[ed martin]

Diem Bien Phu? Hey come on now, didn't you get the message? Leave the French out of this! Quit picking on the French! Whaaaaa! That was a decisive defeat for the French effectively ending their influence in Indonesia and splitting Vietnam into North and South. It represented a huge stratigic error where, in what was supposed to be a offensive campaign, the tables were turned and the French were soundly defeated.

In that campaign the French situated themselves in a ten mile long valley so as to cut off the enemy supply line. They weren't concerned with the surrounding hills as they were deemed too rugged for the enemy to even establish a position. I guess the French were very surprised when not only did the enemy take position in the hills, but dragged artillery up there with them.

The elements of this historic rout were 1) A very large part of the French force was concentrated into one very geographically small area, analogous to putting all your eggs in one basket. 2) Placing the force into an extremely vulnerable position, analogous to shooting at fish in a barrel and 3) grossly underestimating the resourcefulness and determination of the enemy, and of course let us not forget a most important factor 5) the fact that we are talking about the French military after all!