Short Synopsis
Bernard B. Fall provides a detailed, insightful analysis of the 1954 battle of Dien Bien Phu in this military classic.

Full Synopsis
Like Gettysburg, Stalingrad, Midway, and Tet, the battle at Dien Bien Phu—a strategic attack launched by France against the Vietnamese in 1954 after eight long years of war—marked a historic turning point. By the end of the fifty-six-day siege, a determined Viet Minh guerrilla force had destroyed a large, tactical French colonial army in the heart of Southeast Asia. The Vietnamese victory would not only end French occupation of Indochina and offer a sobering premonition of the U.S.'s future military defeat in the region, but would also provide a new model of modern warfare in which size and sophistication didn't always dictate victory.

Before his death in Vietnam in 1967, Bernard Fall, a critically acclaimed scholar and reporter, drew upon declassified documents from the French Defense Ministry and interviews with thousands of surviving French and Vietnamese soldiers to weave a compelling account of the key battle of Dien Bien Phu. With Fall's thorough and insightful analysis, Hell in a Very Small Place has become one of the benchmarks in war reportage.