Historical Dictionary of The Indochina War 1945 1954

214 HOÀNG SÂM

remained at the head of the Territorial Commit- between with Chinese advisors attached to these
tee of Tonkin and helped organize the jailbreaks units. In 1953–1954, Hoang Sam led the 304th
of several communist leaders until the end of Division, leading it into battle in central Laos du-
the war. Between the fall of 1945 and August ring the winter offensive designed to draw French
1946, he supported the unification of Vietnam- forces away from Dien Bien Phu.
ese unions into the party-controlled Federated
Vietnamese Worker’s Union (Viet Nam Tong Lien HOÀNG THỊ NGHỊ (NAM HÀ, 1929–). Ef-
Doan Lao Dong). In late August 1945, he led an fective member of the Democratic Republic of
important party delegation as leader of the Viet Vietnam’s (DRV) efforts to rally enemy soldiers
Minh to southern Vietnam in order to establish to its side. She joined the Indochinese Commu-
communications between northern and southern nist Party in 1947 and the army in 1948. Between
communists who had long been out of touch and September 1945 and January 1948, Hoang Thi
was charged with placing the nationalist uprisings Nghi worked mobilizing women in the Kien Thuy
in central and southern Vietnam under the direct region. Between 1948 and 1954, she worked as a
control of the Party and the Democratic Republic cadre in the Proselytizing the Enemy (dich van)
of Vietnam. He informed Tran Van Giau of his operations, successfully rallying to the DRV’s
recall to the north and put Le Duan in charge of cause 100 Vietnamese from the Associated State
the ICP in the south as the head of the Territo- of Vietnam’s army and a section of African troops
rial Committee of Nam Bo (Xu Uy Nam Bo). As near Do Son. After the 1954 partition of Vietnam
of 1948, Hoang Quoc Viet still directed the Viet into two halves, she received instructions sending
Minh’s General Directorate. He became president her secretly south in order to put her mobilizing
of the Federation of Vietnamese Unions in 1950, talents to work deep inside enemy territory.
was re-elected to the ICP’s Central Committee in
early 1951, and joined the Vietnamese Worker’s HOÀNG TÍCH TRÍ (1903–1958). Vietnamese
Party’s Politburo. medical doctor and minister of Health for the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) during
HOÀNG SÂM (TRẦN VĂN KỲ, 1915–1968). the Indochina conflict. After beginning his medi-
Senior communist leader in the Vietnamese army cal studies at the Faculté de médecine de Hanoi,
during the Indochinese War, fluent in Chinese. he traveled to France in 1932 and graduated from
Born in Quang Binh province, he joined the the Faculté de médecine de Paris in 1935 and spe-
Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) in 1933. cialized thereafter in microbiology at the Pasteur
Between 1934 and 1939, he was in and out Institute in Paris. Between 1938 and 1945, he di-
of prison for his political activities. Between rected the Pasteur Institute’s laboratory in Hanoi
1937 and 1939, he was a member of the ICP’s and was a distinguished member of the French
Provincial Committee for Cao Bang in charge microbiology association, several Indochinese
of communications with cadres in Yunnan and medical associations, as well as deputy director
Guangxi provinces in China. He headed up the of the Amicale des médecins et pharmaciens
armed propaganda unit in the Viet Minh Tong indochinois. Between November 1946 and 1958,
Bo between 1941 and 1943, ensuring the secu- he was the DRV’s Health minister and put his
rity of the 8th Plenum held in 1941. In December experience in the Pasteur Institute in the service
1944, he was one of the first leaders of the newly of the government’s microbiology unit (Vi Trung
created Vietnamese Propaganda and Liberation Hoc). He also taught at the DRV’s medical school
Army (Viet Nam Tuyen Truyen Gia Phong Quan). in Hanoi in 1946 and continued to do so following
He led guerrilla operations that helped the Viet its transfer to northern Vietnam.
Minh expand its influence in northern Vietnamese
provinces. Between 1946 and 1950, he served as HOÀNG TÙNG (TRẦN KHÁNH THỌ, 1920–
head of war Zone II and commanded the Western 2010). Influential behind-the-scenes leader in the
Advance Front, before assuming the military Vietnamese communist hierarchy and close ally
command of Inter-Zone III (Lien Khu III). In of Le Duc Tho and admirer of Truong Chinh.
1951, the Ministry of Defense named him its Born in Ha Nam province, Hoang Tung became
special delegate overseeing the operation of the politically active in Vietnam during the 1930s
312th and 304th Divisions in battle. His fluency working as a journalist. In 1937, he joined the
in Chinese undoubtedly made him a crucial go- Democratic Youth Group (Doan Thanh Nien Dan

HOÀNG VĂN HOAN 215

Chu). During this time, he worked with the likes nessed from 1950. He objected particularly to the
of Nguyen Duy Trinh and Nguyen Co Thach importation and application of Chinese methods
and was particularly close to Le Duc Tho, who of “rectification” in Inter-zone IV and dogmatic
ran the book shop Phan Khai in Hanoi. The police land reform. He would leave the DRV follow-
arrested Hoang Tung in 1940 and incarcerated ing the Geneva Accords of 1954 and joined the
him in Son La until his release in late 1944 or Republic of Vietnam in the south. He wrote a
early 1945 through negotiations with the French number of essays and books increasingly hostile
résident of the province (almost certainly Jean to Vietnamese communism and the DRV which he
Cousseau). Hoang Tung apparently joined the had once served. See also COLLABORATION;
Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) in pri- DESERTION, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF
son in 1943. Upon his release, he resumed his VIETNAM.
collaboration with Le Duc Tho and joined other
senior communist members in preparing political HOÀNG VĂN HOAN (PHÓNG, THÁI LƯƠNG
bases with a view to taking power following the NAM, 1905–1991). Powerful Vietnamese com-
Japanese defeat. To this end, he ran the ICP’s “Se- munist diplomat in Thailand and China during
cure Zone” (An Toan Khu), located just outside of the Indochinese War. Born and raised in Nghe
Hanoi and from where the communist leadership Tinh province, he began his revolutionary career
under Truong Chinh and Le Duc Tho operated in Guangdong (Canton), where he joined Ho Chi
clandestinely. Hoang Tung secretly escorted Ho Minh’s Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League
Chi Minh to Hanoi, installing him in the former and studied at the Chinese Military Academy
Governor General’s Palace, following the defeat at Whampoa. Fluent in Chinese, he joined the
of the Japanese and the creation of the Democra- Chinese Communist Party at this time. In 1928,
tic Republic of Vietnam. In 1945, Hoang Tung following the outbreak of the Chinese civil war,
served on the ICP’s Territorial Committee for he moved to Thailand where he was an active
Tonkin (Xu Uy Bac Ky), the party Committee for member of the Indochinese Communist Party’s
the City of Hanoi, and headed war Zone III. In (ICP) bases along the Mekong River and in
1948, he was named deputy director of the power- Bangkok. He was also fluent in Thai. He returned
ful Organizational Department of the ICP, serving to southern China in 1935. In both countries, he
under its director and his longtime friend, Le Duc was a close collaborator with Ho Chi Minh. His
Tho. The two of them worked closely together knowledge of southern Chinese politics and the
to become powerful members of the Vietnamese Chinese language made him a crucial go-between
Communist Party well into the 1980s. with the Chinese of all political stripes. He helped
form an “early” Viet Minh in southern China
HOÀNG VĂN CHÍ (1913–1988). Vietnamese in the 1930s and joined the General Directorate
non-communist nationalist who left the Demo- (Tong Bo) of the “real” Viet Minh in 1941. He
cratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) at the end of returned to Vietnam for the first time in decades
the war. He studied at the Lycée Albert Sarraut at this time. With the creation of the Democratic
and the Indochinese University in Hanoi in the Republic of Vietnam (DRV) in 1945, he joined
1930s, taking a degree in science. He also be- the ICP’s Central Committee and was named
came politically active during the Popular Front vice minister in the Ministry of Defense. In
period, joining the Indochinese section of the March 1946, he was elected deputy and named
Section française de l’Internationale ouvrière. a member of the Permanent Committee of the
In 1945, he supported the independence cause National Assembly. Following the outbreak of
of the newly created DRV, helping to design and full-scale war on 19 December 1946, in 1947 he
produce the new national money, the dong, and was designated a governmental delegate to war
making weapons for the war effort. Following the Zone IV (Khu Chien IV) in upper central Viet-
outbreak of full-scale war on 19 December 1946, nam. In 1948, he returned to northeast Thailand
he went to work in war Inter-Zone IV in upper and Bangkok where he served as the head of the
central Vietnam. There, he rubbed shoulders ICP’s “Overseas Cadres Committee” (Ban Can Su
with the likes of General Nguyen Son. While he Hai Ngoai) in charge of governmental and party
admired and supported the anti-colonial cause of foreign policy not only in Asia but in the world.
the DRV, he increasingly objected to the com- One of his tasks was to make contact with and win
munisation of the resistance and the state he wit- over the support of major communist parties and

216 HOÀNG VĂN THÁI

governments, above all the Chinese Communist tion in Hue in August 1945. In early 1946, on
Party and that of the Soviet Union. In December orders from the Ministry of Defense, Hoang Xuan
1950, following Beijing’s diplomatic recognition Binh accompanied Lao Prince Suphānuvong
of Ho Chi Minh’s Vietnam, Hoang Van Hoan to Laos, where he served as one of the prince’s
became the DRV’s plenipotentiary minister to the body-guards until the French reoccupation of
People’s Republic of China. In October 1952, he Laos forced them into exile in Thailand. There,
obtained the rank of ambassador, Vietnam’s first Hoang Xuan Binh helped negotiate arms deals
to China. He was a crucial link between the Viet- for the DRV and recruited a combat unit from
namese and the Chinese during the Indochinese overseas Vietnamese in Thailand, which he led
War, facilitating the delivery of Chinese military, back to southern Vietnam in 1947 under the name
economic, and diplomatic aid. He was a member of Quang Trung III. His unit came under French
of the DRV’s delegation to the Geneva Confer- attack and Hoang Xuan Binh was captured by
ence and accompanied Ho Chi Minh to Liuzhou the French Deuxième Bureau. In May 1948, a
to meet with Zhou Enlai in early July 1954 French military tribunal tried Hoang Xuan Binh
concerning concessions to be made at Geneva in for treason. Binh’s lawyer, Nguyen Huu Tho,
order to reach an agreement. argued that this was absurd since his client did not
have French nationality, but was rather a Vietnam-
HOÀNG VĂN THÁI (HOÀNG VĂN XIÊM, ese patriot. The court sentenced him to three years
1915–1986). Chief of staff of the Vietnamese army of prison nonetheless. Upon his release, Hoang
until 1953 and close collaborator with Vo Nguyen Xuan Binh returned to the maquis. Some forty
Giap. Born in Thai Binh province in northern years later, Binh’s captor, French intelligence of-
Vietnam, he became involved in radical nation- ficer Léon Fallon, returned Hoang Xuan Binh’s
alist politics during the Popular Front period. In private documents and diary. The two officers had
1938, he joined the Indochinese Communist discreetly become friends and exchanged letters
Party. Tracked by the French police, he fled to during Binh’s incarceration in the late 1940s.
China in 1941 where he entered a Chinese nation-
alist military academy in Kweilin. He returned to HOÀNG XUÂN HÃN (1909–1996). Born in
Vietnam in 1944 and participated in the creation Ha Tinh province, Hoang Xuan Han became
of the Propaganda Brigade of the Vietnamese Lib- one of Vietnam’s best known intellectuals. He
eration Army, put in charge of intelligence mat- completed his primary and part of his secondary
ters. In April 1945, he was responsible for running studies in Vinh and Thanh Hoa between 1917 and
the Politico-Military Academy for the Resistance 1926 before moving on to Hanoi to study at the
to the Japanese in Tan Trao. In September 1945, Lycée Albert Sarraut, from which he graduated in
he oversaw the creation of a General Staff for mathematics in 1928. He obtained a scholarship
the fledgling Vietnamese army. In December, he to study in France and attended the prestigious
became chief of staff in the Vietnamese army and preparatory school, Lycée Saint Louis, until 1930,
was named major general in 1948. He directed the specializing in mathematics. From this point he
General Staff during the battle of Cao Bang in studied at the most prestigious French learning
1950 before ceding his position to General Van institutions of the time: the École polytechnique
Tien Dung in 1953 for unclear reasons, as the (1930–32), the École nationale des ponts et
battle of Dien Bien Phu shaped up. chaussées (1932–1934), and the École normale
supérieure (1935–1936), rue d’Ulm, where he
HOÀNG VĂN XIÊM. See HOÀNG VĂN THÁI. became a certified instructor of mathematics.
Upon his return to Indochina shortly thereafter,
HOÀNG XUÂN BÌNH (?–2000). Born in Ha Tinh he taught at the Lycée du Protectorat, the École
province in upper central Vietnam, Hoang Xuan d’agriculture et de sylviculture, and the Agents
Binh was the younger brother of the famous Viet- techniques des travaux publics.
namese intellectual, Hoang Xuan Han. Unlike Though always discreet and no political mili-
his brother, Hoang Xuan Binh crossed over early tant, Hoang Xuan Han was nonetheless increas-
as a student to Viet Minh forces, helping them to ingly attracted to nationalist politics, especially
take power in Hue. He joined the nascent army during the heady days of the Popular Front period
of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), in Indochina. He joined the Association for the
and participated in Emperor Bao Dai’s abdica- vulgarization of quoc ngu at this time. He also

