Tag Archives: France

Life Magazine Covers The Vietnam War #2 – January, 1951

Life January 22, 1951 – General Jean de Lattre Enters

1949-50 were critical years in the evolution of the Cold War. In 1949 the Soviets detonated their first atomic bomb and Mao’s communist forces defeated Chiang Kai Shek and took control of China. Henry Luce, founder and editor-in-chief of Time and Life magazines, was born in China. The son of a missionary, Luce spent his childhood there, and was a great admirer of Chiang Kai Shek. He had featured Chiang on the cover of Time ten times and had named him person of the year in 1937. 

Then in June 1950 communist North Korea crossed the 38th parallel and attacked South Korea. While the world’s attention was focused on Korea and the fear of an atomic war, Ho Chi Minh’s top general, Vo Nguyen Giap, launched a series of devastating attacks on French forts north of Hanoi along the Chinese border. The French were routed and forced to abandon the forts, leaving behind many tons of precious artillery, ammunition and guns. The French army was demoralized and plans were being made to evacuate French citizens and soldiers’ families. It looked as if the Vietminh were on the verge of winning the war.  

Enter General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny. The famous French hero of Verdun and the Resistance against the Nazis temporarily stopped the bleeding. He immediately canceled all evacuations, reasoning that by keeping their families in danger the soldiers would have something to fight for. Ironically, it was his own son who was killed a few months later in battle by the Vietminh. De Lattre died of cancer the following year, never recovering from his son’s death. The French-Indochina War would continue on for three more bloody years.

Here is the Life Magazine edition from January 22, 1951 with an overly hopeful piece announcing his arrival….

Vietnam Snapshot: French Defeats Along RC 4 – Indochina, Fall 1950

Vietnam Snapshot: Battle of Mao Khe (March 23-28, 1951)

Vietnam Snapshot: The French Armed Forces at War, 1945 -54

Vietnam Essay: Indochina War, Meat Grinder War (1951-1953)

Vietnam Notebook: The 19th Century – From Gia Long to Paul Doumer

President of France Paul Doumer (1857-1932)

Image via Wikipedia

the French theory of colonial exploitation held that the colonies should enrich the mother country, but all Paul Doumer could do was to bring self-sufficiency. He could raise enough through his taxes to support the cost of the huge bureaucracy and that was about it. The French talked about their civilizing mission, but in fact the result for the peasant was social dislocation and impoverishment. The French did build up the economic infrastructure—railroads, bridges and the like—but by and large it benefited only the wealthy and the French themselves… More>>

The Binh Xuyen: Order and Opium in Saigon

Bảo Đại and his followers on accession

Image via Wikipedia

In 1950 the CIA’s Colonel Lansdale reported that:

“The Binh Xuyen were participating in one of the world’s major arteries of the dope traffic, helping move the prize opium crops out of Laos and South China. The profits were so huge that Bao Dai’s tiny cut was ample to keep him in yachts, villas, and other comforts in France.”More>>