标题: Dien Bien Phu [打印本页] 作者: choi 时间: 4-8-2010 18:03 标题: Dien Bien Phu 本文通过一路BBS站telnet客户端发布
David Kaiser, Book Review. Washington Post, Apr. 4, 2010.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/02/AR2010040201319.html
(the book: Ted Morgan, Valley of Death; The Tragedy at Dien Bien Phu That
Led America Into the Vietnam War. Random House, 2010)
(1) Note:
(a)
(i) set piece (n): "a precisely planned and conducted military operation <an
offensive set piece that caught the enemy off guard>"
(ii) set-piece (adj)
(b) Siege of Boston
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Boston
("In November 1775, General Washington sent a 25 year-old bookseller-turned-
soldier named Henry Knox to bring heavy artillery that had been captured at
Fort Ticonderoga to Boston. In a technically complex and demanding operation
, Knox brought many cannons to the Boston area in January 1776. In March
1776, these artillery were used to fortify Dorchester Heights, overlooking
Boston and its harbor and threatening the British naval supply lifeline. The
British commander William Howe, realizing he could no longer hold the town,
chose to evacuate it. He withdrew the British forces, departing on March 17
(celebrated today as Evacuation Day) for Halifax, Nova Scotia")
(i) Evacuation Day coincides with St. Patrick's Day.
(ii) Click "Henry Knox" and you will reach a new page, which states,
"Henry married Lucy Flucker (1756–1824), the daughter of Boston Loyalists,
on June 16, 1774. In spite of separations due to his military service, they
remained a devoted couple for the rest of his life, and carried on an
extensive correspondence. Since the couple fled Boston in 1775, she remained
essentially homeless throughout the Revolutionary War. Her parents left
with the British during their withdrawal from Boston after the Continental
Army fortified Dorchester Heights, which ironically hinged upon Knox’s
cannons. She never saw them again.
(c) emplacement (n): "a prepared position for weapons or military equipment
<radar emplacements>"
(d) Battle of Verdun
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Verdun
(2) Quote: "But U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and Adm. Arthur
Radford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wanted an allied
confrontation with China over Indochina, almost surely involving the use of
atomic weapons, which Dulles in fact offered to Laniel during the crisis.