Battle of Vĩnh Yên
| date | January 13. bis 17th January 1951 |
|---|---|
| place | Vĩnh Yên , Vĩnh Phúc , Vietnam |
| output | Victory of the Union française |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 9,000 men | 20,000 Viet Minh |
| losses | |
|
43 dead |
6,000 dead, |
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At the Battle of Vĩnh Yên , the Việt Minh fought against the French colonial troops during the Indochina War . During the battle, the Viet Minh tried from January 13 to 17, 1951 to break into the core area of North Vietnam around the Red River delta . The attacks were repulsed by the massive use of air support. On the Vietnamese side, the battle under the name firmierte operation Hoang Hoa I .
prehistory
Since the August Revolution , the Viet Minh fought against the re-establishment of the French colonial state in Indochina and for the independence of Vietnam with a communist model of society. The Viet Minh had been significantly upgraded since 1950 by the victory of the communists in the Chinese Civil War . At the end of 1950 the Viet Minh were able to gain more and more control of the periphery of North Vietnam through successes in the border area with China, including the battle on Route Coloniale 4 .
At the end of 1950, a slim majority of the Vietnamese military leadership spoke out in favor of an offensive against the densely populated Red River delta. The main goal was to gain territory in the delta in order to improve one's own food situation. A minority considered the armed forces of the Viet Minh to be too weak to successfully carry out such an extensive operation against the French troops. Vo Nguyen Giap , the military commander-in-chief himself, saw his troops ready to fight conventionally against the French. The Chinese military advisers of the Viet Minh were also of the opinion that, given the successes in the Korean War, an offensive would turn out positively. At the turn of the year, the Viet Minh propaganda apparatus issued the slogan to carry Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi until the next Tet festival .
course
Giap chose the provincial capital Vĩnh Yên as the target of a breakthrough into the delta . To the northeast of the city he formed the 308th and 309th Viet Minh Divisions with around 65 infantry , 12 artillery and 8 engineer battalions . The attack began on January 13, 1951. The Viet Minh were able to encircle the French Mobile Group , which was defending the city, by January 14, 1954 . The French commander-in-chief in Indochina, Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, followed the battle from an observation aircraft and coordinated the deployment of reserves by parachute jumps and trucks, as well as the use of all available air support himself. The mass attacks by the Viet Minh based on the Chinese model collapsed under artillery fire and bombing. In particular, the widespread use of napalm resulted in massive losses among the attackers. After Giap tried another breakthrough on January 17, the Viet Minh troops withdrew from the city.
The Viet Minh deployed around 180,000 porters to support the fighting units at Vin Yenh. These delivered around 5000 tons of supplies to the combat area. In order to ensure the supply of ammunition for the French forces, the head of MAAG Indochina had to secure unscheduled deliveries from US depots in Japan to the Pacific Command.
consequences
The Viet Minh suffered 6,000 dead and 8,000 wounded in their attempt to capture Vinh Yen. Giap continued to try to create a conventional break in the delta. Only after two further attempts failed in the spring and summer of 1951 did the Vietnamese leadership turn away from this strategy.
On the French side, de Lattre was hailed as the savior of Hanoi. He himself remarked after the fighting that the massive use of US armaments in the form of bombers and artillery pieces had been crucial in defending the French position.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Frederick Logevall: Embers of War - The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam , New York 2013, pp. 268–270
- ↑ Frederick Logevall: Embers of War - The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam , New York 2013, pp. 268–270
- ↑ Frederick Logevall: Embers of War - The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam, New York 2013, pp. 269-271
- ^ Bernhard Fall: Street without Joy , 4th Edition, Harrisburg, 1994, pp. 38-39
- ^ Charles R. Shrader: A War of Logistics - Parachutes and Porters in Indochina 1945-1954. Lexington, 2015, p. 219
- ↑ Frederick Logevall: Embers of War - The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam , New York 2013, pp. 271-274
- ↑ Frederick Logevall: Embers of War - The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam , New York 2013, pp. 271-274