Diên Biên Phu 9 - Bruno Grabs Eliane 1 - Campaign Series Vietnam 1948-1967
0 - 0 - 0
| Rating: | 0 (0) |
| Games Played: | 0 |
| SM: | 4 |
| Turns: | 18 |
| Type: | Stock |
| First Side: | France |
| Second Side: | N. Vietnam |
David Galster
10 April 1954
[Diên Biên Phu, Indochina]: [SIDE A / H2H] [HIS] [CSL]:
The dawn of April 10 witnessed the French assault on Eliane 1 exactly as planned by "Bruno".
To direct the attack on E1, a big hole was dug slope facing E1, into which a half-dozen radio sets were installed, each within reach. There Bruno huddled for the next ten hours, directing the whole battle by radio transmitters as though the forces were musical instruments.
Contrary to doctrine, Bruno used commando tactics. Infantry was committed in small units advancing rapidly, leaving enemy pockets to be mopped up by the second or third wave. The advantage was that the Vietminh were unable to organize defensive fires because friendly and enemy troops were intermingled. At 0550, 81mm and 120mm mortars opened fire. Subsequently, all twenty remaining French 105s fired, delivering 1800 rounds in ten minutes. Rolling barrages preceded infantry waves. When the artillery lifted, the four remaining tanks joined in with the quad fifties from Epervier.
At 0610 paratroopers of 2nd Company, 6BPC began climbing the steep slopes of Eliane 1, under smoke cover, while dive bombers from Navy Squadron 3-F of carrier Arromanches began working over the enemy positions to the rear of Eliane and Dominique.
They sealed off the battlefield completely. The Vietminh in the French rear were boxed with a counter barrage. Second company was pinned on the western slope of E1.
Bruno then committed first company along with a flame-thrower team and an automatic rifle team. The new company cleared the enemy 120-mm mortar barrage, with heavy losses. But, the flamethrower team got through, and the western bunker of Eliane 1 disappeared in a flash of flame, followed by a black cloud, and the smell of charred human flesh.
At 1400 the French paratroopers were on top of E1, looking down on the east slope in direction of Phony Mountain. Helldivers from French Navy Squadron 3-F were finishing off remnants of the Vietminh battalion that had held the hill.
At 1500, a radio transmission went to the Dien Bien Phu command post: "Le garcs Pierre, this is BRUNO, mission accomplished."
The two companies had hardly had time to become acquainted with what was left of the position when an enemy counterattack began at 1845. It was preceded by a violent artillery barrage. The Viet Minh command was willing to pay the price for E1: a full Vietminh regiment, the 98th Infantry of the 316th Division was involved from the beginning.
French defenders were now in an impossible situation. Although fully equipped with automatic weapons, they were incapable of mowing down the onrushing waves fast enough.
Bruno watched the agony from Eliane 4, and decided to make a stand for it. Frantic radio calls went out to the counterattack companies, organized on a stand-by basis by all the paratroop battalions.
1BEP was the first to respond. It sent two small companies of fifty men each into the blazing furnace atop E1. Simultaneously, the Vietminh threw a fourth infantry battalion into the battle.
Then something strange happened. This rarely occurred before in Indochina. As Legionnaires and paratroopers stormed across the low saddle between E4 and E1, they began to sing. Some songs were translations of German Army ones, like "Kepi Blanc," ["Panzerlied"] and now, as they stormed forward, German Legionnaires sung in their deep Teutonic accents, while others hummed in French.
For a moment, there was a brief lull, the Vietminh attempted to understand the strange new sound. And then, the firefight atop Eliane 1 resumed.
Bruno decided to throw in the last available reserves: 2nd and 3rd Companies, 5th Vietnamese Paratroops. Unflinchingly, the Vietnamese paratroopers began the climb. They, too, began to sing the only French song they had learned as schoolboys, the "Marseillaise."
