Word: mekong
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...world's greatest rivers is the Mekong, which rises in Tibet and flows* 2,800 miles to the sea at the southeastern corner of Indo-China. The Mekong delta is a 100-mile-long wedge of swampland, rice fields, palm trees and mangroves, called the Cis Bassac. "The Devil does not want for water here," say the French who use the Cis Bassac as a base for operations against Communist guerrillas infesting the thick Foret Inondee to the west and the marshes of the Plaine des Jones to the east. Fifteen times in the last year the French have...
...battalion of the Foreign Legion; 2) two battalions of Vietnamese and Annamite units; 3) two batteries of 25-pounders; 4) a squadron of the small amphibious vehicles called "Weasels." A tiny navy of LCMs and LCVPs (small landing craft) under Ensign Pierre Le-corche was ordered to hold the Mekong River line...
...During May'to October, floodwaters, backing up on the delta, cause the last 240 miles of the Mekong to flow backwards into Lake Tonle Sap in Cambodia...
...slender central region (An-nam), the mountains ripple almost down to the coast. Ho Chi Minh's Communist forces terrorize the coastal plains. In the south, terrorists make life unpleasant in the crowded Saigon region, and the Communist Vietminh haunts the marshes between the numberless arms of the Mekong River. In the northwest and southwest, as in the relatively unimportant kingdoms of Laos and Cambodia, the country is calm...
French Commander in Chief Marcel Carpentier aims to sweep Ho Chi Minh's men from the lower, heavily populated Mekong and Red River valleys. These are the best rice-producing areas and consequently the best source of rebel supply. By airlift and truck convoy, the French maintain a line of forts at the Chinese border, where aid could flow...