From Publishers Weekly
The battle of Dien Bien Phu (1953-1954), stresses the author, was one of the modern era's most decisive confrontations. Simpson, who as a U.S. Information Agency correspondent visited the isolated French fortress and knew many of its defenders, relates the story in heroic terms: how General Giap's Viet Minh troops hauled artillery pieces across mountain ranges and through dense jungles to dominating heights overlooking Dien Bien Phu, their shells ultimately forcing the French surrender; the poignant call for volunteers willing to parachute into the besieged fort to reinforce the casualty-depleted garrison and the response by hundreds of men even though Dien Bien Phu was already doomed. The fall of the fort on May 7, 1954, after a 57-day siege was a disaster for France, for it spelled the end of French hegemony in Indochina and opened the way for U.S. involvement in the region. Simpson pointedly reviews the lessons that would be ignored by the Americans in their ensuing war with the NVA/VC: not to underestimate the guerrilla or overestimate U.S. air power, and above all to secure the support of domestic public opinion. Simpson ( Tiger in the Barbed Wire ) has written a military classic based on newly released documents, interviews with survivors, and his own vivid and compassionate recollections. Photos.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
When Gen. Henri Navarre assumed command in Vietnam in May 1953, French forces in Indochina were on the defensive. Devising a plan, he would lure the enemy into a conventional battle, where French firepower superiority would prevail. History proved otherwise. Though not as well known to some readers, Dien Bien Phu surely ranks alongside the Alamo as a great siege and tribute to human courage. The author (Tiger in the Barbed Wire, Brassey's, 1992) hopes this bloody lesson isn't wasted, observing, "Do not underestimate a guerrilla foe." A captivating work, Simpson's blow-by-blow account also features an incisive political overview that will have Monday-morning military enthusiasts gnashing their teeth over French (and later, American) wrongheadedness. Well worthwhile, this book lacks only the emotional flavor that imbues a superior battle account like Duane Schultz's The Last Battle Station: The Saga of the USS Houston (LJ 2/1/85). Highly recommended for libraries with Vietnam war collections or where there is special interest in military history.
Richard Paul Snyder, Cty. of Los Angeles, P.L., Lakewood
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"No man is better qualified to tell the tale than Simpson." -- Stanley Karnow
In November 1953, French paratroopers seized a small village and airstrip in northwestern Vietnam. The plan was to lure General Vo Nguyen Giap's elusive Vietminh into a set-piece battle in which French arms would surely prevail. It ended five and a half months later with tens of thousands of communist troops overrunning the starving garrison. Only 73 of the 15,000 French troops escaped. Some 10,000 were captured; half of them were wounded. The fall of Dien Bien Phu was a disaster for France. It ended French Colonial rule in Vietnam -- and opened the way to a direct American military involvement. Ironically, many of the same mistakes the French made at Dien Bien Phu were to be repeated by the American military in the war to come. Howard Simpson's Dien Bien Phu: The Epic Battle America Forgot is the personal story of a man who shared meals and went on patrols with the doomed soldiers. Dien Bien Phu uniquely tells the story of one of history's most gallant "last stands. " Simpson's combat photographs, combined with those of the Foreign Legion archives, add visual drama to this remarkable story. Dien Bien Phu is an important, even essential, contribution to any military studies or Viet Nam reference archive. -- Midwest Book Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
The late Howard R. Simpson was the author of eight other well-received novels. He also wrote several nonfiction books, including Someone Else's War and Dien Bien Phu --This text refers to the mass_market edition. 
![Dien Bien Phu: The Epic Battle America Forgot (History of War) by [Howard R. Simpson]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41X4ZZOX9ML._SY346_.jpg)
