古德明《征服英语》之英语军事故事，古德明，香港英语教育作家，他开了一个《征服英语专栏》，在专栏中专门用英语写了世界近代史上的军事小故事，用英语讲述历史中那些惊心动魄的战争。
炮兵指挥官之死
the chinese communists played a vital part in the battle of dien bien phu, 1954, which marked the end of french power in indochina.
french estimates were that the viet minh had minimal artillery support, and france was bound to win. the french artillery commander, colonel piroth, was so confident that he rejected the offer of additional artillery, and promised he could defend dien bien phu with artillery alone, totally unaware of the viet minh's possession of heavy artillery, captured by the chinese communists from the us in korea. consequently, the french were surrounded by plenty of hidden artillery units on the mountain crests overlooking them, who proceeded to rip the french to pieces. piroth's artillery were rendered powerless.