HOGARD 217

put his knowledge of Chinese characters and the one of many Vietnamese residing in France who
Sino-Vietnamese script, chu nom, in the service supported the DRV’s cause. Following the failure
of unearthing Vietnam’s national history, heritage, of the Fontainebleau Conference in 1946, he
and heroes. When the Lycée du Protectorat was heeded Ho Chi Minh’s call to return home to sup-
moved to Thanh Hoa, he studied inscriptions of port the national struggle. He returned to Vietnam
the ancient Vietnamese General Ly Thuong Kiet via Saigon where he helped create and served as
and wrote on other military heroes of the past, editor-in-chief of southern Vietnam’s first foreign
such as the Tay Son brothers. language resistance newspaper Tieng Noi Bung
Bien (The Voice of the Maquis). When more and
Following the Japanese overthrow of the French more Foreign Legion troops began crossing over
in the coup de force of 9 March 1945, Hoang Xuan to the Vietnamese side, the government created an
Han became the minister of Education and the “International Brigade” in war Zone VIII (Chien
Arts in the short-lived Tran Trong Kim govern- Khu VIII), composed mainly of Germans. Because
ment. He met with Bao Dai on several occasions Hoang Xuan Nhi spoke French, German, and
during this time to discuss the future of Vietnam. English, he became a political cadre in this bri-
As minister of Education, he oversaw the use of gade. His job was to convert his mainly European
Vietnamese in the Vietnamese education program crossovers to the DRV cause through propaganda
instead of French. and political indoctrination courses. In 1947, he
served as the director of the Educational Service
While Hoang Xuan Han was sympathetic to for Nam Bo. He joined the Indochinese Com-
the nationalist cause of the Democratic Republic munist Party at about the same time, serving on
of Vietnam (DRV), he never held a governmental the Party’s Executive Committee for war Zone
position. He did, however, accept Ho Chi Minh’s IX (Khu IX). Until the end of the war, he was
invitation to take part in the DRV delegation to in charge of building up and administering the
the Dalat Conference in 1946. He remained in propaganda and education systems in the south.
French-controlled Hanoi after the outbreak of In 1954, with the division of Vietnam during the
war on 19 December 1946, dedicating himself to Geneva Conference, he repatriated to northern
teaching and researching one of the greatest na- Vietnam where he would continue to work in
tional works of Vietnam, the Tale of Kieu (Truyen educational and political indoctrination mat-
Kieu) and publishing an heroic biography of Ly ters. See also DESERTION, FRENCH UNION;
Thuong Kiet in 1949. Indeed, Hoang Xuan Han DESERTION, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF
made his contribution to the anti-colonial cause VIETNAM.
as something of a nationalist historian during the
Indochina War. However, this did not keep him in Hogard, Jacques CLAUDE ÉMILE
Vietnam. In the early 1950s, he moved to France MICHEL (1918–1999). Son of a general, Hogard
and helped develop the Vietnamese holdings in graduated from Saint-Cyr in October 1939 and
the Bibliothèque nationale de France, as well as joined the 4ème Division d’Infanterie Coloniale.
in libraries in Italy and at the Vatican. He was During the German invasion of France in mid-
present at the Geneva Conference, upon the 1940, he was taken prisoner and would not regain
invitation of Phan Anh and Nguyen Manh Ha. his liberty until the end of the war. Between 1945
He died in France. See also ATTENTISME; COL- and 1953, Hogard served almost continuously in
LABORATION; HISTORY, DEMOCRATIC Indochina. Until 1949, he commanded troops in
REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM. the Expeditionary Corps. After a brief return to
France, in July 1950 he was back in Indochina
HOÀNG XUÂN NHỊ (WILLY, 1914–1991). where he joined the Mission française d’instruction
Vietnamese intellectual who supported the militaire au Cambodge as a deputy to the chief of
Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) and staff. He also commanded a battalion of the As-
worked in Proselytizing the Enemy (dich van) sociated State of Cambodia’s army, notably the
services during the Indochina War. Born in Ha 4ème Bataillon des chasseurs cambodgiens. While
Tinh province, Hoang Xuan Nhi traveled in in Cambodia, he became increasingly interested
Europe and lived in France during much of the in counter-insurgency theories, techniques, and
interwar period. He remained there under Ger- operations, what the French came to call “revo-
man-occupied Vichy France. It was during this lutionary warfare” or guerre révolutionnaire. In-
time that he worked with Germans and learned to
speak the language effectively. In 1945, he was

218 HỒNG LĨNH

fluenced too by the British experiences in Malaya, Soviet Union and the Korean War opposed the
Hogard and others began attempting to separate Chinese and the Americans on the battlefield. A
the peasants from the guerrillas, moving towards confirmed diplomat, Huang Hua returned to the
the creation of protected “strategic” hamlets in international scene in 1953 as a ranking official
Cambodia. While he did not know it at the time, a involved in political talks on the truce during the
unit of his Cambodian battalion eliminated the leg- Korean War and became director of the Foreign
endary Vietnamese General Nguyen Binh in the ministry’s Department of Western European and
jungles of northeastern Cambodia in September African Affairs. In 1954, he accompanied Zhou
1951. Hogard would serve in Algeria in order to Enlai to Geneva as part of the Chinese delega-
keep it “French”. In 1956, he wrote an influential tion negotiating an end to the wars in Korea and
essay on revolutionary warfare, Guerre révolu- Indochina. He was officially listed as an advisor
tionnaire ou révolution dans l’art de la guerre, in from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However,
which he claimed that the “revolutionary warfare” thanks to his mastery of English (he had translated
practiced by the DRV for control of the civilian for Edgar Snow in the late 1930s), he was also
population “has become permanent, universal, and the delegation’s English language translator at
truly global”. See also ALGERIAN WAR. Geneva and the official spokesman for the Chi-
nese during the conference. In 1976, he became
HỒNG LĨNH. See NGUYỄN KHÁNH TOÀN. minister of Foreign Affairs. He held this position
during the events leading to the third Indochinese
Hoppenot, Henri (1891–1977). Entered the War in 1979, pitting Chinese and Vietnamese
French diplomatic corps in 1914 and served in communists against each other.
posts across the globe during the interwar period.
He joined the Free French forces in 1942. In 1945, huard, paul marie lÉon (1903–1994).
he became ambassador to Switzerland until 1952, French general who oversaw the restoration of
when he became the Permanent Representative French rule to Cambodia after World War II. He
for France to the Security Council of the United served in Vietnam during the interwar period,
Nations. In 1955, he was named Ambassadeur en commanding colonial troops in the 9ème Régiment
mission extraordinaire to Southeast Asia as well d’infanterie coloniale and as chief of the Bataillon
as the French high commissioner to the Republic de tirailleurs montagnards du Sud Annam. During
of Vietnam, replacing General Paul Ely. World War II, he left Algiers to join the Expedi-
tionary Corps for the Far East taking form under
HUANG HUA (1913–2010). Chinese diplomat General Roger Blaizot in India. Huard arrived in
who was part of the Chinese delegation to the Kandy on 22 October 1944 to work with Blaizot
Geneva Conference of 1954 on Indochina and in the South East Asia Command. In April 1945,
Korea. He joined the Chinese Communist Party he flew to China to tend to French troops fleeing
(CCP) in 1936 and introduced American journal- Indochina following the Japanese coup de force
ists such as Edgar Snow to Soviet areas run by of 9 March 1945. Huard arrived in Saigon on 3
the Chinese communists in Yan’an. During World October 1945 and served as acting commissioner
War II, Huang Hua served as political secretary for the French Republic to Cambodia between 12
to general Zhu De and, from 1941, he worked as October and 15 November 1945. During this time,
the secretary of the Overseas Affairs Committee he restored French rule to Cambodia and hustled
for the Central Committee. From 1944, he ran the off Son Ngoc Thanh to a colonial jail in Saigon.
Foreign Affairs Liaison Section of the CCP’s Cen-
tral Committee. He continued to hold important Huard, Pierre (1901–1983). French surgeon-
foreign affairs positions during the Chinese civil general in the Naval Medical Corps active during
war (1946–1949). Following the communist vic- the Indochina War. Graduated from the Naval
tory in 1949, he met with the American Ambas- Medical School in Bordeaux in 1920, he served
sador to the Republic of China, John Leighton in the colonial army during the interwar period. In
Stuart, to discuss the future of Sino-American 1933, he began a long career in colonial Indochina
relations. Huang Hua directed the Foreign Af- where he was posted to Hanoi. During this time,
fairs Office in the communist Municipal Military he practiced medicine and became a respected
Control Commission in Nanjing. The talks went surgeon. He was also greatly interested in Sino-
nowhere as Mao Zedong aligned China with the Vietnamese medicine and practices. From 1940,

HUY CẬN 219

he taught medicine in the Faculty of Medicine Indochinese military and political affairs, having
in the Indochinese University in Hanoi. During access to the highest levels of the French Indochi-
the Indochina War, he cared for French Union nese military, political, and intelligence services.
troops and did his best to promote a rapproche- He also met on numerous occasions in Bangkok
ment between the French and the Vietnamese. He with representatives of the Democratic Republic
also became dean of the Faculty of Medicine at of Vietnam, the Lao Issara, the Khmer Issarak,
the University of Hanoi around 1947. He gave and even the Soviet Legation in Bangkok. He left
discreet courses to intelligence officers in the Indochina “precipitously” in November 1949.
Deuxième Bureau during the Indochina War on While French intelligence officers worked with
such subjects such as De la psychologie, de la him during his frequent visits to Indochina, they
mentalité de l’Annamite. Between 1950 and 1952, were also highly suspicious of him. Little else is
he was the Red Cross’s delegate to northern Viet- known about this man or his activities other than
nam. Thanks to his prewar contacts with medical he had the support of his Legation in Bangkok.
personnel now working in the Democratic Re- See also DEUXIEME BUREAU; OFFICE OF
public of Vietnam (DRV), he personally negoti- STRATEGIC SERVICES; SERVICE DE DOCU-
ated following the Cao Bang battle an accord al- MENTATION EXTERIEURE ET DE CONTRE-
lowing the safe evacuation of some 200 wounded ESPIONNAGE; SÛRETÉ FÉDÉRALE.
men of the French Union forces. However, upon
arriving in Indochina, General Jean de Lattre HỮU MAI (TRẦN HỮU MAI, TRẦN MAI
de Tassigny was suspicious of Huard’s contacts NAM, 1926–2007). Novelist in the armed forces
with the enemy and successfully forced Huard to of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Born
resign from his position. In 1954, after the fall of in Nam Dinh province, Huu Mai joined the Viet-
Dien Bien Phu and the imprisonment of thou- namese army in 1946. He worked as editor of
sands of French Union soldiers, he was named the military paper Quan Tien Phong in the 308th
delegate for the French High Command as well division. He witnessed many of the biggest battles
as the International Red Cross to negotiate with of the Indochina War. After the war, he helped run
the his counterparts in the DRV. He was charged the army’s cultural journal, Van Nghe Quan Doi.
with improving the sanitary and living conditions He wrote some of the first novels and reportages
of the French Union soldiers held in captivity. on battles of the first Indochina War, including
He succeeded in obtaining the immediate return Nhung Ngay Bao Tap (1957) and Cao Diem Cuoi
of more than 500 wounded and sick soldiers. He Cung (1961).
administered the French Hospital in Hanoi until
December 1955 when he returned to France. He HUY CẬN (1919–2005). Born and raised in a
went on to pursue an illustrious University career Confucian family in the Nghe An-Ha Tinh region
in medicine and founded French Universities in of Vietnam, Huy Can was educated in the Lycée
the Ivory Coast and Benin. During the colonial Khai Dinh and then in the École supérieure des
period, he trained many of the leading doctors eaux et forêts, from which he graduated a forestry
working in the DRV. engineer in the early 1940s. During this time, he
befriended his partner and close friend, the poet
HUNT, pierre (1925–). A career colonial admin- Xuan Dieu. Like the latter, Huy Can had become
istrator, he worked in the Commission for southern a leading figure in the New Poetry movement,
Annam between 1946 and 1949. Between 1950 writing famous poems such as Sacred Flame. He
and 1951, he was attached to the high commis- was also active in nationalist politics. He was one
sioner’s office in Cambodia. Between 1951 and of ten Vietnamese who created the Vietnamese
1956, he was in charge of the information services Democratic Party (Viet Nam Dan Chu Dang)
in Hanoi (1951–1953) and Saigon (1953–1956). and sympathized with the communist movement.
In August 1945, he represented the Democratic
Hunter, William H.  Behind-the-scenes, Party during the Tan Trao Conference in mid-
American intelligence officer based in Bangkok August 1945 and played an instrumental role in
following the Indochina War as an assistant naval integrating the Democratic Party into the Viet
attaché at the United States Legation. While de- Minh nationalist front. He and Tran Huy Lieu
tails are scarce, he was one of the best informed organized the abdication ceremony of Bao Dai
American intelligence officers at the time on in Hue on 30 August 1945. Huy Can was named

220 HUY KANTHOUL

minister without portfolio in the Provisional Gov- in the second cabinet formed in September of that
ernment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam year. In September 1950, he replaced Tep Phan
between September 1945 and March 1946. In as the royal delegate to the province of Siemreap.
March 1946, he became minister of Agriculture. In 1952, Huy Mong left his post in Siemreap to
In 1947, he replaced Pham Van Dong as vice become director of the Ministry of Information in
minister of the National Economy. While com- the Associated State of Cambodia.
munist authorities frowned upon his homosexual
relationship with Xuan Dieu, they never stopped HUỲNH CƯỜNG (1923–). Ethnic Khmer from
him from serving on the cultural front during the southern Vietnam who supported the Democratic
Indochina War and long after. Republic of Vietnam (DRV) in the south during
the Indochina War. During World War II, Huynh
HUY KANTHOUL  (1909–1991). Prominent Cuong graduated from the École supérieure des
Camb­ odian nationalist opposed to Norodom études bouddhiques in Phnom Penh. He returned
Sihanouk’s consolidation of power in the early to southern Vietnam to teach and joined the Cam-
1950s. Born in Phnom Penh, he completed his pri- bodian Buddhist Association in Cochinchina. He
mary and secondary studies at the Collège Siso- played a pivotal role in ending violent incidents
wath and at the École supérieure de Pédagogie between Khmer and Viet populations in southern
in Hanoi. He returned to Phnom Penh and taught Vietnam in 1945–1946. He supported the efforts
at the Collège Sisowath. In 1937, he studied in of the DRV to create “greater solidarity” between
France for five months. He became a member of the two races living in the new nation-state of
the Democrat Party in 1946 and served as min- Vietnam and worked for the government among
ister of Information and Propaganda in the Siso- the Khmer population living in southern Vietnam
wath Youtevong cabinet of December 1946, and during the Indochina War. He was also a strong
maintained the post in the newly formed Sisowath defender of Cambodian culture and language in
Watchayvong cabinet of July 1947. In 1948, he southern Vietnam. He would become an active
became minister of Rites and Fine Arts in the All member of the Buddhist opposition movement
Democrat Cabinet formed in February. He was to Ngo Dinh Diem after 1954, when he became
minister of Education and Youth in the Sisowath general secretary of the Khmer Buddhist Institute
Monipong cabinet of December 1950; however, in the Republic of Vietnam. See also KHMER
he refused to accept the post in the Oum Chheang KROM.
Sun cabinet of March 1951. He was general secre-
tary of the Democrat Party when he became prime HUỲNH ĐẮC HƯƠNG (1921–). Influential po-
minister in October 1951, following the electoral litical leader in central Vietnam during the Franco-
victory of the democrats in September. He served Vietnamese conflict. He became involved in radical
simultaneously as minister of Social Action. In politics in the 1930s and joined the Indochinese
June 1952, Sihanouk dismissed him when the Communist Party (ICP) in 1942. Upon liberation
king moved against a royal ally, Yèm Sambaur. from prison in March 1945, he returned to Quang
Sihanouk dissolved the Assembly and govern- Nam province and helped nationalists take over
ment in June 1952 and moved to consolidate his there after World War II. In October 1945, besides
control over Cambodian politics in early 1953. serving as a ranking communist in the region, he
Huy Kanthoul was forced into exile in France. became head of the Political-Military Academy of
Quang Nam and then a regimental political com-
HUY MONG (1902–1975). Prominent Cambo- missar. Between 1948 and 1949, he was deputy di-
dian Democrat Party leader during the Indochina rector of the Political Office of Inter-Zone V (Lien
War. Between 1926 and 1945, he worked as a Khu V). In March 1952, he served as a special ICP
clerk in the Indochinese colonial administration delegate for that region. A year later, he resumed
in Cambodia. Little is known of his activities his tasks in Inter-Zone V, where he remained until
during World War II. After the war, he joined the the end of the war.
Democrat Party and became state secretary in the
Ministry of National Defense in the all Democrat HUỲNH PHAN HỘ (PHAN TRỌNG HỘ, 1911–
Cabinet led by Chhean Vam in February 1948. 1947). Behind-the-scenes communist leader in
Yèm Sambaur named him minister of Defense southern Vietnam in the 1940s. Born in Soc Trang,
in his cabinet in Feburary 1949, but was dropped he studied at the Can Tho high school. There he

