Điện Biên Phủ
The choice of de Castries as the local commander at Điện Biên Phủ was, in retrospect, a bad one. Navarre chose de Castries, a cavalryman in the 18th-century tradition, because Navarre envisioned Điện Biên Phủ as a mobile battle. But Điện Biên Phủ would require a commander adept at World War I-style trench warfare, something for which de Castries was not suited.