Division de marche du Tonkin

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Division de marche du Tonkin ( DMT ; Tonkin - Marsch - Division ) was the name of four provisional regional large units of the French army in the Indochina War , which were set up from the beginning of 1951 to support the combat troops in northern Vietnam (Tonkin) - the most contested area of ​​the war were. The background to the formation was the reorganization of the French troops by Commander-in-Chief Lattre de Tassigny .

These were not regular "numbered" divisions (like the 3rd and 9th DIC from the early stages of the war), but regional commandos consisting of the available mobile groups (GM) that had been created to be more effective against the guerrillas -Tactics of Việt Minh to proceed.

The one e division de marche du Tonkin was formed in early 1951 and was in charge of West Tonkin. The two e division was simultaneously placed in Sept-Pagodes ( Hải Dương stationed), and was responsible for Northeast Tonkin. The 3 e division was created in November of the same year and was responsible for South Tonkin. The 4 e division finally followed three years later in June 1954, was in the important port city of Haiphong in Delta stationed. All four associations were disbanded after the end of the war on August 11, 1954.

There was no comparable organization in any other part of Indochina. The four divisions were subordinate to the Commander in Chief for North Vietnam , who in turn was subordinate to the CEFEO Commander in Chief.

Important commanders of the divisions de marche du Tonkin were René Cogny ( 2 e ) and Louis Dodelier ( 1 e ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ United States Military Academy : Revolutionary Warfare Volume V - French Counterrevolutionary Struggles: Indochina and Algeria ( Memento January 11, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), West Point 1968, p. 17
  2. ↑ Spencer C. Tucker (Ed.): The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History , ABC-CLIO 2011, pp. 1726f
  3. ^ Jules Roy: La Bataille de Diên Biên Phu , Albin Michel, 2000, p. 15; and: dienbienphu.org: Fiche d'identité du Général Cogny
  4. ↑ Eric Chiaradia: L'entourage du général de Gaulle: juin 1958-avril 1969 , Editions Publibook, 2011, p. 712