to the conflict in Laos the following month. Guerrilla actions in South Vietnam soon would approach a state of insurgency.13

Increased aid would be required by the Republic of Vietnam to counter the mounting Communist offensive, and the primary source of that aid would be the United States. The Vietnam conflict had undergone many changes since World War II. Step-by-step the United States had progressed from a period of non-involvement in the military aspects of the conflict, through a stage in which the Navy and other military services were indirectly or remotely involved, to the point where primary responsibility had been assumed by America for assisting South Vietnam in its defensive efforts.

The Prolonged Conflict

By 1959, the Vietnam conflict was completing its fourteenth year. The time was nearing when United States military forces would become more directly involved in the struggle. In many respects the experiences of the French and Vietnamese naval forces foreshadowed roles the United States Navy later would be required to fulfill.

The conflict had emerged at the end of World War II during the transitional period from hostilities to peace in the Far East, where the situation differed basically from that in Europe. At the time the Germans surrendered, the Allied armies occupied Germany and possessed the position and strength to force their enemy's disarmament and to carry out the duties of occupation. In the Pacific, when the war ended with unanticipated suddenness American forces were preparing for an assault on the Japanese home islands. The immediate military concerns of the United States involved projecting occupational forces by sea into Japan, where opposition was still possible, supporting the occupation, aiding the Chinese during surrender of the powerful Japanese forces on the mainland, and assisting in the Japanese evacuation from Asia.

In Vietnam, the four-month-old Bao Dai government, installed by the Japanese in March 1945 when they ousted the French, was tenuous at best and lacked military forces. By striking when signs of an impending Japanese surrender first appeared, Ho Chi Minh and his comrades were able to gain

13 Quoted in Ibid.; U.S.-V.N. Relations, bk 2, pt. IVA.5, tab 1, p. 30, tab 2, pp. 23–31; "Speech Opening the Third National Congress of the Viet-Nam Workers' Party," in Ho, On Revolution, pp. 345–51.

footholds in key cities, force Bao Dai's departure, announce the establishment of a provisional government, and proclaim independence-all prior to the arrival of Allied occupational forces.

Advocating eventual independence for the states of Indochina, the United States refrained from supporting the French return. No alternate plan charted the way toward the ultimate goal of free and independent states. Occupational responsibilities, assigned essentially on the basis of the wartime Allied military situation, placed China in control of the area of Vietnam that it had ruled for so long in early history. Chinese use of Haiphong and the railroad into Kwangsi was the price paid by the French for the final withdrawal of the Chinese occupational forces. Meanwhile, the Viet Minh had extended their influence in Tonkin. Through negotiations, they achieved tacit French recognition of their government. Involvement of the United States Navy during this period was confined to the amphibious withdrawl of Chinese occupation forces in 1945-1946 and their transportation to North China.

In the South the British welcomed the French, to whom they transferred occupational responsibilities. Through riverine and amphibious operations, the French Navy gained control of critical points in the Mekong Delta and along the coast. An amphibious operation landed troops in Tonkin, where French naval forces assisted in the occupation of key cities.

The struggle for power between the Viet Minh and France erupted into war in December 1946. By now the United States Navy was extensively involved as a complement to diplomacy in the expanding Cold War. Torn between the goal of independent Indochinese states and the desire to stem Communist advances, American decision-makers denied the military aid requested by France for use in the French-Viet Minh War, pending substantial progress toward Vietnamese independence. Although France took some steps in this direction, the United States government considered them insufficient. Despite the lack of direct aid, French Union forces, making effective use of their limited naval capabilities in combination with their land and air forces, won or regained control of heavily populated and strategically important delta and coastal regions in the North as well as the South. Withdrawing to remote bases, the Viet Minh confined their armed activities to guerrilla-type actions.

The Communist victory in China in 1949 then led to a new phase of the French-Viet Minh War. Following the ratification by the French National Assembly in February 1950 of an agreement with the State of

Vietnam, the United States determined that the minimum prerequisites for economic and military aid had been met. Trained in China and supplied with increasing quantities of arms and munitions, Viet Minh regular forces seized key points along lines of communication south of the Chinese border. On 1 May 1950, President Truman approved funding for urgently needed military items. When war started in Korea, the President ordered expansion and acceleration of the aid for Indochina. Some American naval and other military aid to France and the Associated States arrived barely in time to help defeat Viet Minh offensives against the Red River Delta.

As 1952 drew to a close, the United States sought an early conclusion to the protracted French-Viet Minh War, urged more aggressive French military actions, and sought information on French strategy. Major increases in military aid were approved after France presented a new strategic plan.

The Korean armistice in July 1953 resulted in the release of more Chinese arms and munitions to support the Viet Minh. China's troops and aircraft could now deploy elsewhere and the United States became increasingly concerned with the possibility of Chinese intervention in the war in Indochina. A United States Navy task force was deployed to the South China Sea. It primary purpose was to deter such aggression.

Early in 1954 France launched a major offensive in central Vietnam, but this operation would have little effect on the outcome of the war. Reacting to Viet Minh incursions into Laos, French troops had already occupied a land-air base at Dien Bien Phu. This occupation and the subsequent siege by Chinese-equipped Viet Minh troops were preludes to the final engagement. Support by American carrier aircraft, requested by France, was considered but not approved. War weariness, dissension, and the defeat at Dien Bien Phu led to French compromises at the negotiating table whereby the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was accorded the right to rule Tonkin and northern Annam. In 1954–1955, United States ships would aid in the transportation of large numbers of refugees to the South. The conclusion of the conference at Geneva in July 1954 was followed by a period of consolidation of Ho's rule in the North and the extension of Diem's authority in the South. The United States gradually assumed training and advisory responsibilities for South Vietnam's military forces, at first jointly with the French. Following establishment of the Republic of Vietnam and the departure of French forces in 1956, France no longer shared direct responsibility for the security of South Vietnam, and American

naval advisors faced the challenge of helping to develop an infant Vietnamese Navy into an effective fighting force. Regional security through collective action was a major objective during this period. Under the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, established in 1954, the United States Navy played a leading role in military demonstrations and combined exercises to bolster the determination of states in the area and to improve their military preparedness.

Piece by piece the stage was being set for more direct American military involvement in the Vietnam conflict. The remaining pieces would soon be in place, for in 1959, as this volume draws to a close, the Communists were increasingly resorting to acts of violence in their efforts to bring about the fall of the Republic of Vietnam. These actions would soon lead to yet another phase in the prolonged conflict, open warfare between North and South Vietnam. The United States would increase its military aid and expand its advisory and assistance actions in support of the Republic of Vietnam. And, it would not be long before the United States Navy and other military services would be engaged in combat in the Vietnam conflict.