On November 4, 1943, with a view to organizing a French presence in the fight against the Japanese in Indochina, General de Gaulle decided to create a Light Intervention Corps - an entirely European commando unit intended to reinforce the troops of the interior of Indochina, following a plan of resistance which was to be prepared by General Mordant, leader of the military resistance in Indochina. Its initial strength of 500 men was then increased to 800 (it will later double).
He was placed under the orders of Lieutenant General Roger Blaizot, commanding the French Expeditionary Forces in the Far East, within which it was also planned to integrate the Madagascar brigade being regrouped and two colonial divisions. The CEFEO was subordinated to the British South East Asia Theater of Operations (SEAC).
Lieutenant-Colonel Albert Lacroix, from the Joffre de Saint-Cyr promotion (1930-32), ensured the recruitment and training of the CLI as Chief of Staff. He then commanded the No. 1 light commando in operations, thus making his second stay in Indochina.
History
The Light Intervention Corps was created in French North Africa in 1943, only with rigorously selected volunteers, mostly executives, active military, reservists or engaged for the duration of the world war, to serve in the Far East. against the Japanese and placed under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Huard.
Its commandos were set up and trained in French Algeria, then in British India, Ceylon or Australia by the British on the model of the Chindits of General Orde Charles Wingate employed in Burma. They are intended to be introduced on the Japanese rear, for commando actions based essentially on surprise, power and precision of fire, followed by the immediate breakdown of the fight, a type where cohesion and individual efficiency count much more than the number.
Guerrilla actions
Experienced in guerrilla operations and jungle warfare, the first groups, under the name of "Gaurs", were parachuted into Indochina in 1944 by British Force 136.
The Gaur "Polaire", the code name of Captain Ayrolles' commando is parachuted into Traninh (Laos) to prepare for the CLI drop. Taken aback by the Japanese coup of March 9, 1945, Ayrolles immediately engaged in combat. He blew up 8 bridges on the RC 7, annihilated Japanese detachments and convoys, blew up the bunkers of the airfield and the depots of the Khan Khai camp, destroyed a gasoline depot and Japanese vehicles. The Japanese in vain deploy a battalion to destroy it. His action will have delayed the entry of the Japanese into Luang Prabang by three weeks.
On March 17, 1945, Captain Cortadellas' Gaur K was parachuted into Dien Bien Phu. At the orders of General Alessandri, he went, as a delaying element, with 80 surviving legionnaires from the 3/5 REI, to ensure the rear of the "Alessandri column" retreating towards China, on hundreds of kilometers of tracks in the high region, fighting, including April 11 in Houei Houn, April 15 in Muang Khua, April 21 in Boun Tai, April 22 in Muong Yo.
General Alessandrileur will pay tribute in these terms:
“The defense of Boun Tai took place under the most difficult conditions with true heroism. Struggling step by step in the rain without supplies, the parachuted elements in connection with what remains of the 3/5° contained the Japanese and inflicted heavy losses on them. Only the lack of ammunition supplies forced them to fall back on Boun Neua. »
On April 24, only 3 able-bodied men remained from the Gaur K, who arrived with their wounded at Sze Mao in China on May 10, 1945.
On March 22, 1945, the Gaur "Dampierre" parachuted into Tonkin in the Sơn La region to provide assistance to the Sabattier group, also retreating towards China. With the Vicaire group, they were forty surprised at night and violently attacked on the Black River in Ban Tioum on March 28, losing around ten people killed. What remained of Gaur Dampierre disappeared entirely on May 15 near the Chinese border, where Vicaire also arrived with five survivors. More than 2/3 of the workforce have disappeared, including 40 Europeans.
Until September 1945, 280 air missions of the British Force 136 will ensure the supply of these operations, of which 51 will drop CLI or SAS personnel.
Japan having capitulated, the mission of the Gaurs is to occupy as many centers as possible before the arrival of the Chinese occupation army and the intrusion of the Lao Issara and Viet Minh nationalist groups. Thus, the cities of Sam Neua, Xieng Khouang, Dien Bien Phu and Luang Prabang will be temporarily reoccupied, sometimes by force, thanks to the support of the Meos of Toubi. The lack of means will not always allow it to be maintained.
With a new Gaur K, Ayrolles is sent to Middle Laos with the same objectives, and the same lack of means.
All very tried, will finally go to Thailand, from where they will join the CLI in Saigon on December 12, 1945, after more than a year of guerrilla warfare made up of hardships and clandestine life.
The landing in Indochina
Meanwhile, the CLI became 5th RIC upon arrival in Ceylon, to avoid confusion with the Ceylon Light Infantry. He is under the command of Lord Louis Mountbatten's South East Asia Command.
It was restructured from July 1945 for a naval air landing in southern Indochina into three large units, each with the strength of a battalion:
Light Commando No. 1 (Lacroix)
SAS Battalion (Ponchardier)
Light Commando n°2 ( Guennebaud)
Commando Conus (They wear the green beret of the commandos)
and two stand-alone units:
Company A
Company B.
