Dien Bien Phu, subtitled "Strategic Game of Indochina 1950-55" is a board wargame published by Simulations Design Corporation (SDC) in 1973 that simulates the final five years of the First Indochina War in the northern French protectorate of Tonkin.
Dien Bien Phu, subtitled "Strategic Game of Indochina 1950-55" is a board wargame published by Simulations Design Corporation (SDC) in 1973 that simulates the final five years of the First Indochina War in the northern French protectorate of Tonkin.
Following World War II, Japanese forces that had occupied Vietnam surrendered to Soviet forces in the north and to British forces in the south. The Soviets handed over control of the north to Hồ Chí Minh's Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), but the British refused to do the same, instead turning over the south to former colonial power France. Although France and the DRV held talks, the tensions between them devolved into war, with the largely rural and irregular forces of the north on one side, and the modern armed forces of France on the other. The resultant war lasted for 10 years, until the French surrender at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. [1]
Dien Bien Phu is a two-person strategic wargame in which one player controls French forces and the other controls DRV and Vietcong forces. The game features simultaneous plotting and movement. [2] Combat is resolved on a simple table: attacking odds better than 1 to 1 result in defensive retreat and elimination; attacking odds at less than 1 to 1 result in the attackers being eliminated or retreating; odds of 1 to 1 can result in eliminations or retreats for either or both sides. [3]
The Vietminh move slowly but can hide in enemy territory. The French have the advantage of air transportation and modern weaponry. [2]
There are 14 turns in the game. If no one has won before the end of the last turn, the player in control of more geographical areas is the winner. A player can win before this by reaching a quota of areas held or enemies eliminated each turn. [2]
The Vietminh move slowly and consequently supplies also move to the front slowly. Critic Luc Olivier suggest that the Vietminh "must plan ahead for the use of supply units required to allow moves in enemy areas and combat. There are few supply units at the beginning of the game and fewer are added each turn. So, as in the real conflict, the VM must organize offensives by stockpiling supply near the objective areas." [2]
Olivier suggested the French must use their advantage in transportation to quickly build up an overwhelming concentration of firepower for each battle. [2] However, as Olivier noted, "The key operative word for combat is concentration. However, this is easier said than done, because as the moves are simultaneously plotted, the resulting combat can be unpredictable." [2]
SDC had published the Vietnam wargame Battle for Hue in 1973, and returned to the same theme later that year with Dien Bien Phu, designed by Dana Lombardy based on an original game idea by Guy R. Hail. [2] It was published as a free pull-out game in Issue 6 of SDC's house magazine Conflict, [2] and was also released as a ziplock bag game. A second edition was published by Flying Buffalo in 1977. [2] Critic Allan Rothberg noted that Dien Bien Phu "is one of only two English language campaign games on the French Indo-China war." [3]
In a 1976 poll conducted by Simulations Publications Inc. to determine the most popular board wargames in North America, Dien Bien Phu placed a dismal 200th out of 202 games. [4]
In the 1977 book The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming , Charles Vasey noted that only 4 years after its release, this game "is rarely seen now, though the subject must have looked promising enough." Vasey found the game to be "accurate and innovative" but thought it was unbalanced against the French player. [4]
Luc Olivier called this "an unusual game with an area map, simultaneous plotting of all the moves and simple resolution of combat, with just a little chrome to show the oddities of the theater of warfare." After an examination of the rules and strategies, Olivier concluded, "All in all, the rules are interesting and in a few pages succeed in correctly simulating this unusual war. But the plotting and area moves produce some odds results, very different every time." [2]
Allan Rothberg had fond memories of playing this game, but upon replaying it 25 years later, "the game seemed fairly flat. Units are too difficult to kill, and both sides can move units around pretty freely. Even with 22 areas to cover it is very difficult to concentrate the large force needed to get a kill, without leaving other units vulnerable to a similar action from the enemy." Rothberg found the early victory conditions impossible to fulfill, meaning the game had to be played to its full length every time. Rothberg noted, "It is possible to attain the other victory conditions (territorial or single turn kills); I just don’t see two competent players doing it often. The game devolves into doing a waltz with territory taken, regained, retaken, and all the while the enemy is doing exactly the same thing." [3]
The Battle of Điện Biên Phủ was a climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War that took place between 13 March and 7 May 1954. It was fought between the French Union's colonial Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist revolutionaries. The United States was officially not a party to the war, but it was secretly involved by providing financial and material aid to the French Union, which included CIA contracted American personnel participating in the battle. The People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union similarly provided vital support to the Viet Minh, including most of their artillery and ammunition.
The First Indochina War was fought between France and Việt Minh, and their respective allies, from 19 December 1946 until 20 July 1954. Việt Minh was led by Võ Nguyên Giáp and Hồ Chí Minh. Most of the fighting took place in Tonkin in Northern Vietnam, although the conflict engulfed the entire country and also extended into the neighboring French Indochina protectorates of Laos and Cambodia.
