Word: tonkin
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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When Communist rebellion erupted in Tonkin's Red River delta four years ago, the French relied on a web of 900 funny little Beau Geste forts built of bricks, mud and logs. This winter, Chinese Comrade Mao Tse-tung gave Indo-Chinese Comrade Ho Chi Minh bazookas, mortars and artillery, which blasted many of the French forts to rubble. Only the dynamic leadership of newly arrived General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny and hastily shipped U.S. arms hurled Ho back...
Last week Tonkin's uneasy quiet was broken by the urgent growl of American bulldozers and cement-mixers. De Lattre, in furious haste, was replacing the Beau Geste forts on his northern front with modern concrete bunkers. His main concern: protection of the vital 60-mile road and rail link between Hanoi and the supply port of Haiphong...
...centuries the great Red River has swept its rusty silt into the blue salt water of the Gulf of Tonkin. On the rich soil thus built up have risen the twin bishoprics of Bui Chu (pronounced Booey Choo) and Phat Diem (pronounced Fat Zee-em). In a predominately Buddhist country and against the rising tide of Viet Minh Communism, they have established their predominately separate existence as independent Roman Catholic theocracies ruled by Monsignor Le Huu Tu, Bishop of Phat Diem, and his protege Monsignor Pham Ngoc Chi, Bishop...
Paris heard last week that the Communists planned a full-scale attack on Tonkin's Red River delta at the next full moon. Premier Rene Pleven called General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, one of France's best soldiers, and asked him to take on the tough job of defending Indo-China. Said De Lattre: "I accept because it is my duty...
...France would send to Indo-China: 1) 50,000 more troops, 2) more tanks & guns, 3) warships. An appeal would be made to the U.S. to speed up military-aid airplanes. At the same time, General Marcel Alessandri, 65-year-old infantryman, was relieved as commander of the Tonkin area and replaced by General Pierre Georges Boyer de la Tour du Moulin, 63, who has an intimate knowledge of Indo-China and a reputation for energy and aggressiveness. Say his colleagues: "Il a beaucoup de mordant" (He has plenty of bite...