothing more than a road. Then the road comes alive with what appears like a couple hundred men. A great clip.
I got goosebumps
Absolutely amazing
I saw this clip in color(!), somewhere on yt
The irony of a condescending video by the US media on the French just before they went on a colonial themselves (although they are careful not to dress it up as such) and were roundly defeated as a world power which the French really weren’t no longer at that point is not unnoticed.
The West forgets that Viet Nam had been in almost continuous war since the late 1800s. First against the French, then the Japanese, then the French again, then each other, then the U.S., then China, then the Khmer Rouge. The people of Viet Nam were no strangers to conflict. They knew how to fight, and how to hide from large Armies.
Very good book called "Street without Joy" about French Indochina war. The allies virtually promised the Vietnamese their independence in return for fighting a guerilla war against the Japanese, which was mainly the Viet Minh who were doing this anyway, They felt betrayed when the country was handed back to the French from the caretaker British forces.
then betrayed again when they were promised elections, that Ho would obviously have won.
Lesson learned to Stupid French of being colonizers like the Americans and the Japanese. They deserved their unforgettable defeat! Shame on them!
french navy shelling Vietnamese coastal city: USA WE NEED TO GET IN ON THAT ACTION!
One of my favorite books,the lessons learned (particularly about Group Mobile 100)fell on deaf ears at the pentagon…
If you could put all the TWENTIETH CENTURY episodes in one playlist that would rock.
the beginning of fake media.
... and let's not forget Britain's part: "I was welcomed on arrival by the Viet Minh", recalled Gen Gracey, the first Allied commander in Saigon in Sep 1945, "I promptly kicked them out." He found a functioning Vietnamese administration but put the French back in charge, the start of 30 years of division.
Stunning example of colonial attitude of superiority. TY
@@margaretgoodheart4167 Up to this point empires had ruled the world for 1000's of years.
@@info781 the older i get, i have come to realize history is not well taught.
Anything can be looked up, but less of a desire to know how everything interacts. How we got where we are. Whoever we are, wherever we are ( here in the west, anyway. Don't know elsewhere) Geographically. Militarily. Linguistically. Economically. Et c.
@@avalerie4467 everyone is trying to judge the past by today's standards , not helpful.
At least the Brits never sent troops to Vietnam. Had they done so it would have worked out better for the US and worse for the communists.
Those pesky Brits😁
Giap was absolutely brilliant as he knew that no invading army could sustain itself against an indigenous people. He and Ho Chi Mien took the long view. After the French, then the Americans were both driven out. At the peace accords an American General said to a Vietnamese delegate " We never lost a battle to you." The Vietnamese delegate smiled and replied "That maybe true but we won the war."
The issue was that the French, to a lesser extent, and the Americans just did not understand what War they were fighting and in the American case there was a ridiculous amount of stupid restraint (Bombing was authorised in the North at Presidential levels and the campaign was stunted.). Then they refused to protect the people who were in harms way and ultimately yes they lost the war. Utterly obtuse.
I was 9 years old in 1954 and remember hearing about the French defeat in Vietnam.
Ten years later, the US was already involved in the same kind of conflict in Vietnam.
I enlisted in the Army in 1965, and the rest is history.
@@johnnotrealname8168 The French were criminally unrestrained in Vietnam, even the video narrator refers to French Colonial Extremists bombing civilians and burning towns.
No one in their right mind would call US bombing of Vietnam and Laos unrestrained. Agent orange, burning children with napalm, treating every rural Vietnamese as an enemy etc...That's not restrained.
The US lost the war because the American public did not want to do what the Nazis did in Europe, that is commit genocide.
The American public who opposed the war still walk with their heads held high, knowing that they chose to be better humans and not genocidal barbarians.
@@johnnotrealname8168 Hardly much of restraint! The US dropped 6 million tons of bombs in Indochina, three times the amount of bombs dropped in the second world war in all theaters! Agent Orange, a cancer causing herbicide, was used extensively in South Vietnam to destroy the foliage cover for the NLF! There are still Vietnamese dying because of the various poisonous chemicals used by the US forces. More than three million Vietnamese died as a result of all these actions! Over the course of the war horrible crimes were committed by US forces against the civillians, most of the perpetrators were never punished! One of the most heinous crime was the torture and murder of six hundred Vietnamese women and children of the village of My Lai in 1968, committed by US soldiers of the 23rd (Americal) infantry division! No one was ever punished for this war crime! Nick Turse details some of these crimes in his book, "Kill Anything That Moves." There was no restraint showed by the American military forces in South Vietnam, only some targets and the mining of Haiphong were off limits in North Vietnam, and that to because of fear of direct intervention by China in the war! Short of using nuclear weapons the US tried everything else. Robert McNamara, the then defence secretary, mentions in his book, "In Retrospect," that the joint military chiefs in 1967 even considered the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Vietnam. Fortunately, saner minds prevailed!
@@johnnotrealname8168 and just 13 years later, General William Westmoreland would repeat the same disaster. Of coures, the USA had total command of the air..so we were not defeated. But Khe Sanh died up several divsions and made the "Tet Offensive" much harder to deal with.
wow, what a great find. This speaks volumes as to the origins of the Vietnam War
This WAS the Vietnam war. Part one.
@@kevinwaters5872 part 3, if there was a resistance movment against the first french occupation, if not, part 2 against the Japanese at least.
Im no Commie lover..but I respect the tenacity and endurance of the VC
Việt Nam people love country. We want Việt Nam independent.
They were a tough bunch.
You don't have to be a communist Do not want to be ruled by other people from a far away country.
@@oregoon3988 South Vietnam was forcefully reunited under communism. It took Vietnam being a shithole for a decade to realize the commie shit was fried and abandon it. Now there fine, kinda frustrating if only we had come to this same understanding the war wouldn't of been necessary :)
first and foremost, Vietminh not Vietcongs. Being a nationalist and fighting for your nation is no wrong.
these are no VCs. These are Vietminh. Vietminh were the nationalists . and an umbrella organisation for both non commies and commies . once partition of Vietnam occurred, some became part of ARVN and American allied militias while the rest majority became PAVN .
some former Vietminh in the South later did join the VC whose overall aim was more of ideological than a patriotic one as majority of the bulk firefight was done by this new PAVN. a hybrid form of warfare utilised by North Vietnam with supports from every Redbloc and symphatizing nations alongside a year of social turbulence in American society
( fight against racism, anti war protests , presidential scandals like the watergate, protests against conscriptions and warcrimes , media coverage either exposing the truth or spreading their agendas ) around the world would eventually force the Americans to seek for peace.
1962, People! I'm so glad that these reports and analysis were seen by so many people, and we all learned a valuable lesson.
Thank goodness we don't have to repeat the same mistakes, again.
Wait, what?
too late baby it's three wars too late.
Its common to say that America never learns from history or its mistakes but that's not true. e.g. Lesson: the Gulf of Tonkin, repeated mistake: WMD as and excuse for invading Iraq and there are others. The U.S. government is fully aware of its mistakes but continues to repeat them because they won't let anything get in the way of plans to enlarge the military industrial complex.