Điện Biên Phủ (Vietnamese:[ɗîənˀɓīənfû] is a city in the northwestern region of Vietnam. It is the capital of Điện Biên Province. The city is best known for the decisive Battle of Điện Biên Phủ, which occurred during the First Indochina War of independence against France. The region is a center of ethnic Thai culture. In prior history, the city was formerly called Muang Thaeng.
The Geneva Conference was intended to settle outstanding issues resulting from the Korean War and the First Indochina War and involved several nations. It took place in Geneva, Switzerland, from 26 April to 20 July 1954. The part of the conference on the Korean question ended without adopting any declarations or proposals and so is generally considered less relevant. On the other hand, the Geneva Accords that dealt with the dismantling of French Indochina proved to have long-lasting repercussions. The crumbling of the French colonial empire in Southeast Asia led to the formation of the states of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the State of Vietnam, the Kingdom of Cambodia, and the Kingdom of Laos. Three agreements about French Indochina, covering Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, were signed on 21 July 1954 and took effect two days later.
Geneviève de Galard is a French nurse who was dubbed l'ange de Dien Bien Phu during the French war in Indochina by the press in Hanoi, although in the camp she was known simply as Geneviève.
Operation Castor was a French airborne operation in the First Indochina War. The operation established a fortified airhead in Điện Biên Province, in the north-west corner of Vietnam and was commanded by Brigadier General Jean Gilles. The Operation began at 10:35 on 20 November 1953, with reinforcements dropped over the following two days. With all its objectives achieved, the operation ended on 22 November. Castor was the largest airborne operation since World War II.
Operation Vulture was the name of the proposed U.S. operation that would rescue French forces at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 via B-29 raids based in the Philippines. The French garrison had been surrounded by the Viet Minh during the First Indochina War. When the British government refused to give its support, the plan was cancelled and as a result the French Army organised Operation Condor, an attempt to weaken the Viet Minh artillery's assaults against the besieged French Union garrison.
Battle for Hue is a board wargame published by Simulations Design Corporation (SDC) in 1973 that simulates the battle for the city of Huế during the 1968 Tet Offensive of the Vietnam War. It was later reissued by Mayfair Games as Hue.
The Battle of Mang Yang Pass was one of the last battles of the First Indochina War which took place on 24 June 1954. The battle was one of the bloodiest defeats of the French Union forces, along with the battle of Dien Bien Phu shortly beforehand.
René Cogny was a French Général de corps d'armée, World War II and French Resistance veteran and survivor of Buchenwald and Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camps. He was a commander of the French forces in Tonkin during the First Indochina War, and notably during the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. His post-war private and legal conflict with superior General Henri Navarre became a public controversy. Known to his men as Le General Vitesse, and reputable for his military pomp, physical presence and skill with the press, Cogny was killed in the 1968 Ajaccio-Nice Caravelle crash in the Mediterranean near Nice.
Events from the year 1954 in France.
Operation Mouette was an operation in 1953 by the French Army in Northern Vietnam during the First Indochina War. It was launched on October 15 in an attempt to locate and destroy Viet-Minh Chu Luc troops operating under the command of Võ Nguyên Giáp around the area of Phu Nho Quan, south of the Red River Delta. Following the establishment of a French camp in the area, various troops were dispatched to engage the Viet-Minh forces. The operation was ended and the French withdrew by November 7, claiming approximately 1,000 enemy combatants killed, twice as many wounded, and 181 captured as well as a substantial quantity of weapons and ammunition.
Bach Mai Airfield is a disused military airport in Thanh Xuan District, Hanoi, Vietnam, located along modern-day Le Trong Tan street. It was constructed by the French in 1917 and used by French forces until 1954; along with Gia Lam Airbase, it was one of the major logistics bases supporting French operations at Dien Bien Phu. After 1954, it was used by the Vietnamese People's Air Force and served as their air defense command and control center during the Second Indochina War, playing a part in the Cambodian–Vietnamese War as well. It is now the site of the Vietnam People's Air Force Museum, where a number of period military aircraft are on display.
Operation Pollux was a military operation during the First Indochina War by the French forces in northwest Vietnam in November and December 1953 was one of a twin operation, the other being Operation Castor. The names of these operations are based upon the mythological twins, Castor and Pollux. Operation Castor recaptured and then established a fortified airfield in Điện Biên Phu, in the north-west corner of Vietnam. Operation Pollux was the name of the second operation, which took place weeks later. These operations were developed by General Navarre who had replaced General Salan as Commander in Chief in early 1953 after the Viet Minh had conducted their successful offensive in the Black River area of northwest Vietnam and then subsequently invaded Laos in April 1953.
Citadel:The Battle of Dien Bien Phu is a board wargame published by Game Designers Workshop (GDW) in 1977 that is a simulation of the Battle of Dien Bien Phu that marked the end of the First Indochina War in 1954.
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