London, Oct 4 (IANS) Vo Nguyen Giap, the Vietnamese general who masterminded victories against the US and France, died at the age of 102, BBC reported Friday.
Giap was the most prominent military commander, beside Ho Chi Minh, during the Vietnam war and was responsible for major operations and leadership until the war ended.
In 1953, Vietnamese forces led by Giap defeated French forces at Dien Bien Phu making him the first military commander to defeat a major Western power in Asia. It was a military and psychological defeat for the French in Vietnam.
The battle, which had begun March 13, 1954, was the decisive engagement of the French war in Indo-China.
He went on to oversee the Tet Offensive against US forces in 1968, often cited as one of the factors that led to the US withdrawal from Vietnam.
Giap also published a number of works on military strategy.
|
|
Comments:
