CHAPTER 1
In the Footsteps of the French
Vietnamâs history is dominated by wars of resistance against foreign powers. China occupied Vietnam for more than 1000 years from 111BC to AD938 and again from 1407 to 1428. In the medieval period the kingdoms of Champa and Cambodia made frequent incursions into Vietnamese territory, and in the thirteenth century Mongolian invaders were repelled by the forces of Tran Hung Dao, a Vietnamese leader who triumphed through a style of guerrilla warfare that was to appear prophetic. Vietnam later attracted those European powers with colonial aspirations: Portugal in 1535, the Netherlands in 1636 and France in 1680. All three countries tried to establish Vietnamese trading posts, eager to secure monopolies over silks, spices, porcelain, rubber and timber, and to make a lasting impression through religion (the first Roman Catholic mission was established in Vietnam in 1615 around modern-day Danang). It was the French influence, however, that prevailed. By 25 August 1883 France had achieved military control of all three of the regions which composed Vietnam: Cochin China (south), Annam (central) and Tonkin (north). By 1893 France had added Cambodia and Laos to its conquests and in so doing it created the extensive territory known as the Indochinese Union. French rule was harsh and preferential, generally working for the exclusive profit of the mercantile classes, and by the 1920s hostile nationalist organizations proliferated in reaction to this. Perhaps the most significant of these was the Revolutionary Youth League of Vietnam, founded by Nguyen Ai Quoc who would later be better known by the nom de guerre Ho Chi Minh (see box below). Few observers in the 1920s would have guessed the incredible effect this man would have on the history of Southeast Asia.
HO CHI MINH
Born Nguyen Sinh Cung in the northern Annam province of Nghe An, Ho Chi Minh (1890â1969) was a well-educated youth who at the age of 17 took a job as a cook on a merchant vessel bound for Europe. There he lived in London and then Paris, soaking up French socialism while remaining deeply involved with the French capitalâs Vietnamese community. Ho later renamed himself Nguyen Ai Quoc (Nguyen âthe Patriotâ) and spent much of the 1920s and 1930s in the Soviet Union and China advising on colonial affairs. Hoâs overriding passion was for Indochinese independence, and in 1930 in Hong Kong he assisted the formation of the influential Indochinese Communist Party (ICP). By 1941, when he returned to Indochina, Nguyen Ai Quoc had renamed himself Ho Chi Minh (âHe Who Enlightensâ). After leading guerrilla forces against the wartime Japanese occupiers, Ho went on to become the dominant figure of North Vietnamese politics until his death in 1969. He oversaw both the defeat of the French between 1946 and 1954 and much of the subsequent war against South Vietnam, the United States and its allies, which, though he never got to see it, ultimately fulfilled his dream of Vietnamese reunification.
THE FIRST INDOCHINA WAR
Acultured and cosmopolitan man, Ho Chi Minh was a committed nationalist who brought together Vietnamâs three main communist parties to form the powerful Indochinese Communist Party (ICP). In May 1941, the ICP in turn gave rise to the Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi (âLeague for the Independence of Vietnamâ), an organization which fought for Vietnamese self-rule against both Japanese wartime occupation and, subsequently, re-established French authority. The name was eventually shortened to Vietminh.
Although occupied by Japan, the French territories in the Indochina region remained nominally under French colonial rule, overseen by the Japanese. This lasted until 11 March 1945 when, in response to a French attempt to seize power, the Japanese declared Indochinaâs independence and gave power to the young Vietnamese emperor Bao Dai. But the defeat of Japan in 1945 led Ho Chi Minh and the Vietminh to attempt to seize power (they took Hanoi in August but Saigon was more difficult) and he replaced Bao Dai, proclaiming the existence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) on 2 September. This situation, however, was not to last. Disarmament of the Japanese fell to pro-colonial British forces in the south of Vietnam and Chinese forces in the north, an arrangement which effectively negated Ho Chi Minhâs power in Saigon. When the British withdrew in 1946 the French expelled Vietminh officials and took up the colonial reins of office once more. Ho, however, was still dominant in the northern areas and his power was confirmed in elections on 6 January 1946. The French opened negotiations and promised that the DRV could exist as a free state existing within the French Union if Ho allowed a temporary deployment of 25,000 French troops in the north, to be withdrawn from Indochina by 1951. Ho accepted, but the French subsequently backed out of the agreement, fearing that the loss of Vietnam would precipitate the loss of other French colonies. The much-aggrieved Ho ominously declared the beginning of â100 years warâ.
