The year 2014 marks the 60th anniversary of the end of France’s wars in Indochina (1946-July 1954) and the battle of Dien Bien Phu.
A commemorative ceremony took place at the War Memorial in the presence of civil and military authorities.
The battle of Dien Bien Phu began on November 20, 1953, and ended in a bloodbath after 57 days of intense fighting.
Overwhelmed by numbers and subjected to relentless bombardments, the French forces commanded by Colonel de Castries ceased fire on May 7, 1954.
2,293 men died (more than 4,000 on the Vietnamese side), 5,195 were wounded, and 11,721 were taken prisoner. Among them, only 3,280 would survive.
