Word: sonla
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1952-1952
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Giap's Viet Minh forces, ignoring Operation Lorraine, suddenly swept south, swarmed across the Black River and swallowed the fortified French outposts Mocchau and Yenchau. Now they were advancing on the town of Sonla and the nearby airstrip of Nasan, where 12,000 French troops were cut off. There was another point of worry for General Linarés: What had become of Communist Giap's crack 308th Viet Minh division, which had suddenly vanished from the Black River front...
...Hedgehog's Spikes. In Hanoi, General Linares faced a new and alarming situation. Though he had extricated his center, his left flank was crumbling. First, farflung French outposts, and then Sonla itself had to be abandoned. The French pulled back into Nasan 117 miles west of Hanoi, the only remaining bastion of the Black River defense line. An airlift (a plane every 15 minutes) was bringing reinforcements into Nasan and flying out thousands of Sonla's refugees. Situated in a wide-open plateau, rare in that country, Nasan, with its fortified air strip and embrasured artillery...
| 1 |