HUỲNH TẤN PHÁT 221

joined general student strikes triggered by the Antoine Savani, led to a violent break when the
funeral of Phan Chu Trinh. Until 1945, he worked DRV’s forces assassinated Huynh Phu So in order
on a large colonial plantation in Can Tho. During to consolidate their hold over the military forces
World War II, he became increasingly involved in the south and block French attempts to turn the
in communist politics in this province where he Hoa Hoa and others against them, politically and
was won over by a senior southern communist, militarily. The Hoa Hoa, Cao Dai, and eventually
Ung Van Khiem. Huynh Phan Ho used his work the Binh Xuyen would transfer their allegiance
on the plantation to cover Ung Van Khiem’s to the French and their counter-revolutionary
communist activities and to help southern lead- state under construction thanks to Bao Dai’s col-
ers rebuild after the devastating repression of the laboration. French journalist Jean Lacouture
failed communist uprising of 1940. Huynh Phan came away from an interview with Huynh Phu
Ho entered the Indochinese Communist Party So, whom the French called the “mad monk” (le
(ICP) around 1945. At the end of World War II, bonze fou) in 1945, struck by “son visage de visi-
he helped nationalists take power in Can Tho and onnaire, d’une tension et d’une beauté saisissante
became a member of the Resistance Committee était de ceux que l’on ne peut oublier”.
in Hau Giang provinces where he was in charge
of nationalist front work. In September 1945, the HUỲNH TẤN PHÁT (SÁU PHÁT, TAM CHÍ,
ICP put him in charge of the Republican Guards 1913–1989). Born in My Tho province in south-
in Can Tho. When the French returned militarily, ern Vietnam, Huynh Tan Phat graduated from
he participated in numerous battles in late 1945 the École supérieure des beaux-arts in Hanoi
and all of 1946. In early 1947, the Ministry of in 1938. He became politically active during
Defense named him head of war Zone IX (Khu the heady Popular Front days lasting between
Chien IX). He died in combat in July 1947. 1936 and 1939. He took part in the Indochinese
General Students Association (Tong Hoi Sinh
HUỲNH PHÚ SỔ (1920–1947). Founder of the Vien Dong Duong) and the Student Friendship
Vietnamese religious movement, the Hoa Hao, Association in Cochinchina (Hoi Ai Huu Sinh
who was assassinated by the forces of the Demo- Vien Nam Ky). He was the director of the Youth
cratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). Born in (Thanh Nien) newspaper in 1943. He joined the
Chau Doc province in southern Vietnam, he stud- Indochinese Communist Party shortly after the
ied in a Franco-Vietnamese elementary school Japanese coup de force of 9 March 1945 and
before dedicating himself to the creation of a new helped nationalists take power in Saigon a few
syncretic Buddhist sect, the Hoa Hao, announced months later. With the birth of the Democratic
in 1939. His influence spread across western Nam Republic of Vietnam, he served briefly as deputy
Bo and eventually led the French to arrest him. director of the Bureau of Information and Press in
During World War II, the Japanese developed the south (So Thong Tin Bao Chi). In early 1946,
contacts with the Hoa Hao and freed Huynh Phu he was arrested by the French, but was released
So from French incarceration in 1942 in Saigon. in 1947. He continued to work underground in
In 1945, with the defeat of the Japanese, Huynh Saigon and joined the Vietnamese Democratic
Phu So temporarily aligned his followers with the Party (Dang Dan Chu). Sometime around 1949,
nationalist cause of the DRV. That collaboration, he left Saigon for the maquis where he became a
however, did not last long. By 1947, the French member on the Resistance and Administrative
Army’s Deuxième Bureau was able to intensify Committee of Nam Bo and director of the Bureau
its contacts with members of the Hoa Hoa in an of Information for Nam Bo (So Thong Tin Nam
effort to break them off from the Viet Minh. Con- Bo). Between 1950 and 1954, he served on the
fidence was already lacking between the DRV and board of the Resistance and Administrative Com-
a variety of politico-religious groups in the south. mittee for the Special Zone of Saigon-Cholon. He
In June 1946, Huynh Phu So created a separate directed the paper Dai Tieng Noi Sai Gon – Cho
political party called the Vietnamese National- Lon Tu Do (from the secret War Zone D located
Socialist Party (Dang Viet Nam Dan Chu Xa Hoi, just outside the city) until the end of the war. After
or Dang Dan Xa for short) and appointed himself Vietnam was divided provisionally into two states
leader. In April 1947, attacks between the Hoa in 1954, he remained in the south and in 1957 was
Hao and the Viet Minh, exacerbated by shrewd elected a member of the Party’s Secret Committee
moves by French intelligence officers, such as for the Conglomerate of Saigon-Cholon.

222 HUỲNH THÚC KHÁNG

HUỲNH THÚC KHÁNG (MINH VIÊN, 1876– where he helped nationalists take power fol-
1947). Vietnamese nationalist during the first half lowing the Japanese defeat in August 1945. He
of the 20th century and supporter of the Demo- participated in combat against the return of the
cratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). He passed the French to southern Vietnam in 1945 and 1946. He
traditional examination system to become a doctor played an important role in setting up what would
in 1904. Born into a modest scholarly family in become a famous clandestine base – War Zone
Quang Nam province, Huynh Thuc Khang was an D, located in Bien Hoa province near Saigon-
early nationalist reformer, influenced by Chinese Cholon. In January 1948, he was named deputy
texts arriving via the overseas Chinese active in the director of war Zone VII (Khu VII) in eastern
port of Hoi An. While he knew Phan Boi Chau, he Nam Bo. In 1953, he was called to northern Viet-
preferred the reformist ideas of Phan Chu Trinh and nam where he was put in charge of the Bureau of
was an early Vietnamese supporter of the French Army Politico-Military Training in the General
League for the Defense of Human Rights or the Staff of the Armed Forces (Cuc Quan Huan Bo
Ligue des droits de l’Homme. In 1908, following Tong Tham Muu).
local tax revolts, he was arrested, sentenced by the
Court of Hue to “perpetual deportation”, and in- HUỲNH VĂN TRÌ (MƯỜI TRÌ, 1909–1979).
carcerated in the colonial prison at Poulo Condor. Leader of Hoa Hao forces largely loyal to the De-
He was liberated in 1925. Thanks to his patriotism, mocratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) during the
he was elected to the Consultative Chamber of Indochina War. He was born into a rural family in
Annam, but resigned in 1928 convinced that the Gia Dinh province near Saigon. Little is known
French were not willing to reform. He turned to about his activities during the interwar period,
journalism and edited the central Vietnamese na- except that he was sufficiently active between
tionalist paper, Tieng Dan. After the Japanese over- 1930 and 1945 to land himself in colonial prison
throw of the French on 9 March 1945, he refused four times – each time at Poulo Condor (from
to join the Japanese-backed Tran Trong Kim gov- which he apparently escaped four times). During
ernment. However, Ho Chi Minh won him over his time there, this adept of the Hoa Hao Budd-
to the nationalist cause of the DRV. On 2 March hist sect rubbed shoulders with Pham Hung, a
1946, Huynh Thuc Khang became a deputy in the southern senior communist who would head up
Vietnamese National Assembly and was named the DRV’s security forces during the Indochina
minister of the Interior. He worked closely with War. Huynh Van Tri’s last jailbreak put him in
Vo Nguyen Giap, whom he had known from the southern Vietnam in time to help nationalists take
colonial period. In late 1946, Huynh Thuc Khang power there. In 1947, he took over the leadership
was sent as a special government delegate to war of Detachment 4 (Chi Doi 4) before becoming
Zone V (Khu Chien V) to try to solve problems the head of the 304th regiment. In March 1947,
concerning local pre–1945 officials who balked at Nguyen Binh sent him to negotiate with Hoa
collaborating with the new government. During the Hoa leaders suspicious of the Viet Minh, but to
summer of 1946, he served as acting president of no avail. Despite the violent break between the
the DRV during Ho Chi Minh’s absence from June Hoa Hao and the DRV’s southern forces in 1947,
to October. He passed away in Quang Ngai in early Huynh Van Tri remained loyal to the government,
1947, having been sent to work there with Pham with his prison ties to the communists undoub-
Van Dong. tedly coming into play. He was responsible for
rebuilding cooperation with the Hoa Hoa in the
HUỲNH VĂN NGHỆ (TAM NGẠI, 1914–1977). Long Chau Ha region and he ran the Indochina
Ranking leader of Inter-Zone VII (Lien Khu VII) Communist Party’s Provincial Committee for
in eastern Nam Bo during the Indochina War. Long Chau Ha province between 1950 and 1954
Born in southern Vietnam, Huynh Van Nghe (meaning that he must have joined the party early
studied in the Petrus Ky high school and became on). With the division of Vietnam into two pro-
politically active during the 1930s. Because of his visional states during the Geneva Conference in
support for the 1940 communist-backed uprising 1954, he relocated to northern Vietnam where he
in Cochinchina, he finally had to flee to Thailand would hold ranking posts in the army during the
in 1942. In 1944, he secretly returned to Saigon Vietnam War.

I

ICC. See INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION FOR HOANG VAN HOAN; INDOCHINESE COM-
SUPERVISION AND CONTROL IN VIETNAM. MUNIST PARTY; INDOCHINESE FEDERA-
TION; KHMER KROM; NGUYEN KHANG;
Iehlé, Pierre (1914–1984). Graduated from NGUYEN THANH SON; PARTY AFFAIRS
the French Naval Academy in the mid-1930s, Iehlé COMMITTEE; LAO RESISTANCE GOVERN-
crossed over to Free French forces in December MENT.
1940 and made his way to Dakar. He saw combat
in Syria in 1941 and fought at El Alamein a year IEU KOEUS (1905–1950). Leading Cambodian
later. Following World War II, he transferred to politician and leader of the Democrat Party, as-
Indochina where he served as chief of cabinet to sassinated in 1950. Born in Battambang province,
the high commissioner for Indochina between he completed his early studies in the main pagoda
1945 and 1947, Georges Thierry d’Argenlieu. school of Kandal province and in the primary
After a short return to France, Iehlé was back in school in the provincial capital of Battambang. He
Indochina in 1948 to work in the General Staff pursued his secondary studies at the Lycée Siso-
of the commanding general of French Ground wath in Phnom Penh before studying at the École
Troops in Tonkin. For nine months in 1950, he de commerce in Hanoi, from which he graduated
commanded the French naval post at Ream, Cam- at the top of his class in 1927. He returned to
bodia, in the Gulf of Thailand before returning to Cambodia to work for a rubber plantation and as
France at the end of the year. an entrepreneur on major public works projects in
Battambang. He also became involved in nation-
IENG SARY (KIM TRANG, 1929–). Early alist politics in the 1930s, collaborating with Son
Cambodian communist and future Khmer Rouge Ngoc Thanh and others linked to the Buddhist
leader. Born in the province of Vinh Binh in Institute under the patronage of Suzanne Kar-
colonial southern Vietnam, Ieng Sary grew up pelès of the École française d’Extrême-Orient.
in Cambodia where he obtained a scholarship to One of Cambodia’s early nationalists, Ieu Koeus
study at the Lycée Sisowath in Phnom Penh. He participated in creating the first Khmer-language
met Saloth Sar, the future Pol Pot, in 1947 and typewriter and published a Khmer grammar book.
both supported the newly created Cambodian In 1940, he became a member of the Chambres
Democrat Party. Although Ieng Sary helped or- des représentants du peuple in Cambodia. Little is
ganize an anti-colonialist student demonstration known of his activities during World War II other
at the Lycée Sisowath in 1949, this did not prevent than the fact that he served as deputy minister of
him from obtaining a government scholarship to the Economy in the shortlived Son Ngoc Thanh
study in France, which he did between 1950 and government backed by the Japanese in mid-1945.
1953. He enrolled in a commercial school in Paris After the Pacific War, however, he played a piv-
before transferring briefly in 1953 to the Institut otal role in the creation of the Democrat Party
d’études politiques, better known as SciencesPo. in 1946 and was named provisional president of
During his time in France, he became involved in the National Assembly in charge of elaborating
radical politics with Saloth Sar and others. He is a national constitution. In 1947, he took over as
alleged to have joined the French Communist leader of the Democrat Party. Between 20 and 28
Party. Upon his return to Cambodia, he at first September 1949, he was president of the council
played an insignificant role in the Cambodian and minister of the Interior. In 1949, the King
communist movement dominated by Cambodians sent him to France for the signing of the Franco-
allied with Vietnamese communists. See also AD- Cambodian Accord. He was assassinated on 14
VISORY GROUP 100; CAMBODIAN RESIS- January 1950 by a grenade attack in the Democrat
TANCE GOVERNMENT; COLLABORATION; Party headquarters in Phnom Penh. The perpetra-
COMMITTEE FOR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS; tors have never been positively identified. See also

