Battle of Nghia Lo
1951 CE.
Shown on the map at 21.604°, 104.504°.
The Battle of Nghĩa Lộ (Vietnamese: Nghĩa Lộ), also called Ly Thuong Kiet Campaign by Việt Minh, was fought between forces of the French Union and Việt Minh during the First Indochina War. Both general Giap and de Lattre waited eagerly for the battle due to the postponement that occurred when Giap's attack along the Day River were driven back in June 1951. Since Giap was the one controlling the tempo of this war for months, it took a huge turn during the pause after his defeat causing his military situation to become unstable. On 3 October, the Việt Minh 312th Division launched an attack on French forces in the town of Nghĩa Lộ and its vicinity which was led by the general Giap. This attack on Nghĩa Lộ occurred 95 miles west of Hanoi and only 65 miles past that of the western de Lattre Line. This village was the utmost importance to de Lattre because it served as the capital of the T'ai natives (in the Sip Song Chau Tai, an autonomous territory of the State of Vietnam), which had very strong ties with the French.
Text from the Wikipedia article Battle of Nghĩa Lộ (1951), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.