DIEN BIEN PHU 'Offer of A-bombs by U.S.’

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32701, 2 September 1971, Page 17

DIEN BIEN PHU 'Offer of A-bombs by U.S. ’

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) WASHINGTON. August 31. The Eisenhower Administration offered in ■ the spring of 1954 to sell France four atomic bombs for use in a last-ditch defence of its embattled forces at Dien Bien Phu, according to a leading United States aerospace magazine, United Press International reported.

“The United States offer was refused and Dien Bien Phu fell, leading to the end of the Indo-China war in May, 1954,” the magazine, “Aviation Week and Space Technology,” said in an unsigned article from Paris. Quoting an anonymous source, the magazine said that this was “the basic object lesson that prompted subsequent French governments to push development of an independent nuclear force.” The United States made its offer to the then French Prime Minister, Mr Joseph Laniel, after the Viet Minh forces had pushed the French army into an untenable position at Dien Bien Phu, the magazine said. The bombs involved were the Mark 21, a relatively low-yield tactical nuclear weapon, which could have been dropped by French Air Force 826 bombers

“Premier Laniel was reported to have accepted the offer with reservations, passing the tactical decision on to General Henri-Eugene Navarre, the commander-in-chief of French forces in

Indo-China, the magazine said.

"General Navarre strongly recommended against using the atomic weapons because of the unknown side effects they could have.” Other French officials felt that the use of atomic weapons might have saved Dien Bien Phu and possibly changed the outcome of the war, said the magazine. These officials felt France “should not have to depend on her ■ allies for such weapons in the future, and began to press for development of nuclear weapons in France.”

The first step in this direction was taken in 1954 by Mr Pierre Mendes-France, who took office after the Laniel government fell as a result of the Indo-China defeat.