224 IMFELD In 1946, when India gained her independence,
the DRV made overtures to Jawaharlal Nehru in
NORODOM SIHANOUK; ROYAL CRUSADE the hope of securing the support of one of Asia’s
FOR INDEPENDENCE. “awakening giants”, and a vocally anti-colonialist
one at that. In March 1946, a DRV editorial
Imfeld, Hans (1902–1947). French citizen of lauded Nehru’s plans for building an Asian Union,
Swiss origin who served as commissioner to Laos one which would uplift the “small and weak na-
following World War II. Imfeld entered the French tions” in Asia. A year later, keen to tap into the
army in 1925 and became a second lieutenant in Indian leader’s pan-Asianism, the DRV sent
1930. He left for Indochina in 1932, where he was representatives to the Inter-Relations Conference
named lieutenant that same year. He commanded organized and hosted by him. Nehru’s opposition
in the colonial army in Tonkin before returning to the landing of French warships and planes in
briefly to France in 1936. There he studied inten- Indian ports impressed the Vietnamese, as did his
sively geography and topography before rejoining critique of the British use of Indian soldiers to
the colonial army in Indochina in 1937. In October crush the nationalist insurrection in southern Viet-
1943, during the Japanese occupation, he joined nam. However, in the end, all that Pandit Nehru
the Free French Military Mission based in southern would offer the Vietnamese nationalist movement
China and was condemned to death by a Vichy during the Indochina War was “moral” support.
military court in Hanoi for desertion. He became He refused to accord military aid, for fear of
a major in 1944 in the forces of the French Provi- jeopardizing Indian negotiations with the French
sional Republic led by Charles de Gaulle. In July over Pondicherry and widening the conflict in
1944, he joined the French advance party in India, Indochina and Asia. He tried to steer a neutral
the détachement français des Indes, working with path. For example, Nehru allowed the French
and trained by British special forces. The British high commissioner for Indochina, Georges
parachuted Imfeld secretly into Indochina in Feb- Thierry d’Argenlieu, to send the delegate of the
ruary 1945. He narrowly escaped capture during Provisional Government of the Republic of
the Japanese coup de force of 9 March 1945. As Cochinchina to the Asian Relations Conference
part of a larger guerrilla operation in Laos, Imfeld in 1947, much to the DRV’s disappointment. Nor
ran a network in the northern part of the country. did Nehru bring up the Vietnamese question ef-
On 2 September 1945, he became French Commis- fectively in the United Nations, despite just such
sioner for the Republic in Laos. However, unable a request from the DRV’s diplomat-at-large Pham
to gain the support of the Chinese forces sent to Ngoc Thach in 1948.
accept the Japanese surrender in Laos above the
16th parallel, in January 1946 he pulled back into Nehru’s direct involvement in pushing the
Thailand before returning to Indochina to conduct Dutch to end the war in Indonesia stood in con-
covert operations in the Tai territories of northern trast to his refusal to take concrete measures to
Vietnam. Besides being an important and effective help the DRV. There are several reasons for this.
intelligence officer, he also served as Commissioner The arrival of the Cold War in Asia in force in
(interim) for Laos between March 1946 and April 1950, symbolized by the outbreak of the Korean
1946. On 11 October 1947, an agent of the Demo- War, saw the West increase pressure upon India to
cratic Republic of Vietnam working undercover choose between one of the two Vietnams – either
as a barber assassinated Imfeld in his hotel room at the Associated State of Vietnam led by Bao Dai or
the Hôtel des Nations in Saigon. However, it was Ho Chi Minh’s DRV, which had been recognized
later learned that the DRV assassin had mistaken by the communist bloc in early 1950. As a major
Imfeld for Jean Cédile. non-communist post-colonial Asian state, India
became the scene of intense diplomatic pressure.
INALCO. See ÉCOLE NATIONALE DES LAN- Backed by the French, Bao Dai sent his first em-
GUES ORIENTALES VIVANTES. issaries to New Delhi in 1949 to try to convince
the Indian government to recognize the State of
INDIA. The Indians, like the Thais, Burmese, and Vietnam. Fluent in English and one of the DRV’s
Indonesians, were widely sympathetic to the Demo­ future top diplomats, Ngo Dien left for New Delhi
cratic Republic of Vietnam’s (DRV) struggle to do the same. To no avail. Nehru refused to
for national independence, but not its communist recognize either of the two Vietnams. In a press
agenda for Indochina. None of this was lost on conference on 6 January 1950, even before the
Viet Minh leaders upon coming to power.

INDOCHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY 225

Sino-Soviet recognition of the DRV, he explained In September 1945, in accordance with agree-
that his government would not align itself with ments reached during the Potsdam conference,
any side in the building Cold War: “India’s policy Sir Douglas Gracey led 20,000 troops of his 20th
is to give no official recognition in Indo-China (mainly) Indian division to accept the Japanese
to any government, as authority there is divided. surrender below the 16th parallel in former French
For the present we are just to watch developments Indochina, while Chinese nationalist troops oc-
there and let the people of Indo-China decide”. cupied northern Indochina above that line. These
Indian troops helped disarm all Japanese forces in
There was more to it than that, however. At lower Indochina, maintain law and order, locate
odds with communists inside India and upset by and evacuate Allied prisoners of war, and, fol-
communist China’s hard line on Tibet since 1950 lowing the outbreak of war in southern Vietnam
and its criticism of Indian non-communist lead- on 23 September 1945, engage Viet Minh forces
ers, the Indians had their own reasons for wanting in battle. The outbreak of violence that day led to
to see communism contained at the Indochinese a strange Euro-Asian coalition operating against
pass. Indians such as Nehru were suspicious of the Viet Minh comprised of Indian colonial troops
the DRV’s revolutionary ambitions in Laos and and Japanese imperial ones. Vietnamese resent-
Cambodia, which were considered to share a ment, as Christopher Bayly and Tim Harper have
common cultural heritage with India. noted, bubbled up, resulting in the killing of half
a dozen local Indians living in Saigon in 1945.
Chinese statesman and diplomat, Zhou Enlai, Similar things happened in Hanoi during the
clearly understood that improving relations with outbreak of full-scale war on 19 December 1946.
India was vital to implementing his policy of Vietnamese nationalists were not the only ones to
peaceful co-existence as the Korean War came to decry the British use of Indian troops. Nehru also
an end in 1953 and negotiations to end the Indo- condemned the use of Asian troops against other
china War intensified. In April 1954, the Indians Asians fighting for their national independence. In
and Chinese reached an agreement to remove late October 1945, Lord Wavell, the British Vice-
Tibet as a point of contention between the two roy of India, urged the rapid withdrawal of Indian
sides and the Chinese promised that they would forces from Indochina. However, the damage was
not export communism outside their borders. done. No longer would the British dare to use their
During a trip to New Delhi during the Geneva ne- colonial Asian troops in operations against other
gotiations, Zhou Enlai reiterated China’s peaceful nationalist movements in Asia. Indians, however,
intentions and its refusal to export communism were no strangers to Vietnam or Southeast Asia,
outside its borders. Zhou also reassured Nehru having lived, worked, and traded there long before
that he did not support the Vietnamese communist the arrival of the French and the British. While
attempts to push an Indochinese revolution on the the Indian community in Indochina, numbering
Lao and Cambodians. Neutrality is what Zhou some 2,000 individuals, never matched that of
wanted. To this end, he agreed with Nehru that the the overseas Chinese, they occupied positions in
royal governments of Laos and Cambodia were local banking and trading networks and worked in
legitimate, and not the resistance governments garment businesses and in the colonial administra-
of the Pathet Lao and the Khmer Issarak. This tion in Hanoi, Phnom Penh, and Saigon. However,
meeting with Nehru and the joint communiqué many of these Indians returned to India because
issued at its closure allowed Zhou Enlai to move of the unrest generated during the Indochina War.
negotiations forward at Geneva and to “neutral- See also CROSSOVERS; MINORITY ETHNIC
ize” non-communist Asian states such as India, GROUPS; JAPANESE TROOPS, INDOCHINA
Indonesia, and Burma against the Americans. WAR; REPATRIATION, JAPANESE TROOPS.
This détente with China also explains why Nehru
was willing to invite Zhou Enlai to take part in the INDOCHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY (ICP).
Bandung Conference of 1955. See also GENEVA The Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) played
ACCORDS; INDIANS, INDOCHINA WAR; the leading role in the war of national liberation
NEUTRALIZATION OF INDOCHINA. against the French between 1945 and 1954 and
in the establishment of a single-party communist
INDIANS, INDOCHINA WAR. The French were state during the conflict, above the 17th parallel
not the only ones to rely on their colonies to fight from 1954, and in all of Vietnam from 1975.
their wars and occupy large swaths of Asia fol-
lowing the defeat of imperial Japan in mid-1945.

226 INDOCHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY second-rank communists acting as the main orga-
nizers, as David Marr has shown. Even after 1945,
Ho Chi Minh played a vital role in grafting the ICP was never as omnipresent as its official
communism to Vietnamese nationalism, to borrow historians and anti-communist detractors would
Huynh Kim Khanh’s analogy, in the late 1920s. have us believe. The party was particularly weak
This began when Ho Chi Minh created the Revo- in southern Vietnam, due to the failed communist
lutionary Youth League in Guangzhou (Canton) in uprising of 1940, division among party factions,
1925 before fusing it with other self-proclaimed and serious competition from non-communist na-
communist parties inside Vietnam to create the tionalist, religious, and patriotic bandit groups –
Vietnamese Communist Party in Hong Kong in the Hoa Hao, Cao Dai and Binh Xuyen. Indeed,
February 1930, with the help of the Comintern until around 1951, the ICP had to create a number
and the Chinese Communist Party. However, of different nationalist alliances and front associa-
younger Vietnamese communists such as Tran Phu tions, take control of the army and security forces,
contested Ho’s ideological mettle. Tran criticized and eliminate rival parties before it could truly
Ho’s narrow nationalism and weak international- claim to direct the state and society. Even then,
ism. Upon the request of the Comintern, the party the party’s hold on the state was never “total”, nor
changed its name from the Vietnamese to the In- was its control of Vietnamese territory.
dochinese Communist Party in late 1930. In 1931,
the Comintern recognized the ICP as an official International pressures also complicated the
section of the Soviet-led communist movement. party’s operation. In a move designed to allay
American, Chinese, and oppositional anti-com-
Ho Chi Minh returned to the scene as war munism, the communist leadership in the north
broke out across the globe in the late 1930s. In went so far as to declare publicly the dissolution
May 1941, he played a pivotal role in getting the of the Indochinese Communist Party. In real-
Viet Minh off the ground during the 8th Plenum ity, the party never truly disbanded, preferring to
of the ICP’s Central Committee, even though he operate from behind the scenes. The dissolution
was not general secretary of the party. Indeed, the of the party nonetheless raised doubts among the
party had suffered greatly inside Vietnam, first in French, Chinese, and especially Soviet commu-
the early 1930s when the French crushed commu- nists as to the ideological commitment of the ICP
nist-backed peasant revolts in central Vietnam and in general and the ideological mettle of Ho Chi
again in Cochinchina when the French smashed Minh in particular. In 1949 and early 1950, Tran
a communist-led uprising in 1940. This colonial Ngoc Danh, the younger brother of Tran Phu,
repression effectively shifted the center of grav- reiterated his brother’s earlier criticism of Ho Chi
ity of Vietnamese communism to the north, with Minh’s narrow nationalist deviationism. Chinese
the establishment of a core group of communists communists, not least of all Mao Zedong, backed
working under the leadership of Truong Chinh Ho Chi Minh against his detractors in the com-
in the Red River delta. A second group emerged munist world. And the ICP returned in force from
along the Sino-Vietnamese border with the return 1950, thanks to the Sino-Soviet diplomatic recog-
of Ho Chi Minh to southern China. Both groups nition of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
worked to build up national front organizations. and the arrival of Chinese military, technical,
For a period of four years, while most communist economic, and ideological aid.
cadres were still locked up in colonial prisons,
these two groups positioned the ICP-led Viet In order to demonstrate its fidelity to the inter-
Minh to take power at the propitious moment. national movement, the ICP changed its name to
become the Vietnamese Workers’ Party (VWP)
Following the Japanese overthrow of the French and agreed to begin the communization of the state,
in March 1945, the release of dozens of com- the army, and society in areas under DRV control.
munists strengthened the party ranks. In August, In 1953, the VWP officially began implementing
however, while the main communist leaders were land reform in order to mobilize the society for
gathered at Tan Trao to prepare for an uprising the war, break the traditional social structures in the
to converge with the coming Allied invasion, the countryside, prepare the economy for communist
Japanese suddenly capitulated in the wake of the transformation, and allay international communist
nuclear attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. This fears that the ICP was not sufficiently communist.
prevented the communists from leading the Au- The party’s name was changed back to “Vietnam”,
gust Revolution as directly as its leaders would on the grounds that the revolutionary tide was
later claim. Rather the party rode a groundswell
of famine-driven discontent to power, with local,

