Supplies are parachuted to French troops battling Viet Minh in Diên Biên Phu. A bulldozer is air dropped using five parachutes, on November 21, 1953. A French fighter bomber dives low over a Viet Minh position. French troops fire field artillery piece. Smoke rises all around the battlefield. French infantry fight their way up a wooded hillside (many trees broken from combat effects). They fire small arms and mortars. They cook over open fires. Aerial view of French encampment at Diên Biên Phu, in February, 1954, with smoke rising from many small fires.
French troops in military vehicles moving about the countryside and through towns in Indochina. French High Commissioner and Commander in Chief of Indochina, General Henri Navarre, is seen interacting personally with his officers and troops in the field. General Navarre examines a long strip of aerial photo reconnaissance film.
French soldiers in combat during the French-Indochina war. They wade through a deep river and cross it. They hide behind bushes and take positions. They watch through binoculars. They fire field artillery, machine guns and mortars and capture several Viet Minh soldiers. French soldiers examine several dead Viet Minh.
French troops (French Far East Expeditionary Corps) attack the Vietminh Red troops in Vietnam, French Indochina. Soldiers fire artillery (M114 155 mm howitzer). Explosions far in the field. French and Vietnamese soldiers marching through a field. Two soldiers wading in a river, carrying an injured patient. A French soldier with foot injury from Vietminh traps made out of nails. Man showing a foot trap by the Vietminh. Reinforced by eight new French Battalions, French and Vietnam forces launch the heaviest attack of the eight year old war. French and Vietnamese soldiers cross a rice field.
French (French Far East Expeditionary Corps) and Vietnamese forces attack the Vietminh in Vietnam, French Indochina. Bombarding and firing on the field. Wrecked and burning vehicles on the field. Soldiers move forward for attack. Soldiers fire rifles. A soldier fires with a machine gun (likely a M2 Browning). Bomber planes dropping bombs over a field. A tank fires at a hill. Smoke arises due to bombarding. Soldiers at a burning village.
Clip depicts arrival of French General Henri Navarre, replacing General Raoul Salan as Supreme Commander of the French Far East Expeditionary Force during the First Indochina War. Opening scenes show General Navarre (wearing long sleeves) greeting General Salan (with wide rolled-up shirt sleeves) near a parked DC-3 airplane. General Navarre and General Salan walk side by side, inspecting military forces who are standing at attention. Next, another French officer (in short sleeved shirt) introduces General Navarre to various officers. Scene changes to General Salan at airfield in Laos as he inspects and says goodbye to the military forces he had commanded. He greets French military officers and many government officials in white suits in a receiving line, and then shakes hands with others who are gathered near a parked aircraft. In the next scene, French General Henri Navarre (wearing uniform jacket) descends steps of a DC-4 aircraft and greets a number of military and civilian officials. Close-up of several armed Indochinese soldiers standing at attention. In the final scene, General Salan and General Navarre are seen standing on an airfield tarmac, side by side, talking to a civilian official wearing a hat and to another French General.