Dien Bien Phu - The final gamble

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The initial assault

Assault against Gabrielle :

The artillery preparation was unsuccessful. The RTA was waiting for the assault to take place, while the Thais came to their rescue.

It was the 8th that went up to the counter attack and re-established the lines.

The RTA is ordered to hold Gabrielle!

The fate of Beatrice :

On Beatrice the shells just fell. The defence is weakened

The BEP came to the aid of the comrades of 3/13, but their counter-attack did not succeed!

Beatrice falls and all 3/13 is lost.

Turn 2 ( 16/18 Mars)

Once again Gabrielle holds its own

But the BPC, in charge of breaking through the lines and then relieving the RTA, was curiously blocked in its advance. Fortunately, the skirmishers found a mouse hole to refuel ... and again remain in the position!

The general of the 308 is publicly degraded for incompetence for having left such a supply possibility around the fortified point.

Turn 3

The 308th continues its effort to try to take Gabrielle

As a diversion, the 312 and 316 attacked the outposts left without a garrison.

To protect these vital areas, the paratroopers are forced to intervene and leave Gabrielle without support.

Gabrielle is evacuated.

The RTA withdrew to the Anne Marie while the BEP and BPC took over the forward posts.

Turn 4

The 308th division is resting in the ruins of Gabrielle, but the battle for Mont Fictif and the Dominique outpost continues. On both sides the losses were mounting but the paratroopers were holding the positions.

Hanoi stubbornly refuses to release the 5th BPVN ...

Yet its presence could turn the situation around ...

Turn 5

The VM pressure is too strong, the front posts are abandoned.

The trenches are now approaching Eliane and Dominique

Still no sign of reinforcements from Hanoi ...

The BEP positions itself towards the Dominica and the BPC takes Eliane and the mont Chauve .

Turn 6

The VM artillery harassment was totally ineffective.

The 316th nevertheless gained a foothold on Dominique 2

The lack of results of the attackers is a burden on their morale.

Turn 7

The VMs decide to withdraw and build up their morale in the shelter of the trenches

It's early April and the rain is starting to fall

Turn 8

Anne Marie is under attack from all sides

But due to the lack of effective artillery support, the 308th was again held in check by the RTA ! What an elite battalion !!!

The Eliane and Dominique are also attacked en masse

Eliane is partly taken, but everywhere else the defenders resist...

In front of the losses, Le Bawouan is finally unblocked !!!

But the terrible weather nails it to the tarmac in Hanoi !!!!

It was therefore the legion that went to the rescue of the riflemen

At the end of the assault, Anne Marie is evacuated and the status quo reigns on the eastern hills. Due to the lack of reinforcements, no other counter-attack has been carried out....

Turn 9 ( 6 avril )

The assault is general: Dominique 1 is crushed under the shells, Huguette 6 takes water, D2 and D5 are submerged.

Finally, the Bawouan is parachuted in and immediately goes on a counter attack with the Chafee !

Huguette 6 is taken back as well as D5

That day, the Bawouan saved Dien Bien Phu...

Turn 13 ( 18 avril )

The battle of attrition continues ...

The 308th division is on its knees and does not manage to break through to the Huguettes.

The 312th and 316th progressed step by step.

The French defenders were desperate for further reinforcements and air transport was increasingly disrupted.

Turn 15 - Monsoon begins

The legion still holds Huguette 7 against a 308th division whose morale is falling.

Dominique 2 has fallen, but Eliane 6 has changed hands several times between the BPVN and the 316th division

While an additional paratroop battalion would undoubtedly allow to sweep away the exhausted attackers, Hanoi systematically refused to send reinforcements!

The VMs took advantage of the situation, encircled H7 and entered Dominique 2.

Finally, Hanoi reacts and sends Bigeard's 6!

He was immediately dispatched against the 308th. His attack succeeded in freeing the legionnaires of H7 but the battalion was already weakened by the engagement...

French air transport is disastrous ... stocks are running out ....

Turn 20

The strongpoints fell one after the other but the defenders sold their skin dearly. After having lost H7 and H6, it was now H1 that was the object of fierce hand-to-hand combat led by the 6th BPC against the 308th division.

Towards Dominique, the remains of the BPVN and the BEP retreated foot by foot.

Hanoi continues to systematically refuse all requests for reinforcements (5 or 6 at the dice every time!)... The colonels begin to grumble in the barracks.

Last turn

The entrenched camp resisted and still holds

With 3 battalions remaining in the barracks, this is a great achievement (never seen such a systematic series of 6 for the release of reinforcements)

a big rule error seen only in the last round: the count of medicine stocks which must take into account the injured ... not seen before the last round ... .