At 9:40 AM that day, after using mortars to bombard the defensive positions of Company 19, Battalion 16, and Regiment 141, the enemy sent a platoon (about 30 French Foreign Legion soldiers) to attack trench line 1. Vietnamese Platoon leader Dung commanded his troops to crush the enemy’s attack. Taking advantage of the time when we concentrated our forces on fighting with the platoon of French Foreign Legion soldiers and the explosion of artillery shells, the enemy secretly sent a parachute company (about 80-90 soldiers) and two tanks to approach trench line 1 and open fire on the battlefield of Company 19. They captured the guard battlefield and the battlefield of Platoon 1.
Vietnamese troops continuously organised counterattacks, and it was not until 4:40 PM the same day that control of the battlefield was restored. The battle of Battalion 16 was very fierce, the Vietnamese troops and the enemy fought back and forth over the airport intersection. As a result, Battalion 16 killed 63 enemies and wounded hundreds of others, damaged two military vehicles, repelled enemy attacks, and stubbornly maintained the defensive position at the intersection of Dien Bien Airport to let other units dig trenches to tighten the siege.
On the enemy side, they sent two trucks carrying soldiers, barbed wire, and anti-infantry mines to reinforce the defending forces at the airport intersection. Bigeard counted the remaining force at a total of 2,100 soldiers. The enemy’s counterattack force must come from units not under attack.
On the same day, Navarre sent a report on the military situation in Indochina to France. According to him, Vietnamese army’s general counterattack took place eight months earlier than he expected. Navarre proposed that the French Government cease fire before negotiating, or negotiate without a cease fire, while at the same time preparing a new French combat corps with American equipment, to wage a new war with giant means.
