Original subtitles

Vietnam after World War II France then

America become Meed in the Century's

longest war the pivotal event is one of

the bloodiest and most historic battles

of the 20th century

[Applause]

DMM

[Music]

after the ruin of World War II the

European powers seek to regain their

former colonies Indochina is the most

prized French Poss comprising Laos

Cambodia and

Vietnam but the war in Asia can

continues Indochina is still occupied by

the Japanese and France faces another

obstacle its Ally America opposes

colonialism France had previously ruled

Vietnam for 80 years exploiting the

Rubber and rice economy and the cheap

labor Vietnam's peasants had repeatedly

rebelled Colonial conditions are

described by Hanoi diplomat havan

like all the young Vietnamese at that

time under the domination of the French

colonialists we felt that our Liberty

was

gone we felt that we were no longer

independent in colonialist days from a

political point of view the word Patriot

was a synonym for criminal

and Patriots were treated as such that

is to say prison there were more prisons

than

schools Independence and Liberty were

empty

words one punishment for Insurrection

public

execution but the Vietnamese nationalist

movement grows under the charismatic

leadership of hoochi min

ho recognizes that Japan's impending

defeat is a once- in a-lifetime

opportunity to end colonialism he sees

America as his best means of achieving

Independence after 32 years in Exile he

returns to organize

resistance born in central Vietnam who

is now

54 both of his parents had been active

nationalists ho had spent his exiled

youth studying the Marxist

revolution in December 1944 ho and other

Guerilla leaders form a so-called

Workers Party known as the vietn its

military strategist is a former history

teacher called Bonn

[ __ ] [ __ ] and ho offered to Aid the us

against the

Japanese America begins its Vietnam

involvement by supporting ho it provides

small arms for behind the line

resistance the time April

1945 exactly 30 years before the Vietnam

War would

end maintaining a gentle image ho is

then seen by American contacts as more

nationalist than

communist major Archimedes Patty heads

the first US intelligence mission in

Vietnam sent by the oss the cia's

predecessor 50 American agents helped

train the guerillas and at times fight

alongside of them recalls Patty it was

comat it was very small operation as far

as war is concerned but nevertheless it

is true that they did work with the

Vietnam men against the Japanese then

later [ __ ] and his vietman crew went out

to

attack uh several Japanese Outpost with

our men after they had been trained by

the Americans in the use of grenade

launchers and flamethrowers and uh

rifles machine guns vs and so

on in August 1945 the Japanese surrender

and H Guerilla forces seize power

occupying

Hanoi on September 2nd hoimin declares

independence the middle class and

Vietnam's Catholics are apprehensive but

nationalists and Communists are

overjoyed

ho becomes his country's first

president a public celebration in hano's

Badin square is recalled by American

agent aredes Patty it was a a very

touching ceremony uh I could tell from

the uh reaction from the crowd and the

crowd was

fantastic ho is very

anxious for recognition he actually

always uh kept harping on the point why

don't the United States give us moral

support we don't want anything else from

them nothing at moral

support but America steps aside the US

needs its European allies in the

developing struggle against communism

the French reoccupy Vietnam colonialism

returns

[Music]

[Music]