Attempting to pinpoint the beginning of the First Indochina War is problematic, yet a key moment must be the battle of Haiphong in 1946. Haiphong was Tonkinâs principal harbour; communist controlled, it was a flashpoint which had been blockaded by the French since 20 November 1946. On 23 November Colonel Pierre Louis DebĂšs, the commander of the French forces in the city, received orders to take Haiphong by any means necessary. The French began a massive bombardment using the 3in (76mm) and 8in (203mm) guns of the cruiser Suffren and all available artillery and air power. There is no clear indication how many Vietnamese died in Haiphong (estimates vary between 200 and 20,000), but by 28 November, when fighting stopped, the First Indochina War was underway.
THE TIGER AND THE ELEPHANT
The First Indochina War lasted from 1946 to 1954. In nine years of conflict the combined death toll of soldiers would exceed 200,000 as France pitted its conventional firepower and organization against the thoroughly unconventional divisions of Vietminh guerrillas. The French warâs significance to the later Vietnam War is paramount. Not only were the foundations of Vietcong and North Vietnamese Army (NVA) tactics laid (the latterâs immediate precursor was the Peopleâs Army of Vietnam or PAVN, led by Vo Nguyen Giap), but the French forces also made some seminal mistakes which the US would repeat a decade later.
These mistakes are now familiar to any student of Southeast Asian history. The French deployed around 150,000 soldiers in Indochina, yet Vietnamâs densely jungled and mountainous terrain could easily absorb such numbers and the French never had sufficient manpower to pacify Vietminh-held territory. Local military commanders had to justify their actions to political leaders based in Paris and Hanoi, who were often members of unstable coalition governments.
One clear advantage the French had, however, was firepower. A typical combat unit could field 9mm submachine-guns and carbines, 0.50in machine-guns, 60mm and 80mm mortars, US-built M4 Sherman and M24 Chaffee tanks, and 75mm, 105mm and 155mm artillery. Air power included Martin B-26 Marauder bombers, and Grumman F-8 Bearcat and Vought F-4U Corsair fighters. Yet such a military machine required huge and reliable logistics and the Vietminhâs domination of jungle roads and trails in Tonkin, northern
The French fought the First Indochina War on the basis of a âdomino theoryâ similar to that which influenced the later US involvement, fearing a deterioration of their authority in French colonies such as Algeria and Morocco should Indochina be âlostâ.
Annam and coastal areas of Cochin China meant that this was a near impossibility too. Huge numbers of French troops were to die on ambush-prone roads and rivers, and con-sequently air supply became vital, with the French relying on their AAC-1 transport air-craft â and, from 1952 on, US-supplied Douglas C-47 Skytrains and Fairchild C-119 Fly-ing Boxcars. Yet once the Vietminh and Peopleâs Army of Vietnam had acquired more sophisticated anti-aircraft weaponry, even this source of resupply became increasingly hazardous and undependable.
France had no shortage of excellent commanders, but few were experienced in counter-insurgency warfare. A French tactical cornerstone was the tache dâhuile (âoil slickâ) method in which âhostile territoryâ was divided up into a grid, each square being systematically ârakedâ by offensive forces. The French also constructed defensive fortifications across the north, the most impressive example of these being the hundreds of ferroconcrete emplacements that were built to form the De Lattre Line in 1951.
