Christian Marie Ferdinand de la Croix de Castries (11 August 1902 – 29 July 1991) was the French commander at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954.

Biography

Christian de Castries was born into a distinguished military family, the House of Castries, and enlisted in the army at the age of 19. He was sent to the Saumur Cavalry School. In 1926 de Castries was commissioned as a cavalry officer but later resigned to devote himself to

equestrian sports Equestrian sports are sports that use horses as a main part of the sport. This usually takes the form of the rider being on the horse's back, or the horses pulling some sort of horse-drawn vehicle. General * * * * * * * * * * * * * ...

. After rejoining the army at the start of World War II, he was captured (1940), escaped from a German prisoner-of-war camp (1941), and fought with the Allied forces in North Africa, Italy, the south of France, and finally in the invasion of southern Germany. He ended the war in command of the 3rd Moroccan Spahis (mechanized cavalry), whose distinctive red cap he subsequently wore throughout his service in

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China), officially known as the Indochinese Union and after 1941 as the Indochinese Federation, was a group of French dependent territories in Southeast Asia from 1887 to 1954. It was initial ...

. In 1946, de Castries, soon to become a lieutenant colonel, was sent to Indochina where he commanded a ''tabor'' (battalion) of Moroccan goumiers. He was wounded and spent a year recuperating in France before returning to Vietnam as a full colonel. In December 1953, he was charged with defending fortress of Dien Bien Phu against the

Viet Minh The Việt Minh (, ) is the common and abbreviated name of the League for Independence of Vietnam ( or , ; ), which was a Communist Party of Vietnam, communist-led national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1 ...

. After an eight-week siege, the garrison was defeated, and near the end, de Castries was promoted to brigadier general. The French were overrun by Viet Minh forces on 7 May 1954, effectively ending the

First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam, and alternatively internationally as the French-Indochina War) was fought between French Fourth Republic, France and Việ ...

and French presence in Southeast Asia. He was held prisoner for four months while an armistice agreement was reached in Geneva. Upon his return to France, de Castries was appointed to command the 5th Armored Division, then stationed in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. Following a car accident in 1959, he retired from the military.

Martin Windrow Martin C. Windrow (1944-2025) was a British historian, editor and author of several hundredWindrow, Martin ''The Last Valley'', preface books, articles and monographs, particularly those on organizational or physical details of military history, ...

, 'The Last Valley: Dien Bien Phu and the French Defeat in Vietnam' Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 2004 He subsequently headed a recycling firm and died in Paris on 29 July 1991.

References

1902 births 1991 deaths Military personnel from Paris French generals French military personnel of the First Indochina War

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

Prisoners of war held by Vietnam {{France-mil-bio-stub