Some 70 years ago this week, the pivotal 1954 Battle of Diên Biên Phu ended after a 57-day siege, an event that set the stage for the French withdrawal from Indochina and the American entrance into the region for two decades, for better or worse.
13-17 mars 1954 – Indochine française. Un parachutiste blessé est soutenu par deux de ses camarades qui l’évacuent vers l’antenne chirurgicale du camp retranché de Diên Biên Phu. Réf. : NVN 54-40 R79. © Jean Péraud ; Daniel Camus/ECPAD/Défense
While the siege was supported on the French side by over 10,000 sorties– most of which (6,700) were by a host of C-47 transports including 678 sorties from C-119s flown operated by Civil Air Transport (which became Air America)– just four haggard French Navy (Aeronnautique Naval) squadrons accounted for a whopping 1,019 sorties during this period. Compare this to the Armee de l’Air’s 2,650 sorties from two squadrons of F8F Bearcats (2/22 Languedoc and 1/22 Saintonge), two of B-26 Invaders (1/19 Gascogne and 1/25 Tunisie), three observation/recon squadrons, and two helicopter squadrons.
Arromanches
Built as HMS Colossus, the light carrier Arromanches (R95)— so named to honor the memory of the Allied landing on the Normandy coast– was leased to the French in 1946 and finally sold outright in 1951. During the Dien Bien Phu siege, her SB2C-5 Helldivers of Flottille 3F and F6F-5 Hellcats of Flottille 11F lost two aircraft from the former and three from the latter to Viet flak between 15 March and 26 April 1954.
Bois Belleau
Built as the Independence-class light aircraft carrier USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24)— a ship that earned a Presidential Unit Citation as well as a full dozen battle stars in the Pacific in WWII– Bois Belleau (R97) was loaned to the French Navy in late 1953 and rushed to Indochina where her F4U-7/AU-1 Corsairs of Flottille 14F got into the fight in close air support.
French Carrier Bois Belleau, formerly USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24), at Saigon. Note the Corsairs on her deck
César
One of the French Navy units that was there until the end was the unlikely Flottille 28F, which flew land-based Consolidated PB4Y Privateer maritime patrol bombers from Tan-Son-Nhut. Formed in July 1944 at Norfolk to fly lumbering PBY Catalinas in the Med from bases in North Africa, “The Wolves” of 28F had moved to Indochina in October 1945 and transitioned to the bruising Privateer in 1951.
However, spare parts and general unavailability of maintenance and replacement aviators had, by the time of Dien Bien Phu, trimmed the squadron to just 6 operational crews and 7 to 8 aircraft.
Note the Wolf insignia. These bombers dropped not only 500, 1000, and 2000-pound bombs, but often got low enough to Viet positions to open up with their .50 cals as well
Nonetheless, lemons into lemonade, the high-mileage 28F Privateers would make regular nighttime interdiction missions followed up by daytime bombing runs against Viet Mihn artillery and AAA assets, directed by Major Jacques Guerin’s Dien Bien Phu Airfield Control Post (call sign Torri Rouge), with the patrol bombers call sign being César.
Yup, basically flying day and night, with many crews typically running 2-3 sorties per day so long as they had a bird to do it in. One pilot, the famed Éric Tabarly, logged over 1,000 hours in his 11 months with the squadron– an average of three hours every single day, with most of that weight being during the siege.
On the last morning that Dien Bien Phu stood, Torri Rouge made contact with an inbound 28F Privateer, radioing:
“A 17 heures 30 nous faisons tout sauter. les Viets sont à côté. Au revoir à nos familles … …. Adieu César….” (“At 5:30 p.m. we blow up everything. The Viets are nearby. Goodbye to our families… …. Farewell Caesar…. “)