@@if6was929
Look the Americans knew exactly what they were doing. Vietnam was a waste of lives but Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia were made into right wing bulwarks against Communist influence
The USA wisely poked and prodded and created coups and conducted black ops and economic warfare to ensure that the Soviet Union left eastern Europe and collapsed in 1991
Vietnam was just a Battle, America won the war in 1991. Vietnam now is a large trading partner, communism is well and truly dead and in the dustbin of history.
someone should have gone to jail for lying to us about Iraq@@if6was929
he "Twentieth Century" series on Sunday nights hosted by Walter Cronkite was something my friends and I never missed. Every episode was a masterpiece in distilling the essence of important historical events. I miss this type of reporting, but praise you for bringing it back to us via this channel. Thank you (and thanks for the memories!)😀
I remember my father watching "The Twentieth Century" sixty years ago. I can still whistle along with the theme song that played over the image of the rock of Gibralter.
I used to watch it on the History Channel back in the nineties. Serious sixties and nineties flashback for me.
back when we only had a choice of three channels....and most of the programming was broadcast in black and white!
@@frankpienkosky5688 Yep, but in addition to the three network stations we did have independent stations as well, which primarily showed reruns of old network series that had been cancelled, and lots of old movies.
"In front of the bunker, Comrade Nho and I followed the mission of the company commander Ta Quoc Luat and we joined him for the capture of De Castries. In the bunker, we arrived where we were, all the French officers came back there, some were very shaken. At that time, Luat used French to order the enemy to surrender. They all raised their hands, and General De Castries himself remained silent. Seeing this, Mr. Luu motioned me to approach him. As I approached, De Castries got up hurriedly, raising his hand to shake hands. At that moment, I thought, how can I shake my hand? I used a submachine gun to stab him in the belly, shouting at the same time the words "Ho-le-manh" (Hands up). De Castries took a few steps back, raising a hand to speak French. I then understood that he was officially asking for surrender. We returned the entire French command to Dien Bien Phu, putting an end to the so-called "inviolable fortress" of French colonialism. The Dien Bien Phu campaign has won everything ... "- recalls a colonel from VietNam Hoang Dang Vinh's People's Army.
I continue to be astonished that the French were able to reassert themselves in a colonial war just a few months after the end of four years of German occupation. I am surprised that they had a fleet that was able to project naval power halfway around the world from France, considering that during the years of the Vichy regime, the French Navy lost ships in battle with the Royal Navy.
The same goes for artillery pieces and all the other implements of war short of infantry weapons. I know it was the US that handed Indochina back over to the French after they cleared out the Japanese, but I am still surprised that the French bothered with colonial ambitions so far from home.
US handed it back ??? It was Brits and surrendered Japanese that kept the place in order until the Frogs were in a position to try and reassert themselves. Same in the Dutch East Indies, but there the Dutch were a deal smarter than the Frenchers and bowed to the inevitable by the late 40's. Even today the French have a picture of their nation as it was in 1805 at the height of Bonys success, so its not hard to see how, after the total defeat of 1940 they were eager to restore national pride. As for the weaponry, the USA was initially loathe to supply the goods for the extension of empires, then came Korea and the domino theory.
US/UK surplus
That's just how profitable Colonialism is.
The French are still being paid tons of cash by Haiti in exchange for their "freedom", to this day.
@@schmoborama I'd sincerely doubt that snippet. Haiti has been in economic distress since very shortly after the French gave up on the place. There may very well be a reason for the appalling poverty that is the lot of better than 90% of Haitians, but I'd very much doubt its because of the French sucking money out of the place. As for Colonialism in general, it was very much a mixed bag. No doubt some colonies had resources that were profitably exploitable, but others not so much. The drive was most likely prompted by the desire to paint parts of the globe in ones national colours, and we cant forget the urge to bring the blessings of the church to what were perceived to be ignorant natives.
@@Fanakapan222 read your history -- the french with US support imposed a crippling financial penalty on Haiti -- still being felt to this day. That is the basis on the continued poverty there. Far, far many negative from colonialism, the whole point was to take resources and profits from the country, with little positive in return. Kinda why the US revolution happened. Africa has been harmed so much by colonialism, look what King Leopold did in congo. Please name a modern era country that had more positive than negative from colonialism. And it is arrogant to think nationalist movements by default are inferior -- which is exactly how the West has reacted.
The French strongpoints were not named for Col. deCastries's mistresses. They were listed alphabetically with female names attached: Anne-Marie, Beatrice, Claudine, Dominique, Eliane, Francoise, Gabrielle, Huguette, Isabelle, and Juno.
Finally you took all the mysteries out of them! Thank you!
What did you expect from Walter Commiekite,he injected his opinions all the time and gave false info quite often,seems to be the standard today for the US MSM with downright lies thrown in.
@@rider660r A Jewish acquaintance of mine stated that his grandma told him that "Krankheit" is Yiddish for "disease."
@@uptonsavoie Hey, are these the French forts? Why did they think that would work?
@@johnnotrealname8168
Without B-52 saturation bombing, the same would have happened to the Kayson
marine base south of the DMZ in 1968.
'Serious miscalculation' ~ Western culture's specialty.
Indeed, strategic miscalculation is a Western speciality. Western politician and military leaderships had and have strategic miscalculation down to a fine art.
Yes, well the U.S. political and military leadership seriously misjudged Vietnam and the Vietnamese; indeed, they grossly underestimated what they were up against in Vietnam, including grossly underestimating the Vietnamese. Just because some military interventions have some popular support does not mean they are viable or practicable. Vietnam was _the_ classic example of escalating military intervention and the more the U.S. political and military leadership escalated the war in Vietnam, the more unpopular the war was with the American public. Now one would think that they would learn from that experience, but evidently not.
If men were angels...
lol more like "serious miscalculation" ( good ! on purpose ! )
YES
the miscalculation is about other nations' way of lifestyle, social values,
in general CULTURE
Thank you foe uploading this documentary.
in reality, those wars were all lost in March 1946 when we failed to give the Vietnamese what we treasure here, their freedom. Would you not fight for your own homes?
Notice at 20:45 a french tank firing its main gun. The name of the tank is 'Posen', which is part of Poland today, but is the German name for the region part of the German Empire. It's pretty likely that the commander and/or crew of the tank were Germans who, having lost their homeland to communist poland and the USSR, joined the french foreign legion. Something around 1/4th of the men at Dien Bien Phu were former SS and Wehrmacht soldiers who had no home to return to, so they joined the French FL.
Excellent excellent job pointing this out, good catch! The French would not accept former Waffen SS though, which is one common misconception,
Only Wehrmacht
@@jeremy28135hat is entirely wrong.