By midnight, remnants of Foreign Legion and Vietnamese Paratroopers had again cleared E1 in hand-to-hand fighting. The Viet-Minh began to fall back, stunned.
[ALL: NO ECAS: NO VV] [CSEE] [1.00]
10 April 1954
[Diên Biên Phu, Indochina]: [SIDE A / H2H] [HIS] [CSL]:
The dawn of April 10 witnessed the French assault on Eliane 1 exactly as planned by "Bruno".
To direct the attack on E1, a big hole was dug slope facing E1, into which a half-dozen radio sets were installed, each within reach. There Bruno huddled for the next ten hours, directing the whole battle by radio transmitters as though the forces were musical instruments.
Contrary to doctrine, Bruno used commando tactics. Infantry was committed in small units advancing rapidly, leaving enemy pockets to be mopped up by the second or third wave. The advantage was that the Vietminh were unable to organize defensive fires because friendly and enemy troops were intermingled. At 0550, 81mm and 120mm mortars opened fire. Subsequently, all twenty remaining French 105s fired, delivering 1800 rounds in ten minutes. Rolling barrages preceded infantry waves. When the artillery lifted, the four remaining tanks joined in with the quad fifties from Epervier.
At 0610 paratroopers of 2nd Company, 6BPC began climbing the steep slopes of Eliane 1, under smoke cover, while dive bombers from Navy Squadron 3-F of carrier Arromanches began working over the enemy positions to the rear of Eliane and Dominique.
They sealed off the battlefield completely. The Vietminh in the French rear were boxed with a counter barrage. Second company was pinned on the western slope of E1.
Bruno then committed first company along with a flame-thrower team and an automatic rifle team. The new company cleared the enemy 120-mm mortar barrage, with heavy losses. But, the flamethrower team got through, and the western bunker of Eliane 1 disappeared in a flash of flame, followed by a black cloud, and the smell of charred human flesh.
At 1400 the French paratroopers were on top of E1, looking down on the east slope in direction of Phony Mountain. Helldivers from French Navy Squadron 3-F were finishing off remnants of the Vietminh battalion that had held the hill.
At 1500, a radio transmission went to the Dien Bien Phu command post: "Le garcs Pierre, this is BRUNO, mission accomplished."
The two companies had hardly had time to become acquainted with what was left of the position when an enemy counterattack began at 1845. It was preceded by a violent artillery barrage. The Viet Minh command was willing to pay the price for E1: a full Vietminh regiment, the 98th Infantry of the 316th Division was involved from the beginning.
French defenders were now in an impossible situation. Although fully equipped with automatic weapons, they were incapable of mowing down the onrushing waves fast enough.
Bruno watched the agony from Eliane 4, and decided to make a stand for it. Frantic radio calls went out to the counterattack companies, organized on a stand-by basis by all the paratroop battalions.
1BEP was the first to respond. It sent two small companies of fifty men each into the blazing furnace atop E1. Simultaneously, the Vietminh threw a fourth infantry battalion into the battle.
Then something strange happened. This rarely occurred before in Indochina. As Legionnaires and paratroopers stormed across the low saddle between E4 and E1, they began to sing. Some songs were translations of German Army ones, like "Kepi Blanc," ["Panzerlied"] and now, as they stormed forward, German Legionnaires sung in their deep Teutonic accents, while others hummed in French.
For a moment, there was a brief lull, the Vietminh attempted to understand the strange new sound. And then, the firefight atop Eliane 1 resumed.
Bruno decided to throw in the last available reserves: 2nd and 3rd Companies, 5th Vietnamese Paratroops. Unflinchingly, the Vietnamese paratroopers began the climb. They, too, began to sing the only French song they had learned as schoolboys, the "Marseillaise."
By midnight, remnants of Foreign Legion and Vietnamese Paratroopers had again cleared E1 in hand-to-hand fighting. The Viet-Minh began to fall back, stunned.
[ALL: NO ECAS: NO VV] [CSEE] [1.00]
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