with no more American help hoimin first

Advocates cooperation with the French

their response is to make Vietnam

semi-autonomous in 1946 ho travels to

France to negotiate but fin finds no

real political

Independence back in Hanoi ho tells his

compatriots the terms are

unacceptable November

1946 the war

begins there are three years of sporadic

inconclusive fighting to the rest of the

world it is an obscure Asian conflict

but in December 19 19 49 Mount song's

communist victory in China followed by

the Korean War shocks America the US now

arms the French in Indochina and now

provides modern weapons for the

vietn another 3 years pass with Vietnam

as an escalating East West war in 1952

the Communist Vietnam army takes over

the Strategic Valley of the

MBM

the valley dominates supply routes

linking Vietnam LA and

China the French Commander General hry

Navar decides to occupy the MBM Fu in a

daring parachute

assault the purpose of Dian Fu was to

defend LA and I decided on the dban fu

entrenched Camp because with the state

of my forces which I said were inferior

to those of the vietman in terms of

mobile forces the strategy of blocking

the road from LA to dban Fu was the only

one which seemed to be reasonable and I

am still certain that it was the only

one November

1953 the French fight their way into

dmbm

Fu the French Air Command has serious

doubts the valley is70 mi from Hanoi

Supply planes can only just make the

return trip

a French Regional Commander warns that

the MBM Fu may become a battalion meat

grinder now having taken dmbm Fu the

French plan is to pursue the Communists

in their border

sanctuaries an immediate task is repair

the old Air strip the only link to the

outside the French land equipment suited

to an Attack Base they don't envisage a

fortification the Communist Force the

vimin has two choices ignore the French

action or

attack studying his tactical Maps the

Communist Commander General [ __ ] tells

his officers we will wipe out at all

costs the whole enemy Force at dmvm

fool [ __ ] is the master strategist

throughout the Vietnam

conflict we had to count every bullet

but we were inspired because we never

before had been able to gather such a

force we were optimistic but there were

many difficulties when chairman ho gave

me the leadership we talked all night he

said to me our forces grow stronger day

by day but but we must not let the enemy

destroy the strength he asked can you do

it I thought for a while and answered

the enemy won't be able to destroy our

strength the difficult thing will be to

take the

initiative six vietman infantry

divisions Force March 20 m a day they

head for a Rendevous with history across

the distant mountain peaks the French

become aware that a communist ring is

closing in the hills around them General

Nar decides against pulling out

convinced his troops can

hold I decided to occupy dban F to set

up an entrenched Camp there and if the

camp was attacked to defend it that's

all December

1953 half the 15,000 man French Force

are algerians Vietnamese and French

legionar most of the equipment is

American the French try but fa fail to

win The High Ground the Communists hold

the nearest Hills to the

north beyond the eyes of the French an

army of 20,000 peasants and tribesmen

clears the way for the coming

soldiers they labor to open up jungle

Trails a human Convoy stretching 500 mi

from the supply depos at the Chinese

border a veteran of dmbm Fu Colonel har

van la

getting supplies was very difficult

because we had to use Roots Through the

Jungle we couldn't use the roads the

large roads because of the

bombings and then to get one kilo of

rice to the front at dban Fu we had to

use four kilos for the carrier because

the rice was transported on men's backs

by

bicycle

we couldn't heat the rice because any

smoke would attract

ples the French build a chain of fire

bases on small hills across the valley

the seven main strong points are called

cloudine hugette Dominique Elan Gabriel

beatric and

Isabel the Communist Logan is everything

for the front everything for victory

there is a new urgency the great Powers

have just agreed to meet in Geneva in

May

1954 to settle Cold War issues including

Indochina this means the Vietnam must

achieve a decisive military Victory

within 5

months the vietman understood that if

the French command could be seriously

defeated at Yan Fu this would allow them

politically to win the war then they

decided to put everything into it to

take all the risks increase their

Manpower and accept even greater losses

than before and China granted massive

assistance direct Chinese assistance

include 600 russian-built MOBA trucks

which must defy air strikes and Monsoon

rains

the French believe their defenses can

contain any attack French intelligence

knows the Communists are bringing in

heavy guns but artillery experts

underestimate their caliber and

accuracy late February

1954 5 months of backbreaking Labor has

brought the Communist armies to the door

of dmbm

pool the last 50 miles of Mountain Road

have to be built virtually from

scratch they call the guns steel

elephants they drag 200 heavy guns an

inch at a time half a mile a day through

mountains Colonel havan

La equipment had to be dragged by rope

over men's

shoulders and one time a rope broke and

one of our artillerymen threw himself

behind the wheel of this big piece of

artillery to stop it from sliding into

an

abyss that was the morale of our

fighters who would sacrifice themselves

