The War Years: The Battle Of Dien Bien Phu MP4 Video Download DVD
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The War Years: The Battle Of Dien Bien Phu, A Special Report By The Epic Award-Winning English-Narrated French Documentary Television Series, On The Battle Of Dien Bien Phu, The Climactic Confrontation Of The Vietnam War's First Indochina War Between The Victorious Viet Minh Communist Revolutionaries Of Ho Chi Minh And Vo Nguyen Giap And The Valiant But Vanquished French Union's Far East Expeditionary Corps, Presented In The Highest DVD Quality MPG Video Format Of 9.1 MBPS In An MP4 Video Download Or Archival Quality 9 Disc All Regions Format DVD Set! (Color, 1989, 46 Minutes.)
Assembled from private and national archives around the world, The War Years was originally produced in 1978 by the eminent French production company Pathe Cinema, using actual newsreels and films shot by cameramen of six countries. The War Years was later re-written and re-edited in 1989 by a production staff of Canadian and British specialists. Edward Herrman proudly hosts this dramatic and comprehensive re-creation of history.
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu, the climactic battle in the First Indochina War, began on March 13, 1954, when Viet Minh communist-nationalist revolutionaries under Vo Nguyen Giap unleashed a massive artillery barrage on the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps. The French Indochina War ended with the fall of Dien Bien Phu on May 7, 1954, marking Vietnam's victory over French colonial forces which were then forced to withdraw from northern Vietnam. 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 culminated in a comprehensive French defeat that influenced negotiations underway at Geneva among several nations over the future of Indochina. 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 in order to cripple them. The plan was to resupply the French position by air, and was based on the belief that the Viet Minh had no anti-aircraft capability. The Viet Minh, however, under General Vo Nguyen Giap, surrounded and besieged the French. The Viet Minh brought in vast amounts of heavy artillery (including antiaircraft guns). They moved these weapons through difficult terrain up the rear slopes of the mountains surrounding the French positions, dug tunnels through the mountain, and placed the artillery pieces overlooking the French encampment. This positioning of the artillery made it nearly impervious to French counter-battery fire. The Viet Minh opened fire with a massive artillery bombardment in March. After several days the French artillery commander, Charles Piroth, unable to respond with any effective counterbattery fire, committed suicide. The Viet Minh occupied the highlands around Dien Bien Phu and bombarded 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 the air resupply on which the French had placed their hopes became impossible. As the Viet Minh antiaircraft fire took its toll, fewer and fewer of those supplies reached the French. The garrison was overrun in May after a two-month siege, and most of the French forces surrendered. A few of them escaped to Laos. The French government in Paris then resigned, and the new Prime Minister, the left-of-centre Pierre Mendes 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. France agreed to withdraw its forces from all its colonies in French Indochina, while stipulating that Vietnam would be temporarily divided at the 17th parallel, with control of the north given to the Viet Minh as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh, and the south becoming the State of Vietnam, nominally under Emperor Bao Dai, preventing Ho Chi Minh from gaining control of the entire country. The refusal of Ngo Dinh Diem (the US-supported President of the first Republic of Vietnam (RVN) to allow elections in 1956, as had been stipulated by the Geneva Conference, eventually led to the Vietnam War.
The War Years: The Battle Of Dien Bien Phu, A Special Report By The Epic Award-Winning English-Narrated French Documentary Television Series, On The Battle Of Dien Bien Phu, The Climactic Confrontation Of The Vietnam War's First Indochina War Between The Victorious Viet Minh Communist Revolutionaries Of Ho Chi Minh And Vo Nguyen Giap And The Valiant But Vanquished French Union's Far East Expeditionary Corps, Presented In The Highest DVD Quality MPG Video Format Of 9.1 MBPS In An MP4 Video Download Or Archival Quality 9 Disc All Regions Format DVD Set! (Color, 1989, 46 Minutes.)
Assembled from private and national archives around the world, The War Years was originally produced in 1978 by the eminent French production company Pathe Cinema, using actual newsreels and films shot by cameramen of six countries. The War Years was later re-written and re-edited in 1989 by a production staff of Canadian and British specialists. Edward Herrman proudly hosts this dramatic and comprehensive re-creation of history.
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu, the climactic battle in the First Indochina War, began on March 13, 1954, when Viet Minh communist-nationalist revolutionaries under Vo Nguyen Giap unleashed a massive artillery barrage on the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps. The French Indochina War ended with the fall of Dien Bien Phu on May 7, 1954, marking Vietnam's victory over French colonial forces which were then forced to withdraw from northern Vietnam. 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 culminated in a comprehensive French defeat that influenced negotiations underway at Geneva among several nations over the future of Indochina. 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 in order to cripple them. The plan was to resupply the French position by air, and was based on the belief that the Viet Minh had no anti-aircraft capability. The Viet Minh, however, under General Vo Nguyen Giap, surrounded and besieged the French. The Viet Minh brought in vast amounts of heavy artillery (including antiaircraft guns). They moved these weapons through difficult terrain up the rear slopes of the mountains surrounding the French positions, dug tunnels through the mountain, and placed the artillery pieces overlooking the French encampment. This positioning of the artillery made it nearly impervious to French counter-battery fire. The Viet Minh opened fire with a massive artillery bombardment in March. After several days the French artillery commander, Charles Piroth, unable to respond with any effective counterbattery fire, committed suicide. The Viet Minh occupied the highlands around Dien Bien Phu and bombarded 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 the air resupply on which the French had placed their hopes became impossible. As the Viet Minh antiaircraft fire took its toll, fewer and fewer of those supplies reached the French. The garrison was overrun in May after a two-month siege, and most of the French forces surrendered. A few of them escaped to Laos. The French government in Paris then resigned, and the new Prime Minister, the left-of-centre Pierre Mendes 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. France agreed to withdraw its forces from all its colonies in French Indochina, while stipulating that Vietnam would be temporarily divided at the 17th parallel, with control of the north given to the Viet Minh as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh, and the south becoming the State of Vietnam, nominally under Emperor Bao Dai, preventing Ho Chi Minh from gaining control of the entire country. The refusal of Ngo Dinh Diem (the US-supported President of the first Republic of Vietnam (RVN) to allow elections in 1956, as had been stipulated by the Geneva Conference, eventually led to the Vietnam War.