Victory at any cost by Cecil B. Currey

Author:Cecil B. Currey [Currey, Cecil B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Võ, Nguyen Giáp, 1912-, Vietnam. Quân đội nhân dân -- Biography., Generals -- Vietnam -- Biography.
Publisher: Brassey's
Published: 1997-06-11T19:00:00+00:00

"In the Heart of the Battlefield"

Not everyone's morale was as high as that of the defenders at Dien Bien Phu. The French chief of staff, General Paul Ely, visited Washington and, on 26 March 1954, met with his American counterpart, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Arthur B. Radford. Also present was President Dwight Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. Ely said that Dien Bien Phu might well fall to Giap's main force units. Although he asked for nothing save an assurance that American aid would continue, he warned that loss of the battle would have dangerous consequences for all Southeast Asia. Ely's alarum was enough to cause Eisenhower to declare gloomily on 7 April, "You have a row of dominoes set up and you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly.. . . The loss of Indochina will cause the fall of Southeast Asia like a set of dominoes." 1

Radford proposed to Eisenhower that the United States mount a rescue action, Operation Vulture—the use of B-29s from the Philippines and aircraft from carriers to knock out Giap's artillery. If that did not work, Radford said, they should consider the use of atomic weapons. When others learned of the proposal, a scorching debate ensued. Eisenhower was of two minds. He declared that he could conceive of no greater tragedy than for his country to become involved in another land war in Asia, yet he wanted to help the French. When the French government heard of Operation Vulture, it asked Eisenhower for an immediate air strike. The president rejected the request but left open the possibility of as-

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