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.