French troops seeking cover in trenches The First Indo-China war broke out shortly after the end of the Second World War and lasted until 1954. French soldiers were dispatched to deal with the growing tide of Communist activities in the colony and to prevent popular nationalist forces from wresting control of the colony. Pivotal in this bloody struggle was the battle of Dien Bien Phu. Realising that his forces were losing ground to the hit and run guerilla tactics of the Viet Minh, the French commander, Henri Navarre, adopted a new military concept provided by his advisor, Colonel Louis Berteil, which he believed would counter the guerilla activities and effectively lead to a forced Viet Minh withdrawal. Berteil devised the idea of emplacing a fortified position behind enemy lines by airlifting troops and material to a strategic area. Once the area was fortified to repulse attacks from a besieging enemy, French forces could sally out at irregular intervals and cut the supply life line to Viet Minh soldiers in forward positions. Additionally, Navarre believed that The Viet Minh military commander, General Giap, rather than simply abandon his forward positions, would attempt to launch a conventional massed assault upon the French position and thus open the way to the wholesale destruction of the Viet Minh through artillery barrages and air strikes. The place chosen for Navarre to launch this ambitious plan was Dien Bien Phu. The French deployed a small number of M24 Chaffee light tanks during the battle that proved
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