France's first post-war colonial conflict, the Indochina War (1946-1954) opposed the French army to the communist forces of the Viet-minh (who were fighting for the independence of Indochina). It ends with the independence of Viet Nam after the defeat of Diên Biên Phu and the departure of all the French (soldiers and settlers). Begun in the delicate context of reconstruction, this war was often relegated to the background of the concerns of the French, before giving way to a much more mobilizing conflict:the war in Algeria .
War in Indochina:the causes
What is called from 1905, Indochina represents a disparate set of possessions and protectorates French which encompass the current states of Vietnam , from Cambodia and Laos , conquered between 1858 and 1896 (even 1907). If the southern part of present-day Vietnam, then called Cochinchina (Mekong Delta region) is a colony, Annam (Central Vietnam, headed by emperors of the Nguyễn line), Tonkin (Northern Vietnam), Cambodia and Laos are protectorates (in the same way as Morocco or Tunisia).
This division, the result of various military operations, responds above all to administrative imperatives and obviously constitutes a subject of discontent for the local populations. This is even more true in what will become Vietnam, a country heir to a long tradition of resistance to foreign domination (formerly Chinese) whose patriotic circles find it very difficult to divide into several entities.
This feeling of alienation is further reinforced by the desire of the French to make Indochina a colony of economic exploitation. Paris levies significant taxes and levies there and reserves the monopoly of strategic trade in opium, alcohol, salt and rice. The natural resources of the region are exploited intensively (which translates moreover into heavy investments), in particular the rubber produced from rubber plantations where the working conditions of Vietnamese farmers are reputed to be very harsh. Finally, there is the strong proselytism of Christian missionaries, which despite many conversions, arouses the anger of many Indochinese.
These factors explain the causes of the development of various resistances to the French presence in Indochina from the 19th century. With economic development and the appearance of a local bourgeoisie and proletariat (to use Marxist vocabulary) from the 1920s, the Indochinese patriot movements were modernized and strengthened. We must also include the communists, with their head Nguyên Aï Quoc said Ho Chi Minh , who like their Chinese comrades, claim patriotic feelings without denying their Marxist-Leninist commitment.
The determining role of the Second World War
If in the 1930s the popular revolts were still contained by the French, the Second World War gave the various Indochinese nationalist groups the opportunity to assert themselves irremediably. From the summer of 1940, the Japanese, through armed blackmail and diplomatic pressure, gradually subjugated the French colonial authorities (also loyal to the French state of Pétain).
The position of some 34,000 French people in Indochina was then greatly weakened by the resulting loss of prestige. An anti-Japanese and anti-French armed resistance developed, including the Viet-Minh (political league bringing together Vietnamese communists and nationalists) of Ho Chi Minh constitutes the most active fringe. The negligence of the French colonial authorities in the face of the deterioration of the situation finds its most dramatic expression in its inability to cope with the terrible famine of 1944-1945.
In March 1945, the Japanese decided to seize Indochina directly and brutally sweep the French garrisons. In doing so, they destroyed what remained of French influence and subsequently played the local nationalism card by promoting the establishment of friendly indigenous regimes. This will be particularly the case in Annam with the emperor Bao Dai . Added to this are the plans of the allies, who intend to take back Indochina from the Japanese and divide it into two zones of influence:British in the south, Chinese (nationalists) in the north.
Such plans were just averted by General de Gaulle's GPRF, with the dispatch in September 1945 of a French Expeditionary Corps to the Far East (CEFEO ) under the orders of General Leclerc and partly made up of former members of the famous 2 e DB and legionnaires. The situation they find there when landing in Saigon is particularly chaotic.
Leclerc, who was tasked with restoring France's authority over Indochina, had to deal with the British and the Chinese, but above all with the Viet Minh. Indeed the latter triggered on August 13 a general insurrection against Bao Dai (who was forced to abdicate, while being associated at the regime level as "special adviser") and proclaimed in Hanoi a Democratic Republic of Vietnam (RDVN ).
1945-1946:The lost opportunities of the Indochina War
Leclerc who shares his authority with Admiral Thierry d'Argenlieu (High Commissioner for Indochina and therefore at the head of the civilian component of the operation) manages to obtain from the Chinese and the British their gradual withdrawal. Nevertheless, the latter heavily insist on the need to negotiate with the local nationalists, whom they sometimes help materially. General de Gaulle immediately understood that it would not be possible to restore French Indochina to its pre-war form and therefore left Leclerc sufficient leeway to negotiate a compromise with the Viet-Minh.
It is about establishing an Indochinese federation that incorporates the concept of a unified Vietnam. After tight negotiations, a convention was signed on March 6, 1946, which recognized Vietnam as “a free state with its government, its parliament and its finances, being part of the Indochinese Federation and the French Union ". The Unification of the Vietnamese ensemble (Annam, Cochinchina, Tonkin) is submitted to referendum and has as counterpart the installation of French troops in Hanoi.
