Henri Navarre

Henri Navarre was the last commander of French military forces in colonial Indochina, which was to become North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The Dien Bien Phu operation was at his orders, given to his subordinates Rene Cogny and Jean Gilles.

Navarre and Cogny, regional commander for the northern theater that included Dien Bien Phu, grew to despise one another. The French commissions of inquiry found blame for both, but more for Navarre, if only as the final decisionmaker. After the war, Cogny wrote a book about the war, and Navarre sued him over it.