Pierre Langlais Pierre Charles Albert Marie Langlais ( 2 December 1909 - 17 July 1988 ) was a French military officer who fought in World War II and Indochina . He is best known as the " ad hoc " commander of the French garrison during the Battle of Dien Bien Phu . Biography . Early life . Langlais was born at Pontivy , in Morbihan , Brittany . He attended St Cyr Military Academy and graduated in 1930 . He chose to serve in the Compagnies Méharistes in North Africa patrolling the Sahara . World War II . Langlais stayed in North Africa during the defeat of France in 1940 . Following the defeat of the Vichy French forces in Operation Torch he joined the French Expeditionary Corps seeing action in Italy . He then passed into the French First Army under the command General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny , seeing action in Alsace and Germany . Indochina . Langlais arrived in Indochina as a Battalion commander in the of the 9th Colonial Infantry Division ( 9e DIC ) in October 1945 . His battalion participated in the early battles of the First Indochina War including the Battle of Hanoi in December 1946 . Langlais returned to Indochina for a second two year tour of duty in 1949 . Assigned to the Chinese border area he watched the defeat of the last remaining units of the Kuomintang armies on the mainland . Returning to France , in October 1951 Langlais was given command of the 1st Colonial Para - Commando Demi Brigade ( 1 DBCCP ) , training replacements for Indochina . The unit was previously commanded by Jean Gilles . In order to take this assignment Langlais trained as a paratrooper . Returning to Indochina in June 1953 for his third tour , Lt Col Langlais was given command of Groupement Aéroporté 2 ( GAP 2 ) , ( Airborne Group 2 ) , comprising : Dien Bien Phu . On 21 November 1953 Langlais and GAP 2 took part in Operation Castor , the seizing of the Dien Bien Phu valley . Langlais jumped with the men of the 1 BEP , but badly injured his ankle on landing and had to be evacuated to Hanoi the following day . Langlais returned to Dien Bien Phu with his foot in plaster on 12 December 1953 to take command of all airborne forces in the valley he immediately joined GAP 2 in the field on an operation along the Pavie Track to relieve the garrison at Mường Pồn . The operation was a failure ; GAP 2 was repeatedly ambushed along the Pavie Track and it reached Muong Pon after the garrison had been overrun . The return to Dien Bien Phu was harassed by frequent Viet Minh ambushes and artillery fire . On 21 December GAP 2 launched another reconnaissance raid called " Operation Regate " to the Laotian town of Sop - Nao to link up with a Laotian - Moroccan - French force coming from Laos , the 50 mile route was extremely difficult with mountainous terrain cut by deep ravines and numerous rivers . The link - up was achieved on 23 December and GAP 2 then returned via a different ( and worse ) route to Dien Bien Phu , arriving back in the valley on 26 December . Langlais ' report on the operation left no doubt that long range offensive operations from Dien Bien Phu were not feasible . Langlais ' advice was ignored and offensive operations continued through January and into February 1954 although the tightening Viet Minh siege ring meant that raids were increasingly encountering Viet Minh forces within a few kilometres from the central position at Dien Bien Phu . On 17 February faced with ongoing losses to the garrison , General René Cogny ordered that henceforth only light reconnaissances be conducted by limited numbers of personnel . On 11 March Langlais led GAP 2 on its last large reconnaissance operation against Viet Minh trenches being dug on Hill 555 overlooking Strongpoint Beatrice , only 3 . 2 km from the central position , the raid was a failure . At 17 : 00 on 13 March Langlais was taking a shower when the Viet Minh artillery barrage that signalled the start of the battle began , he ran to his command post and got in contact his subordinate units . At 17 : 30 a shell hit Langlais ' CP burying the occupants under sand and timber , they had just dug themselves out when a second shell scored a direct hit but fortunately it was a dud . At 19 : 50 Colonel de Castries phoned Langlais to inform him that Lt Colonel Gaucher had been killed with his entire staff and that Langlais was now in command of the central sector . Post - War career . By 1966 , Langlais had been promoted to Brigadier General , and commanded the French 20th Airborne Brigade at Pau . Death . In 1988 , in failing health and depressed , Langlais committed suicide by jumping from an apartment window . Works . Langlais wrote a book about his experience at Dien Bien Phu :