Reviews

Stanley Karnow
"No man is better qualified to tell the tale than Simpson."

Booknews, Inc. , August 1, 1994
The fall of Dien Bien Phu ended French control of Indochina and opened the way to US commitment to the area (and to US mistakes of a similar nature). Simpson--former US consul general, novelist, and writer on defense matters--was there as a USIA correspondent. His account, on the 40th anniversary of the battle, is personal, and includes many of his photos as well as photos from the Foreign Legion archives. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Midwest Book Review
In November 1953, French paratroopers seized a small village and airstrip in northwestern Vietnam. The plan was to lure General Vo Nguyen Giap's elusive Vietminh into a set-piece battle in which French arms would surely prevail. It ended five and a half months later with tens of thousands of communist troops overrunning the starving garrison. Only 73 of the 15,000 French troops escaped. Some 10,000 were captured; half of them were wounded. The fall of Dien Bien Phu was a disaster for France. It ended French Colonial rule in Vietnam -- and opened the way to a direct American military involvement. Ironically, many of the same mistakes the French made at Dien Bien Phu were to be repeated by the American military in the war to come. Howard Simpson's Dien Bien Phu: The Epic Battle America Forgot is the personal story of a man who shared meals and went on patrols with the doomed soldiers. Dien Bien Phu uniquely tells the story of one of history's most gallant "last stands. " Simpson's combat photographs, combined with those of the Foreign Legion archives, add visual drama to this remarkable story. Dien Bien Phu is an important, even essential, contribution to any military studies or Viet Nam reference archive.

The Pubisher:
The fighting began in November 1953, when French paratroopers seized a small airstrip in northwestern Vietnam. It ended in May 1954 with tens of thousands of Vietminh troops overrunning the besieged garrison. A third of the 15,000 defenders died in combat; fewer than a hundred escaped into the jungle. Thousands more died in captivity. Dien Bien Phu is recognized as one of history's great battles and as a turning point for American policy: the French defeat led to the fateful U.S. commitment to Vietnam. Ironically, the U.S. military repeated many of the French mistakes. American Howard R. Simpson was there as a combat reporter and photographer. His account is a personal one - that of a man who shared meals and wine and danger with the doomed soldiers. A much-published defense expert, Simpson is uniquely qualified to tell the dramatic story of this famous last stand. Aided by interviews with dozens of survivors from both sides - including victorious Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap - his book will rank with Bernard Fall's bestselling Hell in a Very Small Place as a classic work on an event as significant for the United States as it was for France. Dien Bien Phu is being published on the fortieth anniversary of the French defeat and contains rare combat photos by the author and the French Foreign Legion.

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