Vietnam army general Giap dies at 102

Legendary general Vo Nguyen Giap was known for scripting Vietnam's victory in wars against France and US. "The so-called ''red Napoleon'' stood out as the leader of rebels who wore sandals made of car tires and lugged their artillery piece by piece over mountains to encircle and crush French forces at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. The unlikely victory, which is still studied at military schools, led to Vietnam's independence and hastened the collapse of colonialism across Indochina and beyond. Giap went on to defeat the US-backed South Vietnam government in April 1975, reuniting a country that had been split into Communist and non-Communist states. He regularly accepted heavy combat losses to achieve his goals."