The Battle for
Dien Bien Phu
1953/54

Part 2

Order of Battle

by Karim Van Overmeire


French Forces

Commandant du G.O.N.O.:
Colonel de Castries

Chef d'Etat major:
Cdt. de Sequins-Pazzis

Anne-Maire (4) BT3 (3rd T'ai Battalion)
Beatrice (3) 3/13 DBLE (Foreign Legion)
Claudine (5) 1/13 DBLE (Foreign Legion)
Dominique (4) 3/3 RTA (Algerian Tirailleurs)
Eliane (6) 2/4 RTM (Moroccan Tirailleurs)
FranAoise (3) BT2 (2nd T'ai Battalion)
Gabrillle (1) 4/7 RTA (Algerian Tirailleurs), Cie of 5 x 120mm mortars (5 REI-Foreign Legion)
Huguette (5) 1/2 REI (Foreign Legion)
Isabelle (2) 3/3 REI (Foreign Legion), 2/1 RTA (Algerian Tirailleurs)

T'ai and Vietnamese companies

Group of 3 batteries (each 4 x 105mm guns) of the 4th Colonial Artillery Regiment and the 35th Para Light Artillery Regiment.
3 Chaffee-tanks of the 1st Chasseurs

Junon-OpEra (Reserve, headquarters) and Epervier (Sparrow)

1 BEP (For. Legion Paratroopers)
8 Choc (Paratroopers)
Cie of 5 x 120mm mortars (5 REI-Foreign Legion)
7 Chaffee-tanks of the 1st Chasseurs
2 cies of the 31me Bn. de GEnie (engineers)
Group of 3 batteries (each 4 x 105mm guns)
Battery of 4 x 155mm guns
8th GGMI (commandos)
Anti-Aircraft: 2 x 12.7mm quad AA guns.

Vehicles

47 jeeps, 47 trucks Dodge 1.5t, 27 GMC, 2 ambulances and 4 bulldozers.
11 Bearcat-fighters of the Saintonge-group

NOTE: The various sources do not always agree on the exact place or name of some positions. The figure between brackets gives the number of strongpoints. Of a total garrison strength of 10,813 at the start of the battle, 33% was Vietnamese, 24% Foreign Legion, 22% metropolitan French and 20% North or Black African.

During the battle, the garrison would be reinforced by 5 paratroop-battalions and 1,520 volunteers (of whom 680 had never made a parachute-jump before).

14 March 5 BPVN (Vietnamese National Army)
16 March 6 BPC (Colonial, mostly ethnic Vietnamese)
1-4 April 2/1 RPC (Chasseurs Parachutistes)
9-13 April 2 BEP (Foreign Legion)
3-6 May 1 BPC (Colonial, mostly ethnic Vietnamese)

French Troop Quality And Morale

(Command Decision rules)

BEP Bataillon Etranger de Parachutistes (Elite, morale 10)
BPC Bataillon de Parachutistes Coloniaux (Elite, 10)
BPVN Bataillon de Parachutistes Vietnamiens (experienced, 8)
Choc Bataillon de Parachutistes de Choc (Elite, 10)
DBLE Demi-brigade del la LEgion EtrangEre (veteran, 10)
BT Bataillon ThaO (green, 7)
GGMI Groupe du Groupement Mixte d'Intervention (veteran, 10)
REI REgiment Etranger d'Infanterie (veteran, 10)
RPC REgiment de Chasseurs Parachutistes (Elite, 10)
RTA REgiment de Tirailleurs AlgEriens (regular, 8)
RTM REgiment de Tirailleurs Marocains (regular, 8)

Vietnamese Forces

C in C.:
Vo Nguyen Giap

Chef D'Etat major of
the Dien Bien Phu-front:
Hoang Van Thai

308th Division* Commander: Vuong Thua Vu

    36th regiment (3 bns)
    88th regiment (3 bns)
    102nd regiment (3 bns)

312th DivisionCommander:LiTrong Tn

    141st regiment (3 bns)
    165th regiment (3 bns)
    209th regiment (3 bns)
    A regiment of artillery

316th Division** Commander: LI Quang Ba

    98th regiment (3 bns)
    174th regiment (3 bns)
    176th regiment (1 bn)
    An attached company of heavy weapons

304th Division Commander: Hoang Minh Tha

    57th regiment (3 bns)
    A battalion or regiment of artillery

351st Division Commander: Vu Hien

    45th regiment (24 x 105mm guns)
    675th regiment (18 x 75mm mountain guns), (20 x 120mm mortars)
    237th regiment (?? x 81mm mortars)
    151st regiment (3 bns of engineers)
    367th regiment (100 x 12.7mm AA-guns), (80 x 37mm AA-guns)

Attached

    Independent Regiment No 148 (3 bns)
    2 bns of engineers Thanh Hoa
    AA-battalion No 304

Notes

*The 308th Division, commanded by Vuong Thua Vu, was considered to be the Elite of the Viet Minh army. All soldiers were volunteers and most of them were confirmed communists.

The 316th Division was mainly composed of the various 'montagnard' (highland) ethnic minorities. Each regiment had a support element of typically 4 x 75mm guns, 4 x 120mm mortars. Most battalions had 3 rifle-companies and 1 weapons company. the battalions were (at least on paper) well armed with 20 MGs, 8 x 81mm mortars, 3 x 75mm RCL, several bazookas and a ratio of SMGs to rifles of one in three. The Viet Minh wore the well known green uniform with the distinctive palm-leaf helmet, that would become the NVA-uniform in the Second Vietnamese War. The armament was first French, later mainly American and Russian.

At the start of the battle, the Viet Minh-soldiers were well-armed and motivated. Speaking in command decision-terms, I would classify them as "experienced, morale 9" with "veteran, morale 10" for the 308th Division. They lacked will-trained officers and means of communication, so I give them only a command stand at battalion-level. The replacements that arrived for the second part of the battle were often very young and poorly trained. Battalions with a large proportion of replacements would drop to "trained, morale 7".

More Dien Bien Phu:

To Dien Bien Phu (Part 1 in Vol. 1 issue 4)

Back to Battlefields Vol. 1 Issue 5 Table of Contents
© Copyright 1996 by Partizan Press.

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