It must be said that between 1945 and 1946, the workforce of the CEFEO swelled and that Leclerc proceeded energetically to restore a French military presence in a good part of Indochina…except in North Vietnam (Tonkin) of course. In the summer of 1946 the situation which could have inspired a certain optimism will suddenly become tense. In Paris and Saigon, the colonialist pressure groups have resumed their past influence and weigh heavily on the decision-making process.
Admiral Thierry d'Argenlieu, who unlike Leclerc (with whom he hardly gets along) does not trust Ho Chi Minh, decides to have the 1 er June a republic of Cochinchina, in complete contradiction with the agreements of March 6 which he personally disapproved. Ho Chi Minh, who was then in France, noted with Leclerc's departure for North Africa (July 1946) and the failure of the Fontainebleau Conference (July-August 1946) that an agreement with Paris is getting further and further away.
Pressed by the "hardliners" of his own movement, the Vietnamese communist leader will preside over the deterioration of the situation. November sees a serious crisis erupt in the port of Haiphong (100km from Hanoi). After the installation of a French customs office and scuffles between Vietnamese and French soldiers, the city is covered with barricades. The French commander of the place:Colonel Dèbes, reacted with the greatest firmness and faced with the armed resistance of the Viet Minh sent naval artillery to the port. On November 23, several thousand Vietnamese civilians (6000?) will perish. The war in Indochina has just begun.
Vietnamese guerrillas
The bombing of Haiphong caused the total and definitive break between the French and Ho Chi Minh. He then called on the Vietnamese people to resist and to war against the French:“Whoever has a gun, use his gun, whoever has a sword, use his sword… Let everyone fight. colonialism ". This guerrilla war, politically organized by the Viet Minh, was fought within the framework of a Vietnamese people's army strongly marked by the personality of its creator and most famous leader:General Giap .
This history teacher and historic Vietnamese communist is not a career officer, but shows great military qualities. An outstanding organizer, reputed to be intransigent, very aware of the psychology of the fighters, he set up structures dedicated to the conduct of a merciless guerrilla war. He admirably knows how to take advantage of the support of the Vietnamese population (sometimes obtained by force), in the face of a CEFEO (and its local allies) certainly composed of elite troops but having too few manpower to react quickly in all places. .
Giap relies on the mobility of troops and the fluidity of operations, imposing heavy losses on French troops by systematically attacking its logistics. Very quickly it appears in Paris that the CEFEO is only able to control certain cities and roads, the rest of the country and in particular the countryside escaping it most of the time.
Nevertheless, the situation of the People's Army of Vietnam remains difficult. Its fighters and officers, although trained in an efficient and original way, have only very light armament and erratic supplies. Above all, on the international level, Ho Chi Minh still enjoys very little support. Truman's USA, although not very favorable to French colonialism, does not yet show much interest in the region. Moscow is focusing on other geographical areas (from Berlin to Iran) and as for the Chinese communists they are still entangled in their confrontation with the nationalists of Chang Kai Check.
Indochina War:the turning point of 1949
After nearly 3 years of conflict, the Indochina War is beginning to become decidedly unpopular in a metropolis that still suffers from the deprivations of the World War. Before resuming the initiative and in order to force Ho Chi Minh to a compromise, the French decided to highlight the former Emperor Bao Dai who had been exiled to Hong Kong. They place him at the head of a state in southern Vietnam, nominally independent, grouping Cochinchina and Annam (Tonkin remaining under the control of Ho Chi Minh and his RDVN. This state even has an army (army Vietnamese national army), which like the armies of Laos and Cambodia, took part in the war against the forces of Giap.
This attempt to "vietnamize (to use an expression later used by Americans) the conflict turned out to be a relative failure. The state led by Bao Dai is undermined by factionalism and corruption, and the army intends to play an increasingly important role there, which bodes ill for the future. Faced with this, the Vietnamese people's army is reinforced with new recruits and even has the luxury of defeating the CEFEO in frontal confrontations (such as the battle of Colonial Road No. 4 in October 1950).
It must be said that the year 1949 saw Ho Chi Minh emerge from its international isolation. With the victory of Mao's communists in China and the intensification of the Cold War, the leader of Hanoi can count on the support of the socialist bloc. His troops are now re-equipped with modern equipment and see their logistical situation improve greatly. Giap, which has secure rear bases, is therefore able to envisage increasingly ambitious operations.
General of Latter of Tassigny (nicknamed "King John", commander of the 1st French army Rhine and Danube in 1944-45) who arrived in the Indochinese theater in 1950 put all his energy into restoring the situation to the advantage of Paris. In particular, he succeeded in obtaining increasing aid from the United States (which nonetheless neglected to find local allies with a view to a possible departure of the French), which resulted in a drastic increase in aerial means. This enabled him to lead an energetic and initially successful counter-offensive (particularly in the Red River delta). left his command in December 1951.
