Vietnam War Bibliography:

The End: Dien Bien Phu and the Geneva Conference

"1954 Geneva Conference on Indochina" A collection of documents in English translation, mostly Chinese, some Soviet. The collection is online in the Digital Archive of the Woodrow Wilson Center.

Pierre Accoce, Médecins à Diên Biên Phu. Paris: Presses de la Cité, 1992. 239 pp.

ACofS, J-5, MACV, "Strategic/Tactical Study." March 1968. A comparison of Khe Sanh with Dien Bien Phu. This document has been placed on-line in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University, in two parts: front matter, main text, Annex A ("Study of Dien Bien Phu Battle"), Annex B up to page B-1-22;   Annex B from page B-1-23 onward; Annexes C, D, E, F, G, H; Part II, "Enemy Alternatives 1968".

Denise Artaud and Lawrence Kaplan, eds., Dien Bien Phu: l'alliance atlantique et la défense du Sud-Est asiatique. Lyon: La Manufacture, 1989. 419 pp.

Pierre Asselin, "Choosing Peace: Hanoi and the Geneva Agreement on Vietnam, 1954-1955." Journal of Cold War Studies 9:2 (Spring 2007), pp. 95-126. Argues that DRV acceptance of the Geneva Accords was more a Vietnamese decision, and less a matter of Sino-Soviet pressure, than has usually been thought. I am not sure how accessible the online version is.

Pierre Asselin, "The Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the 1954 Geneva Conference: A revisionist critique," Cold War History, 11:2 (May 2011), pp. 155- .

René Bail, Dernier baroud a Diên Biên Phu. Paris: Grancher, 1990. 252 pp.

René Bail, Diên Biên Phu. (Bayeux?): Heimdal, 1997. viii, 167 pp.

Jean Balazuc, Diên-Biên-Phu: 20 Novembre 1953 – 7 Mai 1954. Paris: l'Harmattan, 2020. 352 pp.

Erwan Bergot, Les 170 jours de Dien Bien Phu. Paris: Presses de la Cité, 1979. 319 pp.

Erwan Bergot, Les 170 jours de Dien Bien Phu, convoi 42: document. Paris: Presses de la Cité, 2004. 578 pp. Apparently a single volume combining Bergot's book on Dien Bien Phu with one he wrote about World War II.

Erwan Bergot, 2ème classe à Dien Bien Phu. Paris: La Table Ronde, 1964. 328 pp. Paris: Presses de la Cité, 1988. 308 pp. I believe this is a novel.

Marc D. Bernstein, "Setting the Stage for Dien Bien Phu," Vietnam Magazine, October 2007, pp. 41-47. The Viet Minh invasion of Laos in 1953.

Marc Bertin, Packet sur Diên Biên Phu: la vie quoditienne d'un pilote de transport. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1991. 155 pp.

Georges Bidault, D'une résistance à l'autre. Paris: Les Presses du Siècle, 1965. 382 pp. Translated from the French by Marianne Sinclair as Resistance: The Political Autobiography of Georges Bidault. New York: Praeger, 1967/London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1967. xx, 348 pp. French Minister for Foreign Affairs from January 1953 until June 18, 1954.

Lucien Bornert, . Paris: Nouvelles Presses Mondiales.

Paul Boury, Dien Bien Phu: pourquoi? comment? et après? Dijon: Clea, 2004. xv, 297 pp. Preface by Général de Biré.

Kevin M. Boylan, "No 'Technical Knockout': Giap's Artillery at Dien Bien Phu." Journal of Military History, 78:4 (October 2014), pp. 1349-83. Extremely interesting; argues that the Viet Minh had considerably less artillery at Dien Bien Phu than many Western accounts (especially Bernard Fall's) have suggested.

Kevin Boylan and Luc Olivier, Valley of the Shadow: The Siege of Dien Bien Phu. London: Bloomsbury, 2018. pb Oxford and New York: Osprey, 2019. 368 pp.

Henri de Brancion, Dien Bien Phu--Artilleurs dans la fournaise. Paris: Presses de la Cité, 1993. 297 pp.

Roger Bruge, Les hommes de Dien Bien Phu. Paris: Perrin, 1999. 611 pp.

James Cable, The Geneva Conference of 1954 on Indochina. London: Macmillan, 1986/New York: St. Martin's, 1986. xii, 179 pp. By a member of the British delegation at the conference.

