Overview of the Battle of Beatrice, Dien Bien Phu

 I'm fortunate in having a permanent 8'x7' table in my basement 'WarRoom'. This enables me to turn to a game whenever I would like to, and leave the setup as well. This particular recreation lasted over a period of about a week. In game terms, each turn represented 15 minutes, with each figure representing 5 real men. In addition to the table setup, there were a number of player aids such as 

1) VM Artillery Results to keep track of destruction elsewhere in DBP...  3) French Artillery Boards for each of the 105mm, 120mm and 155mm batteries present at DBP. These make bookkeeping much easier for a campaign, no matter the length, just store them away for future reference.

2) Casualty Collection Boards to keep lost figures...

3) French Artillery Boards for each of the 105mm, 120mm and 155mm batteries present at DBP. 

These make bookkeeping much easier for a campaign, no matter the length, just store them away for future reference.

The results of the struggle for this campaign look like this:

Destroyed: Airfield Beacon and Tower    Damaged:   1x Morane 'Cricket' 

                    3x C47s                                                    1x Bearcat

                    4x Morane 'Crickets'                                1 3/4 ton

                    3x Bearcats                                              1x 105mm

                    2x Ambulances                                        2x 120mm

                    2x Jeeps

                    1x 3/4 ton truck                                        KIA/WIA French artillery crews- 25 men

                    4x 2 1/2 ton trucks                                                 10 on 105mm

                    1x 105mm                                                               4 on 155mm                                                                       1x 155mm                                                               1 on 120mm

                    7x 120mm                    

Casualties in fugures/men

                    3/13 DBLE initial strength at 89/445        Viet Minh initial strength in 5 battalions at 646/3230

                        KIA = 43/215                                1st Battalion (11Btn/141Rg) KIA?WIA = 68/340

                        WIA = 31/155                                2nd Battalion (428Btn/141Rg) KIA/WIA = 63/315

                        POW = 15/65                                 3rd Battalion (130Btn/209Rg) KIA/WIA = 69/345

                       Total   =89/445                                4th Battalion (166Btn/209Rg)KIA/WIA = 47/235

                                                                                5th Battalion (16Btn/141Rg)KIA/WIA = 67/335

                                                                                                    Total                          = 314/1570

Historically, the Foreign Legion 3/13 DBLE was for all practical purposes wiped out. Around 100 escaped into the jungle but the battalion itself was eliminated from the board. Viet losses are harder to determine as the 'official' records range from 500 KIA (French estimates) to 193 KIA/137WIA (Military History Institute of Vietnam). At the usual 3-1 WIA-KIA ratio, the later seems questionable. So perhaps somewhere in the middle? Could be 250 KIA, 750 WIA? The Game results not far off. All in all, it was a very enjoyable simulation.