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cally weak French forces in Saigon to seize the facilities of the local police, as well as those of the Garde Civil, which the general described as the "armed forces of the Viet Minh Provisional Government." Finally, Gracey commanded Colonel Cédile to "immediately start means to effect proper resumption by French of all administrative control" in Saigon. More than two decades later, this action of 23 September 1945 was characterized by the authors of the "Pentagon Papers" as a "coup d'etat." 25 However, at no time did the British formally recognize the Viet Minh in southern Indochina as a political entity.

Whatever the nature of these events, there followed a new series of disorders in the vicinity of Saigon. On the night of 24-25 September, Vietnamese mobs rampaged through the Tan Dinh area of the city assaulting, killing, and kidnapping hundreds of French and Eurasian civilians.

One of the earliest combat actions engaged in by the French Navy in postwar Vietnam took place at this time, when a group of French sailors repulsed a force of rebels along the banks of the Chinese Arroyo, a major tributary flowing into the Saigon ship channel. On 28 September, the same naval unit came to the rescue of hard-pressed Gurkha troops of the British 20th Infantry Division. General Gracey later commended these men, noting "the splendid work of the Navy who arrived quickly and in the nick of time bringing aid to the British troops, [who] promptly re-established the situation."

26

Nevertheless, conflict in Cochin China continued. The Viet Minh threw up roadblocks on many thoroughfares in the Saigon region. Terrorism against French civilians continued, accompanied by sabotage of public utilities. General Gracey reacted by directing the Japanese to provide more effective assistance in maintaining law and order. Early in October, he obtained Admiral Mountbatten's permission to use Spitfire aircraft against the Viet Minh roadblocks. Casualties sustained by the British, French, and Japanese amounted to twenty-three men killed and forty-six wounded between 10 and 21 October, many having been inflicted in enemy ambushes."

In essence, the successful pacification of South Vietnam depended on the speedy buildup of Allied forces south of the 16th parallel. The first sizeable

25

Msgs, SACSEA (quoting Gracey) 241217 and 232045 Sept. 1945; U.S.-V.N. Relations, bk 1, pt. IA.1, pp. 22, 24, pt. IB.2, pp. 36–37.

Hammer, Struggle for Indochina, p. 118; Kirby, Surrender of Japan, pp. 299–300; Mordal, Navy in Indochina, pp. 127-28.

"Kirby, Surrender of Japan, pp. 299–303.

reinforcements, consisting of two brigades of British troops, arrived at Saigon on 29 September in two transports escorted by frigate Waveney. As this force, commanded by Captain Scott Bell, Royal Navy, entered Vietnamese waters, both transports triggered mines laid by American forces off Cape Saint Jacques during World War II. Only one of these ships was able to proceed to Saigon; the other had to be towed to Singapore for repairs.28

As the designated British naval commander in southern Vietnam, Captain Bell also controlled 9 minesweepers, 3 landing craft, tank (LCT), 1 repair ship, and 1 oiler in addition to the frigate and the transports.

The first large increment of French reinforcements debarked at Saigon on 3 October 1945. This 1,000-man force consisted of French units transported from Ceylon in two British steamers, Princess Beatrix and Queen Emma, escorted by the 35,000-ton French battleship Richelieu and destroyer Triomphant. Landing parties, drawn from the ship's company of these units, also went ashore at this time.29

The major French force designated for Indochina duty was an Expeditionary Corps, under the direct command of General Leclerc. It was composed of the 2nd Armored Division, the 9th and 3rd Colonial Infantry Divisions, and a sizeable naval component, the Far East Naval Brigade. During the summer of 1945, Leclerc's corps was in the process of organizing and training at bases in metropolitan France and on the island of Madagascar. Originally formed for the proposed 1946 Allied invasion of Japan, this corps was operational when the sudden Japanese surrender appeared to clear the way for an immediate French return to Indochina.

General Leclerc, his staff, and advance elements of the reinforcements from France reached Saigon on 5 October. Later in the month, other components of his corps were brought to the area in French naval ships, including transports Ville De Strasbourg and Quercy, aircraft carrier Béarn, cruisers Gloire, Suffren, and Fantasque, destroyer escorts Somali and Senegalais, and sloops Annamite and Gazelle. The arrival of additional forces swelled the number of French military personnel available in southern

28

29

'Mordal, Navy in Indochina, pp. 12, 129.

Ibid.. p. 129; Paul Auphan and Jacques Mordal, The French Navy in World War II (Annapolis, Md.: U.S. Naval Institute Press, 1959), p. 365; Robert Kilian, History and Memories: The Naval Infantrymen in Indochina (Paris: Editions Berger-Levrault, 1948), pp. 11–12.

30 For the arrangements made prior to the end of hostilities regarding the deployment of these forces, see Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers 1945, Vol. VI, pp. 307–11; Conference of Berlin, Vol. II, PP. 1465-66.

