Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Photographs
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword by John Pilger
- Foreword by Gavan McCormack
- Introduction
- 1 The Atomic Plague [1945]
- 2 With Mick Griffith to the Plaine des Lacs [1941]
- 3 Who is Wingate Anyway? [1944]
- 4 The Trial of Cardinal Mindszenty [1951]
- 5 Liberty in Eastern Europe [1951]
- 6 The Microbe War [1953]
- 7 Koje Unscreened [1953]
- 8 The Ball-Point Pen Murders [1954]
- 9 South of the 17th Parallel [1955]
- 10 Front-Line Village [1959]
- 11 Welcome Home [1961]
- 12 Gagarin: The First Interview with Western Journalists [1961]
- 13 Virgin Lands [1962]
- 14 Lilac and Outer Space [1962]
- 15 War Against Trees [1963]
- 16 The Tragedy of South Vietnam's Ethnic Minorities [1964]
- 17 Interview with General Vo Nguyen Giap (April 13, 1964)
- 18 A Fortified Hamlet [1965]
- 19 Patriots & Mercenaries [1965]
- 20 At Ground Level [1966]
- 21 A Spurned Olive Branch [1967/1977]
- 22 Personal Leader [1968]
- 23 The Tet of Peace [1973/1977]
- 24 ‘Something from Nothing’ Township [1976]
- 25 Evaluating the Past [1976]
- 26 Mercenaries: British Export Model [1977]
- 27 The Geneva Conference [1978]
- 28 How to be a Good Khmer Rouge [1981]
- 29 China Prepares to Attack Vietnam [1981]
- 30 Afterword [1983]
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
17 - Interview with General Vo Nguyen Giap (April 13, 1964)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Photographs
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword by John Pilger
- Foreword by Gavan McCormack
- Introduction
- 1 The Atomic Plague [1945]
- 2 With Mick Griffith to the Plaine des Lacs [1941]
- 3 Who is Wingate Anyway? [1944]
- 4 The Trial of Cardinal Mindszenty [1951]
- 5 Liberty in Eastern Europe [1951]
- 6 The Microbe War [1953]
- 7 Koje Unscreened [1953]
- 8 The Ball-Point Pen Murders [1954]
- 9 South of the 17th Parallel [1955]
- 10 Front-Line Village [1959]
- 11 Welcome Home [1961]
- 12 Gagarin: The First Interview with Western Journalists [1961]
- 13 Virgin Lands [1962]
- 14 Lilac and Outer Space [1962]
- 15 War Against Trees [1963]
- 16 The Tragedy of South Vietnam's Ethnic Minorities [1964]
- 17 Interview with General Vo Nguyen Giap (April 13, 1964)
- 18 A Fortified Hamlet [1965]
- 19 Patriots & Mercenaries [1965]
- 20 At Ground Level [1966]
- 21 A Spurned Olive Branch [1967/1977]
- 22 Personal Leader [1968]
- 23 The Tet of Peace [1973/1977]
- 24 ‘Something from Nothing’ Township [1976]
- 25 Evaluating the Past [1976]
- 26 Mercenaries: British Export Model [1977]
- 27 The Geneva Conference [1978]
- 28 How to be a Good Khmer Rouge [1981]
- 29 China Prepares to Attack Vietnam [1981]
- 30 Afterword [1983]
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Over the years he reported from Vietnam, Wilfred Burchett developed a warm personal relationship with the North Vietnamese leadership, based on genuine affection. He was a frequent visitor to Hanoi during the American War and would often have breakfast with President Ho Chi Minh in his residence, or a private chat with General Vo Nguyen Giap, as well as the occasional ‘official’ interview with them and other senior figures. The following chapter reproduces one such interview (published in Vietnam, the translation is as appears in the original publication).
In 1954, General Vo Nguyen Giap masterminded the bloody 57-day siege against a French garrison in Dien Bien Phu in northwestern Vietnam, battle which signalled the coming end of colonialism. This Communist Viet Minh victory was the first by an Asian resistance group against a colonial army in a conventional military conflict. It ended the myth of Western invincibility, led to the ignominious withdrawal of the French from Vietnam, and inspired anti-imperial forces worldwide.
Fourteen years later, Giap triumphed in another epic battle, the Tet offensive, widely considered the turning point of the American War.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Rebel JournalismThe Writings of Wilfred Burchett, pp. 175 - 182Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007