The problems with these tactics soon became clear. âOil-slickâ methods were too inflexible â the Vietminh were not chained to any square of land and could retreat and attack as they desired. Likewise, defensive fortifications simply tied down large numbers of French soldiers in one isolated and vulnerable spot. Yet in fairness, the French did have some strong tactical units to compensate for this. The divisions navales dâassaut,a riverine assault division made up of army and navy troops, and the groupement des commando mixtes aĂ©ro-portĂ©s, an airborne com-mando group, used rapid deployment tactics with fair levels of success. Likewise, the estimable legionnaires and paratroopers were continually used as elite forces wherever the fighting was hardest (11,620 legionnaires alone died in Indochina).
In remarking upon Franceâs failures, the startling capabilities of the forces at Hoâs com-mand should not be downplayed. The Vietminh was a highly motivated revolutionary army. Commanding them, the PAVN/NVA and the later Vietcong, for over 30 years was General Vo Nguyen Giap, a self-taught military leader who mixed pragmatism with a passionate commitment to Mao Zedongâs strategies of revolutionary war (see box, page 18). The PAVN, later more popularly known as the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) during the war with the US, was built up as a conventional army in association and cooperation with the Vietminh (the more political wing of Hoâs military forces). The PAVNâs expansion was rapid, and by 1951 it was to consist of 154 battalions. Giapâs army was a totally different animal to that of the French â it had a clear objective, was well motivated, had an intimate knowledge of the terrain and people, and it could generate popular support (which the French, fatally, failed to do). Giapâs army could survive and fight on limited resources, though the thousands of volunteers meant that supplies could be reliably carried through by hand to the combatants; and, importantly, it could absorb huge levels of casualties without the weakening of political will or strategic boldness. In 1946, Ho Chi Minh likened the coming conflict to that of a clash between a tiger and elephant. The elephant could crush the tiger in a straight fight, yet if the tiger did not fight on these terms, repeatedly sneaking out of the jungle to tear pieces from the elephantâs hide, the elephant would slowly bleed to death. Spoken at the outset of the war, Hoâs words would prove to be accurate.
THE VIETMINH
The Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi (âLeague for the Independence of Vietnamâ, or Vietminh) was a capable revolutionary army which integrated ruthless military force into effective programmes of support building. They were divided into three structural layers. First was the village militia, a generally unarmed grassroots support used in a whole range of logistical or intelligence duties. The militia was formed in 1949 from a countrywide mobilization of men and women aged between 18 and 45, reaching numbers in excess of 340,000 by 1954. Next were the regional troops, who mingled with the civilian populace but were active in guerrilla operations against the French. These worked in small independent groups or in cooperation with the final layer of the Vietminh, the Chuc Luc (âregular forceâ). This was a formally organized body of soldiers which by 1954 had some 125,000 troops in seven divisions, well equipped with infantry and support weapons from French, Chinese and Japanese sources. Control of all Vietminh troops cascaded downwards from the revolutionary leadership to regional committees of political officers who oversaw local tactics. From 1946 to 1947 the whole of Indochina was divided into 14 operational regions, reduced to six in 1948 when only the territory of Vietnam itself became the military focus.
THE EARLY WAR 1946â50
The first four years of the First Indochina War were a time of low-intensity guerrilla actions, with the Vietminh pursuing tactics of ambushes, murders and bombings while the French replied with fighting-reconnaissance patrols. The action was mainly concentrated in the contested northern territories, particularly the Tonkin region, and after half-hearted peace negotiations failed in May 1947 the French launched their first major offensives: Operation LĂ©a on 7 October and Operation Ceinture (âBeltâ) on 20 November. These had big goals: the capture of Ho Chi Minh and the defeat of his units in the northeastern Viet Bac region and the territories north of Hanoi. French forces took the major outpost of Thai Nguyen and around 7200 Vietminh were killed and 1000 taken prisoner. Yet the DRV leadership evaded capture and, operating with only 12,000 men in 80,000 square miles (207,200sq km) of jungle, the French could not consolidate their advances and withdrew â a pattern that was to be repeated throughout the conflict.