1 In the For. Legion you have no past living, its gone. SS or not played no role.
2 First there was an offer to join the FL. Quite friendly.
3 They forced the reluctant Germans, especially the SS men to join the FL by threatening them with hunger, beatening, martial courts for „war crimes“ ( true or not, i.e. death penalty) and overly long prison.
they were pressed into service and used badly
not all the soldiers under French command at Dien Bien Phu were willing participants...some just decided to sit it out and were ignored by the Viet Minh....
many of the colonial troops at Dien Bien Phu simply refused to fight and sat out the battle...the Viet Minh simply ignored them
Good documentary. The French era of the Vietnam war isn’t well known here in the USA. Thanks.
Yes, it is.
really?nearly all chinese know franch first,us second,china third.
@@highsecurityagent8778 not by anyone under the age of 60. I'm french-american and i know more about the US-Vietnam war simply because i lived the news and my family is military . The little bit that i know about WWII to US involvement in indochina, i learned during the 90s when i studied on my own.
Alot of today's population is not taught a heck of a lot of history, unfortunately.
Yes that’s why they lost because if they would have studied the French America could have learned a lot..Instead they went in gun ho as usual and lost
@@avalerie4467 Perhaps.
Ah yes.....the "free world" vs "Communism". "Communism" becomes the bugaboo of the "free world" colonialists. Walter Cronkite had produced numerous "shows" where he knee jerks the word, "Communism", "Communists" when it really was a fight between nationalists and colonialists. France coming to the end of WW2 insisted on keeping its colonies (Africa/South East Asia) even when Roosevelt had promised those colonies that they would be "free" from colonialism at the end of WW2. Roosevelt dies; Truman becomes president: DeGaul becomes leader of France and insists on France's "right to the colonies" otherwise he will not participate or help in the encirclement of Russia at the end of the war....the building of NATO. It will be instructive to go into some of the history of the French occupation of SEA and witness the horrible brutality measured out to the "slaves" on the rubber plantations operated by the the then colonialist French. (As the Belgians did in the Congo). What defeated the French (and eventually the Americans) was the incredible stupidity of racial prejudice; those "others" won't/can't stand up to the West's technology. The rest is history.
Freedom and Capitolism is a Bugaboo word for Socialist and Communist. But you are correct,the French had no business being in Vietnam and Charles DeGual was a wart on humanity. An ass hole ,a traitorous bastard, who drained civilization.A complete narcissist's who facilitated the destruction of the country that was freed for him by 10's of thousands of men from many countries! He did not deserve to run France !
When didn't need France in ww2 they needed us. Nazi Germany had already took that country. Then USA liberates France. And Russia was first too reach Berlin and Hitler's bunker they even moved his body so USA couldn't see it. Stalin lied when asked how Hitler died. He replied his alive and well
No, it was the Communists who won in Vietnam ))) Nationalists (ugh, again it is not correctly called patriots of the nation) have achieved their goal in Algeria .
Let's not forget the Viet Minh were backed by China and Russia, DBP was a communist victory. HCM was the big man after that, but the nationalist, non communist, resistance, however insignificant, was worth his while enough to commit mass-murder on them. The farmers thought they would get the land for their familie farms and consequently celebrated the liberation from the French by moving South, one million of them. I don't think they needed Western Bugaboo propaganda, meeting a local commisar is often enough to turn a non-political farmer into a starch reactionary.
5000 years history Vietnamese people don't know what surrounded mean.
And meaning of surrender as well
it's good, now they can shoot for every direction
@@TheVietarmy ።የሀ⨳ኀኍኀኀ
5000 years of history starting from 100 eggs ?
@@MrShanghaiman yes, the history of Vietnam goes back to 100 eggs, and we have been fighting empires ever since. Our time of peace is too little compared to the time of war. Every few decades, the Vietnamese enter the war, we are very sad because of that, but looking back several thousand years of history, I feel proud.
God Bless Vietnam 🇻🇳🇻🇳🇻🇳🇻🇳
Thank you
what started as a christian mission, ended in napalm
History so often repeats. I think every christian mission that has ever been has ended in a similar way....
Brilliant👍
Christian mission? You mean crusade, dont you?
The prediction of Ho Chi Minh on Sept. 11, 1946 was later seen to be 100% accurate. Not so much of an elephant bleeding to death at the teeth of a tiger but France being unable to resist a fiercely dedicated group of people who wanted independence and were willing to take on a major military power to achieve that independence.
The first rule of war is, "Never underestimate your enemy". For some reason the French commanders at Dien Bien Phu never got the memo.
Then, in 1962 Walter Cronkite talks of how America is deeply committed to battling Communism in South Vietnam. Well, it turned out that the level of commitment wasn't deep enough by half. The reasons for that are multiple and varied. One of them is yet another example of a major military power, the US (the greatest military on earth at the time) yet again underestimating their enemy.
Quân đội Mỹ giết người, cướp của , hiếp dâm , bệnh hoạn , vĩ đại ở chỗ nào
Invade other countries and blame them...just wow
You r right miss.
Dont worry yall won
All nations did the same ...
Excellent documentary.
"While working as a sergeant in the 82d Airborne Division in the 1970s, I once visited a sister battalion's operations office. Most such offices have a large in-out roster as you come in the door. Usually these rosters have a list of all the people in the office, organized by rank; but this one had a different twist. On top of the list were the officers, then there was a divider section labeled "Swine Log," and then there was a list of all the enlisted personnel in the office. This concept of the "Swine Log" was a fairly common one, and although it was usually used in good humor, and usually more subtly, there is a social distance between officers and enlisted personnel. I have been a private, a sergeant, and an officer. My wife, my children, and I have all experienced this class structure and the social distance that goes with it. Officers, noncommissioned officers (NCOs), and enlisted members (EMS) all have separate clubs on a military base. Their wives often go to separate social functions. Their families usually live in separate housing areas.
To understand the role of the Swine Log in the military we must..."
[On Killing, Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, 2009, §. Social Distance: Death across the Swine Log]
"Human sacrifice, such as... found in the plant-dominated... domain... identification of human destiny... model of the vegetable world... we do not find among hunters unless there has been some very strong influence from the other zone... The proper sacrifice for the hunter is the animal itself..."
[The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology, Joseph Campbell, 1991, Part 4: "..."]
"The problem of obedience, therefore, is not wholly psycho logical. The form and shape of society and the way it is developing have much to do with it. There was a time, perhaps, when men were able to give a fully human response to any situation because they were fully absorbed in it as human beings. But as soon as there was a division of labor among men, things changed. Beyond a certain point, the breaking up of society into people carrying out narrow and very special jobs takes away from the human quality of work and life. A person does not get to see the whole situation but only a small part of it, and is thus unable to act without some kind of over-all direction. He yields to authority but in doing so is alienated from his own actions."
[Obedience To Authority, Stanley Milgram, 1973, Ch.1: The Dilemma of Obedience, p. 11]
always better to be an officer.......learned that early on....
History could've been totally different if only the French had helped Ho instead of rejecting his pleas for help.
