Since
the Vietnamese people’s army’s victory over the French put an end to
the war. The region has become famous in the world.
The
valley of Dien Bien Phu was chosen by the French general Henri Navarre
as a strong camp to confine the “Viet Minh”. Six battalions, heavily
equipped, parachuted the region. But on May 7, 1945, after 57 days and
nights’ fighting, the French forces surrendered to the Vietnamese army.
People can find the vestiges of the ancient battlefields: the trenches,
the bunkers and bases on the hills A1, C3, Him Lam, Doc Lap… (the French
gave them ladies’ names: Beatrice, Eliane, Diminique, Claudine…), the
old reconstructed commanding post of General De Castries, inaugurated
in 1994 for the 40th anniversary of the victory.
The area is 18 km long and 4 km wide
with a military airport and is a very beautiful valley surrounded by
the river of Namyoum and the high mountains. The pan-like valley of
Dien Bien Phu inhabited by 60,000 people nowadays is a peaceful and
tranquil valley with different ethnic minorities: The Thai, the Muong,
the Nung, the Khu, the Lao and the Kinh. They still remain their primitive
life.
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