Windrow - The Last Valley

It is hard to praise too highly Martin Windrows account, the first work of a historian who obviously possesses great gifts. It is surprising how many writers who describe battles lack any understanding of tactics and technology. Windrow is master of every detail His book makes gripping reading

This is an epic book about an epic battle. It is not often that the story of a struggle as dramatic as Dien Bien Phu is told with a flair that matches the courage of the adversaries and the sheer scale of the event. Martin Windrows book is nothing less than a landmark in military history

This anniversary reconstruction of Frances most traumatic post-war battlefield defeat is highly opportune, with Arthur Schlesinger, among others, warning America of a slide into a second Vietnam Martin Windrow has pulled off a remarkable feat

A wonderful account of a terrible battle, but it is more than that. It raises questions about the relationship between politicians and armed forces, questions which are still alive now. Dien Bien Phu is relevant even to the French scepticism about the efficacy of American policy today, and to the refusal the wise refusal? of France to participate in the Iraq war

Martin Windrows moving and judicious account tells it with great lucidity and humanity, with vivid portraits of the leading French officers, and with what seems to be a very fair assessment of the internal dramas of Dien Bien Phu He also offers asides on weaponry, battlefield medicine, morale and other topics which are among the best things in this good book

Trying to describe to non-military readers what it is like to live through artillery barrages, or endure the physical realities of attack and counter-attack and face-to-face killing, is uphill work, but Windrow does it magnificently. He is a master of strategy and tactics, and most of his outstanding work is devoted in striking and meticulous detail, as well as great sensitivity to the fighting. His descriptive interludes on weaponry and other front-line topics, together with vivid portrayals of the officers and their men are completely absorbing, and his analysis of the political background, showing how France dragged the US into Vietnam, is lucid and compelling

This is history as it should be written, without the cant of either the left or the right, and at enough distance for hindsight Excellent reading for those who want to find out what really went wrong in the wars in Indochina

I know Im never going to read a better book this year than The Last Valley

Windrow, in a masterly fashion, sets the Shakespearian tragedy of Dien Bien Phu in the context of the wider politics of South-East Asia. He is good, too, on France post-1945 and the French army. For amateurs of 20th-century French history, at last this is something to rival Alistair Hornes A Savage War of Peace

For Dick, best of brothers, who started the whole thing.

The Indochinese peninsula, c. 1953

Defence of Na San perimeter, 23 November2 December 1952

Defence of PA8 at Na San, 23/24 November 1952

The Chinese frontier region of Tonkin, and the Viet Bac

The Red River delta

Viet Minh operations in the High Region, winter 1952 and spring 1953

Main Viet Minh supply routes, winter 1953 and spring 1954

Northern Laos, 19534

Valley of Dien Bien Phu, and Operation Castor, 20 November 1953

Approximate deployment of Viet Minh siege army at Dien Bien Phu

Dien Bien Phu central camp, and deployment of artillery and heavy mortar units

The northern defended locations Anne-Marie, Gabrielle and Batrice

The airfield and the northern Huguettes and Dominiques

and Eliane

Defence of Batrice, 13/14 March 1954

Defence of Gabrielle, 14/15 March 1954

Battle of the Five Hills, 30/31 March 1954

West bank defences southern Huguettes and Lilianes, mid April 1954

Defences of Isabelle

The Indochinese peninsula, c. 1953.

Defence of Na San perimeter, 23 November2 December 1952.

Defence of PA8 at Na San, night 23/24 November 1952.

The Chinese frontier region of Tonkin. The area of the Viet Bac was approximately that enclosed by the place names in bold type: clockwise from top left, Ha Giang, Cao Bang, Lang Son, Thai Nguyen, and Tuyen Quang.

The Red River delta.

Viet Minh operations in the High Region, winter 1952 and spring 1953.

Main Viet Minh supply routes, winter 1953 and spring 1954.

Northern Laos, 19534.

Valley of Dien Bien Phu, with approximate location of some surrounding hills. (Spot heights are in metres above sea level.) (Inset) Sketch map of Operation Castor, 20 November 1953.

Approximate deployment of Viet Minh siege army at Dien Bien Phu.

Dien Bien Phu central camp. (Inset) Artillery battery and mortar company deployments.

The northern defended locations Anne-Marie, Gabrielle and Batrice, as in mid March 1954.