to save a piece of equipment from

falling now they can out gun the French

in the valley below by more than 3 to

one hoi Min issues directives from

Secret headquarters in safe mountainous

jungle he has one Western visitor

journalist Wilfred bashet he came in

with a sun helmet and he turned that

upside down on the

table and uh he just felt around with

his hands in the bottom of it and said

genu is a valley and it's surrounded by

by mountains the cream the elite troops

of the French expeditionary Corp are

down there in that Valley and we're

around in the mountains and they'll

never get

out now General [ __ ] reviewing his 50,000

Man force on the eve of battle defines

his tactics he tells his staff strike

surely and Advance surely strike to win

strike only when success is

certain

to make success more likely [ __ ] has

secreted his heavy guns and

fortifications carved out of the

mountains the guns Overlook the French

but are virtually

undetectable March 13th

Sunset the battle

opens

the Communist artillery dramatically

reveals its presence pounding the

unsuspecting French on the valley floor

below the first waves of Viet Advance on

strongo beatric which overlooks the

entire French position the Communists

launch a whole Infantry Division against

it under the heavy shelling only one

French fighter bomber manages to take

off

after the first communist losses there's

a

pause then the attack

continues with the sudden Heavy

Artillery barrage the French realize

they are in a trap the first day

casualties are

heavy the artillery Commander Colonel

Charles pero apologizes to his fellow

officers then commit suicide with a hand

grenade at Outpost beatric so-called

suicide platoons breached the barbwire

perimeter the French repuls three

separate

assaults of the 750 Defenders only 200

survive in the last minute

retreat by midnight beatric is in vimin

hand

March 15th two more dmbm Fu outposts are

repeatedly stormed at heavy cost the

Communists occupy half of Hill Gabrielle

the French Le troops fall back then

abandon the

position on March 17th strong point an

Marie

Falls now three outposts are silenced

but the French estimate communist dead

at 2500 with some hills covered with

dead and dying the Vietnam

[Music]

Paws French casualties are also High a

hospital plane is stranded leaving the

only frenchwoman nurse janiv de galar we

were putting the wounded inside the

plane to take them back to ano but uh

the the mechanic came back and told us

we can't take off because the oil tank

has been damaged severely damaged and

everybody uh was very upset especially

the wounded because they thought it was

the end of this hell place for them and

it

wasn't by March 28th artillery fire

closes the airstrip the base is

isolated the French still fight

on lieutenant colonel langlay

that did not spell the end for me or it

would seem for my comrades it did not

mean the end of fighting for us since if

the planes could not land they could

still carry out parachuting operations I

did not consider the closing of the

Airfield to be a catastrophe in terms of

further

combat in a bold move to keep the areal

supply line open the French go on the

offensive they use tanks to attack

communist anti-aircraft placements on

the Western Hills flanking the main

French

forces several hundred Vietnam resist

fiercely the French commit more tanks to

the action and break through led by

parat trip Commander Lieutenant Colonel

bear it was the first victory of D Fu

the Viet men were shattered they wanted

to show that they had units capable of

fighting so Colonel dicastri came back

and said to me Bruno only you could have

pulled this one through I said yes

Colonel but operations like this cannot

be carried out every day because I just

lost my best officers both senior and

Junior it would be possible if you gave

me the men to start all over but we

cannot play this game very

long General Jeff's second phase assault

on March 30th concentrates on the strong

points which protect the French Command

[Applause]

Center two important outposts are

overrun the French push hard and retake

them but lose 2,000 men in 5

days the vietman enlarged the attacks

capturing strong point elen to the east

the French again

Counterattack we started shooting and we

fired maybe three or 4 thousand shots

and all the Cannons of dban Fu all the

120 mortars were aimed at one position

all of a sudden when the artillery had

finished the Air Force was there once

more and my men got out of the trenches

and went to the attack but the vietn men

were also entrenched maybe half of them

had been killed but there still remained

the other half and they fought like the

great soldiers that they are they fought

manto man with daggers after one whole

day we had recaptured elen one so my men

had to go back into the trenches but

they were digging upon Fallen bodies the

soil was covered with dead bodies French

and vietman the smell was

horrible the terrible Bloodshed now

lowers Viet morale they have only one

doctor for 50,000 men General [ __ ] admits

to what he calls negative thoughts

affecting troop performance more frontal

assaults risk destroying the Communist

Army [ __ ] decides on a radical change of

tactics underground

War he uses tens of thousands of troops

and civilians to dig 100 m network of

trenches soon the 6ot Deep trenches

reach like tentacles around the low

Hills in the Valley Center when the

trench lines are complete Jeff presumes

the

offensive now his troops are almost face

to face with the

[Applause]