Ivan Cadeau, Dien bian phu: 13 mars - 7 mai 1954. Paris: Tallandier, 2013. 206 pp. Vietnamese translation Dien Bien Phu: 13/3-07-5/1954. Hanoi: Thong Tin va Truyen Thong, 2019. 270 pp.

Canada, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Documents on Canadian External Relations, vol. 20, 1954. Edited by Greg Donaghy and Ted Kelly. Ottawa: Canadian Government Printing Office, 1997. 1925 pp. The full text has been placed online by the Canadian government. The Indochina section, in chapter VII, contains 91 documents. The Geneva Conference, by making Canada a member of the International Control Commission, got Canada much more involved with Indochina than it ever had been before.

Philip E. Catton, "'It Would Be a Terrible Thing if We Handed These People over to the Communists': The Eisenhower Administration, Article 14(d), and the Origins of the Refugee Exodus from North Vietnam," Diplomatic History 39:2 (April 2015), pp. 331-358.

Chien thang Dien Bien Phu, cot moc vang lich su. Hanoi: NXB Chinh Tri Quoc Gia, 2004. 397 pp.

Chien thang lich su Dien Bien Phu: mot so van kien Dang (The historic victory of Dien Bien Phu: some Party documents). Hanoi: Su That, 1984. 150 pp.

Chien thang Dien Bien Phu va chien truong Dong Nam Bo, cuc Nam Trung Bo: ky yeu hoi thao khoa hoc. Hanoi: NXB Chinh Tri Quoc Gia, 2004. 706 pp.

Marquis Childs, The Ragged Edge: The Diary of a Crisis. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1955. 251 pp.

Cold War International History Project Bulletin, Issue 16 (Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center, 2008), has been placed online by the Woodrow Wilson Center. It contains a considerable number of Chinese and Soviet documents on the Geneva Conference.

Jean Collet, Avoir 20 ans à Diên Biên Phu: recit. Paris: Bruyère, 1994. 227 pp.

Contribution to the History of Dien Bien Phu. Hanoi: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1965. 247 pp.

Mark E. Cunningham and Lawrence Jude Zwier, The Aftermath of the French Defeat in vietnam. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books, 2010. 160 pp. For young readers.

Captain Stephen L. Curtis, "Fire Support and the Maneuver Commander at Dien Bien Phu: Tragedy and Triumph." Field Artillery, August 1990, pp. 30-35.

Dai hoc quoc gia TP Ho Chi Minh, Chien thang Dien Bien Phu va chien truong nam bo: hoi thao ky niem 50 nam chien thang lich su Dien Bien Phu. TP Ho Chi Minh: NXB Dai Hoc Quoc Gia, 2004. 1028 pp.

Danh lan: tap hoi ky Dien-bien-phu. Hanoi: Quan Doi Nhan Dan, 1964. 151 pp.

Philippe Devillers and Jean Lacouture, End of a War: Indochina, 1954. New York: Praeger, 1969. xii, 412 pp. French original La fin d'une guerre: Indochine, 1954. Paris: Le Seuil, 1960. 381 pp.

Roger Delpey, Dien-Bien-Phu: l'affaire. Paris: Éditions de la Pensée Moderne, 1974.

Department of External Affairs, Australia: The Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University, has begun to place online a number of messages between the Ministry of External Affairs and various Australian diplomatic posts, plus a few other documemts from Australian archives. These are in the Ronald Frankum Collection. Some of the ones from the period of the Geneva Conference reveal interesting things not only about Australian policy toward Indochina, but also about American policy. For a partial listing, with links, see Australia and New Zealand.

Major General William E. DePuy, SACSA, "Comparison of the Khe Sanh Campaign with Dien Bien Phu," undated (no earlier than January 29, 1968, maybe not until February). Includes some details on order of battle and numbers of weapons that I have not seen elsewhere. The text has been placed on-line in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University.

Dien Bien Phu: Before, During, After. Hanoi, 1975. 130 pp.

"Dien Bien Phu: Counter Air Turns the Tide." Air Defense Artillery, Fall 1986.

Dien Bien Phu: History, Impression, Memoirs. Hanoi: The Gioi, 2004. 156 pp.

"Dien Bien Phu 1954: A Historical Perspective." Infantry, 84:5 (Sep-Oct 1994).

Dinh Xuan Dung, ed., Dien Bien Phu: tuyen tap hoi ky (trong nuoc). Hanoi: NXB Chinh tri quoc gia, 2004. 1053 pp.

