Arriving in the Muong Thanh Valley of Dien Bien Phu from the East.
The Thai minority group is still the main ethic group in the area although the Vietnamese community in the town is growing quickly. The Thai minority are linguistically similar but not the same as the Thai people of Thailand. They have similar ethnic roots however.
Guns pointing towards the town from 1954
General de Castries' bunker, Dien Bien Phu
The French deployed only ten tanks in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. Several of them are still scattered around the town.
The Muong Thanh bridge. The breaching of this bridge opened up the last remaining French garrisons to Viet Minh forces.
French military junk, Dien Bien Phu
A memorial to French soldiers lost in battle erected in the 1990s.
Scenes from the Dien Bien Phu Museum. These Viet Minh bicycles were often laiden with more than two hundred kilograms of arms and materiel.
Viet Minh soldiers haul heavy guns up into the mountains surrounding Dien Bien Phu through dense jungle. The French never anticipated the presence of such artillery and nor did they foresee the determination of the Viet Minh to position these to maximum effect encircling their units.
Viet Minh General Vo Nguyen Giap plots his strategy - picture from the Dien Bien Phu Museum.
French Commander General Navarre arrives in Vietnam. He was the architect of the French disaster at Dien Bien Phu.
Ho Chi Minh confers with General Giap. Museum Dien Bien Phu.
This model graphically depicts the siege and the vulnerability of the French positions.
US military junk. By 1954, the US was already funding much of the French miliitary campaign in Indochina including the provision of bombers and other equipment.
Cartoon from the Viet Minh press depicting the sorry lot of French soldiers - many of whom were Algerian - under siege at Dien BIen Phu. It reports that their beards are growing long and they eat, sleep and shit in the trenches. Note the use of the US supplied helmet.
Jeep wreckage, Dien Bien Phu Museum.
Viet Minh War Cemetery, Dien Bien Phu. The text reads "Every generation remembers the achievements and sacrifices of the heroes and martyrs".
Viet Minh War Cemetery, Dien Bien Phu
Bunker at Eliane Hill - one of the last of the French bases to fall.
Eliane Hill.
French tank overlooks the current Viet Minh Cemetery from Eliane Hill.
The town of Dien Bien Phu - growing quickly but still moving at a very agreeable speed.
Dog meat restaurants abound.
General Giap's bunker about forty minutes drive from town.
Thai women from a village nearby Giap's bunker.
Pa Khoang lake outside Dien Bien Phu.