INDOCHINESE FEDERATION 227

more advanced in the eastern part of former French budget. Indochinese and French Union citizenship
Indochina and in light of the simultaneous French would be bestowed upon the non-French inhabit-
decision to transform colonial Indochina into three ants of the new colonial state and freedom of the
associated states – Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. press, of religion, and of association would be ac-
However, like the French, this did not mean that corded and workers rights respected. The French
Vietnamese communists abandoned their Indochi- planned to industrialize eastern Indochina in light
nese tack. From 1950, the Vietnamese communists of growing demographic problems. In exchange,
helped their allies in Laos and Cambodia to cre- the French expected to stay at the helm. The Fed-
ate “resistance governments”, proto-communist eration’s ministers and upper house would be sub-
parties, and national fronts in order to take on the ordinate to a French governor general, appointed
French Associated States of Indochina. The In- by the French government. France would repre-
dochinese internationalist model imposed in 1930 sent Indochina diplomatically and the federation’s
remained valid throughout the entire Indochina armed forces would fall under French supervision
War. For Vietnamese communists, communism as part of those of the wider French Union.
was both nationalist and internationalist. See
also ASSOCIATED STATES OF INDOCHINA; The problem was that events in Indochina had
CAMBODIAN RESISTANCE GOVERNMENT; already outpaced the 23 March declaration in
CIVIL WAR; COMMITTEE OF EXTERNAL which the French officially announced their vi-
AFFAIRS; GREATER VIETNAMESE NATION- sion of the Indochinese Federation. The Japanese
ALIST PARTY; INDOCHINESE FEDERATION; had just brought down colonial Indochina and had
JOSEPH STALIN; LAO RESISTANCE GOV- granted the local states an independence as hollow
ERNMENT; MAO ZEDONG; PARTY CADRES as it might have been in practice. The Viet Minh
COMMITTEE; PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF was thinking in terms of national independence
CHINA; RECTIFICATION. and no longer colonial reform. Worse, the Indo-
chinese Federation was based upon a pentagonal
INDOCHINESE FEDERATION. The provision- structure, one which divided the national idea
al French government led by Charles de Gaulle of Vietnam into three continued colonial parts,
formally announced its plans to create an Indochi- stirring the nationalist ire of the majority of com-
nese Federation in the Declaration on Indochina munists and non-communists alike. Indeed, the
of 23 March 1945, some two weeks after the Japa- French designed the Federation in part to check
nese coup de force of 9 March 1945 had brought Vietnamese domination of it and to counteract
down French Indochina. During the Brazzaville Vietnamese nationalism.
Conference in 1944, de Gaulle’s colonial special-
ists had agreed that a French Union predicated Upon arriving in Indochina in 1945, the French
on colonial federalism, especially in Indochina, High Commissioner Georges Thierry d’Argen­
would announce the implementation of a liberal lieu followed Charles de Gaulle’s instructions
French colonial policy. Federalism would allow to the letter by retaking the lost colony piece by
the French to allay American critiques of French piece in order to recast it in the federal form. On
colonial policy and neutralize nationalist senti- 1 June 1946, he countered the Democratic Re-
ment in the Empire let loose by World War II and public of Vietnam’s (DRV) attempts to reunify
France’s defeat in 1940. But federalism was not Cochinchina with the rest of Vietnam by announc-
an association or a commonwealth allowing for ing the creation of a separate Cochinchinese “free
the emergence of independent nation-states. As state” (état libre).
one of the main architects of the Federation, Léon
Pignon, put it: “the ultimate aim of our policy The DRV leadership was not necessarily op-
is nonetheless and above all to keep Indochina posed to the idea of joining the Federation, as Ho
French”. Chi Minh’s signing of the Accords of 6 March
According to this French plan, Indochina 1946 made clear. However, the Vietnamese were
would be transformed into a colonial Federation determined to realize the unification of Vietnam
composed of five territories: Tonkin, Annam, Co- and ensure its eventual independence. The Indo-
chinchina, Laos, and Cambodia. An Indochinese chinese Federation thus meant different things to
Assembly would be elected to write legislation, the French and the Vietnamese. As Ho Chi Minh
giving deputies the right to vote on taxes and the put it, his government would agree to take part in
a Federation of a mainly economic nature, “but
was determined to block the re-emergence of the
prewar governor general in the disguise of the

228 INDOCHINESE TRAIL cratic Republic of Vietnam’s (DRV) struggle
for national independence. However, the DRV’s
Federation”. To an increasing number of Vietnam- communist core posed problems for these non-
ese nationalists, French colonialism, federal or communist states, especially Indonesian Repub-
not, could not continue indefinitely. Vietnamese licans who were often at odds with communists
nationalists, and not just the communists, claimed in their own ranks or fearful of being labelled
the right to rule themselves. See also INDOCHI- communists by the Dutch or the United States.
NESE COMMUNIST PARTY; VIETNAMESE As Indonesian statesman Sutan Sjahrir put it
NATIONALIST PARTY. privately in late 1945 concerning his reluctance
to respond to early Vietnamese calls to create
INDOCHINESE TRAIL. See HO CHI MINH an anti-colonial Southeast Asian bloc: “Ho Chi
TRAIL. Minh is facing the French who will resist him
for a very long time. Ho is also dependent on the
INDOCTRINATION. Both the French Fourth support of the Communists, who are very power-
Republic and the Democratic Republic of Viet- ful in the independence movement, which is not
nam (DRV) organized the re-education and the the case with us […] If we ally ourselves with Ho
indoctrination of their respective prisoners. And Chi Minh, we will weaken ourselves and delay
both drew upon the experiences of World War independence”. Moreover, whereas Vietnamese
II in doing so. The Allies had organized special communists would attack their non-communist
“democracy” classes for their prisoners while nationalist competitors in Vietnam in 1946, forc-
the Soviets provided communist re-education ing them to work with the French, the Indonesian
for many of their captured. The French and the Republicans smashed their communist competi-
Vietnamese were well aware of these models tors in 1948 during the Madiun revolt. Two very
and adopted, adapted, and applied them during different postcolonial states and outcomes were
the Indochina War to varying degrees. With the thus at work.
creation of Deuxième Bureau’s psychological
warfare operations in the early 1950s, the French The arrival of the Cold War in full force in
army allocated a sizeable amount of money to the 1950 put the Indonesians in a difficult position,
re-education of Vietnamese prisoners. This meant as the West pressured them to recognize the As-
the organization of special political classes during sociated State of Vietnam led by Bao Dai instead
which French and Vietnamese propagandist spe- of the DRV (which had been recognized by the
cialists dispensed an anti-communist, pro-Western communist bloc in January 1950). In March 1950,
program. On several occasions, once re-education Prime Minister Muhammad Hatta informed the
was sufficiently attained, the French integrated British that his government was closely study-
the soldiers into its fighting forces or used them ing the Vietnamese question. In fact, Indonesia
as agents in its various intelligence services. The came surprisingly close to recognizing the DRV
DRV carefully organized the indoctrination of diplomatically on anticolonial grounds. In early
thousands of its French Union prisoners of war June, a motion to recognize the DRV came before
taken in the early 1950s. They often drew upon the Indonesian parliament. Dr. Sakirman of the
Sino-Soviet communist models. In elaborate re- Partai Sosialis had submitted this motion. The
education classes, political cadres, even leftist House had already debated it; a vote on it was
European crossovers like Rudy Schroeder and imminent. The Sakirman motion was very anti-
Georges Boudarel, indoctrinated French Union colonialist, something which made it hard for any
prisoners about the just cause of the DRV’s war nationalist leader, including Hatta, to oppose. But
of national independence, the crimes of French Hatta did not want to take sides over Vietnam,
colonialism in Indochina, and the advantages of agreeing with Jawaharlal Nehru that behind this
communist civilization. The most important com- choice between two Vietnam’s lay the seeds of a
munist method of indoctrination was the process major conflict. To avoid recognizing the DRV, the
of rectification, designed to instill a new ideologi- government enlisted Mr. Natsir, a member of the
cal way of thinking among cadres, soldiers, and Muslim Masjumi party, to submit a watered-down
bureaucrats in the DRV. See also EMULATION counter motion, stopping short of diplomatic
CAMPAIGN, NEW HERO. recognition but still sufficiently anti-colonialist
in tone and content. Mr. Natsir’s motion urged
INDONESIA. Indonesians, like the Burmese and the government to study the Vietnam question in
Indians, were widely sympathetic to the Demo-

INTELLECTUALS 229

greater detail before extending recognition. “We nationalism in Indochina. Indeed, Esprit was one
have to bring the Viet Minh question”, Natsir of the rare reviews to have published articles con-
said, “on to an international level”, arguing that demning the French use of torture in Vietnam in
the “Viet Minh’s struggle for freedom runs paral- the early 1930s. Under Jean-Marie Domenach’s
lel with Indonesia’s struggle, but if we support the guidance, this review continued to speak out
Viet Minh’s struggle we must give such assistance against the war in Indochina after World War II.
as will benefit the Viet Minh without weakening Incisive essays appeared on the dangers of French
Indonesia’s positions”. When the debate resumed, colonial policy and the need to take colonial na-
the Socialists continued to push for diplomatic tionalism seriously in the global South.
recognition of the DRV as part of the fight against
imperialism. They insisted that Indonesia should In 1949, the French scholar and director of
not allow its foreign policy to be dictated by for- the Colonial Academy, Paul Mus, dropped a
eign loan conditions and Western pressure. In the bomb­shell when he published a series of articles
end, both motions were presented together, with condemning the French army’s use of torture,
each member being left the right to vote for the using this as a way of criticizing the failure of
motion of his or her choice. To the relief of the the French to recognize the historical reality of
Hatta government, to say nothing of the Ameri- Vietnamese nationalism and humanity. While
cans, British, and French, the Natsir motion won Mus’s essays irked the Right and Far Right, the
over the Sakirman one by a vote of 49 to 38. The question of torture never provoked intellectuals
question of Indonesian diplomatic recognition of into a full-blown debate on the colonial ques-
the DRV was thus shelved for the time being, and tion or the righteousness of the war, much less
a potential crisis in Indonesian-American relations public demonstrations against the conflict. This
averted. See also CIVIL WAR; VIETNAMESE is in contrast to the situation during the Algerian
NATIONALIST PARTY. War, when the question of torture in particular
coalesced French intellectuals led by Vidal Na-
INDUSTRIALIZATION. See ECONOMY OF quet into a driving force. Part of this was due to
WAR, FRANCE. the fact that Indochina was far away and the use
of a professional, colonial army there meant that
INSTRUCTIONS FOR “PEOPLE’S TOTAL French society itself was much less affected by
RESISTANCE” (Chỉ Thị “Toàn Dân Kháng the violence than during the Algerian one, when
Chiến”). On 22 December 1946, in the wake of national service was in effect.
the outbreak of full-scale war in all of Vietnam
on 19 December 1946, the Standing Committee Intellectuals in the French Communist Party
of the Indochinese Communist Party issued (FPC) were certainly among the first to speak out
a policy directive calling for armed resistance against colonialism, and long before World War
against the French. The Vietnamese struggle was II. They organized demonstrations against the
to be a “total” (toan dien) war, both in terms of the Indochina War – strikes among dockers loading
fighting against the French and in terms of build- munitions for Indochina and demands for the
ing the state (vua khang chien vua kien quoc). release of Henri Martin, jailed for his opposition
See also DISEASE; EXPEDITIONARY CORPS; to the war. In so doing so, communist activists
EXPERIENCE OF WAR; PEOPLE’S ARMY OF helped bring the Indochina conflict to the atten-
VIETNAM. tion of the French public by the early 1950s. But
at the outset of the war, even communists could
INTELLECTUALS, FRENCH. If the Algerian go strangely silent in light of the FCP’s desire to
War mobilized scores of French intellectuals, maintain its favorable position in the government
ranging from Jean Paul Sartre to Raymond coalition. During the Indochina War, with a few
Aron, what is most striking about the Indochina notable exceptions, French novelists, artists, mu-
War is the relative silence of the French intel- sicians, poets, and screenwriters were relatively
lectual class during and about France’s first war uninterested in the conflict. That the head of the
of decolonization. There were exceptions to be colonial academy itself became arguably the most
sure. For example, intellectuals associated with vocal and famous critic of the war says something
the reviews Esprit and Témoignage Chrétien about the wider intellectual uninterest in the Indo-
published penetrating articles on colonialism and china War. See also BORIS VIAN; CHRISTIANS
AND FRENCH OPPOSITION TO THE WAR;

230 INTELLECTUALS

CINEMA; NOVELS; PIERRE SCHOENDO- its ideological control of civil servants, officiers,
ERFFER; PUBLIC OPINION. soldiers, and intellectuals. Party rectification and
emulation campaigns sought to mobilize, control,
INTELLECTUALS, DEMOCRATIC REPUB- and homogenize – and not to promote individual
LIC OF VIETNAM. At the outset, the inde- thought. Moreover, the new emphasis on “work-
pendence cause of the Democratic Republic of ers” and “peasants” ensured that mainly urban,
Vietnam (DRV) attracted among the best and the “bourgeois” intellectuals found themselves in the
brightest of the Vietnamese intellectual class. The wrong “class”. If supporting the nationalist cause
DRV certainly needed them. Not only were the was not a problem, many “bourgeois” intellectuals
intellectuals an important source of legitimation balked at the idea of accepting the party’s limits
for the young government, but their technical, on freedom of expression and the politization of
legal, administrative, engineering, and medical art, culture, and even medicine.
talents were in great demand for building the new
postcolonial state. Some of the best known names Desertions multiplied during the second half
of those joining the DRV include Pham Ngoc of the Indochina War because of the DRV’s com-
Thach, Nguyen Manh Tuong, Ton That Tung, munization of the state, party, and society within
Kha Vang Can, Nguyen Van Huong, Ca Van the territories it controlled. Singer Pham Duy’s
Thinh, Pham Thieu, Tran Dai Nghia, Pham defection to the Associated State of Vietnam in
Duy, Pham Ngoc Thao, and Tran Duc Thao. the early 1950s was a common case, as was that
Even former Emperor Bao Dai and Catholic of Hoang Van Chi and Le Huu Tu. Several threw
Bishop Le Huu Tu supported the DRV cause at in their lot with the communist party like Dr. Ton
the outset, making it easier for a wide range of That Tung, while many retreated into the isolation
Vietnamese to join the Viet Minh. of their villages or decided to live abroad. Even
Almost all of these young intellectuals were most of the sympathetic Vietnamese intellectuals
French-trained, more often than not admirers of living in Hanoi, who had refused to collaborate
French culture and language. Some had studied with the French and the Associated State of Viet-
in France and were married to French women. nam, packed their bags and moved to Saigon or
Albeit anti-colonialist and nationalist, few, if France rather than live under communist rule after
any were anti-français. Dr. Ho Dac Di trained the signing of the Geneva Accords. These people
as a surgeon in France and played music with the had closely followed the communization of the
daughter of Pierre and Marie Curie (who later DRV, especially the land reform begun in 1953.
married Pierre Mendès France). Ho Chi Minh See also ATTENTISME; CATHOLICS, EXODUS
made a point of assigning these illustrious French- FROM NORTH; CATHOLICS IN VIETNAM
trained Vietnamese to his (large) delegations sent AND THE WAR; CHRISTIANS AND OPPO-
to negotiate with the French during the Dalat and SITION TO THE INDOCHINA WAR; CIVIL
Fontainebleau Conferences. Many Vietnamese WAR; COLLABORATION; CROSSOVERS;
elites in France returned to Vietnam to work in the DESERTION; NGUYEN MANH HA; POULO
resistance government following the outbreak of CONDOR; REFUGEES, FRANCE; VATICAN.
full-scale war. The case of Tran Dai Nghia cer-
tainly comes to mind. A number of sympathetic INTELLIGENCE SERVICES, ARMY OF THE
Vietnamese intellectuals remained in the French- DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM.
occupied cities, such as Nguyen Manh Ha and Upon creating the Democratic Republic of
Hoang Xuan Han. Their refusal to collaborate Vietnam’s (DRV) General Staff on 7 September
with the French continued to serve the DRV cause 1945, the Ministry of Defense authorized Hoang
as did their petitions and mediatized critiques of Minh Dao to lead a new military intelligence
the war. bureau, called Phong 2, a rough equivalent of
However, many of the best and brightest na- the French Deuxième Bureau or 2nd Office (G2).
tionalists did not cross over to the DRV and those This rudimentary military intelligence service fol-
who did could change their minds. Why? Because lowed as best it could enemy military movements
of the communization of the new nation-state from in Vietnam above the 16th parallel, especially in
1950. The Chinese communist recognition of and DRV Inter-Zones IV and V (Lien Khu IV/V). Be-
military aid to the DRV led the Indochinese Com- low that line, the Vietnamese were largely on their
munist Party to tighten its grip on the state and on own. Military intelligence received a boost on 25
March 1946, when Ho Chi Minh signed into law