Ho was partnered with American officers of the O.S.S. in the latter stages of WW2. Ho greatly admired America's professions of devotion to independence, freedom, and national self-determination for all peoples and wrote multiple letters to FDR and to Truman asking for American friendship and aid in obtaining independence for Viet Nam from French colonialism. None of Ho's letters or attempts to gain understanding and aid from America were answered. All of this happened because of entrenched anti-Communist attitudes on the part of the American Government, which of course is controlled by the Money Power and used to protect Money Power interests, and as such has a knee-jerk undying opposition to anything remotely opposed to Capitalism. As a result of this folly on the part of America, France suffered an agonizing defeat, followed by the National catastrophe of the Viet Nam War experience for America, in which hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians on both sides were killed, maimed, and traumatized. The expense of the French and American wars against Viet Nam independence, it can be argued, derailed the economies of both countries. In 1973 Nixon had to take the U.S. off the Gold Standard and a period of terrific inflation followed. In truth America has yet to recover from the far-reaching effects of its defeat...yes, DEFEAT by the Vietnamese. Thanks to our American propaganda machine, not one American in a thousand knows of and understands these facts. Films like this can help correct that, and unless that is corrected, America will continue to make blunder after blunder in foreign policy until the Nation is destroyed.
@@jamesholbert8127 I agree completely with your sentiment, and I will add that I find it hard to believe that all of this is coincidence.
@@jamesholbert8127 That's pretty much the entire political picture of the Vietnam situation in a very short comment. You could teach this to teenage kids. Bravo!
Ho Chi Minh admires America's history. In 1945, He quoted the United States Declaration of Independence in Vietnam's Declaration of Independence:
"All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
If you want to better understand why France was so eager to fight in Algeria and Vietnam, you gotta understand their mentality. There was so much shame and denial after WW2 and their was so much mistrust. Mistrust for their countrymen who collaborated, and mistrust for their Allies who they believed sacrificed them and didn’t respect them. So In order to assert their national pride they had to go and fight even if they lost and got tons of people killed. They supported it to show the world that they still called their own shots
it shook them so much after the news. The Archbishop of Paris ordered a mass, all entertainment activities are halted and radio performances are replaced with solemn music.
Bravo Vietnam people,you are real patriot,I am from Indonesia.
thank you from Vietnam
@Eric= True enough!
The Na San battle was considered a blueprint for what was expected at Dien Bien Phu. Dien Bien Phu was a strategic keypoint to hold, if Laos was to remain under French control. And it was expected that the Viêt-Minh would suffer enormous losses in Dien Bien Phu, breaking their spirit. Enormous losses were suffered, but these losses did not break the spirit of the Viêt-Minh forces and they won. They had four battle-hardened elite divisions: nr 304, nr 308, nr 312, and nr 316 (i.e. 22’000 front-line troops at the start of the battle).
There were major differences between Dien Bien Phu and Na San: the most important was distance, which impacted both logistics (parachuted by air for the French) and air support for the troops (strafing & bombing by fighters-bombers). The Viêt-Minh artillery was brought to site by a gigantic logistical effort (that the French bombers were unable to stymie), and the guns were then cleverly installed on the reverse slope of the ridges encircling the French base at DBP: thus counterbattery artillery fires were ineffective - which led Col. Piroth, the French artillery commander (a hero of WW II), to take his life in despair.
Once the Dien Bien Phu airfield had been rendered ineffective by the VM artillery, the battle could not be won and was fought “pour l’honneur” with great tenacity by the French troops (mainly Paratroopers and Foreign Legion). But as said in the video, a significant number of the DBP garrison (“the Nam Youm rats”) did not fight and huddled on the banks of the Nam Youm river, scavenging at night stray parachuted food rations; They were disdainfully ignored by the combatants, which numbered about 7’000 front-line troops.
The fighting was fierce, some of the strongpoints were taken, lost and retaken several times; Viêt-Minh regiments attacked in human waves with great determination, and the “Quads” (quadruple .50 machine guns) & the 75 mm guns from the Chaffee light tanks (which had been dismantled, airlifted to DBP, and reassembled before the start of the battle) did mow down the Bo-Dois (VM soldiers) by the hundreds, even thousands. To no avail, the Bo Dois were too numerous and effective.
The Viêt-Minh excavated an extensive network of trenches, digging them closer and closer to the French strongpoints, so that their human wave assaults could be launched from short distances. French fighter-bombers were too few, the flak was too fierce, plus the distance to fly from Hanoï and back made their time over targets too short: the trench network could not be destroyed from the air.
Thus the appeal from the French command to the US Air force for a carpet bombing of the VM positions by B 29s; My understanding is that this was seriously considered by US experts (after all the US were opposed to a communist takeover of Vietnam, and the Korean war had just ended in a truce a year ago) but that technical reasons (such as the impossibility to install FACs - Forward Air Controllers - at Dien Bien Phu) made such a carpet bombing unrealistic. I do not believe that nuclear bombing was seriously considered.
Dien Bien Phu may well have been unwinnable from the start. At any rate, the planning and preparation work for the battle did not - on the French side - sufficiently account for the vastly enhanced military strength of the Viêt-Minh with Chinese support.
Christian de la Croix de Castries, (the 50 yr old Colonel in command at DBP) was not the equal of De Lattre! There has been a lot said about strongpoints named after his purported mistresses: this is absolute BS (although - like Eisenhower - he had a beautiful female secretary in the DBP camp). What is true is that there was an “esprit cavalier” in the camp before the beginning of the battle: swashbuckling and a bit bawdy; the mere name of his unit (Groupement Opérationnel du Nord-Ouest, i.e. GONO) is an unmistakable pun about gonorrhea and sums up the levity with which this whole operation was organized!
During the battle, Col. (then promoted Gal) de Castries showed courage, but being a light cavalry officer he was out of his depth in this infantry fight to the death: Past the beginning, the effective commanders during the battle were two Paratroop officers (Lt.-Col. Langlais and Major Bigeard).
To put to rest an ignorant comment of the video, the name “Posen” of a Chaffee tank of the 2° peloton of the 3° escadron of the 1° Régiment de Chasseurs has nothing to do with WW II; it commemorates the triumphal entrance of this same 1st Chasseurs light cavalry regiment in the town of Posen (now Pòznan) in 1806.
__ .
thank you for that...very informative....
You’ll never hear the term “capitalist extremists” by a Western, corporate news outlet, especially one sponsored by big finance.
I read about how Giap probably tried to repeat Dienbienphu , and attacked the American base at Khe Sanh in 1968 , but failed to take it . Whether or not this was a diversionary attack for the Tet offensive , or not , it was in the minds of many observers at the time as being similar to Dienbienphu . The U.S. Marines held out , with massive firepower at their disposal, and were eventually releaved . I just feel it is an obvious comparison , though some disagree . There are differences, but the most obvious similarity is of an isolated garrison surrounded and attacked by strong enemy forces . In one case , the attackers won . In the other, although led by the same great Communist General , they failed . Then there is the 1952 case of Na San , but we don't seem to hear much about that these days ...