French France now urgently seeks us

intervention America is already paying

80% of the war Bill providing giant

Globe Master transports to airlift

French

reinforcements the the French request

and get more American Arms and fighter

planes but the US wants its major allies

to join the aid airlift Britain refuses

fearing such intervention would escalate

the East West Cold War America

[Music]

hesitates as the hours of argument tick

by the Vietnam guns decimate the MBM f

it becomes so bad the French cannot even

bury their

dead Colonel

Bear all the able battalions had come

all the battalions I kept telling my men

we must find a formula we must hold on

one more day the Americans will not let

us down they may come we felt we needed

a day an extra day that is why we saw

this thing

through supplies are dwindling

by late April the French control only a

fraction of the Valley

Center almost a third of the French

Force has been wiped

out the fade of the remaining 10,000

depends on getting ammunition and food

but pilots and troops are helpless as

more and more supplies float into

communist

territory the Viet main trench lines are

now just 300 yd from the French command

bunker

even the seriously wounded attempt to

fight

on so some got up one who had lost an

eye one who had lost an arm one arm we

called him said we're going back we saw

boys arriving who had lost an arm or an

eye and they were still asking for a

weapon to continue fighting it's indeed

remarkable there was a great spirit when

we went into that shelter where those

men were there was a foul smell and we

could see maggots on legs and Grine left

them on because he said I think it

prevents Gang Green so those maggots

were moving around on the patient's legs

and it was terrible so around May 6th we

went to see the men with longlay and

everyone was exhausted completely

exhausted we knew we could go no further

there was no more ammunition and the men

could not take it anymore so when the

Viet men attacked on May 7th it was

really the

end

the end is an anticlimax resistance

fudal the Viet rushed the French command

post where senior officers have been

waiting to surrender among them Colonel

langlay we heard something rolling over

the roof I was seated in my chair not

thinking of anything in

particular the stairs leading to the

outside were in front of me and we could

see a patch of Sky there

we all thought a grenade God a grenade

would be thrown down the stairs and

explode but that wasn't the case we saw

a Victorious Viet soldier in a cork

helmet wearing a gas mask and carrying a

bayet his gun who said only get

out 1730 hours May 7th finally the

valley arena is silent the Viet victory

has cost them an estimated 8,000 dead in

the 55-day battle but French Indochina

is finished on both sides history

because the battle as extraordinarily

heroic the aftermath less

so the French are obliged to parade in

Mass surrender for the Communist cameras

10,000 prisoners start a March into

captivity which only one in two

survived Colonel bear

apart from the casualties of ginban Fu

more than half of the survivors of

ginban Fu died in captivity worn out and

abandoned they lay on the roadside and

we were forbidden to help them the Viet

men would leave them to their fate

feeding them a handful of uncooked rice

what could they do the poor fellows died

along the

roadside they marched for up to 60 days

to the Red River prison camps 500 M

away the Viet are without doctors

those who weaken die where they

fall the Geneva conference in Indochina

begins as dmbm Fu Falls Britain France

Russia and China sign the Accords but

America does

not the agreement partitions Vietnam at

the 17th parallel this border remains

for 20

years General bonwin Japs victory at

dmbm Fu at age 42 places him among the

great generals of modern

history he is credited with building a

small peasant Force into a sophisticated

modern Army in my opinion they were

exceptional infantrymen and they managed

to defeat us now there weren't many of

us we were far from France but we must

admit they also beat the Americans so

they were exceptional and I really think

they certainly are one of the best

infantries in the world Hanoi October

the 11th 195 4 the Viet formally takes

control of North

Vietnam Hanoi is a scene of mass

salvation for hoimin ho and his

colleagues and accepting partition trust

in the Geneva provision for joint

national elections within 2 years oh is

confident he will win but the elections

are never held opposed by Washington and

Saigon a new war will gradually

develop

in a period of legal migration almost a

million people leave the Communist North

most are

[Music]

