The French Indochina War 1946-1954

Osprey Men at Arms #322

by Martin Windrow, Mike Chappell (Illustrator)

The states of Indochina had been French colonies or protectorates since the 19th century. However, in March 1945 the Japanese interned all French troops and officials, and turned over all civil government to local authorities. The power vacuum caused by the Japanese surrender allowed the Viet Minh, a strong revolutionary organisation, to be established throughout Vietnam. When the French returned to the north, incidents between French and VM troops were inevitable, negotiations collapsed and the French opted for a military solution. This book examines the history of the conflict and the forces of both sides of the French Indochina War (1946-1954).

Genres: Military History, France, History, Nonfiction

48 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 1998

About the author

Martin C. Windrow is a British historian, editor and author of several hundred books, articles and monographs, particularly those on organizational or physical details of military history, and the history of the post-war French Foreign Legion. He has been published since the mid-Sixties.

Reviews

[Filipe Amaral · Rating 5 out of 5]

Martin Windrow gives a succint overview of the mostly forgotten Indochina War of 1946-54, narrating in brief terms the phases of the war from the French return to the Chinese Communist victory in 1949, that provided the Viet Minh with an active sanctuary providing heavy weapons and training for the creation of higher division-sized battle formations that would attack and destroy the lightly armed French outposts in the border under artillery fire.

After the disaster General de Lattre de Tassigny, the new French commander built a fortified line in the Tonkin to hold out while he tried to increase his forces. General Giap misred his intentions as a challenge and attacked the fortified De Lattre Line head on, in which would became the Battle of the Red River, in which the Communists bashed their heads to no avail against French firepower. After the invasion of South Korea by the Communist North, the United States finally snapped out of their dellusional dreams of driving the French out of Indochina for their own profit and started providing some help. Before that, the US had forbidden the French to use some new bomber they had provided.

The war was made impopular from the beginning, with the Communist propaganda machine attacking the French war effort from the start. Campaigns for blood donation had to proclaim the blood collected would not be given to Indochina's battle casualties and sindicalist organizations would even attack and throw stones at wounded soldiers coming back in France for treatment. After the end of the Korean War, Indochina became the only main Communist effort and more and more equipment poured in from the USSR and Red China to the Viet Minh; culminating in the epic of Dien Bien Phu, where the overwhelming firepower of the Communist subdued the French.

The book will present operations and tables of organization and equipment from both sides, with a wealth of photographs, maps and illustrations. There is also some focus on uniforms. Overrall, this book is complimented by Windrows other works on the French Foreign Legion and Dien Bien Phu, and is a good introduction to be had coupled with Bernard Fall's books.

[Robert Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good given the page limit

Excellent summary of the series. Given how little is written about the subject in English. However it should be revisited in a multi-volume series. I would divide the series as follows:
Volume 1: French forces
Volume 2: Viet Minh
Volume 3: pro-French Vietnamese forces

Given improvements in Vietnamese-western relations in the last twenty years. I'd imagine there is a wealth of new information available.