I have read about the French First Indo-China War, partly as Bernard Fall's book 'Street Without Joy' was read over thirty years ago. The early part of the war is even more intriguing, the post-VJ return of first UK (in Saigon), Nationalist Chinese (in the north) and then French troops who tried to assert control - with lots of Japanese help. I have a couple of books on that episode on the bookshelves.
This:

http://www.amazon.com/Why-Viet-Nam-A.../dp/0520047834

has some very interesting material on the close of the war and the transitions associated with it, from a first-hand observer's perspective. You have to filter for bias of course (Patti had a very low opinion of the French in Indochina)... but filtering for bias is always a good idea.
Don't forget the 1964 Case Studies in Insurgency and Revolutionary Warfare: Vietnam 1941-1954 from the U.S. Army's Special Operations Research Office.