In October 1950, led by Võ Nguyên Giáp, Communist troops in the northern region of the French colony of Vietnam began a series of attacks on French colonial fortresses along the border with China.
10,000 French troops. isolated in jungle forts fell by the middle of October,1950.
In a speech in the French National Assembly that month, Pierre Mendés France advocated negotiating a cease fire with the Communists. Later, as Premier of France in 1954, he ended the French involvement in Vietnam.