INTER-ZONE FOR EASTERN NAM BO 231

decree 34, which consolidated within the Ministry while India embodied emerging “non-aligned”
of Defense a separate Bureau of Intelligence (Tinh sentiments and thus served as the chairman for
Bao Cuc). In May 1947, the president signed a the commission. Created as of 11 August 1954,
second piece of legislation creating a new High decisions taken by the commission had to obtain a
Command, consisting of a revamped Bureau of two-thirds majority to pass. The ICC operated in
Intelligence (Cuc Tinh Bao). Until June 1948, the four states recognized in the Geneva Accords
Tran Hieu headed the Bureau of Intelligence for of 1954: the Democratic Republic of Vietnam,
the High Command in the Ministry of Defense. the State of Vietnam/Republic of Vietnam,
the State of Laos/Royal Lao, and the State of
In central and especially northern Vietnam, this Cambodia/Royal Cambodia. The weakness of
military intelligence service established offices at the commission, however, was its lack of any
the provincial and district levels, though things sort of power or mechanism to enforce its deci-
never worked smoothly at the lower levels. Until sions. The ICC submitted its recommendations
1949, it was mainly concerned with sabotage, to the Geneva powers (via the chair countries
commando operations, assassination missions, of 1954, Great Britain and the Soviet Union) for
and local espionage. The Ministry of Defense’s their study. Because the belligerents were not
Bureau of Intelligence was extended to southern obligated to respect the ICC’s decisions, it soon
Vietnam in 1948. became clear how difficult it would be to enforce
the armistice much less the elections projected for
The internationalization of the Franco-Vietnam- mid-1956. The peace signed at Geneva in July
ese war from 1950 put added pressure on military 1954 thus remained a fragile one and local actors
intelligence to improve its work in order to take the in Indochina and international ones above often
war to the French. In 1950, a new Bureau of Mili- stymied the ICC’s work on the ground.
tary Intelligence (Cuc Quan Bao) emerged within
the General Staff under the direction of Le Trong INTER-ZONE (Liên Khu). A combined military
Nghia. This change was designed to meet the in- and administrative unit established by the Demo-
creasing needs of the army as it moved to engage cratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). Each DRV
the French in more modern warfare and set-piece Inter-Zone had its own Resistance and Admin-
battles. In early 1955, the DRV created a new istrative Committee and Military Command (Bo
intelligence service to run clandestine networks Tu Lenh). The DRV began creating Inter-Zones
in the south, the southern Party Commission’s in January 1948 by regrouping smaller “regional”
Re­search Branch Responsible for Following the Zones (Khu) created in late 1945 and 1946.
Enemy Situation (Ban Nghien Cuu Dich Tinh Xu Decree 120-SL of 1948 created the following
Uy). See also LE GIAN; MAURICE BELLEUX; Inter-Zones, overwhelmingly concentrated in
PHAM NGOC THAO; PUBLIC SECURITY central and northern Vietnam: Inter-Zones I, III,
SERVICES; SERVICE DE DOCUMENTATION X, IV, V. In 1951, southern zones were combined
EXTERIEURE ET DE CONTRE-ESPIONAGE; to form the Inter-Zone for Eastern Nam Bo
SÛRETÉ FÉDÉRALE; TRAN DANG NINH. (Phan Lien Khu Mien Dong) and the Inter-Zone
for Western Nam Bo (Phan Lien Khu Mien Tay).
INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION FOR SU- In 1957, the Inter-Zone system was replaced by a
PERVISION AND CONTROL IN VIETNAM more military one called “military regions” (Quan
(ICSC usually abbreviated ICC). The Geneva Khu).
Accords of July 1954 approved the creation of
this international commission in order to oversee INTER-ZONE FOR EASTERN NAM BO (Phân
the implementation of the accords to end the Liên Khu Miền Đông). This Inter-Zone emerged
Indochina War. The ICC was designed among in May 1951 as the Vietnamese Worker’s Party
other things to supervise the application of the (VWP) moved to consolidate and expand its con-
cease-fire, the disarming of the belligerents, the trol over the south and its political and military
withdrawal and regrouping of troops, and the care forces there. This Inter-Zone, the first in the south,
of prisoners of war and wounded. The selection replaced the eastern half of war Zones VII, VIII
of the three commission members – Canada, and IX and was responsible for the military and
Poland, and India – was implicitly designed to re- political administration of the eastern half of
flect the power alignments of the Cold War at the southern Vietnam for the Democratic Republic
time. Canada was considered to be pro-Western,
Poland represented the communist bloc interests,

232 INTER-ZONE FOR WESTERN NAM BO

of Vietnam. This Inter-Zone consisted of the and XI and consisted of the following provinces:
provinces of Gia Dinh, Tay Ninh, Thu Dau Mot, Hai Phong, Kien An, Thai Binh, Hung Yen, Hai
Bien Hoa, Ba Ria, Cho Lon, My Tho, Dong Thap, Duong, Hanoi, Ha Dong, Son Tay, Ha Nam,
Tan An, Go Cong, Long Xuyen, parts of Chau Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh, and Hoa Binh. It bordered
Doc, and the special urban zone of Saigon. The Inter-Zone Viet Bac to the north and west,
high command for the south administered this Inter-Zone IV to the southwest, and the sea to
new and more powerful Inter-Zone. Tran Van the east and southeast. As of April 1954, this zone
Tra served as its first military commander; Pham consisted of four regiments, nine battalions and
Hung was the political commissar. With the recall 58 platoons. Inter-Zone III’s first commander-in-
and death of General Nguyen Binh in September chief was Hoang Sam while Le Quang Hoa, and
1951, former head of war Zone VII and head of then Do Muoi (the future general secretary of the
all armed forces in the south, the VWP was finally Vietnamese Communist Party) served as its rank-
in a position to take control of administrative and ing political commissars.
military forces that had escaped its direct control
since late 1945. INTER-ZONE IV (Liên Khu IV). Created by
decree 120-SL on 25 January 1948, this zone of
INTER-ZONE FOR WESTERN NAM BO the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV)
(Phân Liên Khu Miền Tây). This Inter-Zone consisted of the following provinces in upper
emerged in May 1951 as the Vietnamese Work- central Vietnam: Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh,
er’s Party moved to consolidate and expand its Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien. It was
control over the south. It replaced the western grafted on to a prexisting war Zone IV (Khu). To
parts of Zones VII, VIII and IX and was respon- the north, Inter-Zone IV bordered Inter-Zones
sible for the military and political administration Viet Bac and III, to the south lay Inter-Zone V,
of the western half of southern Vietnam for the to the east was the South China Sea and Laos was
Democratic Republic of Vietnam. It consisted of situated to the west. Inter-Zone IV was unique in
the provinces of Vinh Long, Tra Vinh, Ben Tre, that most of it remained in the hands of DRV dur-
Can Tho, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, and parts of Long ing the Indochina War (the city of Hue was under
Xuyen, Chau Doc, and Ha Tien. It was directly French control). However, LK IV operated without
subordinate to the commander-in-chief for Nam direct control from DRV or party headquarters in
Bo, Tran Van Tra. Its first military commander northern Vietnam. In 1950, the provinces of Quang
was Phan Trong Tue; the political commissar Binh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien were organized
was Nguyen Van Vinh. into a separate military zone, the Binh Tri Thien
Front with it own separate military command.
INTER-ZONE I (Liên Khu I). Created by decree Inter-Zone IV consisted of six regiments and one
120-SL on 25 January 1948, this zone consisted battalion. Its first commander-in-chief was Nguyen
of ten provinces: Cao Bang, Bac Can, Lang Son, Son, while Tran Van Quang served as the ranking
Thai Nguyen, Bac Giang, Bac Ninh, Phuc Yen, political commissar for this Inter-Zone.
Quang Yen, Hon Gai, and Hai Ninh. It shared a
northern border with China, a southern one with INTER-ZONE V (Liên Khu V). Created on 20
Inter-Zone III, a western one with Inter-Zone X October 1948 by the Democratic Republic of
and to the east lay the Gulf of Tonkin. In early Vietnam, this zone combined the previous Zones
1948, this zone allegedly held seven regiments (Khu) V, VI and XV. It consisted of the following
and three infantry battalions. Inter-Zone I was provinces: Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh,
combined with Inter-Zone X on 4 November 1949 Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan,
to create Inter-Zone Viet Bac under the military Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Dac Lac, Lam Vien, and Dong
command of Chu Van Tan and the political lead- Nai Thuong (Lam Dong). To the north, it bordered
ership of Commissar Le Hien Mai. Inter-Zone IV, to the east lay the sea, while to
the west was Cambodia and Laos. In April 1948,
INTER-ZONE III (Liên Khu III). Created by Inter-Zone V consisted of seven regiments and
decree 120-SL on 25 January 1948 by the Demo- one battalion. The first commander-in-chief of this
cratic Republic of Vietnam. Located in the Inter-Zone was Nguyen The Lam, while Nguyen
northern delta, this zone combined Zones II, III Chanh served as the ranking political commissar.

ITH SEAM 233

INTER-ZONE VIET BAC (Liên Khu Viêt Bắc). in August 1945, Ishii was 27 years old. As a ma-
Created by decree 127-SL on 4 November 1949 jor, he was allegedly the youngest commanding
by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, this officer in the Japanese army at the time. Colonel
new zone combined Zones X and I. It bordered Hiroo Saito, in charge of repatriating Japanese
China to the north and Laos to the west and the deserters for the French after World War II, had
sea to the east. It was one of the biggest zones been his commanding officer in the General
in Vietnam, covering most of the northern Delta Staff of the 55th Division in Burma during the
– the northwest, the north and the northeast. In Pacific War. Ishii Takuo had first been trained at
July 1952, the provinces of Yen Bai, Lao Cai, Son the Nakano Academy, an elite officers’ training
La, and Lai Chau were detached from it in order school. He was well versed in the most modern
to create the Northwestern Zone (Khu Tay Bac). Japanese methods of war and the finer methods
As of April 1954, it consisted of one regiment, 15 of clandestine warfare. He had even commanded
battalions, and 81 platoons. It was dissolved in from within the General Staff of the 55th Division
June 1957. The first commander-in-chief was Le in Burma, and had taken part in the difficult battle
Quang Ba and the political commissar was Chu of Rangoon.
Van Tan.
For military reasons above all, Colonel Saito
Isaacs, Harold (1910–1986). American jour- believed this taciturn, bearded, and chain-smoking
nalist who covered Asian affairs for Newsweek and man to be an extremely dangerous “weapon” in the
other news organizations. Isaacs’s Asian intellectual hands of the DRV. And he was. Ishii deserted his
odyssey began in China in the early 1930s, when demobilized Japanese unit on 17 December 1945
he wrote critically of the Republic of China led in Banam in Cambodia. He brought with him other
by Chiang Kai-shek, captured best in the publica- veterans of Nakano and the 55th Division. Once
tion of The Tragedy of the Chinese Revolution. He won over to the DRV, he traded in his passable
returned to the United States, joined Newsweek, English to learn Vietnamese. In exchange for his
and launched his career with this magazine cover- military collaboration, the Viet Minh named him
ing the Pacific War. His critique of the Chinese a “colonel”. Thus began his career as a military
nationalists kept him out of China until the com- instructor for the DRV. In May 1946, he left Baria
munists overthrew Chiang Kai-shek on the conti- for Quang Ngai in the company of Pham Van
nent in 1949. Isaacs’s sympathetic view of Asian Bach, president of the Resistance Committee of
revolution was matched by a fierce opposition to Nam Bo. There, he taught Vietnamese officers in
European colonialism. This was particularly evi- the Military Academy of Quang Ngai. He placed
dent in his support of Ho Chi Minh’s Democratic other Japanese officers whom he had known be-
Republic of Vietnam. (Isaacs had allegedly first fore in this school. In late 1946, Ishii allegedly
met Ho Chi Minh in China in 1932.) Isaacs cov- became “chief advisor” for troops in the south. In
ered the tumultuous events of Vietnam in 1945, August 1946, Nguyen Son sent him to Tuy Hoa to
relating them in lively prose in No Peace for Asia. found another military school. In 1947, he offered
He returned often to Vietnam for Newsweek and elite training to 130 Vietnamese officer candidates
provided some particularly incisive journalism. and in late June 1948 he provided military train-
He was also an intellectuel engagé. He told the ing to cadres of Zones VII, VIII and IX located
State Department’s diplomat in charge of South- further south. He also participated in combat
east Asia, Charlton Ogburn, that it was folly for against the French. It is unclear what became of
the Americans to support Bao Dai and the Bao him. See also DESERTION, JAPANESE; JAPAN­
Dai Solution. The former emperor had no nation- ESE TROOPS, INDOCHINA WAR.
alist legitimacy compared to Ho Chi Minh, Isaacs
insisted. See also INTELLECTUALS. ITH SEAM (1910–?). Prominent Cambodian poli-
tician and entrepreneur. Born in Prey Veng prov-
ISHII TAKUO (1917–?). Perhaps the most im- ince, he studied at the pagoda school of his native
portant Japanese officer to crossover to and work village there. He received his primary school edu-
in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) cation at the École Doudart de Lagrée in Phnom
during the early stages of the Indochina War. At Penh before completing his secondary studies at
the time of the Japanese capitulation in Indochina the Lycée Sisowath in 1928. He thereafter worked
in the colonial bureaucracy in Cambodia, serving

234 ITH SEAM Assembly for Kampong Cham. He was named
minister of Commerce, Industry, and Provisions
as a secretary for the French residents of Kandal in the all-Democrat Party Cabinet of February–
and Kampong Cham between 1928 and 1936. In August 1948. He slowly withdrew from politics
1939, he left the colonial civil service and devoted from the early 1950s in order to concentrate on his
himself entirely to business activities in logging business interests.
and related construction projects. After World War
II, he became a member of the Democrat Party
and in 1947 he was elected deputy to the National

