Vietnam and the Cold War 1945-1954: French Imperial Decline and Defeat at Dien Bien Phu

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Contents
CHAPTER 1 Parachutes Blooming, and the Origins of French Indochina
	Introduction
	The sky blooms parachutes
	The geography of Indochina
	Climate and environment
	Statesmen and Indochina
	Asymmetric warfare
CHAPTER II The Origins and Beginnings of French Imperialism in Indochina
	Origins of France’s Asian empire 1615-1860
	Imperialist competition 1860-1906
	Colonial life
	Cafe life
	Anyone for tennis?
	At the beach resort at Kep-sur-Mer
	Executive life in Haiphong
	Colonial women
	Planters’ life
	Colonialism, xenophobia, racism and resistance
	Economy and society: exploitation and development from 1880-1945
	Economic geography of Indochina
	An economic and political vision of French Vietnamese co-development in Indochina
	Tonkin
	Cochin economy
	Transport
	Education, culture and identity
	Plantations
	Tourism
	Taxes
	Chancers, gangs and crooks
	Predominantly an agricultural society in 1945
CHAPTER III Statesmen
	Ho Chi Minh
	Soviet policy for Asia: Revolution, nationalism and anti-colonialism
	The Vietminh
	General Charles de Gaulle and the road from Brazzaville
	Ho and Indochina
	General Giáp
CHAPTER IV French Terror
	French terror and the justice system
CHAPTER V War and Revolution 1940-45
	French surrender, and revolutionary opportunity
	Vichy, the Japanese and Admiral Decoux 1940-45
	Japan surrenders, and the Vietminh takeover in Tonkin
	Independence Day
	French politics and imperial policy
	Revolution in the countryside and small towns
	Admiral Decoux goes home
	British troops occupy Saigon and Phnom Penh
	The ‘defrocked’ priest Admiral d’Argenlieu, and Leclerc arrive, 9 October 1945
	Reconquest phase in the south, October 1945
	Hanoi: Kuomintang occupation
CHAPTER VI War and Peace
	Ho in Paris, Giap in Hanoi
	Letters to America
	The liquidation of enemies
	Haiphong October-December 1946
	The French storm Hanoi and pretences are over, 20 January 1947
	Fight for the countryside and military ‘sweeps’
	The struggle for Cochin-Saigon and the Mekong delta
	North, south and the indigenous tribes’ role in the war
	Operation Lea in the Bac Kan
	Nguyen Binh in Saigon
	French offensive operations and Dinassaut
	Cao Dai, Hoa Hoa, Binh Xuyen, Catholic militia, and Khmer Krom
CHAPTER VII The Time of Grenades
	The time of grenades, and the struggle for Cochin
	The defeat of the Vietminh general offensive, March-April 1950
	The dirty war
	Mines and IEDs
	Blockhouse attacks
	Lao and Cambodia
	Opium and Indochina
CHAPTER VIII France and the Home Front
	French party politics 1946-1949
	Economic wreckage
	Gaullism and Rassemblement de Peuple Francais (RPF)
	Instability in the Fourth Republic but stability of Indochina policy
	Bao Dai and the French Union
	The Pignon era 1948-50: drift and disenchantment
CHAPTER IX International Communist Politics
	Ho Chi Minh in Moscow February 1950
	Stalin gets the ‘bomb’, Mao wins China, Kim Il Sung invades South Korea
	Peace movements and the French Fifth Column 1948-50
	Vietminh intelligence
	Red Army on the border 1949-50
	Chinese Military Advisory Group (CMAG)
	From the beach: Legionnaire Krause at Phyu Ven, 1949
	The road to Cao Bang
	The Vietminh regular army - first blooding: March-May 1950
	The 308th Division in the north-west
	A personal war on the Cambodian border
CHAPTER X Route Coloniale 4, October 1950
	Cao Bang evacuation, 3 October Route 1950
	4 and Cousin Luc
	Attack on Dong Khe, 1 and 2 October 1950
	Charton’s trail of tears
	Massacre at Coxha Gorge
	Charton’s last stand
	Flapping fish
	North, West and Central African troops
Plates
CHAPTER XI Enter General Lattre de Tassigny
	The actor ‘Roi Jean’
	De Gaulle exits politics
	Giap’s plans to swamp the French in their Red River bastion
	The de Lattre lines
	Skewered by a lance
	Battle of Vinh Yen, 13-17 January 1951
	Battle of Mao Khe, 23-29 March 1951
	Battle of the Day River, 29 May-18 June 1951
	Political consequences of failure and trouble in the party
	De Lattre in America
	Jack and Bobby in Indochina October 1951
CHAPTER XII Giáp’s New Strategic Directions - Death of Stalin - Land Reform
	Battle of Nghia Lo, 3-10 October 1951
	Blockhouse attacks
	The Hoa Binh campaign: October 1951-February 1952
	Why Hoa Binh?
