Resources on the French defeat in Indochina?

[Kevin23]

I'm somewhat bored and need something academic to do over my winter break from college. So I was going to piece together a good analysis of France's Defeat in the First Indochina War of 1946-1954, which has interested me a great deal lately.

However, other then the book The Last Valley by Martin Windrow. Which provides alot of pretty good information and analysis in it's self, as well as a couple of papers I have saved online from Global Security. Although I don't have much other then that.

Therefore I was hoping someone could steer me in the right direction in terms of information and resources out there?


Thank you,

[Levi]

Bonjour,

guerre Francaise d'indochine:

( too thick to post links)

groups.yahoo.com/phrase/french indochina ; I didn't go in there, but supposed to be veterans of the war, maybe you can correspond with one.

www.alliedcoldwarvets.com ; again, real people.

P.S. I am only beginning to learn french, so I look forward to being forced to translate what I see here. Good luck kevin, sounds like an interesting project for anyone with french interests.

[Tom Odom]

Je Ne Regrette Rien by Pierre Sergent

History of the legion with a good bit on Indochina by a veteran

[Bob's World]

"Street Without Joy" is good

[jmm99]

1. Anything by Bernard Fall - Street Without Joy, Hell in a Very Small Place: The Siege of Dien Bien Phu, and the Two Vietnams (the least known of the trilogy, but the best to understand the political action before, during and after the French defeat). You also should be able to find a number of his articles for free downloading.

2. Add in Jules Roy, Battle of Dienbienphu, for a slightly different view by a French officer who became fed up with the whole "hopeless mess". The Troupes de Marine, in its history section, has quite a bit on DBP (Fall's Hell) and GM100 (Fall's Street); but that requires some French reading ability.

3. Giap, People's War, People's Army; and later (1967), Big Victory, Great Task, which spells out the integration of the Political Struggle and the Military Struggle in the context of what he considered the Resistence War (I vs the French and II vs the US), where he was waging what we would call unconventional warfare. Also anything else from Giap that you can find onlne.

4. Putting it all together, John J. McCuen, The Art of Counter-Revolutionary Warfare (1966, reprint available from Hailer Publishing), which is not a cookbook; but which spells out the phases of insurgency and what to do about them. Heavy focus on the First Indochina War and a good bibliography after each section (including some English translations of French intel articles which I haven't yet tracked down online).

Not a complete list by any means, but it should get you going.

Bonne chance, Kevin

Mike

PS: For some nasty stuff (which may or may not be true), George Robert Elford, Devil's Guard (from the early 1970s, with I believe a couple of sequels I don't have) - SS officer who served in Vietnam with a Legion German unit he commanded. Whether fact or fiction, it is an interesting read.

[M-A Lagrange]

Hey Mike,

PS: For some nasty stuff (which may or may not be true), George Robert Elford, Devil's Guard (from the early 1970s, with I believe a couple of sequels I don't have) - SS officer who served in Vietnam with a Legion German unit he commanded. Whether fact or fiction, it is an interesting read.

Actually it is true that many of the foreign legion after WW2 were german. The fact they were SS is doubtful as they all were rewarded as war criminals at that time and Legion Etrangere as a quite strict code on that issue. But I do not know if it was in place or implemented at that time. France was desperate to find fighters for Indochina.

Just for the fun and having some feelings on the context I would recommand also to watch Indochina and Bien Dien Phu.
The first one is not a war movie but gives a good idea of what was the the atmosphere in Indo at the time. The seccond one is all about the Bien Dien Phu battle.

Good luck Kevin

[JPLearn]

Although a novel it is relevant to you interest.
"The Centurions" by Jean Lartguy

Story told through the experience of French paratroopers in Indochina and Algeria.

sample Reviewer comments:
"An excellent book which gives a good understanding of the French military mindset during the First Vietnam War. I recommend it to my students at Glasgow University as a 'must-read' for American History - Vietnam studies.
I read this book as a young Parachute Regiment officer and have remembered its lessons to this day as they have been applicable to all subsequent wars."

"I read this first when learning counterinsurgency tactics in the Marines, in 1963. It was influential because we all - second lieutenants destined, though we didn't know it then, to become platoon and company commanders in Vietnam - read it and thought it set forth truth.
Unfortunately, it seems to be out of print, and used copies go for several hundreds of dollars."

[JMA]

Good call.

From the book:

"For our sort of war," Raspeguy muses, "you need shrewd, cunning men who are capable of fighting far from the herd, who are full of initiative too ... who can turn their hand to any trade, poachers and missionaries. "

So what do we do?

For 'our sort of war' (fill in the location here) mass produced clones are sent out who fail. Sad repetitive story.

To the credit of the Brits they identified the need way back. I quote the British manual 'Keeping the Peace' Part 2 - Tactics and Training - 1963:

332. Leadership and battle discipline.. Fighting an underground enemy probably requires a higher standard of junior leadership than any other type of warfare yet experienced. ... Command often has to be decentralized and the training of junior commanders must, therefore, be directed towards giving them the ability and confidence to make sound decisions and act on their own initiative.

But then they failed to act on their own experience. Also a sad repetitive story.

Although a novel it is relevant to you interest.
"The Centurions" by Jean Lartguy

Story told through the experience of French paratroopers in Indochina and Algeria.

sample Reviewer comments:
"An excellent book which gives a good understanding of the French military mindset during the First Vietnam War. I recommend it to my students at Glasgow University as a 'must-read' for American History - Vietnam studies.
I read this book as a young Parachute Regiment officer and have remembered its lessons to this day as they have been applicable to all subsequent wars."

"I read this first when learning counterinsurgency tactics in the Marines, in 1963. It was influential because we all - second lieutenants destined, though we didn't know it then, to become platoon and company commanders in Vietnam - read it and thought it set forth truth.
Unfortunately, it seems to be out of print, and used copies go for several hundreds of dollars."