Dien Well Phu de Pécau and Davidenko surgeon is the last title of the collection of war stories published by Cartem Comics, which tells the French military defeat in Indochina

Dien Well Phu surgeon It is an original story of Jean-Pierre Pécaulike others published in the collection War storiesLike Masud Bodyguard or Warsaw Insurgent, in this case accompanied by the cartoonist Vladimir davidenko set in the French Indochine of mid -1950s, originally published in France by Coust editions In 2021 as Historia & Destinns. The Dien Bien Phu Sumru.

The end of the French colonial adventure in Indochina

A Mid -Sixties of the s. XVIII Europeans tried to Christianize the current Vietnam, therefore they were sent Spanish and clergy soldiers from the Philippines Islands then called ConchinchinaSouthern Vietnam, because the North was known as Tonne. The military retired, but the priests remained in the country.

With the beginning of the Catholic murders, since 1857, France was erected as a protector of these in Asia protested in front of Tonkín’s emperor. The French, who had no basis in the area, signed an agreement with Spain who sent troops from the Philippines, accustomed to the war in the jungle, aboard the French Navy ships in 1858.

Thereafter France The destinations have started to govern as a power, form a colony which grouped, in 1887Vietnamite regions: Annam, Cochinchina and Tonkín, together with Cambodia. Further 1893 Also Laos It was under French domination, added in 1899 as a new part of the Indochina. In the World War II The Vietnamese fought against the Japanese and subsequently before the emptiness of power the communist resistance of Minh minh Proclaimed independence.

France refused to negotiate with I have who minhLeader of the Communists, restoring colonial control in Indochina, positioning himself as a boss a Bao come on. Substimating the communist guerrillas, the French did not provide for the impact of an irregular army supported by communist China. The war intensified; French governments, reluctant to send replacements, have seen how the army elite units have undergone important victims.

Between 1953-1954, France tried to establish an advanced base in the well of Dien, but the Vêt Minh strongly defeated the colonial forces. given that defeat And without American support, France agreed to go to the Paz conference in Geneva, who put an end to the war and Vietnam divided into two: al Northeasta state Communistand al ONa liberal Under Bao come on. Subsequently the Americans were defeated in Vietnam War (1965-1975) And the country would meet.

The plot

Jean-Pierre Pécau y Vladimir davidenko narrate Dien Well Phu surgeon THE History of Jacques Gindrey A French military doctor who fought and was injured in the Second World War as a member of the French Resistance and who graduated after the conflict graduated in medicine. The surgeon was destined for the French base and after the assault of Vêt Minh was taken prisoner and then released. He later continued in the French army and eventually served as a doctor in France.

Jacques Gindrey is the protagonist of this story and the author shows how it is intended for the advanced base in the enemy territory, where the battle raised by the general staff of the French army should be a success as happened in Battle of Na San. Von clausewitz In his work, the art of war said that war is an act of strength destined to force our enemy to make our will, but the general Vietnamese Vo nguyen japHe learned from the defeat of Na San and will be the French who are dedicated to the will of the enemy.

Throughout the plot The surgeon will show how to save the lives of the people you attendRegardless of the fact that they are civil or military, trying to cope with hell in which the Dien Phu basin became between November 15, 1953 and 8 May 1954.

The authors

The Parisian Jean-Pierre Pécau He made his career of university history and, later, he worked as a university professor, scripwriter and tenured television series until he became the ninth art, debuting with Cents In the French publishing house Editions of the.

Pécau’s screenplay makes a solid historical contextualizationStarting from the real fact of Jacques Gindrey’s experience by putting it as a central axis of the narrative. Likewise, the environment, uniformity and facts are very well documented, therefore It is very plausibleAs if it were an essay without being, thanks to its historical formation.

The characters perfectly reflect history, both real and fictitious or secondary, allowing the plot to be observed by A Human and narrow perspective. In addition, they usually have complex motivations, such as the German sergeant of the French foreign legion, with moral dilemmas, political contradictions and traumatic past. They are, in fact, witnesses of the historical processes in which they act.

THE narration by pécau es fluid and cinematographicKnowing how to manage the cuts of the cartoons and the setting changes, alternating moments of intimacy, with dialogues or reflections, with war action scenes. Also the rhythm that prints on the plot is balancedWithout excessively extending the exposure, but takes care of the fact that the reader understands the context.

THE history which presents is not idealized, but shows the reader the dark areas, introducing a critical look On power, nationalisms, war conflicts or ideological manipulation. His script tries to reflect the reader on the impact of historical decisions in individual lives.

In the surgeon of Dien Well Pécau knows how to adapt the story of Jacques Gindrey and give him a vivid touch, showing the passion of the characters, who are described correctly with the background in which the action takes place. The protagonist’s point of view highlights the character and showing the courage of the unknown soldiers sent to fight a remote place for the simple fact of maintaining a decadent empire, since it was also reflected at the beginning of the film’s film Randall Wallace When we were soldiers (2002).

Vladimir davidenko he knows how to move Pécau’s script, with a European realistic styleWhere he knows how to take care of the Panoplia, the vehicles and the surroundings of the battle of Dien Well Phu, showing the reader who made a good documentation to give a vein to the cartoons with their improvised operations, the jungle hills and the elements of ajuar typical of time.

The face and expressions of the characters are perfectly reflected from the pencil of Davidenko, marking tiredness, pain or fear, underlining human suffering in war, which also moves with the design of body’s body language.

The structure of the cartoons is classic, rectangular, which gives fluidity to reading, therefore the reader does not lose himself in the action cartoons, both on the battlefield and in the operating room, because there is no foot for the confusion. To perform these actions with dynamism, he knows how to use general battle planes with the most intimate and narrow close -ups.

Cartem Comics Edition

THE Editorial Cartem has published Dien Well Phu surgeon In a volume of 56 pages, translated to the Castilian from María Valdunciel BlancoA colorwith rigid cover and sizes of 22.5 × 31.5 centimeters; Following his usual great quality, accompanying him with a short biography of the surgeon Jacques Gindrey and the description of the battle of Dien Well Phu. As but, it must be said that this description is inserted in a slightly abrupt way coinciding with the rear coverage of the book.

During the battle of Dien Well Phu, the young doctor lieutenant Jacques Gindrey worked tirelessly in extreme conditions, almost sleepless or eating, while the French field resisted under the enemy fire. A true story of childbirth and survival in the heart of the war of Indochina.

A true story of resistance and humanity in the middle of the war of Indochina

November 20, 1953. The battle of Dien begins in the north of current Vietnam. Three months later, a young French doctor reaches the rooted field. It’s called Jacques Gindrey. He is about to turn 27.

What will live there is not taught in any military academy:

For weeks, Gindrey will manage tirelessly, in extreme conditions. Without sleeping. Almost without eating. Under enemy fire. In improvised operating rooms. With just protection. Every day, between explosions and injured bodies, he will fight to keep his people alive.

Until May 7, when the field falls.

A testimony from the heart of Hell

Dien Well Phu surgeon reconstructs the darkest days of the war of Indochina with documentary precision.

Based on real events, this comic offers the portrait of a man in front of the impossible. Not from weapons, but from medicine.

Jean-Pierre Pécau and Vladimir Davidenko tell, with respect and containment, the story of Jacques Gindrey. Far from the war show, this work illuminates a forgotten figure: those who heal while everything falls apart.