You MUST read the following by Bernard B. Fall: "Street Without Joy" (overview of the entire First Indochina War), and "Hell In A Very Small Place" (the Battle of Dien Bien Phu). Fall was a French journalist that was in the French Resistance in WWII and later had his first visit to French Indochina in 1953 and got to see and meet the French soldiers. Everything is only based on the French interviews and documents, but he get to meet with some of the South Vietnam vets after the war before writing the books. Fall visited Vietnam several times and was eventually killed as a war reporter when he stepped on a landmine while with a USMC patrol in 1967.
"The Last Valley" is also an excellent book, but read Fall's books.
I also suggest:
"Naval Expeditions: The French Return to Indochina, 1945-1946" by Charles Koburger;
"The French Navy in Indochina: Riverine and Coastal Forces, 1945-54" by Charles W. Koburger
Also, as I don't know where you live, check Casemate Books:
http://www.casematepublishing.com/cgi/index.pl - For the US
http://www.casematepublishing.co.uk/cgi-bin/cgi... - For the UK
They carry a large select of French text books (if you are able to read French) on the First Indochina War from 'Indo Editions'
http://www.indoeditions.com/index.php?page=accu... I have the following and it is a great book: " Les Combats de la RC 4 Face au Vietminh et à la Chine" by Georges Longeret, Jacques Laurent, & Cyril Bondroit. Even if you don't know French, but can pick up some very rough translations, it is well worth it. It is 520 pages with 667 B&W and Color pictures, maps, photographs of unit pins and awards. It covers the fighting on Colonial Route 4 from 1947 to 1950.
Also, for photographs of uniforms and equipment look at 'Histoire & Collections' (a French magazine/book company). I also have the following books which are excellent for photographs: "Batailles Hors-série N° 1:
Indochine 1945-1946, le rendez-vous raté", "Batailles Hors-série N° 7: Indochine 1947, la guerre coloniale", and "Batailles Hors-série N° 12: Guerre au Laos - Indochine 1945-1955"
http://batailles.histoireetcollections.com/publ... Hopefully that is what you are looking for.