Catholics French and American Navy ships

take them to Saigon capital of the new

US supported Republic of Vietnam at the

same time about 100,000 Communists

travel

North after the partition there is

social upheaval in the north land reform

is Hasty and Savage land owners are

executed as many as 50,000 according to

Western

accounts peasant opposition forces the

Hanoi regime to modify the Land

Reform the communist leader hoi is still

personally popular known to his people

as back ho Uncle ho for some years he

concentrates on nation building

determined to unite Vietnam as it was

centuries

[Music]

earlier a former Emperor bodai who also

ruled under the French heads a weak and

distrusted governor in South

Vietnam bodai known as The Playboy King

installs a prime minister he believes he

can control Goden

DM DM becomes the American hope for a

non-communist

Vietnam he's now 53 unmarried a devout

Catholic from a powerful family he has

an impressive record in the Civil

Service he's known for his nationalism

and religious puritanism which led him

into self-exile abroad for many

years now he is back to try and run a

nation broken into by War but DM's

Authority barely extends Beyond Saigon

the capital city when DM curtails

prostitution and gambling a powerful

gangster organization sends its own Army

against DMS they attack the presidential

Palace the National Police Headquarters

and terrorize the streets

[Music]

but DM's forces Drive the rebels out of

Saigon and he later crushes the

religious sects in doing so he angers

head of state bodai then absent in

France bodai is allegedly getting

payoffs from the various sects he tries

to recall his prime minister DM ignores

him the American Military adviser to JM

Edward

lale Jim I was receiving lots of popular

of support from the people uh felt that

he was in command of the situation and

it what had happened was a very

necessary step by him and uh felt that

he should stay and I said well your only

Authority is is in from

Bai uh the only highest Authority is

that would be from the people and the

only way to do that is through a pleite

i cautioned him against uh being carried

away and and rigging the election I said

uh all you need is is a fairly large

majority I don't want it to suddenly

read in the newspapers that you've won

by

99.99% DM wins with 98% of the vote he

becomes South Vietnam's first president

his family Rules like a Mandarin Court

government he says functions through

close personal relations at the top his

elder brother th is Archbishop of way

his younger brother new is appointed

Chief

advisor Madame new becomes official

Hostess her father is named ambassador

to the United States her mother is a

government Observer at the United

Nations DM presides over a National

Assembly but he allows it to meet only

once or twice a

[Music]

year after 15 months in power DM has an

army of

135,000 partly trained by a few American

advisers but communist strength in the

countryside is growing gim wants more us

help Washington

1957 DM meets with President Eisenhower

who pledges more military aid the US

president again and again calls South

Vietnam an important Western bulwark

against communism the cost of Defending

freedom of Defending America must be

paid in many forms and in many

places

unassisted Vietnam cannot at this time

produce and support the military

formations essential to it military as

well as economic help is currently

needed in

Vietnam for Washington the early China

Soviet Alliance iance under Mau and

kushev arouses fears of United communism

the US sees an immediate danger of North

Vietnam becoming the route for a Chinese

and Russian takeover of Southeast Asia

in the late 50s military aid for South

Vietnam is considered part of America's

wider strategic

[Music]

interest gim has refused to allow the

elections called for by the Geneva

agreement he has no National

Organization

and his army is

weak aenar now backed South Vietnam with

a show of Naval strength and privately

pressures DM to make political

reforms DM attempts Land Reform it fails

he tries to extend government control to

the countryside but his methods

antagonize many

peasants he begins the Strategic Hamlet

program these are fortified Villages

which control as much as defend the

population

1959 North Vietnam makes the Fateful

decision it will challenge JM

militarily communist organizers born in

the South begin to infiltrate back their

numbers quickly grow to about

5,000

soon a network of rebel bases is ready a

Guerilla war is launched under the

banner of hoi

Min Terror and counterterror spread

through the countryside DM's troops

attack and burn communist villages in

1959 US military advisers total only

350 a large part of American Aid is

Goodwill but it helps mainly the

cities poverty continues and Corruption

spreads y's family and friends control

the economy they isolate him from the

people an influential critic General

Tran

vanon he began to be

oppressive in

that and

vious he would like to be to be to

become the king

of

Vietnam and he

believed too much that

God order him to

be in South

Vietnam with a Mystic

mission in America newly elected

President John F Kennedy adopts

Eisenhower's policy Vietnam cannot fall

to the Communists assistant Secretary of

State Roger hillsman when President

Eisenhower had his private conversation

with Kennedy on inauguration day

president eisar said I think you're

going to have to send troops and if you

do I will come up from Gettysburg and

stand beside you and support

you 6 months later in September 61 the

war

widens the Communist sees the provincial

capital near Saigon they publicly

execute the provincial

[Music]