Unlike Dien Bien Phu, which is many hundred miles away from friendly French Union held territory in Northern Vietnam, Khe Sanh is in South Vietnamese held grounds. Evacuation is much more feasible and well, evacuate the Marines did.
@@Sheyl3319 and American airforce is league of it's own they could supply troops far easily and bomb viet for months
Before the TET offencive both Ho and Giap were purged. Ho was under basicly house arrest and Giap had fled for his life to Hungary ! So the Question is who prosecuted the war against America so vigorously ? Maybe one in ten thousand even know his name !
@@samsungtap4183 uhhhm, while President Ho did step away from political life, that could placed behind his old age and its complications. And just where did you get the part that Giap was "forced to flee to Hungary" part. There wasn't really any evidence that Le Duan and the guy even hate each other that much
@@samsungtap4183What?
another problem was the South Vietnamese president was crooked
The problem is only crooked Vietnamese would choose to serve the French/Americans. That's the dilemma that France & the US can't get out of.
All South Vietnamese leaders would sell their mother for money. They don't give a dam about their people.
@@sunshine7453 Actually they're not 'South Vietnamese leaders' because they have neither the support of the southerners nor control of the South.
He really wasnt though.
@@diehardcath
I remember seeing this when it was first broadcast in 1962. Six years later, I was a grunt in Vietnam myself.
Because they are the French. Never tough when faced with a strong opposition.
And pompous asses too.
De Castries did NOT name the defensive outposts after his former girlfriends. Unless he dated women alphabetically. (Anne-Marie, Beatrice, Claudine, Dominique, Eliane, Huguette, Isabelle) That is the most nonsensical claim I have ever heard.
You forgot Francoise de Gaulee . Charlie's girl. And it course Isha Gallot who was another gift from Charlie.
The amazing thing is the the USA didn't learn a thing by their involvement with the French or from when the Vietnamese helped them out with the Japanese...
Blatant betrayal has its result in current policy of Vietnam to US
I just wanted to know who filmed this historic footage during the bloody war.
war reporters and propagandists.
Every army has such.
For the Vietnam site YES
You’d think Walter Cronkite presenting this documentary on the what the Vietnamese call the French War would have led him to declare the American War futile from the beginning not after the Tet Offensive
Nobody wanted to hear it in 1962. Even though US Special Forces were already in the country as advisors to the South Vietnamese Army, nobody heard of Vietnam.
Why does his opinion even matter?
@@luckynedpepper9030 because he impacted public opinion? When there are only 3 channels, the guy who is on tv every night is gonna hold some sway
Back in the day, anchors were very much inclined to NOT give their personal opinion on anything, they just reported the news. Murrow and Cronkite were highly respected in the field. Obvious opinion and "spin" and endless blather and speculation are a relatively new phenomenon in our current era of "infotainment".
up until TET many thought we were winning based on all the reports....it was a bit of a wake-up call....not that we were losing... but that stalemate was our only option....and victory unobtainable....
1962...so very insightful....US knew way back then what this war was about and why the people of Vietnam was fighting, why did they escalate? And France, to come out of occupation during WW2 and turn around and try to reoccupy their former colony by conquest...how is this different from what Germany did?
The US probably should have provided the French with air support in the early 50’s and prevented the communists from gaining power in the north. Then they may not have needed to take over from the French in 1955.
This really isn’t like Nazi Germany’s occupation of sovereign European nations. The French had colonised and invested heavily in Indochina since the 19th century. They had modernised and built entire cities like Da Lat, where there had been nothing but jungle in the pre-colonial period. In 1946 the French were simply returning to their overseas territories.
If the Japanese had occupied California during WW2, and then been forced out, and when US troops reoccupied the land they were opposed by Mexicans and Native American Indians who told them it was their land and they no longer wanted to be in the USA, they wanted independence, would you say the USA was acting like Nazi Germany if they used force of arms to prevent California from seceding from the USA?
they knew what they were doing to stop the spread of communism and establish pro-democratic nations, but the top brasses were too conservative, overconfident, and ignorant on modern military issues, costing lives of many men.
@@malpreece5008 Vietnam have right to fight for independence
I don't support Communist or Right wing Dictatorship
But I respect Independence Movements
Then set up Democracy elections without side intervention whether liberal, Conservatives,left wing party or Right wing party comes to power make the people decide
@@figofigo7908 I understand your point, but surely it matters what the ‘independence movement’ is fighting for? If an ‘independence movement’ subscribes to an abhorrent ideology responsible for misery, death, and suffering wherever it has been applied, surely that should be opposed?
Democracy is a European idea. There was no democratic government in Vietnam (Tonkin/Annam/Cochin-China) before French rule. Unfortunately, they don’t really have democracy in Vietnam today either. They have a one party communist state, which is somewhat authoritarian. Perhaps if Ho Chi Minh had dropped communism, and then petitioned the US for support, the Americans would have been more sympathetic to his cause and put pressure on the French to hand over power to him. If the rights of French subjects were guaranteed and they had some preferential trade agreements, they may have been willing to recognise Vietnamese independence without a war.
I’m in favour of the Vietnamese running their own affairs, but I think it’s wrong to demonise the French for doing the same thing most nations have done throughout history, I.e. expanding in power and territory. The French invested a lot into South East Asia, and their legacy can’t just be reduced to oppression and war. They deserve some credit and some criticism.
@@malpreece5008 nope , there is absolutely no differences between France and nazi Germany, both subjugated murder exploit and enslave other races in their master race theories, and there is no differences to the white American crimes on other races and ethnic neither. There were no French Investment in Indo China , the money were paid by Vietnamese and colonial subjects through blood taxes , opium , looting and crimes , the French didnt build anything , but hundreds of thousands of slave labour built them , and tens of thousands died in the process Democracy is a hypocrite white ideals who at the same time , enslave and mass murder the entire world, it hilarious because at the same time in the US , black and colored Americans would be enjoying freedom democracy and human's right for decades more to come after a few hundreds years under the greatest nation on earth.
france was the bad guy in this war.then they past it on to usa and we paid a big price for helping imperial france.
I remind you that the bad boys are the Americans who wanted to take our place, we gave them nothing, they came to Vietnam of their own decision, so do not tell nonsense; if you had helped us in 1954 on the battlefield, the war would not have ended as it was in 1975. the French were fighting alone and on the other side the Viets were much helped by the Chinese and the Russians. the French were fighting all over Indochina and not just in South Vietnam, you seem to ignore the history, the bad teacher history
It's really unbelievable that the French came back to re-occupy Vietnam again after barely regain their own independence from the Nazi.
If only the French and Vietnamese able to come to some agreement, this could have all been avoided. I guess the first step would be recognizing Vietnamese Independence. I wonder if France would have offered to nation build Vietnam, while increasing stronger ties between the two, how incredible both nations would be right now along with being strong allies. In a time when maybe both nations could have used each others help, they both shut down on each other. RIP to all the who died on both sides. French technology with Vietnamese man power....could not imagine the things they would have accomplished.
