African troops were as yet few in number. In May 1945 Charles de Gaulle had prohibited their use in Indochina on the grounds that they might be unduly influenced by Vietnamese nationalist discourse and might seek to implement these ideas upon their return home. He also worried that their presence could sharpen American anticolonialist critiques of French imperialism. Now, however, the acute need for fighting men compelled a change in the policy, and during the course of 1947 more and more African conscripts were deployed.