From Diên Biên Phu to the peace negotiations in Geneva
The operations led by De Lattre were the last significant and successful French offensives of the war. The leaders of the Fourth Republic know the price to pay for further success and the exorbitant esteem. In mainland France, this colonial war is widely condemned by the left, which denounces the corruption of the colonial system. Driven to the defensive, the CEFEO sought to maintain its positions to the south and along the “De Lattre” line. As for Giap and Ho Chi Minh, they are carrying out the operations which will have to bring France to the negotiating table. During 1952, the Vietnamese people's army, sparing of its men, launched costly but effective offensives against the French and penetrated as far as Laos.
In November 1953 the new commander of the CEFEO, General Navarre decides to lure Giap's army into a trap by creating a fixation point on which it will break, due to French material superiority (guaranteed by US aid). This is Operation Castor which sees two battalions of paratroopers seize Dien Bien Phu (in upper Tonkin). This basin is one of the only places that can accommodate an airfield in the region and strategically located near the Lao and Chinese borders.
During the following four months, a large deployment of equipment (shipped by air) transformed Dien Bien Phu into an entrenched camp, a priori impregnable. At the beginning of March the French garrison amounted to more than 14,000 men, paratroopers and colonial paratroopers, legionnaires, Algerian and Moroccan riflemen, platoons of armored cavalry, artillery... the best of the French army commanded by prestigious officers ( including a certain Major Bigeard…).
Giap, although impressed by this deployment of force, took up the challenge which would seem at first sight insurmountable due to the French firepower. This was without counting on the ingenuity of Vietnamese logisticians (and Chinese material aid). Braving the obstacles of the jungle, they manage to install on the heights overlooking the basin of Dien Bien Phu, an important artillery device (Heavy Division 351, including 105 guns and Russian Katiousha multiple rocket launchers).
On March 13, 1954, 4 Vietnamese divisions (the entire Giap force amounted to 80,000 men) launched an assault on Dien Bien Phu. The 13 th legionnaires DBLE who hold the fulcrum “Béatrice » are crushed under a shelling that the French General Staff had not been able to foresee. Despite heroic resistance, the legionnaires are finally annihilated...the fate that will soon befall their brothers in arms from the rest of the entrenched camp.
General Navarre's strategy turned against him, the battle of Dien Bien Phu, a fixation point against Giap, was to become the tomb of the best elements of the CEFEO. The basin, already isolated on the ground, will finally be cut off from its logistical bases when the Vietnamese manage to prohibit any use of the airstrips. Despite the parachuting of reinforcements and equipment, the battle is hopeless for the French, it will however last until May 7. Once again the Vietnamese will pay dearly for their success (25,000 dead?), but it is total. On the evening of May 7, they took 11,000 prisoners (70% died in captivity in appalling conditions) and killed 2,000 French soldiers.
Parallel to Dien Bien Phu, the beginning of 1954 saw negotiations between the Viet Minh and the Fourth Republic entering their final phase. With the capitulation of the entrenched camp, Ho Chi Minh knows he is in a position of strength. The new President of the French Council:Pierre Mendès France (which is concerned about the situation in Algeria) undertakes to settle the Indochinese question as soon as possible.
This finds its resolution (very provisional it is true) by the Geneva agreements July 20 and 21, 1954. They ratify the independence of Laos and Cambodia and the (temporary) division of Vietnam into two entities:to the north the Democratic Republic of Ho Chi Minh to the south the State of Bao Dai. As in 1946, a popular vote, in the form of general elections, is planned (in 1956) to definitively resolve the problem of the division of Vietnam. At the same time, the French troops begin their withdrawal, giving way to more and more American advisers...
The Indochina War marks the end of an era
With the defeat of Dien Bien Phu, an irrepressible fundamental movement begins in what remains of France's colonial empire, which is that of the last phase. of decolonization. If this process will find a peaceful outcome in black Africa in Morocco and Tunisia, it will however result in a bloodbath in Algeria, given the particular status of this territory.
For Southeast Asia, the French defeat in Indochina will have profound consequences. The influence of the North Vietnamese communist regime and the resumption of its confrontation with the south in 1959, will push Washington to get more involved in the region for fear of the famous "domino effect " in the world. As early as August 1964, the very brutal Vietnam War resulted, which also affected Laos and Cambodia, constituting one of the “hottest” episodes of the Cold War. Like the French army, the American forces will find their measure in their Vietnamese adversary, led by a Giap who is still as determined and pays little attention to the losses...
Bibliography
- Michel Bodin, Dictionary of the Indochina War 1945-1954. Economica, 2004.
- Jacques Valette, The Indochina War, 1945-1954, Armand Colin, 1994
- Georges Fleury, The War in Indochina, Perrin, 2003