+Grandizer12 If the French did it, this would have turned Vietnam to another Hong-Kong in Asia. Don't forget that China offered a concession to the French similar to the one they gave to the british at Hong-Kong: the French built Fort Bayard on part of Zhanjiang territory (called territory of Kouang-Tchéou-Wan). Nothing much happened on this territory as with Vietnam, the French restricted its development: in French colonies, natives cannot develop their own industrial production (this is completely different from British colonial rules).
French colonization is basically an exploitation colonization: raw materials are extracted and transferred to France where they are transformed. Colonies are forced to buy metropolitan (French) products.
Another part of the story is that French colonial budget was dependent on 3 main revenues: opium, forced alcohol sale, and French salt monopoly. Both French 1st monopolies (Regie de l'Opium and Societe Fontane) brought significant revenues to Colonial administration and was a significant mean to control the population. Each administrative unit (village, hamlet,...) was forced to buy a quantity of alcohol (annual quota), the quantity was established by French administration.
Not buying alcohol resulted in fines and unpaid fines resulted in land confiscation. Confiscated land was redistributed among colons.
I very well agree. In fact, if France focused on trade she'll gain more economically than the Vietnamese. Because Vietnam will export her raw materials to France while France will export her processed goods which has higher added value. This is what Benjamin Franklin warned the British that they will lose a lucrative market in America if the British fail to deal with the Americans rightly. Another British MP Walpole told his colleagues in the Parliament "that what we need is trade not taxes". Unfortunately these advises were unheeded, Benjamin Franklin was humiliated in Parliament. From an ardent British lover he became a very staunch enemy against them.
+Grandizer12 +Peter Suson "French technology with Vietnamese man power....could not imagine the things they would have accomplished." At end of WW2 French copied Jet and rocket technology from Germany. Like the American, French had their "paper-clip" operation. French Intelligence agency (DGRE) 'hired' Dr. Oestrich team (100 engineers) to build the Dassault Jet engine (before that time, Dassault had only propeler planes). German Dr. Haberer lead the German rocket team (100s German specialist were transferred to France at Vernon): initial French Veronique rockets were based on V2. German Luftwafe (air-force) supersonic wind tunnel were dismounted in Bavaria and carried by train to Modane (France), where 20 German Engineers taught the French how to operate it. Helicopter design team were led by German, etc...
Like WW2 Free French Forces (who were Africans and North Africans), French Resistance, French Technology were all fake.
This bond would have never happened. French literally has a puppet government. They made themselves a stepdad to son relationship. Actually it’s a stepdad raping his son relationship. The Vietnamese can’t forgive them for that
they French never like that idea during 1945. They thought they will soon crush the Vietnamese's resistance, and re-colonize Vietnam.
That is why they refused every idea from Vietnam during that period ( Vietnam become the independence nation, but still in French Union.). Instead, they French continue their violence against Vietnamese ( exp: massacre of Haiphong, where they ship shot cannon on the city). They just try to force Vietnamese counter them, so they have the reason to crush Viet resistance. That is why the First Indochina War happened.
Fun fact: Many Germans (former Wehrmacht and SS) fought in the french foreign legion in Vietnam.
What a shocker. 😐
@@luisreyes1963that was a fact lol either they join the legion army or got executed
We must say a big thank you to Henri Navarre who chose this site, and not the government of Paris, and who persisted in staying there despite the contrary and logical opinions of the French generalissimo who had noticed and argued that there had no fallback exit'
Also not having listened to the general in chief of the aviation who declared in November 1953, that at the beginning of the rainy season the French aviation would be unable to deliver armaments, ammunition, reinforcements, food, medicines, thus leaving Dien Bien Phu, isolated complement.
Navarre, not listening also to Colonel Bastiani, a former Tonkin
And finally Navarre not listening to his deputy, General Cogny, who was in favor of the evacuation of Dien Bien Phu before Christmas 1953.
Amazing footage on both sides! Now that’s journalism.
As an African I’m proud of the Vietnamese people they showed us what a revolution is
Le rêve de chaque Africain c'est devenir dictateur.
Communist
@Jake Richards
The independence is on going.. french leach continues to suck Africa's ressources and wealth with Franc CFA and by supporting putshes and civil wars... When this ends, france will find her real size ... It shouldn't be wealthier than an eastern european country like Moldova... You'll go back on begging du pain from your government.
@Jake Richards imperialist defender
@Jake Richards You don't know much about the topic at hand and yet you're judging, what the OP was referring to is the massive influence that France still has over it's 'former' African colonies and he's basically saying to Vietnam "You showed us how to kick them out for good" which hasn't been done yet in Africa.
vietnam inspired 17 other nation to rebel again the french
ok ? you have source for that ? Name me the country that doesn’t cutting trees to expand their land for people as the population is growing sharply. Let see say Japan protect the environment as you said , but you will suprise what they did to the marine life , especially whales
So what would the French have done differently?
@F. Friedrich Kling Joke and digressive
@F. Friedrich Kling There is no space for your Business in our history, our people are among the most intelligent ones on the earth. We do what we want, no need your worries. So ridiculous.
@F. Friedrich Kling The biggest job you need to do is filling your empty mind and work for earning living. Do not touch your nose to somewhere else even you you don't know where it is.
Such a missed opportunity to avoid the American War in Vietnam, with millions more lives ruined.
Người Việt Nam sẽ chiến thắng bất cứ kẻ thù xâm lược nào. Đó là điều hiển nhiên. Như tiêu ngữ của Việt Nam: Độc lập - Tự do - Hạnh phúc.
Bạn có chiến đấu cho đất nước của mình nếu như bị quân đội nước nước ngoài tấn công? Tôi nghĩ bất cứ người yêu nước nào cũng có chung một câu trả lời.
You're right, Khánh. What's more important than independence?
Nothing.
I am from Finland, served in the Finnish military, as 80% of men in my country do because we were invaded by a numerically superior force in 1939. We serve in the military, because we not only respect the sacrifices of our grandparents but also because independence is never given. It's taken. We must maintain our combat readiness at all times.
My respect goes to for Vietnam and her people!
As someone who's been living and working in TP. HCM since 2014, I appreciate your people and admire your resistance to China over the last centuries and millenia.
Have a great extended Hung King, Independence Day and Liberation Day holiday weekend!
Mikael
The heroism of the Vietnamese people in their struggle for their freedoms from 1946 to 1975 has earned the admiration of all the colonized peoples of the world! The greatest evil the world has witnessed is that of European colonialism and genocides of indigenous populations!
@@ahmedakhan1 Colonialism. That idea itself is preposterous. To think that you somehow believe you have the right to invade a foreign land, subjugate its people, and deprive it of its resources - all the while maintaining the perceived image of a civilized and cultured nation amongst your peers. It's nuts!
