A recipe for disaster: Underestimating the enemy and then losing track of him...

books:

	• The Undetected Enemy: French and American Miscalculations in Dien Bien Phu, 1953 (Texas a & M University ... John R., Jr. Nordell Texas A&M University Press, 1995 - 217 pages average customer review:based on 1 review view larger image
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A recipe for disaster: Underestimating the enemy and then losing track of him...

First of all, the reader must notice that this book does not actually cover the battle of Dien Bien Phu, since it is focused only on the last 40 days of 1953, starting with Operation Castor on November 20 and ending with General Navarre's first doubts about his ambitious plan. The main theme of the book is how the French military leadership (Navarre and Cogny) lost track (as the title implies) of three whole Viet Minh divisions (304, 308 and 312 plus the powerful 351 Heavy Division) after they succesfully established the Dien Bien Phu "airhead". Intitally they were sure that the French garrison would have to face only the 316 Division (and probably only parts of it) which was detected by air while moving to the western Tonking, but later, despite ample evidence of the enemy troops dispositions, they didn't alter their plans. They didn't launch also spoiling attacks elsewhere to disrupt enemy movements. The real reasons behind the Dien Bien Phu adventure was rather to protect the franco-phile Thais of the region, than to cover Laos. The book contains many documents of that period, complete with their official numbers, codes and short-writing style and some maps and black and white photos. It has also some useful information about the US attitude toward the French plans and the completely distorted operational and strategic view that the French Generals had at the time. I wish only, Mr Nordell had extended his analysis to the battle itself, adding a few more pages. A nice addition to the Dien Bien Phu list of titles.

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The French Indo-China War of 1946-54 was one of the longest and bloodiest conflicts of the twentieth century. Dien Bien Phu became the site of the decisive battle of the French Indo-China War. Indeed, the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu set the stage for America's own military involvement in Viet-Nam a decade later. Yet despite its historic importance, there is still uncertainty about why the French chose to fight in a location that, in hindsight, involved such risks. In The Undetected Enemy, John Nordell examines that question by telling the full story of the strategic, tactical, logistical, and intelligence considerations that underlay the French decision. This book also gives close attention to the reaction of the Eisenhower administration to the French seizure of Dien Bien Phu, an important part of the story that, until now, has been overlooked. Using war memoirs, press coverage, and archived documents only recently declassified, the author weaves a compelling narrative of rapidly unfolding developments in Dien Bien Phu, Hanoi, Saigon, and Washington, D.C.

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