Dien Bien Phu: 60 years on

Dien Bien Phu: Ripples from French colonial defeat still felt, 60 years on | Al Jazeera America: 

"After nearly two months of relentless fighting in Vietnam’s Muong Thanh valley, Viet Minh forces had encircled the French troops in Dien Bien Phu.

The humiliating French defeat came after "56 days and 56 nights of noise and fury," said filmmaker Pierre Schoendoerffer, who was taken prisoner at Dien Bien Phu.

A few French soldiers waved a white cloth parachute, Vinh said, and he entered a French fortified bunker to find Commander Christian-Marie de la Croix de Castries."