Vietnam to 21,500 by early December 1945. The British force comprised 22,000 officers and men, the majority of them assigned to the 20th Infantry Division.31

As Allied forces south of the 16th parallel increased in strength, British and French commanders formulated a basic agreement on the employment of their respective units which called for the concentration of British forces in the Saigon region. Small detachments also would be stationed at Phnom Penh in Cambodia and at Cape Saint Jacques, the strategic peninsula that flanked the entrance to the waterways connecting Saigon with the sea and close to the mouth of the Mekong River. Until the British withdrew from Vietnam, the primary mission of the French Expeditionary Corps would be restoration of authority in the interior of the country. In this task, the French would be assisted by British and Japanese troops. To make Japanese assistance possible, Admiral Mountbatten found it necessary, early in October, to defer the former enemy's disarmament for several months.

32

Riverine Operations

In view of the subsequent development of United States riverine capabilities in the 1960s, the operations of the French Far East Naval Brigade are of particular interest. The Naval Brigade, initially commanded by Captain Robert Kilian, attained a strength of approximately 3,000 officers and men by January 1946. Naval infantry units, trained for amphibious assault operations similar to those undertaken by marine organizations of other navies, composed a major part of this brigade. In addition to the troop units, the brigade contained about fifty landing craft and thirty junks, scows, and launches obtained within Indochina. Also included in the brigade were paratrooper-trained commando units and communication, repair, river base, and medical elements."

31

33

Early objectives of the Naval Brigade in the Mekong Delta were three

Auphan and Mordal, French Navy in World War II, p. 366; Kilian, Naval Infantrymen, p. 14; Kirby, Surrender of Japan, pp. 302–03; msg, CG U.S. Forces, India-Burma Theater 081100 Dec. 1945; memo, British Chiefs of Staff, CCS 644/38 of 21 Dec. 1945.

32

Msgs, SACSEA 241402 Sept. and 022131 Oct. 1945; msg, CG U.S. Forces, India-Burma Theater 081100 Dec. 1945.

33

Kilian, Naval Infantrymen, pp. 5, 225-28. The French Navy did not have a separate marine organization. See NA Paris, reports, 403-47 of 9 Oct. 1947 and 253-50 of June 1950.

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strategically located provincial capitals, their populations numbering from 45,000 to 80,000 people. Each of these cities would later become a site for an American naval base. The first objective was My Tho, capital of Dinh Tuong Province. My Tho, situated at the juncture of several highways, including strategic Route 4 from Saigon, is on the north bank of the main shipping channel to Phnom Penh. The second objective was Vinh Long, capital of the province with the same name, a river port and transshipment center. Vinh Long is located at a point where the Mekong diverges into several outlets to the sea. The third objective was Can Tho, the capital of Phong Dinh Province, a center of rice production, a trading

point, a principal inland port, and center of the Hoa Hao religious sect. Can Tho lies along Route 4 at the confluence of the Can Tho and Hau Giang (Bassac) Rivers and is near the center of the intricate waterway network serving the Mekong Delta.

French Army units moving overland from Saigon via Route 4 had initially been detailed to seize My Tho from the Viet Minh. However, the French column found the road sabotaged, and their vehicles repeatedly bogged down in the sponge-like delta terrain. Thus, the reoccupation of My Tho during the last week in October was effected by units of the Far East Naval Brigade, transported there in small river craft."

On 29 October, in a joint operation with army troops, who advanced overland, another contingent of the Naval Brigade embarked in the sloop Annamite, and took control of Vinh Long. Then, on 30 October, a ninetyman force from the brigade overcame enemy resistance at Can Tho and captured that city. Operating from Can Tho, the small French force conducted patrols, ambushes, and river raids against rebel concentrations south of the Bassac River to create the illusion that the French had sizeable forces at their disposal. By mid-November, after a second unit of the Naval Brigade arrived in Vietnam, the French were able to extend the operational area to a twenty-five kilometer radius around Can Tho. They seized four towns in that sector, capturing ammunition and equipment.35

The initial success achieved by the Naval Brigade in restoring French control impressed General Leclerc. In November, he directed one of the brigade's unit commanders, Captain Jaubert, to establish within the force a permanent flotilla of small boats and a self-contained landing force of naval infantry, with the capability to undertake sustained operations throughout southern Indochina. The task of this new riverine amphibious force, initially designated the Naval Infantry River Flotilla, was to reestablish a French presence along the Bassac and Mekong Rivers. The force also was ordered to assist in occupying and securing a zone extending south from Saigon to My Tho and Vinh Long."

36

34

Kilian, Naval Infantrymen, p. 18; Commander in Chief, French Forces Indochina, Lessons of the War in Indochina, trans. by V. J. Croizat (France: 1955), Vol. II, p. 348.

35

36

Kilian, Naval Infantrymen, pp. 19–21; Mordal, Navy in Indochina, pp. 137–38.

* E. Le Breton, "The Marines in Indo China," La Revue Maritime, XXX (Oct. 1948), trans. by Remote Area Conflict Information Center, pp. 3-5; Guy Hébert, "The Birth of a Flotilla," La Revue Maritime, XLII (Oct. 1949), trans. by Remote Area Conflict Information Center, pp. 3-5; Kilian, Naval Infantrymen, p. 10; Mordal, Navy in Indochina, pp. 132–33.

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