French general who commanded the Điện Biên Phủ fortress in 1954 and was captured when it fell
A cavalry officer from an old French noble family, he served through the Second World War and into the Indochina War, taking command at Điện Biên Phủ in December 1953. After the Viet Minh attack began on 13 March 1954, artillery wrecked the airstrips and the monsoon cut supply until only three strongpoints remained. On 7 May General Cogny in Hanoi ordered him to cease fire and destroy his equipment without raising a white flag, and de Castries was taken prisoner as the fortress fell, to be released after the Geneva Accords.