Arthur J. Dommen, "France's Grant of Independence to Vietnam in 1954." Paper presented to the French Colonial Historical Society, May 18, 1989. The text has been placed on-line in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University, in two parts: pp. 1-38, pp. 39-66,

Captain Kevin J. Dougherty, "The Viet-Minh at Dien Bien Phu: Artillery in a Mountainous Environment." Field Artillery, August 1993, pp. 16-19.

Anthony Eden, The Memoirs of Anthony Eden: Full Circle. Boston, 1960. As Foreign Secretary, Eden was the British representative at the Geneva Conference.

Bernard Fall, Hell in a Very Small Place. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1966. xii, 515 pp. The battle of Dien Bien Phu (1954), which helped to persuade the French that they had lost the war.

Bernard B. Fall, "The Cease-Fire in Indochina -- An Appraisal" and "The Cease-Fire in Indochina -- An Appraisal, II", Far Eastern Survey 23:9 (September 1954), pp. 135-139, and 23:10 (October 1954), pp.152-155. If you browse the Internet through an institution that has subscribed to JSTOR, you can access the text directly through the links above or go through the JSTOR Far Eastern Survey browse page.

Bernard B. Fall, "The Geneva Agreement--How the French Got Out of Vietnam." New York Times Sunday Magazine, May 2, 1965, pp. 28, 113-19. Reprinted under the title "Settlement at Geneva--Then and Now" in Bernard Fall, Viet-Nam Witness (New York: Praeger, 1966), pp. 69-83.

Georges Fleury, ' Adieu sergent. Paris: Grasset, 1984. 346 pp.

Georges de Fondaumière L'Indochine et Diên Biên Phu: le chagrin d'une armée. Nice: France Europe, 2004. 343 pp. Preface by Général Marcel Bigeard.

André Galabru, La victoire avortée: Dien Bien Phu, printemps 1954. Preface du général Bigeard; postface du colonel Allaire. Saint-Cloud: Editions Atlante, 2004. 222 pp.

Geneviève de Galard, Une femme à Dien Bien Phu. (Paris?): Les Arènes, 2003. de Galard was accidentally stranded at Dien Bien Phu for the last two months of the battle, when the plane on which she served as a nurse landed at Dien Bien Phu to pick up wounded, and was unable to take off again. She cared for the wounded both before and after the fall of Dien Bien Phu.

Geneviève de Galard, The Angel of Dien Bien Phu: The Lone French woman at the Decisive Battle for Vietnam. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2010. xiv, 183 pp. An English translation of the above item.

Hugo Génin, La mémoire des parachutistes à Dien Bien Phu: 13 mars - 7 mai 1954: entretiens et récit anthropologique. Panazol: Lavauzelle, 2004. 225 pp.

Robert Genty, Ultime secours pour Dien Bien Phu, 1953-1954. Paris: l'Harmattan, 1994. 159 pp. Genty headed a project for weather modification, designed to promote rain at Dien Bien Phu in order to impede Viet Minh operations.

Marcel Georges, Go sur Diên Biên Phu. Paris: France-Empire, 1992. 331 pp.

Christopher E. Goscha, "'Hell in a Very Small Place': Cold War and Decolonisation in the Assault on the Vietnamese Body at Dien Bien Phu," European Journal of East Asian Studies 9:2 (2010), pp. 201-23.

Rebecca Grant, "Dien Bien Phu." Air Force Magazine, August 2004 (87:8). The text has been placed online.

Paul Grauwin, Doctor at Dien-Bien-Phu. London: Hutchinson, 1955; New York: John Day, 1955. 304 pp. Translated by James Oliver. French original: J'étais médecin à Dien-Bien-Phu. Paris: France-Empire, 1954. 382 pp. Reprinted Paris: France-Empire, 2003.

Daniel P.O. Greene, Tug of War: The Eisenhower Administration and Vietnam, 1953-1955. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas, 1990. 514 pp.

Alain Griotteray, Diên Biên Phu: pourquoi en est-on arrivé là. Monaco: Rocher, 2004. 162 pp.

Robert Guillain, Diên Biên Phu: la fin des illusions: notes d'Indochine, février-juillet 1954. Paris: Arléa, 2004. 192 pp.