J

Jacq, BISHOP, O. P. (?–1960). French mis- JAQUIN, HENRI. Officer in the French Foreign
sionary active in northern Vietnam during the Legion who had in all some fifteen years of active
Indochina War. A member of the Order of the service in Asia as a platoon, company, and battal-
Preachers (Dominicans), he first arrived in ion leader. He was head of the Deuxième Bureau
Tonkin in January 1937, charged with creating for Tonkin when the Japanese coup de force of 9
a mission near the northern frontier town of Cao March 1945 brought down French Indochina. He
Bang. He remained there until the Japanese coup returned to work in the Deuxième Bureau under
de force of 9 March 1945. After a short stint General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny and Raoul
in France in 1946, he returned to Indochina in Salan. Little else is known of his activities.
charge of the Cao Bang diocese. In July 1948, he
became bishop co-adjutor of the Apostolic Vicar JAPANESE TROOPS, INDOCHINA WAR.
of Langson and Cao Bang. Jacq remained in this Tokyo’s capitulation in mid-August 1945 did not
position until 1958, even after Cao Bang fell to mean that Japanese troops did not take part in
the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) in the Indochina War. They did. Indeed, vanquished
1950 and all of northern Vietnam in 1954. In Oc- Japanese soldiers helped both the Vietnamese and
tober 1958, the DRV authorities finally expelled the French sides. This was particularly the case
him from northern Vietnam. in southern Vietnam at the outset of the conflict,
when Franco-Vietnamese tensions and disorder
jacquet, marc (1913–1983). Having served led the British under General Douglas Gracey to
in the French resistance during World War II, maintain Japanese troops in place to ensure order
he became a dedicated Gaullist, member of the instead of concentrating and disarming them right
Rassemblement du peuple français, and served away. Japanese officers agreed to help the British
as deputy between 1951 and 1955. He entered maintain order, especially following the chaotic
the government of Joseph Laniel in 1953 and situation created by the outbreak of war below the
accepted the portfolio of state secretary respon- 16th parallel between the French and the Vietnam-
sible for relations with the Associated States of ese on 23 September 1945. The French inability
Indochina. In 1954, he made a fact-finding trip to maintain order after launching their coup that
to Indochina for the minister of Defense, René day only reinforced Franco-British reliance on the
Pleven. He was a member of the top secret “war Japanese troops to restore French colonial order.
committee” during the preparations for Operation For example, the French used Japanese soldiers to
Vautour in early 1954. Jacquet, however, differed fight Vietnamese forces in battle in Nha Trang. As
from Pleven in that he more ardently supported Peter Dunn wrote: “The important part played by
negotiations with the Democratic Republic of the Japanese troops at this stage [late 1945] cannot
Vietnam in order to end the conflict. As a result, be over-emphasized. They were doing most of the
Pleven moved him out of his inner circle during dirty work in clearing roadblocks, patrolling and
the Geneva Conference negotiations. Jacquet investigating, and rounding up wanted Vietnam-
lost his job in late May 1954, falsely accused of ese. After a slow start they were now taking a more
having leaked secret information to L’Express. active role in anti-Viet Minh operations, but their
distaste for this activity remained undiminished.”
Jahan, pierre (1929/1930–1954). A French On 3 March 1946, the British Combined Chiefs of
paratrooper who debarked in Indochina in 1952 Staff authorized Louis Mountbatten to transfer
and briefly worked as a photographer for the responsibilities for the Japanese in southern Indo-
French Press Information Service until about china to the French. According to French archival
1953, when he transferred back to his paratrooper records, approximately 30,500 Japanese located
unit. He died in hand-to-hand combat during the in northern Indochina were repatriated to Japan
Battle of Dien Bien Phu. through the port of Haiphong from 29 April 1946.

236 JARAI

By 8H00 on 14 May 1946, the remaining 68,084 Bao Dai in Indochina. He became a staunch
Japanese in Indochina below the 16th parallel had supporter of Bao Dai, the Bao Dai Solution,
been shipped off. The British turned over 1,596 and the Associated States of Indochina, advis-
Japanese prisoners to the French, including 427 ing Washington to pressure the French to accord
wanted for war crimes. Of the 2,700 Democratic fuller independence to these states. He published
Republic of Vietnam (DRV) troops killed during his experiences of decolonization in The Birth of
the British occupation, only some 600 were killed Nations (1974).
by combined British Indian Troops. The remain-
ing 2,000 lives were taken by combined Japanese JIANG JIESHI. See CHIANG KAI-SHEK.
and French forces battling the Vietnamese for
control of southern Vietnam. Japanese historian JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF, DEMOCRATIC
Masaya Shiraishi has concluded that the Japanese REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM (Bộ Tổng Tham
lost 109 men in battles against the DRV’s forces Mưu). Ho Chi Minh signed the chiefs of staff
during this period, and had 132 wounded and into law on 7 September 1945. It was designed
72 missing in action. The DRV also relied upon to study and elaborate strategic, tactical, and
hundreds of Japanese soldiers who crossed over military policies on the one hand and to organize,
to help the Vietnamese fight the French. See also train, and lead the government’s armed forces on
CROSSOVERS; DESERTION; REPATRIATION, the other. General Hoang Van Thai headed the
JAPANESE TROOPS. staff between 1945 and 1953. For unclear reasons,
Van Tien Dung replaced him in 1954, serving in
JARAI. See MINORITY ETHNIC GROUPS; that same position until 1978.
PAYS MONTAGNARDS DU SUD (PMS).
JOUhaud, edmond (1905–1995). Born in
JAUNISSEMENT. French term that became in- Oran in Algeria, Jouhaud completed his second-
creasingly popular from the early 1950s to refer ary studies in Algeria before entering Saint-Cyr
to what Americans would later call the “Vietnam- in 1924. His classmates included Jean Boucher
ization” of the war. In French, “jaunissement” de Crèvecoeur and Michel de Brébisson. During
literally means “yellowing”. By the end of the World War II, Jouhaud became an important mili-
Indochina conflict, ethnic Vietnamese troops and tary leader in the Forces françaises de l’intérieur
auxiliaries (supplétifs) of the Associated State in the Bordeaux region. Named colonel at the end
of Vietnam constituted the largest ethnic group of the war, he became deputy chief then chief
of soldiers serving in the French Union army. of staff to the Air Force in Tunisia in 1948. He
While ethnic French troops accounted for 88% of then went to Indochina where he became in 1954
French Union losses in 1946, in 1953 the number commander-in-chief of the Air Force there. He
had dropped to 17%. Vietnamese casualties, the would later serve in the Algerian War, deter-
vast majority of which occurred between 1949 mined to keep it French, and participated in the
and 1954, were the highest by 1954. As French Organisation armée secrète (OAS) until his arrest
historian Jacques Dalloz pointed out, “from the in his hometown of Oran.
point of view of deaths at least, the vietnamiza-
tion (of French Union forces) had made good jubelin, andré (1906–1986). Graduated from
progress”. the French Naval Academy, he served in France
and North Africa during the interwar period. He
JESSUP, PHILIP (1897–1986). American legal joined Free French forces at the start of World
expert, scholar, and diplomat-at-large working War II in Singapore, as chief of the artillery on
in international organizations and with an inter- the cruiser Lamotte-Picquet, and then attended to
est in decolonization. He served as the American maritime liaisons between Algiers and the Euro-
ambassador-at-large to Southeast Asia between pean mainland. After the war, he took command of
1948 and 1952 and was one of the main architects the light cruiser Triomphant and debarked French
of American policy towards the French Associ- troops in Saigon and Nha Trang in 1945–1946.
ated States of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia dur- He remained in Indochina until 1948, working
ing this period. In 1950, he made a fact-finding on the aircraft carrier Arromanches. In 1950, he
trip around the region, meeting with European returned to France.
and Asian leaders, including Léon Pignon and

JUMEAU 237

Juglas, J. J. (1904–1982). French Deputy after the 16th parallel. Juin was an ardent believer in
World War II and member of the French delegation the French Empire and its maintenance. As head
to the Fontainebleau conference in July 1946. In of the French Chiefs of Staff during the Franco-
1947, he served as president of the National As- Vietnamese crisis in November–December 1946,
sembly’s Commission for Overseas Territories. he intervened to prevent his deputy, Admiral
As part of a parlimentary enquiry committee Barjot, from asking critical questions concerning
into the use of military credits for Indochina, he the actions of High Commissioner Georges Thi-
traveled to Indochina on a fact-finding mission in erry d’Argenlieu and the commander of French
early 1949. forces in Indochina, General Jean Valluy, during
the violent occupation of Haiphong. In October
Juin, Alphonse Pierre (1888–1967). Born 1950, in the midst of the Cao Bang debacle, the
in Algeria, Juin completed his secondary studies government sent Juin back to Indochina to raise
in Constantine before studying at Saint-Cyr from morale and put the army back on a war footing.
which he graduated in 1912 in the same class as He transferred to Europe in 1951 and named
Charles de Gaulle. Fascinated by Morocco, he Maréchal de France in May 1952.
joined the colonial army there and participated in
“pacification” operations and led his Moroccan JUMEAU, HENRI. As a lieutenant, Henri Jumeau
troops into combat in the Chemin des Dames dur- was involved in the altercations that triggered
ing World War I. After the war, he resumed his the Haiphong Incident in November 1946.
military career in the colonies, mainly in North The Vietnamese arrested him when he tried to
Africa and Syria, where he participated in the intervene in what the Democratic Republic of
Rif War and served on Marshal Louis Hubert Ly- Vietnam (DRV) considered to be an internal mat-
autey’s private staff. During the Battle of France, ter. Jumeau also belonged to a secret “military se-
he led the 15ème division d’infanterie motorisée curity” group located within the Haiphong branch
covering the withdrawal of the 1st French Army of the Bureau fédéral de documenation report-
via Dunkirk. The Germans took Juin prisoner and ing to High Commissioner Georges Thierry
enclosed him in the Koenigstein fort, but Vichy d’Argenlieu in 1946. Jumeau later transferred to
obtained his release in June 1941, made him a the Indochinese police force. He was the acting
general, and sent him to command colonial troops chief of police in Dalat when he was suspended
in North Africa in November 1941. Juin joined and jailed on 24 May 1951 for ordering the ex-
Free French forces after the allied landing in ecution of 20 Vietnamese prisoners, in reprisal for
North Africa in November 1942. Vichy then re- the killing of a French police officer, Victor Haaz,
voked his French nationality. In that same month, by commando forces of the DRV. Indeed, a few
Juin assumed command of Free French forces in days earlier, the Phan Nhu Thach suicide squad
Tunisia and was named general. Put in charge of had apprehended and then killed the Dalat Sûreté
the French Expeditionary Corps in August 1943, officer when he tried to escape. The execution of
he took part in the liberation of Italy and France the 20 Vietnamese prisoners caused an outcry in
before dealing with the Algerian revolt in Sétif in Vietnamese papers throughout the country. See
May 1945 as Chief of Staff of National Defense. In also CAM LY, MASSACRE; EXPERIENCE OF
April 1946, the government dispatched him to the WAR; HÉRAULT, MASSACRE; MY THUY,
Far East to negotiate the withdrawal of Chinese MASSACRE; MYTH OF WAR.
Nationalist troops from northern Indochina above

K

K. See D. officially joined the ICP. In mid-1950, he entered
the Lao Resistance Government as National
KAISÔN PHOMVIHĀN (NguyỄn QuỐc Defense minister and commander-in-chief of the
TrỊ, Anh BẢy, 1920–2002). The most power- army. He was also elected to the central committee
ful Lao communist by the end of the Indochina of the newly formed national front. In February
War as well as communist Vietnam’s most trusted 1951, he attended the ICP’s Second Party Con-
ally. The son of a Vietnamese civil servant and a gress in northern Vietnam as chief of the party’s
Lao mother, Kaisôn spoke Vietnamese nearly as Lao Regional Committee (Xu Uy Lao).
fluently as his native Lao. Born in Savannakhet
province, he pursued his secondary studies at the Given the decision at that congress to reor-
Lycée du Protectorat in Hanoi during the 1930s ganize the ICP into three national parties, the
and stayed on during World War II, when he may Vietnamese assigned him the task of forming a
have enrolled at the Faculté de droit in Hanoi separate but associated Lao Communist Party.
under the name of Nguyen Quoc Tri (Nguyen of a Kaisôn became the most important Lao com-
National Mind). munist from this point and communist Vietnam’s
Like so many Vietnamese at the time, he most valuable ally in running revolutionary
became active in nationalist politics during the Laos. Vietnamese communists referred to him
Popular Front and Vichy periods. He joined as Anh Bay or Brother number seven. See also
the Lao Issara in Savannakhet when French ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE FOR THE FRON-
Indochina crumbled in mid-1945, serving in the TIER; ADVISORY GROUP 100; CAMBODIAN
National Salvation Association of Lao Youth and RESISTANCE GOVERNMENT; COMMITTEE
then in Prince Suphānuvong’s Committee for an FOR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS; COMMITTEE
Independent Laos. In late 1945, he returned to FOR THE EAST, LAO ISSARA; HOANG
Hanoi with a group of Lao recruits for training VAN HOAN; INDOCHINESE FEDERATION;
in Vietnam. In early 1946, Ho Chi Minh called LAO RESISTANCE GOVERNMENT; MÉTIS;
upon him to join a secret Lao-Viet Contact Liai- NGUYEN KHANG; NGUYEN THANH SON;
son Group (Ban Cong Tac Lao-Viet). It marked NUHAK PHUMSAVAN; PARTY AFFAIRS
the beginning of a long and close partnership with COMMITTEE.
Vietnamese communists.
When full-scale war broke out on 19 Decem- Kamath, Mello. Served as the 1st Secretary
ber 1946, he followed the central government in the Indian Embassy in the United States before
of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam into being named in August 1949 to run the Indian
the northern hills of Vietnam. There he worked Consulate General in Saigon. He was close to
in political propaganda teams active along the Nehru, sharing his sympathy for Ho Chi Minh’s
Lao border. In February 1948, the Indochinese nationalist cause and hostility to the French Bao
Communist Party (ICP) created the Northern Dai Solution. See also GENEVA ACCORDS;
Lao Assault Team (Doi Xung Phong Lao Bac) to DOUGLAS GRACEY; INDIA; SOUTH EAST
conduct political propaganda, create local armed ASIA TREATY ORGANIZATION.
forces and expand the revolution into northern
Laos. Kaisôn was the team’s Lao leader. In early KARMEN, ROMAN LAZAREVITCH (1906–
1949, thanks to this propaganda work and due to 1978). Soviet photographer, film maker, and
the personal support of Vo Nguyen Giap, Song propagandist who covered the Spanish Civil War,
Hao, and Le Tan Trong, the northern Lao assault the Sino-Japanese War, World War II, the Soviet
team was transformed into the Lao revolutionary taking of Berlin, and the Vietnamese capture of
army known as Latsavong. Kaisôn sealed his the French camp at Dien Bien Phu. Karmen pro-
revolutionary credentials in July 1949, when he duced the famous picture of the Soviet hammer
and sickle floating over the Reichstag. It was also

