In the east, the trenches stretched near the high points of E, D1, C1 and A1. In the west, a tip of the trench was only 50 metres away from the barbed wire fence at fortress 106, which was part of the fortress cluster directly protecting Muong Thanh Airport. At this time, the formation of a trench siege made it impossible for the French army to withdraw and also made it difficult to send a large number of reinforcements. The enemy faced a certain defeat because sooner or later the air supply route would be cut off. Vietnam’s trench battlefield broke the basic structure of the fortress group, completely separating the Hong Cum subdivision from the central area. De Castries could not look forward to the relief from the battalions in the south of Muong Thanh field.
Enemy side: American C-l19 transport aircraft controlled by a French pilot began dropping napalm bombs on Vietnam’s military positions around Dien Bien Phu.
The 6th Colonial Parachute Regiment clashed with the Vietnamese forces in the area between the Claudine cluster in the eastern hills and Isabelle in the southern division. At 7:30 am on March 24, 1954, Lieutenant Colonel Keller, from the Staff of the Dien Bien Phu fortress group, had to return to Hanoi by plane after a nervous panic attack.
The French air force commanders were extremely bewildered. Colonel Nicot, commander of the French Air transport fleet, telegraphed General Logrin, Commander of the Far East Air Force, to complain that although the French planes in Dien Bien Phu were flying high , they were still shot down by Viet Minh anti-aircraft gunners.
On coordinated battlefields: Along with the good news of daily victories at Dien Bien Phu battlefield, in the Central Highlands and South Central regions, the Vietnamese army and people continuously won victories on all fronts. In Binh Dinh, local soldiers and guerrillas dug underground tunnels right along roadsides to wait for the enemy to arrive and then detonated mines and rushed out to destroy the enemy. A group of special forces dug a secret tunnel and remained in the enemy-occupited territory when they overran to invade Binh Dinh. Vietnamese troops destroyed and captured 800 enemy soldiers.
