Bigeard’s Lieutenant - Indochina 1945–1954

2026 French Army Erwan Bergot Literary Grand Prize
The previously unpublished account of one of the participants in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.

In a scene from Pierre Schoendoerffer’s film Dien Bien Phu, a young lieutenant from the renowned 6th Colonial Parachute Battalion can be seen at the headquarters of General Cogny, commander of French forces in Tonkin. His name is Jacques Allaire. " He is the man most often cited when discussing the battle and, more broadly, the saga of Bigeard ", writes General Maurice Schmitt, former Chief of the Defense Staff, in his foreword. What was missing was his account of the war. Here it is.

These memoirs recount the life of a young man of modest origins: a curious autodidact with a passion for books and theater who worked for a time in a bookshop before joining the French Forces of the Interior and then the regular army reconstituted after the Liberation. He served three tours in Indochina between 1945 and 1954, culminating in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and his internment in Viet Minh Prison Camp No. 1.

Written from a soldier’s perspective, far from the general staffs and the vacillations of the Palais-Bourbon, this book bears witness to a war in which comradeship stood alongside tragedy. It also recounts a young Frenchman’s passionate discovery of Indochina—its civilization, peoples and customs. " A caustic, sharp-tongued little lieutenant ", as Bigeard called him, Allaire too was struck by the " yellow fever ": a fascination with the peninsula.

A powerful account, one of the last by a major participant in the conflict.

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