In March of 1954 France was at war with the Viet Minh independence movement in French Indochina. The first Indochina war had been going since 1946 and the French were planning to cut off Viet Minh supply lines going into Laos and tactically draw the Viet Minh in to a major confrontation to end the conflict once and for all.

France opted to fight at a fortress they built at Dien Bien Phu, deep in the hills of northwestern Vietnam. The fortress would be resupplied by air as the French were convinced the Viet Minh possessed no anti-air capabilities. The Viet Minh swiftly moved to surround the French and positioned heavy artillery and anti-aircraft guns all around the fortress, having pushed these up the slopes of the mountains overlooking the French positions and dug tunnels through the mountain.

On March 13th the Viet Minh opened fire upon the French positions and with the artillery spread out around the mountains the French could not mount any counter-battery fire. The French artillery commander committed suicide in desperation and while the French troops repulsed wave after wave of attacks by the Viet Minh they eventually ran out of supplies, the air drops being fewer and fewer as the Viet Minh anti-aircraft guns took out supply planes during every run.

After a two month siege the French forces surrendered, the government resigned and France withdrew from Indochina, separating the country in two at the 17th parallel. One war ends... another one begins.

Campaign: “Curse of Strahd”, Dungeons & Dragons

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