Word: caobang
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...October 1950, the Communists tore up a line of French forts along the China border, killed or captured 2,300 out of 3,000 French Union troops near Caobang, and shoved the remnants back to Hanoi. In disaster, the proud French back home rallied strong. France' sent in its best man, General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny. "From now'on," dynamic De Lattre told his men, "you will...
...fire power, unit for unit, French and Communist forces are evenly matched. Ho now has heavy artillery, no air force. But the Communists are building airfields on both sides of the Chinese border. A French airman has reported seeing six or seven enemy armored cars or tanks at Caobang. French armor is old and in bad repair...
Soldiers Who Melt Away. A month ago, French fears materialized. Four Viet Minh battalions attacked Dongkhe (see map), a fort at the north end of the frontier, using antiaircraft guns and 105-mm. artillery, none of which they had had before. The French staff decided to withdraw from Caobang, a fort a few miles to the north of Dongkhe...
Meanwhile, a column of crack French troops was on its way to protect the withdrawal from Caobang. The Caobang garrison had already pulled out and was on its way south through the jungle. The two French columns met on Route Coloniale No. 4 between Dongkhe and Thatkhe. Numbering together more than 3,000 men, they marched southward for two days. Then, in a narrow valley, a force of 20,000 Viet Minh soldiers descended on them. Only about 700 Legionnaires managed to escape the ambuscade. They told of a bloody battle in which over 1,000 were killed & wounded, another...
Intrigues and Balmy Optimism. The story of Route Coloniale No. 4 stunned France. Said Paris-Presse: "Everybody, from our cabinet ministers down to the man in the street, realizes now that the massacre of Caobang is the outcome of five years of neglect, hesitations, intrigues and balmy optimism." There were caustic remarks about Viet Nam's Emperor Bao Dai living with his family at the Cháteau de Thorenc above Cannes. Minister of State Jean Letourneau, in charge of Indo-Chinese affairs, on coming out of a cabinet meeting, tried to calm the excitement. Said he: "The French...