the French were definitely the "aliens" and the Communist-led Viet-Minh forces could count on the instinctive support of the native population. Where such outright support did not exist, as was true in certain heavily Catholic areas, well-applied terror could insure at least the neutrality of the population in the struggle. As will be seen later, almost nowhere did the French succeed in creating viable anti-guerrilla guerrilla forces, and French tactical intelligence was often faulty because of this Communist-created isolation of the French forces from the population in which it operated.
