By Lucy Adautin
Vietnam on Tuesday celebrated its 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu battle, where Vietnamese forces defeated the French colonial army, marking the conclusion of French rule in Indochina.
The event took place at a stadium in Dien Bien Phu, once a battleground and now a city of over 80,000 residents.
Led by General Vo Nguyen Giap, Vietnamese troops stunned the French with heavy artillery fire in the mountainous garrison of northwestern Vietnam. The fall of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 signaled the demise of nearly a century of French colonial dominance.
For the first time, Vietnam extended an invitation to a government minister from the former colonial power to participate in official celebrations, attracting 12,000 attendees, featuring a gun salute, howitzer and helicopter demonstrations.
French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh are among the dignitaries attending the two-hour ceremony, drawing significant interest from tourists and residents of the northwestern Dien Bien province, adjacent to Laos.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said in a speech “The historic Dien Bien Phu victory is a remarkable event, not only for the Vietnamese revolution, It is also a monumental saga that inspired countries rising up to fight for independence and freedom, marking the collapse of the colonialism all over the world.”
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Chinh said the battle of Dien Bien Phu represented a “victory for justice”, marking the collapse of colonialism. “Many martyrs cannot be identified, their blood in this northwestern area was shed for our happiness today.”
At the Dien Bien Phu city’s stadium, 90-year-old veteran Pham Duc Cu spoke on behalf of his fallen comrades.
“It moves me to remember the people who died to achieve this earth-shaking victory, the war has passed. We are so proud to have contributed to making a heroic and beautiful Dien Bien,” he said.
The speeches followed 21 rounds of fireworks and the Vietnamese national anthem before a huge military parade got underway. 11 helicopters flew over the stadium carrying the flags of Vietnam and the Communist Party.
Outside the stadium, crowds of thousands dressed in ao dai, the traditional Vietnamese attire, alongside individuals adorned in the distinctive clothing of local Thai and Hmong ethnic minorities, lined the streets to witness the parade.
France capitulated to the advancing Viet Minh forces on May 7, 1954, concluding 56 days of relentless shelling and intense hand-to-hand combat. The conflict resulted in approximately 13,000 casualties, including 10,000 Viet Minh soldiers reported dead or missing.
“I fired a shot which hit two people, killing one on the spot and the other one with one more shot,” recalled veteran infantry soldier Hoang Van Bay, 93.
“Injuries and deaths were normal on the battlefield, nothing to be scared of. We fought for our independence and freedom,” Bay told AFP, adding he visited his fallen comrades at Dien Bien Phu city’s cemetery every year.
The French force about 15,000 men of many nationalities had underestimated the firepower of the communist forces, who managed to install artillery on the hills overlooking the French camp.
In a staggering feat of military logistics, the Viet Minh had transported the heavy weaponry in pieces hundreds of kilometres through the jungle, sometimes by bicycle.
Their victory later led to the Geneva Accords on July 21, 1954, which marked the end of almost a century of French domination in Indochina and the partition of Vietnam, a prelude to future American involvement.
Relations between the two former enemies are now cordial, despite the human rights abuses of which the communist government is regularly accused.
The tree-lined streets of Dien Bien Phu were adorned with communist slogans and banners carrying photos of independence hero Ho Chi Minh and General Vo Nguyen Giap, commander in chief of the Dien Bien Phu campaign.
The province’s battle sites are also undergoing a major facelift, with the Vietnamese authorities keen to turn the area into a tourism hotspot.
“Twenty years ago, it (the commemoration) was much more discreet. There was a sort of holding back on the Vietnamese side because May 7 is sacred for them, we are seeing more openness today” said Pierre Journoud, professor of contemporary history at Paul Valery-Montpellier University, who is attending the commemorations.
He noted that Vietnam’s invitation to Lecornu mirrors shared political objectives, given the simmering tensions between Hanoi and Beijing regarding their conflicting territorial assertions in the South China Sea.
He added, “Following the United States and China, France aspires to be a significant voice in the Asia-Pacific region, aligning with Vietnam’s stance, which finds itself squeezed between two competing forces.”