Obviously those were different times but even back then colonialism had its detractors in metropolitan France, Great Britain, and other colonizing nations of the time. Supporters of the practice defended it as civilizing the world, "the white man's burden", and laying rightful claim distant lands on the basis of _[insert your excuse here]._
What word describes this thinking the best?
Preposterous?
Hypocrisy?
Gaslighting?
Devilish?
Very Good! 👍👍
Glad Vietnam IS Our US Ally Against CCP China 🇨🇳
After Vietnam Algeria: th-cam.com/video/8XTJomI91yo/w-d-xo.html
Huey Door gunner explaining how he picks his targets, if they run they are VC, if they don't run they are well disciplined VC
FULL METAL JACKET - that was the Yanks, not the French, lol!!
Disciplined VC can not run because they are chained to heavy guns and tanks, besides their families will be in trouble if they ran. I watched several clips of ' Gunships over Ho Chi Minh trails ' made by American pilots and i found out. Free information opens my mind. Thanks.
@@vanthai5738VN chúng tôi không có tiền và sức để mua xích 😂😂😂 toàn bình luận vớ vẩn từ film và tuyên truyền
At Khe Sahn the Marines didn't forget Dien Bien Phu. They held the hills above the base and stopped the attempts to take them during the 77 day siege.
Very true. Also they have the heavy bombers B-52's that really wreck a heavy havoc on the North Vietnamese. However the Americans were outwitted, As they were so fixated to defend American honor in Vietnam. The North Vietnamese also use that as a diversion for the Tet Offensive.
Khe sahn was a diversion attack for the tet offensive
Only because we had massive amounts of airpower to bring to bear against them...
The differences between these two cases are:
1. B-52s
2. Giap knew well that his troops had a very slim chance of taking over Khe Sanh without solving the B-52 problem. He couldn't solve that problem so he only used Khe Sanh as a diversion. He knew that the Americans had learnt from the French spectacularly embarrassing defeat in Dien Bien Phu so they would be very keen not to let that happen to them (Johnson had a scale model of Khe Sanh in his Oval Office). So if the NAV just assemble near the base and pretend to attack just like they did in Dien Bien Phu, they would attract all attentions there and in turn, cover for the real attacks in all major towns and cities in the South. You can look up the sizes of forces on both sides in those two battles and will see Khe Sanh was clearly a diversion because the NVA didn't commit enough troops to take over the base.
3. Both sides in the battle of Dien Bien Phu knew it was their last battle to win the war, so they brought all they had. France calculation was wrong so it lost. In Khe Sanh's case, taking over that base wouldn't mean much. The US' side still had about 1.5 million troops standing on its side, so it was pointless and stupid to risk a lot for nothing (the Americans later abandoned the base all by themselves). The attacks on all the major towns and cities in the South would make a much bigger bang and really cause panic and deal the death blow to the US' will and intention in Vietnam.
4. To have a better chance, you don't play the same trick twice, so taking Khe Sanh for real when ALL attentions was on it wouldn't be so smart.
The similarities in these cases:
Giap's calculation was dead on in both occasions.
*Khe Sanh
This was quite interesting!
The scene at 11:48 where the vietminh all emerge from their camouflage is so freaking badass
even the chinnese failed to defeat the vietnamese,my respects
the Vietnamese are on the strongest side they could be, china, soviet union, and usa
Mấy nghìn năm dựng nước và giữ nước . Trung Quốc chưa bao giờ đánh thắng được Việt Nam . Thậm trí đội quân được cho là mạnh và tàn bạo nhất Nguyên Mông 3 lần sang xâm lược VN đều nhận thất bại
More than Mao or Lenin, really wish I could sit down and talk to Ho Chi Minh. What a fascinating character.
It is common knowledge that he admired the United States, and the Founding Fathers. The dude had a broad mind, a sharp intellect, yet was still humble and loved (charisma?). Would put him up there with Winston Churchill, Napoleon, Cochise.
I shared an office in graduate school at Cornell with a student from (South) Vietnam. It was just after the war ended. I asked him what he thought about Ho Chi Minh taking over, and he said it didn't matter that he was communist. He was "the George Washington of Vietnam". He said that it they had a free election, he would have won with 80 or 90% of the vote.
Cronkite's austere objective style is unmatchable.
The Vietcong were tough.
@HELMUT ALTO
minh = UNITED FRONT 1945-1954
cong = COMMUNIST ... 1966 (roughly)
this also shows some 'development/change' over the years.
Winh Chet cha may thang phap luon
Viet Cong is the name given by Diem
There was an old fort or warehouse on the top of a high plateau in South Central highlands, looked like a Japanese pow camp. Anyone ever see it or hear of it?
You're going to have to be more specific... any names you remember about it?
There are thousands of them here.
Where did you see it?
As always, the conquerers suffer the hubris
😊🇮🇪
Na San was a French victory in an entrenched camp . So was Khe Sanh , for the Americans . I do not feel that the armed , ' hedgehog ' camp is always a loser scenario for defenders . Dienbienphu was a very poor position in which to place troops who do not hold the surrounding hills , which the French did at Na San . I am sure many have analyzed these battles , and will continue so to do . I simply observe the fact that Na,San and Khe Sanh held , despite fierce fighting .
A valuable history lesson for all to learn. The will of the people is the best weapon of all..!
I have been obsessed watching war documentaries like WW2. Now I came across upon Vietnam war and it has been weeks watching how Vietnam defeat the invaders.
I love hearing losses in the French side, but as I type "how did Americans lose Vietnam War" I rarely see results that match the phrase or at least resembles such that I desired. So, there must be some sort of "cover up" of the 'real documentaries' of the war in the search engine I suppose.
... Hopefully the are not any Glitches of some sort. And these important events deserve to be known by many who seek it.
Of course you're edited, you're too close to the point.
@@janverboven yeah, probably. I see.
To Michael Guzman, Read " Embers of War" and Bernard Fall 's books, those will tell you about the complexity of fighting in Vietnam, plus the world context that created the ''framework" for the USA strategy. Ie domino theory and world wide communist threat/aggression. I was there in 1968_69.
The Americans won the majority of the battles but lost the war because the American people were tried of it. North Vietnam knew all they had to do was play the long game and run out the clock and the U.S. would go home just like in Afghanistan.
@@sartainja lier 😂 US LOST
US COULD only win against innocent people in Vietnam. Including babies, Kids, women, elders. They killed them, Hell will welcome and treat their well ❤. US military lost to Vietnamese military. More than 2 mil US soldiers, 500-600k Korean + Thailand + Aus …, 1.3 mill Vietnamese betrayals …. 15 mil tons of bom, 7.3 mil liters of Dioxin … against a poor country like Vietnam … but you still lost ❤
The irony at 10:45 ! US pours $4B military aid into indochina (to the french) to avoid a french and FREE WORLD defeat in vietnam. If they let the vietnamese have their own country it would have been a victory for the free world.
We chose to be allies with the wrong side in the Vietnam conflict.