Melvin Gurtov, The First Vietnam Crisis: Chinese Communist Strategy and United States Involvement, 1953-1954. New York: Columbia University Press, 1967. xxiv, 228 pp. The full text is available online to paid subscribers of Questia.

Melvin Gurtov, Negotiations and Vietnam: A Case Study of the 1954 Geneva Conference. RM-5617-ISA/ARPA (Part I). Santa Monica: Rand, July 1968. xvii, 82 pp.

First Lieutenant John A. Hamilton, Jr., and Larry M. Kaplan, "Le Roi des Batailles: The Decisive Role of Artillery at Dien Bien Phu." The Field Artillery Journal, April 1983, pp. 26-30.

George Herring and Richard Immerman, "Eisenhower, Dulles, and Dienbienphu: 'The Day We Didn't Go To War' Revisited," Journal of American History, September 1984, pp. 343-63.

Hoang Duc Nhuan, ed., Dien Bien Phu, qua nhung trang hoi uc. 3 vols. Hanoi: NXB Quan Doi Nhan Dan, 2004.

Hoang Van Thai, Cuoc tien cong chien luoc Dong Xuan, 1953-1954. Hanoi: NXB Quan Doi Nhan Dan, 1984. 152 pp.

Hoang Van Thai, Dien Bien Phu, chien dich lich su: hoi uc. Hanoi: NXB Quan Doi Nhan Dan, 1994. 185 pp. 2d ed., revised and expanded, Hanoi: NXB Quan Doi Nhan Dan, 2001. 163 pp.

"The 1954 Geneva Conference." Originally a top secret document; declassified in 1979. The text has been placed on-line in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project at Texas Tech University, without any identifying information (author or date), in three parts: pp. i-xviii, 1-19, pp. 20-59, pp. 60-86.

Pierre Journoud, Diên Biên Phu: La fin d'un monde. Vendemiere, 2019. 608 pp.

Pierre Journoud and Hugues Tertrais, eds., Paroles de Dien Bien Phu: les survivants temoignent. Paris: Tallandier, 2004. 414 pp. Paris: Tallandier, 2012. 416 pp.

Pierre Journoud and Hugues Tertrais, eds., 1954-2004: la bataille de Dien Bien Phu entre histoire et mémoire. Paris/Saint-Denis: Société française d'histoire d'outre-mer, 2004. 257 pp.

François Joyaux, La Chine et le reglement du premier conflit d'Indochine (Geneve 1954). Paris: Sorbonne, 1979.

Lawrence S. Kaplan, Denise Artaud, & Mark R. Rubin, eds., Dien Bien Phu and the Crisis of Franco-American Relations, 1954-1955. Wilmington, DE: SR Books, 1990. 286 pp. A brief skim suggests that this book describes the US government viewpoint without analysis of the fallacies of that viewpoint.

John Keegan, Dien Bien Phu. New York: Ballantine, 1974. 160 pp.

Pierre Langlais, Dien Bien Phu. Paris: Éditions France-Empire, 1963. 261 pp. Paris: Presses Pocket, 1969. 253 pp.

Joseph Laniel, Le drame indochinois, de Dien Bien Phu au pari de Genève. Paris: Plon, 1957. vii, 140 pp. Laniel was prime minister of France from July 1953 to June 1954.

Denis Lassus, Mark Bruschi, Paul Villatoux, and Olivier Bellec, Indochine: Dien Bien Phu et les combats de l'impossible. Saint-Pierre-du-Perray: Memorabilia, 2020. 159 pp. Includes numerous color photos.

Le Manh Thai, Hoi cung tu binh Dien Bien: hoi ky. TP Ho Chi Minh: Van nghe, 1987. 153 pp.

Christian C. Lentz, Contested Territory: Dien Bien Phu and the Making of Northwest Vietnam. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019. xviii, 331 pp.

Guy Leonetti, ed., Lettres de Dien Bien Phu: témoignages. Paris: Fayard, 2004. 505 pp.

Jean-David Levitte, Ambassador of France to the United States, "Presentation of the Insignia of Knights of the Legion of Honor to Seven CAT Pilots at Dien Bien Phu," February 24, 2005. Includes considerable details about the role of CAT (a CIA proprietary) in the support of Dien Bien Phu. The text has been placed on-line in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project at Texas Tech University.

Charles Maisonneuve, Dien Bien Phu: les chevaliers condamnés de l'armée coloniale. Clichy: Larivière, 2005. 175 pp.

