People transported food and ammunition during Dien Bien Phu campaign (Photo: Archive)

On May 8, 1954, one day after Vietnam recaptured Dien Bien Phu, the Paris Match said the victory had strong and in-depth impacts on France. Bellicose forces did not understand why it had happened. 

Like the French government, the US government was shocked with the failure of Dien Bien Phu. The Paris Match on May 22, 1954 wrote that the government meeting was silent. After the collapse of Dien Bien Phu, there were blur predictions and assumptions which were more frustrating than the most uncomfortable truth.

William Foster, Chairman of the US Communist Party, wrote on the Workers’ Daily on May 10, 1954, that Dien Bien Phu’s liberation was the key victory of the struggle for freedom and peace in the world. The Vietnam People’s Army won this victory in their brave struggle against an enemy equipped with state-of-the-art weapons.

The Soviet Union’s Red Star newspaper on May 8, 1954, expressed joy: “The liberation of Dien Bien Phu entrenched fortification proved the Vietnam People’s Army resolutely defended national freedom and independence. The People’s Daily of China in its May 9, 1954 edition applauded the Vietnamese people’s strength in their just struggle, saying that the liberation of Dien Bien Phu once again showed the world that the Vietnamese people rose up and became invincible.