As 1951 marches on, the French request increases in aid from the United States, urging them to stand strong in the global crusade against Communism. In October, Giap is once again bloodily defeated at Nghia Lo thanks to the timely arrival of French airborne troops. The VietMinh, who have used their knowledge of the ground to out-maneuver the French, are finally being outdone by air mobility, something that will come back later in a big way with the American "Air Cavalry". However, the French war effort, and Bao Dai's "State of Vietnam" continue to suffer from bad press, some liberal American politicians even denounce the Eisenhower administration's policy of support as being a "desperate effort of the French regime to hang on to the remnants of an empire". More bad news follows as De Lattre is overextended and suffers some hard losses at the hands of Giap, who nevertheless withdraws his forces again immediately after the battle.
Only a few days later De Lattre died of cancer and was replaced by General Raoul Salan. By this time, French losses have passed 90,000 for all forces and the public, despite recent victories, was becoming increasingly impatient with the war. The situation was not helped when General Giap launched a series of guerilla attacks on French posts, again avoiding formal battles (wherein he has a bad record) and concentrated on harassing actions, in a move that will be often repeated later, playing upon opposition to the war in France and using their impatience to boost the moral of his own troops with the image that their enemies are becoming tired of the war and will soon surrender. 1952 sees both sides grearing up, with the VietMinh increasing propaganda campaigns to boost their numbers and terrorist attacks to demoralize their enemies. France brings in more US aid, who are becoming more and more sceptical about the outcome of the conflict. The French attempt a major operation, but Giap refuses to come out to fight and it is eventually canceled. 1953 sees the advancement of the "Domino Theory" and more promises from America, but a continued bloody stalemate on the ground.
In May, command of the French forces went to veteran General Henri Navarre, who has little extra support, but who promises to regain the initiative and take offensive action against the VietMinh, first through seek and destroy missions, which have some success. Yet, the war is being undermined at home by the French Communist Party. This is in spite of the fact that late 1953 sees some of the worst atrocities to date carried out by the Vietnamese Communists as part of their "land reform" program, which results in farcial trials followed by the massacre of thoudsands of Vietnamese landlords, traditional elites and virtually anyone opposed to the Communist Party. This campaign lasted into 1956 and cost the lives of about 15,000 Vietnamese at the hands of the "People's Courts". Ho Chi Minh later admits that some of his people were 'over zealous'. The French have also begun to negotiate with the VietMinh leadership, and it soon becomes clear to everyone that the next campaign will decide the fate of Indochina. In typical form, General Navarre goes for the attack, outlining "Operation Castor". He builds a fortified airbase at Dien Bien Phu, a hamlet on the remote mountainous border region with Laos. He planned to use this base as a pivot-point for combined land and air attacks to sweep the VietMinh out of their jungle strongholds in one massive engagement. However, much to the surprise of the French, Giap moves in rapidly and was able, by sheer force of human numbers, to move his artillery up the mountains and begins the climactic 57-day Siege of Dien Bien Phu. The French have only 10,000 men to Giap's 45,000. Bad weather deprives the French of their airpower and the VietMinh concentrate on taking out their airstrips, named after the girlfriends of their commander, Colonel Christian de Castries. The battle was the stuff of legend. The French were shelled relentlessly, deprived of all necessities, but determined to resist to the last. There is the story of the VietMinh soldier who, during a wave attack, hurled his body across a French machine gun to save his comrades. Then there is the story of the musical counter-attack. Legionnaires charged singing the song of the Foreign Legion "La Lune est claire", but the Vietnamese units supporting them have no history of their own, so they charge against their countryment singing the French national anthem.
