M24 Chaffee Light Tank

[Bruce_in_Oz]

A number of these dinky tanks were delivered by air to the ill-fated garrison at Dien Bien Phu.

Given the limited capacity of most of the aircraft involved, the tanks were partially disassembled in Hanoi and transported in "chunks", to be re-assembled just off the airstrip at Dien Bien Phu.

Their remains can be seen scattered around parts of the battlefield to this day, not necessarily in the position where they were disabled in 1954. Some are in better condition than others, ditto some rather shabby 155mm and 8" guns.

The story can be found here.

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[browningautorifle]

delivered by air to the ill-fated garrison at Dien Bien Phu.

And if you go there by Google Earth you can find one pictured where it was destroyed on the airfield.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

I went to Dien Bien Phu for the 50th anniversary; quite a shindig.

Certain parts of the various battlefields have been "Disney-fied" to accommodate the steady stream of tourists. Classic example is the use of "concrete" sandbags that withstand the hands and feet of punters much better than the '50s originals. Like the Cu Chi Tunnels in the south, some selected tunnels, trenches and bunkers have been enlarged from their original "minimalist" dimensions. Even the Giap's HQ redoubt in "the mountains" has been significantly "tarted up". Several of the tanks at Dien Bien Phu have, given the corrosion patterns on wheels, tracks and hulls, been "relocated" to positions more amenable to viewing by the punters.

There is an interesting film about the battle, made by a Yugoslav crew, not long after the real shooting had ceased. Captured Legionaires were "recycled" to play "themselves" and given (unloaded) weapons to look the part. Apparently ALL of the ammo fired in the "remake" was LIVE; nobody had "theatrical" blanks handy in such staggering volumes. When the "cinematic" sappers blew something up, it wasn't with a metre of det. cord, a few litres of petrol in a plastic jar and an over-wad of sphagnum moss and cork pellets, "Hollywood style", but with REAL explosives.