<B>Legendary Vietnamese general Giap dies at 102</B>
By CNN Staff
updated 4:59 PM EDT, Fri October 4, 2013
CNN) -- Vietnam's legendary General Vo Nguyen Giap, whose guerrilla tactics defeated the French and American armies, has died aged 102.
In 1954, Giap led the communist force in one of his most famous victories -- a 55-day seige of French forces at Dien Bien Phu, in the north of the country. The siege ended when the French troops, worn down by constant artillery barrages and unable to resupply by air, surrendered on May 7, 1954. That defeat saw the French withdraw, followed by the partitioning of Vietnam.
Giap was the North's defense minister during the Tet offensive against U.S. and U.S.-backed forces in 1968. The surprise attack during the Vietnamese New Year festival targeted dozens of cities in South Vietnam, and both sides suffered heavy casualties before the offensive was repulsed.
The Tet offensive is considered as a turning point in the conflict, with the United States soon reducing the number of its troops in Vietnam as the U.S. public increasingly turned against the war.
The fall of Saigon fuelled his near mythical status overseas as a master strategist and inspired liberation movements everywhere.
U.S. Sen. John McCain, who as a Navy pilot was held prisoner by the North Vietnamese for more than five years after his plane was shot down, marked Giap's death on Twitter Friday. "Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap has passed away -- brilliant military strategist who once told me that we were an 'honorable enemy,'" McCain tweeted.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/04/world/asia/vietnam-general-death/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
I think McCain wanted a rematch...
By CNN Staff
updated 4:59 PM EDT, Fri October 4, 2013
CNN) -- Vietnam's legendary General Vo Nguyen Giap, whose guerrilla tactics defeated the French and American armies, has died aged 102.
In 1954, Giap led the communist force in one of his most famous victories -- a 55-day seige of French forces at Dien Bien Phu, in the north of the country. The siege ended when the French troops, worn down by constant artillery barrages and unable to resupply by air, surrendered on May 7, 1954. That defeat saw the French withdraw, followed by the partitioning of Vietnam.
Giap was the North's defense minister during the Tet offensive against U.S. and U.S.-backed forces in 1968. The surprise attack during the Vietnamese New Year festival targeted dozens of cities in South Vietnam, and both sides suffered heavy casualties before the offensive was repulsed.
The Tet offensive is considered as a turning point in the conflict, with the United States soon reducing the number of its troops in Vietnam as the U.S. public increasingly turned against the war.
The fall of Saigon fuelled his near mythical status overseas as a master strategist and inspired liberation movements everywhere.
U.S. Sen. John McCain, who as a Navy pilot was held prisoner by the North Vietnamese for more than five years after his plane was shot down, marked Giap's death on Twitter Friday. "Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap has passed away -- brilliant military strategist who once told me that we were an 'honorable enemy,'" McCain tweeted.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/04/world/asia/vietnam-general-death/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
I think McCain wanted a rematch...
