For the beleaguered French garrison, under siege in their airhead at Dien Bien Phu for two weeks by the Viet Minh guns in the surrounding hills, the handwriting was on the walls. Deep in enemy territory, the bastion was entirely reliant on aerial resupply. Now that the Viet Minh had done the impossible by putting heavy artillery on the hills around the garrison, the airstrip was subject to interdiction on a 24 hour basis. Worse still, the Viet Minh had included large amounts of anti-aircraft artillery in the preparations. On the evening of 27 March, the nominal garrison commander, Colonel de Castries, summoned Major "Bruno" Bigeard, the commander of the crack 6th Colonial Parachute Battalion, to his dugout for a conference. In a gross representation of an order, de Castries spoke: "My little Bruno, you will have to go out and get me that Viet flak out west...tomorrow. You have carte blanche. Take everything you need and orchestrate the business any way you wish..."
Attacker: Viet Minh (36th Infantry Regiment, 308th Infantry Division and 367th Anti-Aircraft Regiment, 351st Heavy Division)
Defender: French (1er Compagnie, 6e Bataillon de Parachutistes Coloniaux and Peloton Prèaud, Escadron de Marche du 1er Régiment de Chasseurs à Cheval)
