By CNN Staff
October 5, 2013 -- Updated 0352 GMT (1152 HKT)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Man who helped form Ho Chi Minh's rebels into an army reportedly dies
- Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap was 102
- Giap masterminded siege of Dien Bien Phu, which led to French withdrawal
- Giap also commanded North Vietnam's communist forces against South, U.S.
(CNN) -- Vietnamese Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, who helped communist forces push French and later U.S. troops to withdraw after decades of war in the southeast Asian country, has died, according to local media reports.
He was 102.
Giap helped form Ho Chi Minh's communist rebels into an army while France tried to hold onto colonial rule in French Indochina after World War II -- and he eventually led the rebels in a key 1954 battle that led to France's withdrawal.