Greater success was achieved by Major General Marcel Alessandri (in overall field control of French forces at this time), who employed 20 battalions to pacify the highly contested Red River Delta area â the territory extending from the junction of the Day and Red rivers
A cornerstone of Vietminh tactics was evasion. By the act of maintaining a fight only when they were confident they could win, the communists preserved numbers while steadily pushing up French casualties.
just north of Hanoi across to the coast at Haiphong. Alessandri took the region through âclearingâ and âmopping upâ operations by using more flexible land-based and riverine units, and he also made attempts to cut off the Vietminhâs rice supplies. Yet the French failed to reinforce the area or make themselves welcome, and the Red River Delta would remain troublesome for the rest of the war. In 1949 an event outside Vietnam dramatically changed the face of the conflict in Indochina. The civil war in China ended with a victory for Maoâs communists, and subsequently China became an invaluable source of supply, training and refuge for the Vietminh. On 18 January 1950, China formally recognized the DRV as a political entity and started to supply arms in increasing amounts, which by 1953 would equal around 4000 tons (4,000,000kg) per month. Of particular value was the supply of heavy weaponry, such as 75mm howitzers and 75mm heavy mortars. These would enable the Vietminh to attempt the final stages of revolutionary war.
THE PRESSURE IS RAISED
In 1950 the Vietminh went on the offensive. It launched attacks throughout the Red River Delta and northeastern Tonkin, before turning its attention to the isolated French outposts on the Chinese border. Giap was showing a distinct change in tactics. At the French positions at Dong Khe, for example, the Vietminh put up a 75mm artillery bombardment for two days before throwing five PAVN battalions in human waves against the defences. After huge slaughter among the attacking soldiers, Dong Khe fell to the 308th Division on 27 May. It was recaptured by a battalion-strength air-drop of paratroopers, but then shelled into submission by the Vietminh and decisively taken once again using further human wave assaults.
The loss of Dong Khe isolated another French outpost, Cao Bang in the far northeast, and there followed one of the great tragedies of the war. A decision was taken to evacuate Cao Bangâs troops along 45 miles (72km) of RC4 (Route Coloniale 4) instead of the safer but longer RC3. RC4 ran close to the dangerous Chinese border and consequently the retreat became a hideous slog under continual Vietminh ambushes, the efficiency of which resulted in 4800 French soldiers being killed and a huge amount of French weaponry (including 112 mortars and over 8000 rifles) was added to the Vietminh stockpile.
Other outposts fell and the Vietminh now controlled most of northeastern Vietnam. The French sought a change in military leadership and General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny assumed full military and civilian authority in Indochina. Sensing another Vietminh campaign in the Red River Delta, De Lattre set about constructing 900 forts and 2200 pillboxes which reached from Haiphong out to Vinh Yen and then back to below Phat Diem in the south. Yet in another classic French miscalculation, the âDe Lattre Lineâ actually made the French more vulnerable, tying down 20 battalions of troops more usefully employed otherwise.
In 1953 alone, Chinese supplies to the Vietminh included 24 105mm howitzers, 1000 submachine-guns, millions of rounds of small arms ammunition, 40,000 mines and more than 200 tons of explosives.
In January 1951, 81 Vietminh battalions totalling some 20,000 men attacked 7000 French troops at Vinh Yen, around 30 miles (48km) northwest of Hanoi. But what looked to be a massive impending defeat for the French turned into a major victory. Grumman F-8F Bearcats and Douglas B-26 Invaders used a new munition, napalm, to blast the attacking formations, while French troops and artillery smashed a large-scale PAVN attack on 16 January.
Repeated PAVN attacks in other sectors even threatened Hanoi itself, but for once Giap had overreached and French firepower was brought to bear to inflict a massive defeat. Such was the scale of losses (more than 14,000 dead) that the Vietminh even suffered significant levels of desertion, and Giap backtracked from his premature entry into conventional warfare. And yet the French did not make good on their victory; they did not have the manpower or the tactical foresight to secure the territories they had gained, and overall Vietminh strategy was unhindered as a result.
NEARING THE END
By 1951 French public opinion was swinging against the war. The frightful casualty lists and lack of progress started to make the war politically questionable...