Word: minh
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Thai country lying between Red China and Laos (see map). Instead of throwing all his forces against several hundred thousand French Union and Vietnamese troops bottled up in the Red River delta and in the airstrip at Nasan, Giap began probing the defenses of Laos with his Viet Minh commandos. In his exquisite white palace overlooking the palm-fringed Mekong River, aging (67), crew-cropped King Sisavang Vong told the French: "This is my country; this is my palace; I am too old to tremble before danger." Not until three of Giap's crack divisions appeared at Laos...
...airstrip. Fortnight ago, after throwing one of his divisions around Nasan, Giap's forces jumped Samneua. The French abandoned Samneua and its air strip as "indefensible," and the garrison fled south across uncharted mountains, carrying their wounded on their backs and harried all the way by the Viet Minh. Supplied by air with food and water, and with Benzedrine to keep them from falling asleep and being ambushed, the French reached Xiengkhouang (pronounced sing kwong), a market town in north Laos. But the Communists, with an estimated force of 40,000 men, kept pressing forward, with long lines...
...Saigon, Clark had a three-hour briefing by French Commander Raoul Salan and the Vietnamese chief of staff, Nguyen Van Hinh. Salan told him that all signs point to "a very violent Viet Minh push in Laos soon," the Communists apparently having given up for now their hope of driving the French out of the Hanoi delta. Clark also had a 25-minute chat and a few sips of dry champagne with Emperor Bao Dai. The general made a hit by remarking: "The French here are making really efficient use of arms we deliver to them, and surely...
...Entering the seventh year of war in Indo-China, French and Viet Nam soldiers counted their hard-won gains over the Viet Minh Communists...
...almost no equipment. Each day General Peng runs his troops through stern drills with dummy guns, tanks and jeeps, subjects them to political orientation lectures as intense as those practiced by the Communists, though with a far different message. There have been few desertions to the Communist Viet Minh forces which rove nearby, and the army has maintained good relations with the surrounding French and Indo-Chinese. The community includes about 100 unmarried women and, reported the French in tones of marvel, not one pregnancy has occurred. "They are very puritanical," said a French officer...