Establishing the ‘Hedgehog’

Although construction materials are woefully inadequate to build defensive positions capable of withstanding heavy artillery fire, the French fortify eight mutually supporting strongpoints at Dien Bien Phu in the valley of the Nam Yum River in the extreme northwest of Indochina. These are named Beatrice, Gabrielle, Anne-marie, Huguette, Claudine, Dominique, Eliane and Isabelle.