LTC Norman E. Martin, "Dien Bien Phu and the Future of Airborne Operations." Military Review, XXXVI:3 (June 1956), pp. 19-26.

Pierre Mendes-France, Gouverner c'est choisir 1954-1955. Paris: Gallimard, 1986. Mendes France became prime minister of France in June 1954.

Pierre Mendes-France, Dire la vérité: causeries du samedi, juin 1954-février 1955. Paris: Julliard, 1955. 63 pp. Saturday talks to the French people. Should contain some interesting material.

Pierre Mendes France, Face to Face with Asia. New York: Liveright, 1974. xi, 255 pp. Translated from the French by Susan Danon. I am not sure whether this goes back as far as 1954.

Pierre Mendes France, Oeuvres complètes. 6 vols. Paris: Gallimard, 1984-1990.

André Mengelle, Diên-Biên-Phu: des chars et des hommes. Paris: Lavauzelle, 1996. 399 pp.

P.A.J. (Pieter) Meulendijks, "Shifting Images of the Dien Bien Phu Crisis of 1954" SHAFR Newsletter, 32:3 (September 2001), pp, 1-34.

P.A.J. (Pieter) Meulendijks, Verschuivende beelden van de Dien Bien Phoe-crisis van 1954. Nijmegen, 2000. 523 pp.

Henri Le Mire, Epervier, le 8e Choc à Dien Bien Phu. Paris: Albin Michel, 1988.

Franck Mirmont, with Heinrich Bauer, Jean Carpentier, Jean Guêtre, Pierre Latanne, Bernard Ledogar, and Jean-Louis Rondy, Le chemins de Diên Biên Phu: l'histoire vraie de six hommes que le destin va projeter dans la guerre d'Indochine. Paris: Nimrod, 2015. 576 pp. Based on interviews with six men who served at Dien Bien Phu. Bauer was a German in the Foreign Legion.

Ted Morgan, Valley of Death: The Tragedy at Dien Bien Phu that Led America into the Vietnam War. New York: Random House, 2010. 752 pp. Actually traces the background of the Indochina War back to World War II. I was not impressed by the sources listed.

Raymond Muelle, Combats on pays thai de Lai Chau à Dien Bien Phu, 1953-1954. Paris: Presses de la Cité, 1999. 320 pp. Thai partisans under French leadership.

Giorgio Adamo Muzzati, Là où l'on muert--peut-être. Paris: Italiques, 2004. 415 pp. I believe Muzzati was in the Foreign Legion.

Nguyen Tan, Chuyen o doi A1. Hanoi: NXB Kim Dong, 2004. 155 pp.

Nguyen Tri Viet, Nhung ngay Dien bien Phu: hoi ky. TP Ho Chi Minh: Nha xuat ban Tre, 2004. 153 pp.

John R. Nordell, Jr., The Undetected Enemy: French and American Miscalculations at Dien Bien Phu, 1953.. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1995. 224 pp. The full text is available online if you browse the Internet through an institution that is affiliated with netLibrary.

Pierre Pellissier, Dien Bien Phu: 20 novembre 1953 - 7 mai 1954. Paris: Perrin, 2004. 622 pp.

The "Pentagon Papers" A detailed history of U.S. policy toward Vietnam, written inside the Defense Department between 1967 and 1969, accompanied by many of the documents that the authors had used as sources. Originally it was classified "top secret." Large portions were published in 1971, and substantial portions—well over 2,000 pages—are available online.

"Perspective: Dien Bien Phu." Infantry, May-June 1965.

Pham Hong Vu, Am vang Dien Bien Phu. Hanoi: NXB Than Nien, 2004. 163 pp.

Nicolas Pontic and Yves Buffetaut, Diên Biên Phu 1954. Louviers, France: Ysec Editions, 2019. 98 pp. I am not sure whether Pontic or Buffetaut was actually the primary author.

Peter A. Poole, Dien Bien Phu, 1954: The Battle that Ended the First Indochina War. New York: Franklin Watts, 1972. 90 pp. For young readers.

Douglas Porch, The French Secret Services: From the Dreyfus Affair to the Gulf War. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995. 623 pp. Chapter 14 (pp. 339–357) deals with Dien Bien Phu.

Jean Pouget, Nous étions à Dien Bien Phu. Paris: Presses de la Cité, 1964. 446 pp. Said to be very good.

