Minh controlled the roads into the city and maintenance of the French position in Nha Trang depended on support from the sea." Another major campaign, launched in January 1946 by nearly all elements of the Expeditionary Corps, had the objective of controlling the land lines of communication extending north from Saigon into Annam. In order to secure a reliable base to support these operations, the Far East Naval Brigade, then almost at full strength, was assigned the mission of patrolling the rivers and canals to the northeast and east of Saigon. The largest operation was an advance up the Dong Nai River and its tributaries, from 20 to 25 January, that employed two armored scows, eight landing craft, and amphibious assault forces drawn from Captain Jaubert's Naval Infantry River Flotilla. On the 25th, Captain Jaubert was mortally wounded while directing an attack north of Saigon. Despite the death of this aggressive and imaginative leader, the naval forces accomplished their mission and succeeded in opening transportation routes north into Annam.“1 41 At the same time, the French Army cleared the enemy from the road into Dalat, from there proceeded to the sea, and then turned north, securing the coastal road to Nha Trang by the end of January 1946. The ground advance along the coast was facilitated by naval gunfire from French warships which also established a coastal blockade to interdict Viet Minh junks and sampans attempting to transit the area." 42 French Army and Navy units conducted successful operations elsewhere along the central Vietnamese coast, and by early 1946 the major population centers and lines of communication south of the 16th parallel were in French control.43 The successful outcome of the combined French-British operations enabled the British to implement the planned withdrawal of their forces from southern Indochina. On 19 December 1945, the British transferred responsibility for administering the Saigon region to the French, completing a process begun in October. Subsequently, Captain Bell turned over to the French the former British naval headquarters in addition to a number of landing craft. Finally, on 1 January 1946, a statement issued jointly by Admiral Mountbatten and Admiral d'Argenlieu proclaimed that the French would have sole responsibility for maintaining law and order throughout southern Indochina, except for the control and repatriation of Japanese troops. 44 43 Vo Nguyen Giap, The Military Art of People's War: Selected Writings of General Vo Nguyen Giap (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1970), pp. 82-83. "Kirby, Surrender of Japan, p. 305. Occupation of the North Above the 16th parallel the situation was far less favorable than in the South, insofar as restoration of French rule was concerned. The initial bases of the Viet Minh paramilitary forces, the first regular platoon, and a propaganda unit, were quite logically established in a jungle-covered, mountainous region continguous to the Chinese border known as the Viet Bac. The bases were located in several districts of three Indochinese provinces-Lang Son, at the juncture of Routes 1 and 4, Cao Bang, further to the northwest at the juncture of Route 3 with Route 4, and Bac Kan, to the south along Route 3. Lang Son had been one of the strategic points seized by the Japanese in September 1940. The initial effort to reestablish a French position in the north was made by two small French Navy ships, Frézouls and Crayssac. Evading capture at the time of the Japanese coup against the French in March 1945, the ships had taken refuge along the Chinese coast. On 15 August 1945, the day after Hirohito issued the cease-fire order, the two ships, commanded by Lieutenant Jean Blanchard, steamed up the river to Haiphong. Four days later, Lieutenant Blanchard, in Crayssac, attempted to proceed to Hanoi via the Bamboo Canal. While underway, the lieutenant observed that the houses on the high banks of this waterway were flying the new flag of the Viet Minh. Viet Minh forces revealed their intentions when they directed heavy, small-arms fire against the French from positions along the canal. Blanchard was forced to turn back temporarily, but a few days later he was able to reach Hanoi with the protection of a Japanese escort. There, the lieutenant made a fruitless attempt to free French military personnel who had been interned by the Japanese.** Faced with Chinese and Viet Minh opposition to the establishment of any substantial force in the heartland, of Tonkin, subsequent French military operations during 1945 were concentrated in the coastal regions. Special attention was devoted to securing Along Bay because of its extensive and exceptional sheltered anchorages and its harbor, Hon Gay. This bay, twenty miles east of Haiphong and seventy miles southwest of the Chinese border, had been utilized historically by France as a base to support opera 45 Auphan and Mordal, French Navy in World War II, pp. 366–67; Mordal, Navy in Indochina, pp. 148-50. tions in Tonkin. Aside from its military importance, many French civilians lived in the area." 46 By mid-October, French naval and ground forces had succeeded in establishing garrisons at two key locations in Along Bay. These posts were in jeopardy, however, due to hostility from a variety of forces that included not only the Viet Minh, but also Chinese irregular troops and Vietnamese pirates and smugglers. Chinese officials ordered a French withdrawal from these locations, citing prior Allied occupation agreements as authorization for their demands. However, the French refused to evacuate these posts, despite such pressures, and maintained a perilous foothold in the north. In this maritime environment, the French ability to maintain a position depended upon naval support. On one occasion in November Senegalais, one of three lend-lease destroyer escorts operating in Indochina during this period, assisted French troops on an island in the bay in repulsing an amphibious assault by Viet Minh units." Two months previously, in mid-September, the four armies of the First Chinese Army Group, commanded by General Lu Han, had arrived at their assigned occupation zones in the Hanoi, Haiphong, and Tourane regions. Although the Chinese used some river craft to transport troops up the Red River, the occupation primarily was accomplished by an overland march. As a result of the difficulty of this march, some Chinese units arrived in Vietnam "in very poor shape." To these forces, General Wedemeyer assigned United States Army advisory and liaison teams, commanded by Brigadier General Philip E. Gallagher, USA. The Viet Minh policy at this time was to avoid all conflicts and to seek friendly relations with the Chinese. This policy was reciprocated by the Chinese general who acknowledged with reluctance the presence of a French mission in Hanoi, headed by Jean Sainteny." 48 The extent of Lu Han's opposition to the French was revealed during the formal Japanese surrender ceremony held in Hanoi in late September. More than a month earlier, American military officials had endorsed French requests that a representative be present at the ceremony. However, the Chinese general refused to allow the French to attend in an official capacity Ibid., pp. 151–57. Ibid., "Ltr, Gallagher to McClure, of 20 Sept. 1945, Gallagher Papers, CMH. |