Vietnamese war veterans, communist leaders and tourists gathered in Dien Bien Phu City on Wednesday morning to mark the 60th anniversary of the country's seminal victory over French colonial forces.

Honour guards march at a ceremony cerebrating Dien Bien Phu Victory in Dien Bien Phu City on May 7, 2014

The bloody, 56-day battle in this remote, northwestern valley ended on May 7, 1954, precipitating both the collapse of France's colonial empire and Vietnam's emergence as an independent nation.

"It was a victory that helped end colonialism and brought Vietnam her independence," he added.

During the battle, artillery boomed across the valley and there was hand-to-hand fighting. Dien Bien Phu and its surrounding hills were filled with the rotting corpses of soldiers from both sides.

Now, it is a small city where celebrations are being held to mark the victory.

One of the key sites of the battle, Eliane Hill, was crawling with Vietnamese tourists Tuesday, who climbed on decaying French tanks and explored the deep trenches that criss-cross the area.

"In only one month we built some 400 kilometres (250 miles) of trenches around Dien Bien Phu -- these were key to our victory," war veteran Ngyuen The Tran, 81, told AFP.

Tran said he had returned to Dien Bien Phu from his native Hai Duong province -- 50 kilometres west of the capital Hanoi -- to pay his respects to his fallen comrades.

"I hope that they will rest in peace forever. They are dead, but I am still here to remember them," he said, adding that he was happy to see the area -- which he remembered only as a bloody battlefield -- had changed.

"When I come here, I see the town is beautiful and I am very happy."

War veterans gathering at the ceremony on May 7 morning. Photo by Dtinews

The battle cost an estimated 10,000 Vietnamese lives. About 3,000 soldiers of various nationalities who fought under the French flag died or disappeared.

Female veteran Nguyen Thi Tang, 81, a Vietnamese army messenger, told AFP she met her husband in the trenches of Dien Bien Phu.

"I could not believe Vietnam could defeat the French troops. It was an amazing victory."

France's defeat led to Vietnam's division into the communist North and pro-US South, setting the stage for two more decades of war.

The fight against American forces and their surrogate regime cost at least three million Vietnamese and 58,000 American lives before it ended on April 30, 1975 when the country was reunified.

But without the victory at Dien Bien Phu, reunification could not have happened, the director of the Dien Bien Phu museum, Vu Nam Hai, told AFP.

"Dien Bien Phu was a special victory," he said.