DIEN BIEN PHU, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam on Tuesday celebrated the 70th anniversary of the battle of Dien Bien Phu in which the French colonial army was defeated by Vietnamese troops, marking the end of the French occupation of Indochina.
At Dien Bien Phu, Vietnamese troops led by General Vo Nguyen Giap, surprised French forces with heavy artillery fire at their mountainous garrison in northwestern Vietnam.
When Dien Bien Phu fell in 1954, it spelled the end of almost a century of French colonial rule.
“The historic Dien Bien Phu victory is a remarkable event, not only for the Vietnamese revolution,” Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said in a speech at the ceremony. “It is also a monumental saga that inspired countries rising up to fight for independence and freedom, marking the collapse of the colonialism all over the world.”
On Tuesday morning, the commemoration was held at a stadium in the center of Dien Bien Phu, once a village in a valley dense with trenches, barbed wires and bomb craters. It is now a city of more than 80,000 people.
Scenery of Arxan National Forest Park in north China's Inner Mongolia
European court rules human rights violated by climate inaction
Free pig with your house: Baffling promotion to get through China's real estate slump
Tourists enjoy kiteboarding in Hainan
Father's incredible journey through three continents to escape China's zero
Americans have just a few days left to pay their income taxes
Xi Focus: Xi Inspects Navy of PLA Southern Theater Command
Russian military trainers arrive in Niger as relations with US deteriorate
World Wetlands Day: A glimpse of China's earth’s kidneys
Road north of Kerikeri partly reopens after gas delivery truck accident