NLF Guerrillas manning a Dashaka 12.7-mm Soviet-designed/Chinese-made anti-aircraft gun near the 17th Parallel. The French having to sue for peace with Communist Northern Vietnam, due to the success of the Viet Minh at Điện Biên Phủ soon leftAs a result of peace accords worked out at the Geneva Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, Vietnam was divided into North Vietnam and South Vietnam at the 17th Parallel as a temporary measure until unifying elections could take place in 1956. Even as early as when the American presence in Vietnam consisted of military advisers, the route in which planes took on their way to bomb and strafe cities and villages in Northern Vietnam were were treacherous.