. . . tells the story of the the Viet Minh attack that was the beginning of the end for the French in Vietnam:

The French viewed their position in a flat valley surrounded by hills as an offensive base. From there they would venture out and cut the Viet Minh supply lines, preempting an attack on Laos. As a result of this outlook, the garrison never outposted the hills. They'd be attacking and, besides, it was impossible for the Vietnamese to haul any significant artillery up there.

Unaware of French opinion, the Vietnameses went ahead and hauled heavy artillery up onto the hills along with daunting amounts of anti-aircraft guns. On March 13, they let loose a barrage, followed by a human wave attack that engulfed a French strongpoint manned by crack Foreign Legionnaires. The fight was on.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 09:18 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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And I love Dean's set of questions for the elderly. I plan to ask them of my grandmother, who is in her 90s.

I've always been fascinated by the history of housework: how things used to get done before we had little machines to handle it all. How meals got cooked. How it all worked.

Life was hard, and people were much more vulnerable to disease. And yet, there was an acceptance of self-denial that served the Greatest Generation very well.

I was born in 1962, at a time when an overly optimistic world view appeared to promise all of us a world of unending bounty. No more suffering. Just blue skies and big fluffy clouds.

In some ways, it's a good world view to have, but it's never entirely aligned with the flesh-and-blood reality, and there have been a couple of painful adjustments here and there.

Posted by: Attila at 11:35 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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