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".
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.
René Bail, Dernier baroud a Diên Biên Phu. Paris: Grancher, 1990. 252 pp.
René Bail, Diên Biên Phu. (Bayeux?): Heimdal, 1997. viii, 167 pp.
Erwan Bergot, 2ème classe à Dien Bien Phu. Paris: La Table Ronde, 1964. 328 pp.
Erwan Bergot, Les 170 jours de Dien Bien Phu. Paris: Presses de la Cité, 1979. 319 pp.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 in chunks. Part 1 (pp. 7-104) contain a large quantity of material on the Geneva Conference.
"The Geneva Conference of 1954: New Evidence from the Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China." Introduction by Chen Jian and Shen Zhihua (pp. 7-9). Zhang Sulin, "The Declassification of Chinese Foreign Ministry Archival Documents: A Brief Introduction" (pp. 10-11); Translated texts of documents (pp. 12-84).
"Russian Documents on the 1954 Geneva Conference." Introduction by Paul Wingrove (p. 85). Translated texts of documents (pp. 86-103).
Jean Collet, Avoir 20 ans à Diên Biên Phu: recit. Paris: Bruyère, 1994. 227 pp.
Captain Stephen L. Curtis, "Fire Support and the Maneuver Commander at Dien Bien Phu: Tradegy and Triumph." Field Artillery, August 1990, pp. 30-35.
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. New York: Praeger, 1969. French original La fin d'une guerre: Indochine, 1954. Paris: Le Seuil, 1960.
Roger Delpey, Dien-Bien-Phu: l'affaire. Paris: Éditions de la Pensée Moderne, 1974.
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: Counter Air Turns the Tide." Air Defense Artillery, Fall 1986.
"Dien Bien Phu 1954: A Historical Perspective." Infantry, 84:5 (Sep-Oct 1994).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Hoang Van Thai, Cuoc tien cong chien luoc Dong Xuan, 1954-1954. Hanoi: NXB Quan Doi Nhan Dan, 1984. 152 pp.
Hoang Van Thai, Dien Bien Phu, chian dich lich su: hoi uc. Hanoi: NXB Quan Doi Nhan Dan, 1994. 185 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 and Hugues Tertrais, eds., Paroles de Dien Bien Phu: les survivants temoignent. Paris: Tallandier, 2004. 414 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.
Joseph Laniel, Le drame indochinois, de Dien Bien Phu au pari de Genève. Paris: Plon, 1957.
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.
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.
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)
Henri Le Mire, Epervier, le 8e Choc à Dien Bien Phu. Paris: Albin Michel, 1988.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Robert F. Randle, Geneva 1954: The Settlement of the Indochinese War. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969. xviii, 639 pp.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Tran Ku, Lam bao o Dien Bien Phu (A journalist at Dien Bien Phu). Hanoi: NXB Quan Doi Nhan Dan, 1994. 88 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. 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, 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.
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."
Jon Western, Selling Intervention and War: The Presidency, the Media, and the American Public. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. 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.
Next section: Temporary Peace and Renewed War, 1954-1964
Copyright © 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, Edwin E. Moise. This document may be reproduced only by permission. Last revised September 9, 2008.