March 20, 1954: General Vo Nguyen Giap sent encouragement letter to Vietnamese soldiers on battlefields

Determining the task of building an offensive battlefield and surrounding the enemy is paramount in preparing for the upcoming second attack. The Campaign Command has assigned specific tasks to the units of Group 308, Group 312, and Group 316.

To ensure the mission of attack, on March 20, 1954, General Vo Nguyen Giap, Commander-in-Chief and Commander of the Campaign, sent an encouragement letter to the soldiers about "Building a battlefield to attack and encircle the enemy quickly and to meet standards.".

After the Commander-in-Chief General Vo Nguyen Giap sent this letter to the army units, Major General Hoang Van Thai, Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, issued a Directive to send additional forces to the battlefield.

Under the leadership of the Party Central Committee and the General Military Commission, the task of building a battlefield to attack and surround the enemy with trenches became a great combat project for the Vietnamese soldier's army. This is a unique military art that solves the problem of soldiers approaching the enemy on flat terrain, transporting forces, maintaining the battlefield, conducting continuous combat and making the enemy unable to react in time. Additionally, the offensive battlefield using trenches greatly limited the effects of the enemy's artillery and air force.

On the enemy side: At the Dien Bien Phu front, the French soldiers continued to drop more paratroopers to reinforce Dien Bien Phu. Five Dakota aircraft landed and took off at Muong Thanh Airport.

In the US, General Paul Ely, Chief of Staff of the French army forces, went to Washington to meet President Eisenhower to ask for help from the US. The French side wanted a massive bombing around Dien Bien Phu. The US was concerned about the fate of Dien Bien Phu. However, General Ely expressed optimism that the French army would be able to defend Dien Bien Phu if requests for reinforcements were quickly met to be able to hit the enemy.