John Prados, The Sky Would Fall. New York: Dial, 1983. xi, 242 pp. The story of how the U.S., which was providing the French with a lot of military assistance, seriously considered sending the U.S. Air Force in to provide direct combat support to the French forces during the battle of Dien Bien Phu. Two revised versions have been published, each substantially different from the one before:

John Prados, "Mechanics at the Edge of War: U.S. Ground Forces in Vietnam in 1954", in The VVA Veteran, 22:8 (August 2002), pp. 19-21. Not really what are normally called "ground forces;" Prados is writing about USAF mechanics, with occasional comments on a unit of USAF pilots flying C-119s.

Quan va dan Tay Bac voi chien thang Dien Bien Phu: ky you hoi thao khoa hoc. Hanoi: NXB Quan doi nhan dan, 1999. 467 pp.

Quan Van Tai, Dien bien ngay ay: truyen ky. Hanoi: Van hoa dan toc, 2003. 120 pp.

Robert F. Randle, Geneva 1954: The Settlement of the Indochinese War.  Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969.  xviii, 639 pp.

"Rapport concernant la conduite des operations en Indochine sous la direction du général Navarre," in Georgette Elgey, Histoire de la IVe République: La république des contradictions, 1951–1954 (Paris, 1968), pp. 551–623. Report of a committee of inquiry chaired by Général Georges Catroux.

Lucia Rather, "The Geneva Conference of 1954: Problems in Allied Unity," Ph.D. dissertation, George Washington University, 1994.

Jean Renald, L'enfer de Dien Bien Phu. Paris: Flammarion, 1955. 222 pp.

Patrick-Charles Renaud, Aviateurs en Indochine: Diên Biên Phu, de novembre 1952 à juin 1954. Paris: Grancher, 2003. 351 pp.

Pierre Rocolle, Pourquoi Dien Bien Phu?. Paris: Flammarion, 1968. 605 pp.

Jules Roy, The Battle of Dien Bien Phu.  New York: Harper & Row, 1965.  xx, 344 pp.  (French original: La bataille de Dien Bien Phu.  Paris:  Julliard, 1963.  621 pp.) Jules Roy had served as a French officer in Indochina earlier in the war, but was not a participant in this battle. The English translation has an introduction by Neil Sheehan that expresses pessimism about the American war in Vietnam.

Kevin Ruane and Matthew Jones, Anthony Eden, Anglo-American Relations and the 1954 Indochina Crisis. London: Bloomsbury, 2019. 384 pp.

Alain Ruscio, Dien Bien Phu: la fin d'une illusion. Paris: l'Harmattan, 1986. 124 pp.

Alain Ruscio and Serge Tignères, Dien Bien Phu: mythes et réalités: cinquante ans de passions françaises, 1954-2004. Paris: Les Indes Savantes, 2005. 413 pp.

Général Maurice Schmitt, De Diên Biên Phu à Koweït City (From Dien Bien Phu to Kuwait City). Paris: Grasset, 1992. 309 pp. Schmitt, a lieutenant of artillery, parachuted into Dien Bien Phu on May 1, 1954.

Pierre Schoendoerffer, Dien Bien Phu: de la bataille au film. Paris: Editions Lincoln/Fixot: Diffusion Hachette, 1992. 160 pp.

Dennis E. Showalter, "Dien Bien Phu in Three Cultures." War and Society 16:2 (October 1998). How the battle has been remembered in France, Vietnam, and the United States.

Howard R. Simpson, Dien Bien Phu: The Epic Battle America Forgot. McLean, VA: Brassey's, 1994. 181 pp. By an eyewitness.

Howard R. Simpson, "Dien Bien Phu Diary." Army, May 1987, pp. 62-73.

Howard R. Simpson, "Lessons of Dien Bien Phu." Military Review, 72:1 (January 1992), pp. 62-72.

"Stalingrad and Dien Bien Phu: Two Cases of Failure in Strategic Resupply." Aerospace Historian, Sum-Fall 1970.

David Stone, Dien Bien Phu. London: Brassey's, 2004. 128 pp.

Thanh Huyen Dao et al., ] Chuyen nhung nguoi lam nen lich su: hoi uc Dien Bien Phu, 1954-2009 (Stories of people who made history: memories of Dien Bien Phu, 1954-2009). Hanoi: NXB Chinh tri quoc gia, 2009.

Tran Do, Recits sur Dien Bien Phu. Hanoi: Éditions en langues étrangères, 1962. 94 pp.

