Dien Bien Phu battle - Cold War event

BEST DOCUMENTARY ABOUT 1st INDOCHINA WAR

I'm back after a long, long hiatus... 

Here is my own take after some research: 

The reason why this battle took place in Dien Bien Phu is because the French wanted to stop the viet minh from gaining control of the north west region of Vietnam to stop them from infiltrating Laos and turning it into communist Laos. It was also so the French could stop the supply lines of the viet minh and by setting up base in Dien Bien Phu they can control and stop the movement of the viet minh. 

Viet minh intelligence found out about it, called the Navarre plan. So they staged an attack onto the french base there. 

The battle was commanded by PLA generals, I believe at least 6 note worthy chinese commanders led the battle and directed orders to the viet minh. These chinese commanders were very experienced and veterans from the chinese civil war and the korean war, the viet minh did not have a capable leader at the time, Vo Nguyen GIap actually hid in a bunker about 30km away from the battlefield with his wife while the chinese commanded the troops on the frontline. And if you look at the previous battles that led up to DBP, you can see Giap lost most of his encounters to the french. He was almost always getting decimated by French carpet bombings and artillery, following the chinese tactic of human wave. 

The initial phase of DBP saw the viet minh getting massacred by french carpet bombing and artillery. Afterwards the chinese directed them to dig trenches and carry the equipment of artillery (all the weapons, supplies, advisors, expert, equipment were all supplied by the PRC). 

They slowly did this bit by bit and took the french by surprise when they started bombing the french bases from hidden view. And you know the rest afterwards...