Friday June 16, 2023 - an important date to note as regards this film - is the day Daniel Ellsberg died. The principal person responsible to exposing the US government's Pentagon Papers to the public. That was a government report tasked with creating an historical record of the US involvement in Vietnam.
Forget each and every Hollywood and TV movie about Vietnam. Instead, I'd urge you to read the first 100 pages of the report. I mean, really read them. I think you might be surprised and maybe shocked by what you learn.
The Viet minh ask their long time American allies who had help them defeated the Japanese in Vietnam during WWII before they ask the Soviet Union and China. US President Eisenhower decided to support their long time allies French to retake Vietnam as their slave colony. During the siege of French military garrison in Dien Bien Phu. United States poured thousands of US military supplies to the French military garrison in Dien Bien Phu to help them defeat the Viet minh. After the battle and the war against the French. North Vietnam change their name from calling them self Viet Minh to Viet Cong. Today United States would cover up the ugly truth. That their were the one who made Vietnam into a Communist country today. If United States didn't support their French allies in Vietnam. Vietnam wouldn't become communist today and the Vietnam War wouldn't had started causing the death of 58,000 US troops, 3,000, 000 innocent Vietnamese civilians of Women's, Children's, and old People's in Vietnam. United States even hide the truth about the invasion of Iraq. When 19 of the hijack terrorist of 9/11 was from Saudia Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, and United Arabic Emirates but none from Iraq.
remember, the French asked for American ground troops and possible nukes. they were turned down.
There are several substantial differences between "Viet Minh" and "Viet Cong".
Pour information il n'y a jamais eu aucune archive filmée de la bataille de D.B.P.
Si mais toutes celles filmés du côtés des Français ont été détruite par les communistes vietn*miens et ils ont gardés le reste pour leur propagande
@@Aleks55101 oui comme Schoendoerffer qui s'est vu confisquer ttes ses bobines. Pour des raisons inexpliquées il n'a jamais dévoilé celles qu'il avait renvoyées par avion quand la piste était encore viable. Il les a même détruites avant sa mort.
Résultat ZERO film ...
Used to watch 20th Century every Sunday night. 👍🏻
sort of a pre-cursor to 60 min...but does in a more objective manner.....
History has a habit of repeating itself, sadly many don’t study history nor learn lessons from the past .
The only reason the French were in Vietnam in the first place is because Napoleon III was greedy in the 1850s. It wasn't enough for the French to join the British in looting China and burning the summer palace in the Second Opium War. They wanted another colony to exploit, just as the British were exploiting India and the Dutch were exploiting Indonesia. The French cooked up a bogus pretext involving the protection of Catholic missionaries and spent the next 80 years killing and robbing Vietnamese people. Colonialism, from the ancient world to the 20th century, is nothing but organized crime.
Back then it was called French Indo China. Little known is that Thailand had a war with the Japanese when they occupied it (as well as all of southeast Asia) during world war two.
Great music!
behind us is our homeland, old mother, wife and young children, in front of us are monsters. War is painful but if it happens a thousand times, they still choose to stand up and crush that monster.
Considering with what General Giap had to work with, and the results he achieved, one could argue he was the greatest Military Commander of the 20th Century. He fought Japan, France and the USA for 30 years-1942-1975-with brief cease fires in 1946 and 1954-1956.The French had 100,000 KIA in 8 years. The USA spent 400 billion-1 trillion in today's $ to prop up the French. The USA went in without respect for the French effort, and considered Giap a 3rd rate rag tag Army. The USA would have been well advised to have studied this History before embarking in Vietnam. Had Nixon not gotten immersed in Watergate, the results would have been much different with the North beaching the Peace Treaty. The USA did not lose the Vietnam War- we signed a Peace Treaty in 1973 and we left. But the USA did abandon its commitments to the South; China was supplying the North in full-this was the difference.
Yes I fully agree with you regarding General Giap and to think he has no formal military training. He was a (history) teacher by training and profession. I wish I could secure a very good biography on his life.
While I was in the Special Forces Training Group (now the Q Course) we had a required reading list. One books studied was Barnard Fall’s “Street Without Joy” which he wrote how and why why the French lost. We sent in an Army trained to fight the Russians on the open fields of Germany. Starting in 1954 Green Berets were sent to South Vietnam from both the 1st and 7th Groups. The plan was to establish camps, recruiting indigenous personnel to equip, train and lead in combat. The villagers were being harassed by both the VC/NVA and the Vietnamese Government. The Special Forces plan was to establish these camps until like a cancer they would be mutually supportive. The problem, it would have taken two or more generations. LBJ wanted the war over quickly. So during my year in the Nam we conducted combat operations that lasted 30 days at a time. I as an E-5 had command of 43rd company of 112 Cambodians. I believed in the plan and the plan was working but we hated the regular Army for they would come through and mess up what had taken years to build.
@@Marka2401 LBJ WAS MORE WORRIED ABOUT HIS OWN AGENDA HERE! HIM AND HIS CRONNIES HAD NO FAITH IN THEIR LEADERS ON THE GROUND TOO MUCH MICRO MANAGING THOUGHT THEY COULD DO BETTER BEHIND THE DESK. HE WAS NOT MUCH OF A SOLDIER DURING THE 2ND WW EITHER
Really ! If American were winning the war would they stay ? Of course they lost the war so they left. It was an un-winnable war . Behind the White House closed door the president Lindon Johnson discussed how to get out of Vietnam with dignity . To the rest of the world it is a known fact the Yankees lost Vietnam war. Accept history and move on .
The French could never win a war .Neither did USA.
This is what modern TV is missing:
Cymbals
“Increasing the distance between the [combatants] - whether by emphasizing their differences or by increasing the chain of responsibility between the aggressor and his victim allows for an increase in the degree of aggression.”- Ben Shalit, The Psychology of Conflict and Combat”
[On Killing, Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, 2009]
Truman didn't want to have a border with China. Refused the Viets help and a little while later... We elect them to think, deeply, deeper than we can.
Anyone who runs is a VC.
Anyone who stands still... is a well disciplined VC.
All those who surrendered are French
All those who surrender but are armed are Americans :))
Wrong war, fella
Sounded like the Americans should have listened to Ho in 1946.
One of the tanks is called Posen.
Knowing that US seeked influence in south-east asia, it is so apparent why the vietnamese resistance against France is described in such a positive way. I wonder how the narrative would look like after USA inherited this conflict.
Not really the war was bankrolled by them so they did not want France to loose but to defeat the nationalists and only after that France could leave. Similar to what england did in malaysia where they won and then left but the country became a satellite of the anglo empire. Or even Indonesia where the dutch were taking bck java but were forced out so to turn indonesia into another outpost.
Both the French colonial subordinates in Haiti and Vietnam had kicked their ass in an embarrassing way.
the NERVE of the Vietnamese to not want to be occupied, colonized & ravaged by the Japanese, French, Americans...
History doesn't repeat itself but it often rhymes.