	Salan
	First moves: setting up firebases and Klaus Klause cruises up river to Hoa Binh
	Attacks on river supply route
	Attacks along the RC6
	Attacks on the garrison at Hoa Binh
	Retreat from Hoa Binh and Legionnaire Krause, February 1952
	Postscript to Hoa Binh
	Vietnamisation and US pressure
	Fall of the T’ai country, Tu Le and Bigeard’s escape
	Priests
	Operation Lorraine, October 1952
	Korean armistice and Pierre Mendes-France
	The beginning of the Lao problem
	Land reform, class war, terror and civil mobilisation 1952-3
	Uncle Chinh
	The radical phase of land refo
CHAPTER XIII Genevieve’s War
	Genevieve’s path to Indochina
	Saigon - Dolce Vita
	Genevieve in Hanoi and the medivac tour
	Ná Sán
	Vietminh reaction to defeat at Na San, and American criticism of Salan
CHAPTER XIV Lao - France’s Achilles Heel and the Navarre Plan
	Giap attacks Lao, April 1953
	Churchill on Indochina
	General Navarre arrives
	US reaction to the Navarre plan and the political situation in Indochina War
	Tactical and strategic issues for both sides and the decision to occupy Dien Bien Phu
	Operations Hirondelle and Atlante
	Graham Greene in Dien Bien Phu
CHAPTER XV Theatre of Battle, Strategies, and the Road to Bermuda
	The theatre of battle
	French tactical plan
	Developments in US policy and communist tactics, the Cold War
	Vietminh strategy
	Towards détente?
	Taking the goat in Bermuda
CHAPTER XVI A Nation on the March
	‘We must win at all costs’
	Marching with Pham
	Closing the doors
	Operation Castor, opening gambits
	The Lai Chau debacle
	US political opinion
	Berlin, February 1954
	The great convergence
	Giap’s crisis, delay and reversal of strategy, January 1954
	The 308th’s Laos excursion, January-February 1954
	The troops
	Legionnaires and the Camerone
	The roads, logistics and air power
	French defences
	The artillery duel
	The French commanders
	Hill 781
	Divided objectives/divided counsels
	French intelligence analysis and GMI (GMCA)
	Pham waits to attack
	Diplomacy on the road to Geneva
CHAPTER XVII The Battle of Dien Bien Phu, 13 March 1954
	First general offensive, Beatrice (Him Lam), and closing the airstrip - 13 to 14 March
	Aftershock
	The fall of Gabrielle (Dôc Lâp)
	Anne-Marie
	Pause and replenishment
	Trench warfare 16-17 March
	The AA battle
	Bigeard has landed
	The path to Isabelle
	Sniping around Isabelle mid-March 1954
	Bigeard’s attack on the western front, 28 March
	Pham’s war and the monsoon
	Genevieve flies in
	General Ely goes to Washington, 22 March 1954
	The low Elianes and Dominique
	The others: PIMs, camp followers, coolies and river rats
CHAPTER XVIII The Second General Offensive
	The Battle for the Five Hills, 30 March 1954
	The general assault and Éliane 1, 30 March
	Dominique 2 and Éliane 2, 30 March
	Lieutenant Brunbouk stands by his guns
	Casualties at dawn
	French high command
	Negative rightist thoughts
	In Washington
	Izvestia calling
	French rations
	First Battle for Huguette 6, 4-6 April 1954
	Dominoes, 7 April press conference in Washington
	Crisis diplomacy in Washington, London and Paris
	Churchill’s policy
	Hold by the belt
	Genevieve’s view
	Bigeard’s offensive to re-take Éliane 1, 10 April
	Rescue: flight of the condor
	Eden’s diplomatic dance
	Huguette 6 final offensive, 17-19 April
	Churchill says ‘No!’ The loss of the fortress must be faced
	Fight for Huguette 1, 18-22 April
	Scraping the barrel, 20 April
	Washington, 23 April
	New positions and Bidault’s desperation
	Washington, 29 April
CHAPTER XIX The Third General Offensive, 30 April
	Attacks on Huguette 5, 30 April-1 May
	Éliane 1, 30-31 May
	Dominique 3, 2 May
	Isabelle, 2 May
	Huguette 4 and Lily, 4 May
	Huguette 3
	Logistics crisis
	Jumps into hell
	The general’s visit to the field hospital
	Éliane 2, 5.30 p.m. 5 May
	Éliane 4
	6 May and Éliane 10
	From Russia with love, 7 May
	Endgame
	Central zone
	Claudine 5, 6 May 11 p.m.
	Éliane 4, 6/7 May
	7 May
	Éliane 4
	Finale: the fall of Éliane 11 and 12
	Afternoon, 7 May
	No white flags, 7 May 5 p.m.
	Isabelle and breakout
CHAPTER XX Prisoners
	Geneva Conference and after
Appendix I: Casualties
Appendix II: Military Assessment of the French Indochina War
Abbreviations and Basic explanations, Including Ideological Terms
Notes
Bibliography
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