The Last Valley: Dien Bien Phu and the French Defeat in Vietnam - Hardcover

This is an epic book about an epic battle. It is not often that the story of a struggle as dramatic as Dien Bien Phu is told with a flair that matches the courage of the adversaries and the sheer scale of the event. Martin Windrow's book is nothing less than a landmark in military history. (Professor Richard Holmes)

This is an outstanding work of military history. It tells the story of the ghastly French experience in Indo-China in a way that has never been done before in English. The account of Dien Bien Phu is a masterpiece of meticulous historical narrative (Max Hastings)

Success in battle, according to one military maxim, may not, on its own assure the achievement of national security goals, but defeat will guarantee failure. Mr Windrow's vivid and well-written account confirms that this was certainly not the case at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. His book is a tribute to his abilities both as a historian and a writer. (THE ECONOMIST)

It is hard to praise to highly Martin Windrow's account, the first work of a historian who obviously possesses great gifts. It is surprising how many writers who describe battles lack any understanding of tactics and technology. Windrow is master of every detail... His book makes gripping reading. I hope he writes a lot more. (Max Hastings THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH)

This anniversary reconstruction of France's most traumatic post-war battlefield defeat is highly opportune... Martin Windrow has pulled off a remarkable feat. (SUNDAY TIMES)

Enthralling...Windrow gives a clear and cogent analysis of the general politico-military position, one that makes the fateful decision to invite a Viet Minh attack on Dien Bien Phu understandable... Anyone who found Stalingrad absorbing will find this book equally so. Like Beevor, Windrow gives one the very essence of battle... His character sketches of individuals from commanding officers down, are deft and accurate... This book is a wonderful account of a terrible battle... (Alan Massie LITERARY REVIEW)

Martin Windrow's The Last Valley is the vividly told story of a miniature Stalingrad in which 10,000 French troops were besieged by a large army of Viet Minh for fifty-seven days, fifty years ago. (HISTORY TODAY)

...Dien Bien Phu, as Martin Windrow's moving and judicious account of the battle and of the two armies that fought it shows, was not at all a straightforward clash between the French and Vietnamese... Windrow tells it with great lucidity and humanity, with vivid portraits of the leading French officers, and... a very fair assessment of the internal dramas of Dien Bien Phu... he also offers asides on weaponry, battlefield medicine, morale... which are among the best elements of this good book. (Martin Woollacott THE GUARDIAN)

Windrow has achieved a remarkable feat... The account is full of nice touches... A master of every detail, Windrow captures both the "prodigious human exertions" of the barefoot Viet Minh troops and the "courage and fighting skills" of the French legionnaires. (THE WEEK)

In December 1953 the French army challenged its elusive Vietnamese enemies to a stand-up battle. French paras landed on the border between Vietnam and Laos, astride the Communist lines of communication. The Vietnamese not only attacked, they isolated the French force and besieged it in its jungle base. The hunters became the hunted. As defeat loomed, the French appealed to the USA where Vice-President Nixon and Air Force General Le May planned to drop atomic bombs on the Vietnamese supply dumps. It fell to Winston Churchill to block the use of atomic weapons in Vietnam: President Eisenhower would not employ them without his consent. What followed became a Stalingrad in the jungle: the French were worn down and destroyed. The French withdrew from Vietnam but the country was divided at US insistence, creating the short-lived ¿Republic of South Vietnam¿ for which 55,000 US servicemen would die over the next 20 years. The French colonial army regrouped in Algeria where a new war began, one it was so determined to win that its officers would ultimately attempt a coup d¿etat. Dien Bien Phu is a true landmark battle. Its political consequences were profound. Militarily, it was the first defeat of modern western forces by an Asian guerrilla army.