Chief the Guerilla strength is now

estimated at 26,000 men up 500% within 2

years gim asked the United States for a

treaty to guarantee South Vietnam's

existence Kennedy consults personal

military adviser General Maxwell D

Taylor I met the the president one

morning in the White House just walking

down a corridor and he said I have a

letter here from president dim tell me

how to answer it well it that changed my

I spent the next 11 years involved in

answering the questions or related there

too because it really amounted the

question was the United States favor a

major increase in the military effort to

accomplish the political objective in

Vietnam Kennedy increases military aid

within days the first American

Helicopter units

arrive a news reel of December

1961 conveys the

optimism new techniques in jungle

warfare are being mounted against the

rebels in South Vietnam with rousing

success helicopter foray christened

Eagle flights carry small detachments of

Vietnamese troops into the swamps and

jungles of the Kamal peninsula where yet

Kong gorillas have successfully eluded

Pursuit on the ground whirly Birds swoop

in to deposit soldiers where Rebels have

been reported and the troops quickly

spread out through swamp and jungle to

surround the Communist

enemy usually the rebels quickly fade

from Villages but a pincer attack

flushes them from the surrounding

jungles a successful air strike like

this one will bring in prisoners by the

Dozen a new kind of warfare that is

turning the tide of battle

in their enlarged advisory role American

lives are now at risk though not

officially in combat they lead the South

Vietnamese into

[Music]

battle by late 1961 Guerilla Ambush Is

frequent and costly they control to some

degree most of the countryside tying

down Saigon's 200,00 th000 man army the

war is costing $1 million a

[Music]

day on us advice a self-defense program

to arm remote populations like the

Manards begins in the central Highlands

The cia's Saigon Chief at the that time

William

kby with the authority of the president

Zam and his brother new uh we began

these programs of arming Mountain Scout

teams things of this nature arming

villages in the area of of Bou spreading

50 or 100 weapons into such a village

for its own protection uh to and then

gradually spreading out to additional

Villages until you formed a an area

so-called in Ink Spot as it spreads

through the bladder of safety uh against

outward

infiltration and uh we began this in

about 1960 this process of U doing this

and by

1960 two or three we had armed something

like 30,000 of these

people then comes a sudden setback in

May 63 a nationwide crisis begins when

Buddhists are denied the traditional

right to fly religious

Flags the Buddhist Riot 40 are killed

thousands arrested by the secret police

headed by DM's brother

no week after week Buddhist monks commit

public suicide in

protest these human tortures appall

Washington

American ambassador Frederick nolting

argues that dam is not to blame it was

contrived in my opinion strictly by the

Viet

Kong it was a political rather than

religious

outbreak

motivated by political rather than

religious motives a new American

Ambassador arrives Henry cab at

large he wants jm's family especially

brother new removed from Power Lodge

meets with Jim he was as unreceptive as

I've ever seen a human being be and he

almost said to me well what business is

it of yours whether I have my brother

here to advise me or not to which of

course there was a very good answer it's

my business because the president of the

United States has made it my business I

didn't I didn't say that but I thought

that I thought that President Kennedy

was hoping it would work itself

out uh and became sympathetic to the

idea of a coup if we if the Americans

were not responsible and not involved in

it for DM the end would come not from

the Communists but from his own Army

within 3 months he will be assassinated

by his

generals

more us equipment arrives in Vietnam in

1963 and the changing role of the

American advisers pends a widening

war in 5 years their numbers have risen

from a few hundred to more than

16,000 their job is to train and guide

South Vietnam's troops to lead them into

combat but not to join them

but as the ground fire increases the

Americans start firing

back the destination this typical day is

a small air strip in the Mong Delta a

South Vietnamese unit has reported heavy

casualties American advice on ambush

precautions has been ignored air cover

had been

unavailable a support unit which might

have saved the situation fails to

advance the result 100 South Vietnamese

casualties two American ground advisers

wounded us helicopter Pilots must come

to the rescue the operation is called

dust off again and again the advisers

become ambulance men picking up the dead

and wounded of an ally who ignores their

advice there is growing disillusionment

in the field and in Washington but the

very weakness of their allies seems to

demand greater American

involvement in 1963 the US had planned

to withdraw 1,000 advisors instead their

numbers increase by

50% there are 23,000 Americans in

Vietnam by the end of

1964 and they are only the

beginning

l