It is the only force available to General Leclerc, who arrived in August, succeeding General Blaizot, to regain a foothold in Indochina. The CLI/5°RIC then comprised 1,700 men, including 200 officers and 500 non-commissioned officers.
Under British command and uniform, integrated into General Gracey's 20th Indian Division, Company A, sent to Burma, was airborne to Saigon on September 12, 1945.
After an agreement between General Gracey and Jean Cédile, commissioner of the GPRF, it rearmed, on September 21, the 1,500 French soldiers prisoners of the 11th RIC, interned since March 9, 1945, with the weapons that the Japanese did not yet have. been able to distribute to the Viet Minh insurgents. To the original volunteers, who came from all arms, are now added legionnaires and marine riflemen. And, with these veterans of Indochina, she liberated Saigon on September 23, 1945, held the city against Viet Minh groups supervised by dissident Japanese, without being able to prevent the massacre of the Herald city, the British having entrusted the guard of the bridges from the Avalanche to the Japanese, who let it go. On September 27, it must intervene urgently at the Mac Mahon Bridge to counter the intrusion of a strong armed band into the city.
From September 23 to 30, Company B, with a strength of 60 officers, was parachuted into Thailand, at Nong Khai to clandestinely reinforce the Fabre Group in Laos. In Vientiane, she finds the Chinese army. The orders being to avoid confrontation, it withdrew 15 km to the north, to Tan Ngon and Ban Keun, where it was violently attacked by bands based in Thailand, on the other side of the Mekong.
The reconquest
Commando of the C.L.I. in Indochina occupied by the Japanese after the capitulation of Japan.
On October 3, the bulk of the CLI landed in Saigon brought by the Richelieu and the Triomphant and two British transports.
On the 10th, the SAS Ponchardier battalion of the CLI cleared Phu My, a northwestern suburb of Saigon, with elements of the 11th RIC and Company A.
The same day, three groups of the light commando n°1 are airborne in Cambodia. They liberate the French there and restore Norodom Sihanouk to his throne. Become Commandos of Cambodia, they will come up against the Thai forces which occupy the western part of the country, as well as the Issaraks and the Viet Minh, in particular at the ruins of Angkor, Battambang, Hatien, Svay Rieng and on the edge of the Plain of Reeds.
On October 25, the Massu Group of the 2nd DB, landed from the City of Strasbourg, launched Operation Moussac on the Mekong Delta. The CLI opens the road to My Tho where the tanks and various vehicles of the DB are blocked by road cuts. The SAS battalion disembarked from a British LCI takes My Tho and enters ten other towns in the Mekong Delta including Bến Tre, Can Tho, Vĩnh Long and Trà Vinh while Company A clears the My Tho-Gocong area.
The Massu Group is then engaged in the North West of Saigon and clears the region of Biên Hòa and the Donai loop with Tan Uyen.
No. 1 Light Commando occupied Tanan where they repelled a strong attack and purged the area of Viet Minh and Japanese elements.
On November 25, Company A carried out a 350 km raid on the Moïs plateaus, where it captured Ban Me Thuot by surprise on December 1. Called back to Bu Dop, 250 km away on December 2, where she deposited her dead and wounded, she returned to Ban Me Thuot on December 5, which she conquered a second time at the cost of a bloody fight.
It then holds, one against ten, the surrounded city for twelve days, until the arrival of the light commando n°1 to which it integrates. They are at the forefront of the Massu group on the RC 21 for the capture of Ninh Hoa on the Annam coast, after a whole series of very harsh operations which cost them 12 killed and 22 wounded. On December 18, 1945, CLI/5°RIC Light Commando No. 2 (Commander Guennebaud) landed in Saigon and took part in clean-up operations north of Saigon before being sent to Laos in February 1946 where it fought on the RC 13 north of Pakse before seizing Savannakhet and March 21 Thakhek, after a fight that cost him 9 killed and 13 wounded. He entered Vientiane on April 25 with company B. After the evacuation of the Chinese troops, they pushed on to Luang Prabang at the end of May, driving the Chinese army back to the border.
On March 9, 1946, the light commando n ° 1, also arrived in Laos on the RC9 takes in hand the release of this axis between Laos and Annam. On March 13, he launched Company A to attack Muong Phine, then, on the 23rd, all his commandos to cross the Se Bang Hien River by force and capture Tchepone. He pushes to Hué where he enters on March 29 and delivers the French population.
Returning to Laos, the CLI/5°RIC was dissolved on July 1, 1946.
Epilogue
The CLI has fought since 1944, from south to north of Indochina, from Cà Mau to the Chinese border, and from west to east from Angkor to the Annam Coast. Its units were cited four times at the order of the Army with the award of 225 individual citations and 30 Resistance medals, at the cost of 350 killed and wounded, or 20% of its strength. After its dissolution, its executives formed the backbone of 3 battalions of Laotian hunters, and, after their repatriation to mainland France, that of the first two battalions of colonial parachutists. Some of them will wear the red beret throughout their military career.
Bibliography
Huard Paul (General), The Light Intervention Corps and Indochina. 1943-1946, Self-employed, 1980
Philippe Franchini, The lies of the Indochina war, Perrin, Paris 2005, pp. 54 and 61,