Tran Ku, Lam bao o Dien Bien Phu (A journalist at Dien Bien Phu). Hanoi: NXB Quan Doi Nhan Dan, 1994. 88 pp.

Anthony Tucker-Jones, Dien Bien Phu: The First Indochina War, 1946-1954. Pen and Sword, 2017. 128 pp. Mostly this is an overall history of the war, though a significan section deals with Dien Bien Phu.

Vien khoa hoc xa hoi nhan van quan su, Chien thang Dien Bien Phu, nhin tu suc manh chinh tri-tinh than. Hanoi: NXB Quan Doi Nhan Dan, 2004. 290 pp.

Vien lich su quan su Viet Nam, Chien thang Dien Bien Phu, moc vang lich su, chan ly thoi dai. Hanoi: NXB Quan Doi Nhan Dan, 2004. 859 pp.

Vo Nguyen Giap, Dien Bien Phu. Revised and enlarged edition. Hanoi: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1964. 254 pp.

Vo Nguyen Giap, Dien Bien Phu. 4th ed.: Hanoi: NXB Quan Doi Nhan Dan, 1969. 165 pp.

Vo Nguyen Giap, Dien Bien Phu. 2d ed.: Hanoi: Su That, 1976. 80 pp. 5th ed.: Hanoi: The Gioi, 1994. 166 pp. 7th ed. Hanoi: The Gioi, 2004. viii, 261 pp.

Vo Nguyen Giap, Dien Bien Phu: The Most Difficult Decision and Other Writings. Hanoi: The Gioi, 1992. 75 pp.

Vo Nguyen Giap, Dien Bien Phu. Hanoi: Chinh Tri Quoc Gia, 1994. 362 pp. Revised edition: Hanoi: Chinh Tri Quoc Gia, 1998. 370 pp.

Vo Nguyen Giap, Dien Bien Phu, diem hen lich su. Hanoi: NXB Quan Doi Nhan Dan, 2000. 476 pp. Second edition, revised: Hanoi: NXB Quan Doi Nhan Dan, 2001. 452 pp.

Vo Nguyen Giap, Dien Bien Phu: Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap's most difficult decision in his life as commander: selected writings. Hanoi: The Gioi, 2004. 142 pp.

Vo Nguyen Giap, with Huu Mai, Dien Bien Phu: Rendezvous with History: A Memoir. Hanoi: The Gioi, 2004. 479 pp. An annotated translation by Lady Borton of the preceding item.

Vo Nguyen Giap, Mémoires, 1946-1954, 3 vols. Paris: Anako, 2003-2004. Vol. II, Le chemin menant à Diên Biên Phu, covers late 1950 to late 1953. Vol. III, Diên Biên Phu, Le rendez-vous de l'histoire, covers the end of the First Indochina War.

Vo Nguyen Giap et al., Mot vai hoi uc ve Dien-Bien-Phu. Hanoi: Quan Doi Nhan Dan, 1964. 293 pp.

James Waite, The End of the First Indochina War: A Global History. New York: Routledge (Taylor & Francis), 2012. ix, 299 pp.

James D.A. Waite, "The end of the first Indochina war: An international history." Ph.D. dissertation, History, Ohio University, 2005. 568 pp. AAT 3191721. The full text is available online if you are browsing the Internet from an institution, such as Clemson University, that has a subscription to ProQuest "Dissertations and Theses: Full Text."

Tao Wang, Isolating the Enemy: Diplomatic Strategy in China and the United States, 1953-1956. New York: Columbia University Press, 2021. xiii, 318 pp. Two chapters, focusing on Chinese policy (pp. 25-60) and on US policy (pp. 61-88) deal with the Geneva Conference on Indochina.

Jon Western, Selling Intervention and War: The Presidency, the Media, and the American Public. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. xi, 305 pp. pp. 26-61 deal with the U.S. decision not to intervene at Dien Bien Phu.

Martin Windrow, The Last Valley: Dien Bien Phu and the French Defeat in Vietnam. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo, 2004. 734 pp.

Richard Worth, Dien Bien Phu. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2002. 106 pp. Intended for young readers.

 

Overall histories of the First Indochina War often, of course, include discussion of the events that ended that war; see World War II and the First Indochina War.

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Copyright © 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, Edwin E. Moise. This document may be reproduced only by permission. Last revised January 13, 2023.