Operation Léa
| date | October 7th to November 8th, 1947 |
|---|---|
| place | North of vietnam |
| output | French tactical victory. Strategic victory of the Viet Minh |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| about 60,000 men | 26,000 men |
| losses | |
|
244 dead |
7,200 dead, |
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The Opération Léa was a French military operation during the Indochina War . From October 7 to November 8, 1947, French forces tried surprisingly to occupy the retreat of the Viet Minh in the Viet Bac and to smash the independence movement there. Although the action caused heavy losses to the Viet Minh, the goal of eliminating their organization could not be achieved.
prehistory
During the August Revolution in 1945, the Viet Minh had taken power in large parts of the country and called the Democratic Republic of Vietnam as a sovereign state. This was not accepted by the French colonial power, which continued to see itself as the bearer of sovereignty over Indochina. As a result, military intervention by the French expeditionary force drove the Viet Minh underground, first in southern and then northern Vietnam. The Viet Minh continued the resistance from their rural retreat of the Viet Bac .
The French commander-in-chief in Indochina General Jean-Étienne Valluy saw the possibility of a quick victory through a swift elimination of the retreat area of the Viet Minh in the Viet Bac. The guerrilla structures there should be smashed and the leadership brought into French hands. Valluy described the operation to his political leadership as a decisive blow against the independence movement. Valluy was under pressure to justify the resources for the war as plans were being discussed in parliament to reduce troop levels in Indochina. Valluy wanted to act before these plans were implemented.
course
Valluy planned a surprise air landing of around 1,000 paratroopers in the center of the Viet Bac near Bac Can. More forces were to advance by land from Lạng Sơn to Cao Bang. An amphibious force should also advance on the Sông Lô River . The rear of the rebels that was surrounded by this should then be cleared out by the troops. The airborne operation at Bac Can began on October 7th and took the Viet Minh by surprise. However, the Viet Minh leadership around Ho Chi Minh and Vo Nguyen Giap managed to flee. The land-based troops made slow progress due to sabotage and ambushes. On October 13th, they were able to reach the paratroopers still fighting at Bac Can. On October 19, the land-based and amphibious troops united at Chien Hoa and thus closed the ring around the Viet Bac. Thus the colonial troops had enclosed an area of around 150 by 150 kilometers with tens of thousands of members of Viet Minh troops.
The encirclement, however, remained ineffective and was bypassed by entire regiments of the Viet Minh. The independence movement was able to consolidate itself again quickly through persistent resistance and the use of guerrilla tactics. The operation was canceled on November 8th after Valluy no longer expected any resounding success from it.
consequences
Valluy tried to weaken the Viet Minh through the Operation Ceinture , but the hope of a quick victory was shattered by the failure of Operation Lea. The French forces reported that they had killed several thousand guerrilla fighters.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Charles R. Shrader: A War of Logistics - Parachutes and Porters in Indochina 1945-1954 , Lexingtion, 2015, pp. 200-203
- ↑ a b c Frederick Logevall: Embers of War. The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam. Random House, New York NY 2013, ISBN 978-0-375-50442-6 , pp. 201-203.
- ↑ a b c d Bernard B. Fall : Street without Joy. Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg PA 1994, ISBN 0-8117-1700-3 , pp. 27-29.