Page 83 - History of War - Issue 10-14

VIETNAM: THE UNTOLD STORY

THE FIRST INDOCHINA WAR

FOLLOW THE WAR THAT BEGAN AS A REBELLION AND LED TO ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CONFLICTS IN HISTORY

CHINA
1947 OPERATION LEA Bac Kan
After being defeated during hostilities in Hanoi, General Võ Nguyên
Giáp of the Viet Minh is forced to retreat his forces to the hills of 1950FRENCHGARRISONSFALL Cao Bang
the Tuyên Quang Province. French forces are quick to attack his Giap and his Viet Minh forces manage to
bases, but the Viet Minh troops refuse to face them directly in takecontroloftheFrenchgarrisonatLai
battle. Instead the French military launches operation Lea, to strike KhêinTonkin.Hegoesontoattackanother
its opposition at the core in Bac Kan. 9,000 Viet Minh soldiers are garrisonofCaoBang,buttheFrenchare
killed – a major setback for the Vietnamese forces. - readyandtheattackfails.However,the
- insurgency continues and leads another
offensiveagainstthegarrisonaswellas
1954 THE BATTLE OF DIEN BIEN PHU - DIEN BIEN PHU Ðông Khê and they finally fall into Viet
Minh hands.
Dien Bien Phu
Everything fi nally comes to a head
at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. The
Viet Minh begin with a surprise VIETNAM -
attack of heavy artillery, and
block the only road into the town,
stopping French supplies from 1950THEVIETMINHFIGHTON
entering. Knowing their position is Lang Son
weakened, the Viet Minh hammer - Giapsetshissightsonthe
French forces with Russian- 4,000-strongLangSon.French
supplied rockets. The French army forcesattempttodistractthe
is overwhelmed, and although it’s Viet Minh by air-dropping a
instructed to not use the white fl ag, - HANOI paratroop battalion near Cao
the forces are all but defeated. Bang but this is defeated quickly,
HAI PHONG - andafteranintensefightthat
lastsaweekLangSonisclaimed
-
- by Giap. The loss of the garrisons
is crippling to the French army
with 4,800 troops killed or
captured, 2,000 wounded and
thousands of weapons destroyed
LAOS or captured by the enemy.

1953 THE FINAL CONFRONTATION
Dien Bien Phu
Navarre decides to use the town of Ðien 1950 FRENCHFORCESSTANDFIRM Hanoi
Biên Phu to block the Viet Minh invasion The new French commander, Jean Marie de Lattre
of Laos in Operation Castor. The French de Tassigny, takes action and builds a fortified line
forces gain control of the valley of Dien of concrete fortifications
Bien Phu, but Giap too sees this as an and weapon installations
opportunity. Giap sends his forces in and from Hanoi to the Gulf of
they quickly wipe out the French patrols Tonkin,knownastheDe
in the hills around the town. Lattre Line. This is a huge
gain totheFrenchasit
keeps the Viet Minh from
invading further inwards.
1953 A NEW STRATEGY Laos
Giap changes his strategy and invades Laos
and the French outposts there. Navarre, now
supreme commander of the French forces,
reports that “there is no possibility of winning
the war in Indo-China.”
1951 THE VIETNAMESEBLUNDER Vinh Phuc
Giap launches an attack on Vinh Yên, Mao Khê and another
1952 THE VIET MINH RISE AGAIN Hoa Binh at Phat Diem but is brutally defeated at all. De Lattre uses
The Viet Minh manage to come together once more with several these defeats to his advantage, driving the Viet Minh back
attacks on Hòa Bình, which force the French army back to the into the jungleandwipingthemawayfromtheRedRiver
De Lattre line. They also cut supply lines and continue to launch Delta. This spellsanall-timelowfortheVietMinhforces,
raids and attacks against the enemy, slowly wearing down the who experience high casualties and begin to question the
resolve of their enemy. effi ciency of the communist government.

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