Dien Bien Phu

American  

[dyen byen foo] / ˈdyɛn ˌbyɛn ˈfu /

noun

1. a town in NW Vietnam: site of defeat of French forces by Vietminh 1954, bringing to an end the French rule of Indochina.

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Dien Bien Phu British  

/ ˌdjɛn bjɛn ˈfuː /

noun

1. a village in NW Vietnam: French military post during the Indochina War; scene of a major defeat of French forces by the Vietminh (1954)

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Example Sentences

A French nurse dubbed the “angel of Dien Bien Phu” for her care of wounded and dying soldiers during the Indochina war in the 1950s has died at the age of 99.

From BBC

On Tuesday morning, the commemoration was held at a stadium in the center of Dien Bien Phu, once a valley dense with trenches, barbed wires and bomb craters.

From Seattle Times

France, humiliated by its rapid capitulation to the Germans in 1940, fought to reclaim wealth and glory in "French" Indochina, only to be severely humbled at Dien Bien Phu.

From Salon

His family noted in a tribute that “he walked the battlefield at Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam, toured the Kremlin, and sat at the table at Yalta where FDR, Churchill, and Stalin met in 1945.”

From Washington Post

“Your rifles had better be clean,” Ellsberg’s drill sergeant told the men, “because Dien Bien Phu just fell.”

From Literature