KENNEDY 239

Karmen who provided the famous photo of the militaire at Saint-Cyr in 1929, he served in the
column of French prisoners being marched away colonial army in Africa during most of the 1930s.
in the form of an S after the battle of Dien Bien He led colonial troops in France during the Battle
Phu. It was a re-enactment, based on a similar of France. Following the French debacle, Vichy
mise-en-scène ordered by Karmen with German transferred him to Dakar in 1941. After the Allied
prisoners taken during the battle of Stalingrad. liberation of North Africa in late 1942, he chose
See also CINEMA; CULTURE; INDOCTRINA- the Free French forces, joining the 9ème Division
TION; MYTH OF WAR; NOVELS; PRISON- d’Infanterie coloniale (DIC) in late 1943. He
ERS OF WAR; PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE. landed with the 9ème DIC in France in August
1944 and distinguished himself as an intelligence
KATĀY DŌN SASŌRIT (William Katāy officer for that division in Alsace and Germany. In
“William the Rabbit”, Arsenen June 1945, he transferred to the Expeditionary
Lapin, 1904–1959). Prominent Lao nationalist Corps for the Far East and debarked in Saigon in
who was opposed both to French colonialism November 1945. He was actively involved in the
and to Vietnamese and Lao communism. Born in French reoccupation of southern Indochina, taking
Champāsak province of a Vietnamese father and part in the “pacification” of Tan An, Dong Nai,
a Lao mother, he studied at the École supérieure and Cap St. Jacques. A few months later, with the
de droit et d’administration in Hanoi and entered French reoccupation of Indochina above the 16th
the Indochinese colonial bureaucracy upon gradu- parallel underway, Keller moved to Haiphong,
ation. He worked as a colonial assessor in the where he served as chief of the Deuxième Bureau
Superior Court of Appeals and Nullification in for the Chief of Staff to the commander-in-chief
Laos. He was active in numerous associations. He of French armed forces in Indochina. He held
served as president of the Association of Lao Civil this position until his return to France in Febru-
Servants, the Lao Association of Art and Sports, ary 1949. He returned to Indochina at lieutenant
and was general secretary of the Lao Scouting As- colonel in late 1953 and resumed his intelligence
sociation. During World War II, he helped create work in the operational zone of French ground
and run the Lao Renovation Movement. In 1943, troops in northern Vietnam. He transferred to
he headed the Office of Economic Affairs at the southern Vietnam in March 1954. Following the
French Résidence supérieure in Laos. Following war, he advised the Associated State of Vietnam
the Japanese coup de force of 9 March 1945, he on military matters before returning to France in
worked with the Japanese until their defeat in Au- December 1954.
gust. Katāy then joined the newly proclaimed Lao
Issara government of 12 October 1945, serving KENNEDY, JOHN F. (1917–1963). Although
as minister of Finance. He fled to Thailand fol- much ink has been spilled on Kennedy’s role in
lowing the French military reoccupation of Laos the American war in Vietnam, his initiation to the
in mid-1946 and continued to serve as minister country and its troubles occurred during the In-
of Finance in the Lao Issara government-in-exile dochina conflict, as Fredrik Logevall has shown.
there. He returned to Laos in 1949, with the dis- Kennedy first arrived in Saigon in 1951, a young
solution of the Lao Issara and the emergence of congressman seeking to bolster his foreign policy
the Associated State of Laos. Between 1951 and credentials for an upcoming senate race. The
1954, he was minister of Finance and National Vietnam visit was part of a wider, seven-week
Economy in the latter government. In Novem- trip to Asia and the Middle East. Accompanying
ber 1954, he became prime minister and held him among others was his brother, Robert. While
the post until 1956. He also became leader of they remarked upon the bustling shops and pleas-
the Progressive Party in 1954. He was strongly ant restaurants lining the famous rue Catinat in
anti-communist and opposed to dealing with the downtown Saigon, they also noticed that anti-
Vietnamese-backed Pathet Lao. See also ASSO- grenade netting suggested that all was not well.
CIATED STATES OF INDOCHINA; GENEVA The outbreak of small-arms fire only reinforced
ACCORDS; INDOCHINESE FEDERATION; their apprehensions. “Cannot go outside city be-
LAO RESISTANCE GOVERNMENT. cause of guerrillas”, Robert confided to his diary.
“Could hear shooting as evening wore on”. The
KELLER, RENÉ PAUL LEON JULES (1909– Kennedy brothers met Bao Dai and Edmund
1975). After graduating from École spéciale Gullion, the chargé d’affaires of the American

240 KHÁ VĂN CẨN

legation. Unlike the American minister, Donald a member of the Administrative Council for
Heath, who supported the French cause, Gullion Cochinchina. Following the Japanese overthrow
painted a different, more sobering picture of the of the French in the coup de force of 9 March
war and French policies in Indochina. He advo- 1945, he became the head of physical education,
cated greater independence for the Associated sports, and youth activities for Cochinchina. He
State of Vietnam. In his meeting with General continued to serve as vice president of the Council
Jean de Lattre de Tassigny Kennedy expressed of Cochinchina. Following the Japanese defeat in
such doubts about French policy, asking de Lattre August 1945, he joined the forces of the DRV and
why he should expect the Vietnamese troops to was named advisor in economic affairs for the Re-
sign up enthusiastically in order to keep Vietnam sistance and Administrative Committee of Nam
part of the French Empire. De Lattre was unim- Bo. He supported the wartime economic policy of
pressed and later sent a formal letter of complaint trying to blockade the French-held areas. He was
to Heath. Kennedy wrote in his trip diary: “We also a member of the Special Minting Committee
are more and more becoming colonialists in the for Nam Bo.
minds of the people. Because everyone believes
that we control the U.N. [and] because our wealth KHÁI HƯNG (TRẦN KHÁNH GIƯ, 1896–
is supposedly inexhaustible, we will be damned 1947). One of Vietnam’s best-known 20th-century
if we don’t do what they [the emerging nations] novelists and non-communist nationalists. Khai
want”. Kennedy felt that it would be better to Hung was born into a family of mandarins in Hai
combat communism by fighting Third World Duong province, of which his father was gover-
“poverty and want”, “sickness and disease”, and nor. He completed his secondary education in a
“injustice and inequality”. In a speech he deliv- French high school in Hanoi before entering the
ered before the Boston Chamber of Commerce private school of Thang Long in 1931 where he
upon his return, he continued: “In Indochina we met Nguyen Tuong Tam (Nhat Linh), with whom
have allied ourselves to the desperate effort of the he would join literary and political forces. Both
French regime to hang on to the remnants of an played pivotal roles in the Self Strengthening
empire. There is no broad general support of the Group (Tu Luc Van Doan) in the 1930s and in the
native Vietnam Government among the people of development of modern Vietnamese literature and
that area”, concluding that if a free election were journalism. Khai Hung penned scores of articles
held, it “would go in favor of Ho and his Commu- in the group’s journals and published a number of
nists”. See also ARMY, ASSOCIATED STATE novels. He also became politically active during
OF VIETNAM; ASSOCIATED STATES OF IN- the Popular Front period (1936–39) and World War
DOCHINA; BAO DAI SOLUTION; DOMINO II. In 1941, Vichy authorities incarcerated him on
THEORY; JAUNISSEMENT. political grounds. Following the Japanese over-
throw of the French in March 1945, he returned
KHÁ VĂN CẨN (1908–1982). Southern engineer to the political scene. He and Nguyen Tuong Tam
and economic specialist in the service of the joined the revived Vietnamese Nationalist Party
Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) during (Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang, VNQDD) in opposi-
the Indochina War. Born in Cholon, he studied tion to the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP)
between 1930 and 1933 at the École nationale des and its nationalist front, the Viet Minh. They
arts et métiers in Aix-en-Provence, from which turned their journalistic and literary skills against
he received an engineering degree. Between 1934 the communists thanks to the creation of an oppo-
and 1939, he worked in the Renault car factories sitional paper, Viet Nam. Their relations with the
in Billancourt near Paris as a designer, technical communist nationalists deteriorated greatly in late
agent, and engineer. He made several trips to 1945 and 1946 as a civil war emerged within a
Indochina during this time to oversee the delivery colonial one. Sometime in 1947, DRV provincial
of Renault equipment for the construction of the forces assassinated Khai Hung. However, it is not
Indochinese railways and the training of Indochi- clear whether they were acting on orders from the
nese railway personnel on its use and maintenance. ICP or independently of the center.
In 1939, he resigned from Renault and returned
to Vietnam to become directing manager of the KHAMFEUANE TOUNAROM (1920–?).
Fonderies et ateliers de constructions mécaniques Behind-the-scenes leader of the Pathet Lao in the
et métalliques in Cochinchina. In 1944, he was early 1950s. Born in Xieng Khouang province,

KHIM TITH 241

he served in the colonial bureaucracy in Phong- KHAMTAI SĪPHANDÔN (1924–). Important
saly and Luang Prabang as World War II came south­ern leader of the Pathet Lao during the
to a close. Opposed to the return of the French, Indochina War. Born in Pakse province, Khamtai
he joined the Lao Issara at Luang Prabang and got his start working in the colonial civil service.
entered its secret Committee for the East. He With the French advance on Laos in early 1946,
worked closely with the Vietnamese along the he fled his position at the Post Office at Savan-
Lao-Democratic Republic of Vietnam border. In nakhet and crossed into northeastern Thailand.
August 1950, he was present at the creation of the There, he joined forces with another southerner,
Lao Resistance Government and national front. Sīthon Kommadam. Vietnamese communist
He served as a deputy to Phūmī Vongvichit and delegates based in Ubon won him over to the
then as minister of the Interior in the new govern- anticolonialist cause. Following the dissolu-
ment. He attended the Geneva Conference in tion of the Lao Issara in 1949, he remained in
1954 as a private advisor to Prince Suphānuvong. Thailand. Prince Phetxarāt put him at the head
of the Resistance Committee for Southern Laos.
KHAMMAO VILAI (XIANG, MAO, 1892?– Throughout this time, Khamtai Sīphandôn con-
1965). Important non-communist Lao leader op- tinued to work closely with Sīthon Kommadam
posed to the restoration of French colonialism and and the Vietnamese communists based in Ubon.
Vietnamese-backed Indochinese communism. In August 1950, he took part in the creation of
Born into a wealthy family, he studied at the Col- the Lao Resistance Government in northern
lège Sisowath in Phnom Penh and then in France Vietnam as a representative for southern Laos
at the École Pratique de Commerce in Dijon where he returned at this time. Between 1951
between 1911 and 1916. He returned to Indochina and 1953, he was active in southern Laos before
in 1917 and worked as a colonial clerk and in- joining Kaisôn Phomvihān’s staff in the Ministry
terpreter in the Judiciary Service in Vientiane for of Defense, where he worked for the rest of the
almost twenty years. He was widely respected war. See also ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE FOR
for his legal knowledge and integrity. In 1922, he THE FRONTIER; ADVISORY GROUP 100;
returned to France as the interpreter for the Lao CAMBODIAN RESISTANCE GOVERNMENT;
delegation to the colonial exposition held in Mar- INDOCHINESE FEDERATION; COMMITTEE
seilles. On his return, he served as president of the FOR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS; HOANG VAN
Indigenous Tribunal in Vientiane and as provincial HOAN; NGUYEN KHANG; NGUYEN THANH
governor of Vientiane. Following the overthrow SON; NUHAK PHUMSAVAN; PARTY AF-
of the French and the Allied defeat of the Japa- FAIRS COMMITTEE.
nese, he played a decisive role in creating the Lao
Issara government in October 1945 and served KHIM TITH (1896–1975?). Born in Phnom Penh,
as its first prime minister. In April 1946, he fled he completed his primary studies at the École
to Thailand following the French reoccupation of Francis Garnier in Phnom Penh before volunteer-
Laos and continued to work as the head of the Lao ing in 1916 to serve in World War I. After failing
Issara government-in-exile in Bangkok. When the physical the first time, he tried again a year
the French created the Associated State of Laos later and succeeded. He apparently saw action on
in 1949, he dissolved the Lao Issara by decree on the Western front and certainly participated in the
24 October 1949 and returned to Laos, where the occupation of Germany in 1919. He returned to
King named him minister of Justice and of Public Cambodia in 1920 with the rank of sergeant and
Health in the Phuy Xananikôn government. On began work as a schoolteacher. He also studied
19 October 1949, he issued the communiqué at the École d’administration cambodgienne
dismissing Prince Phetxarāt from his position as from which he graduated at the head of his class
“acting head” of the now defunct Lao Issara and in 1924 and entered the colonial bureaucracy. He
called upon all Lao to return home. In 1950, he worked as a district and provincial head in numer-
helped found the Progressive Party with Suvanna ous Cambodian provinces during the interwar
Phūmā, regrouping most of the returned Lao Is- period. He maintained excellent relations with
sara within it. See also ASSOCIATED STATES the Buddhist community and, during World War
OF INDOCHINA; COLLABORATION. II, was one of the main organizers of the youth
movement, Yuvan. The French assigned him a
tough post in Siemreap province when relations

242 KHMER ISSARAK

with Thailand deteriorated in 1940–41. Follow- KHMER ISSARAK. The “Free Cambodia” move­
ing the Japanese overthrow of the French in the ment first came to life in Bangkok on 20 December
coup de force of 9 March 1945, he sheltered 1940, when the Thai government, at odds with
a number of endangered Europeans. He also the French over western Indochina, allowed a
joined the Japanese-backed government of Son Cambodian nationalist-minded monk, Phra Phiset
Ngoc Thanh, serving as minister of National Panich or Poc Khun to create the Khmer Inde-
Defense. Though opposed to any alliance with the pendence Party (Phak Khmer Issarak). Chaovalit
Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) and an and Khuang Aphaiwong, Thai politicians with
ardent supporter of Cambodian independence, he ancient family links to western Cambodia, were
entered into contact with the British in Saigon as strong supporters of the Khmer Issarak move-
well as with Jean Cédile and General Philippe ment. This support continued into the Indochina
Leclerc. As minister of Defense, Khim Tit helped War, as the Thais tried to hold on to Cambodia’s
the latter to arrange the arrest of Son Ngoc Thanh western provinces of Battambang and Siemreap,
in October 1945. Khim Tit became minister of which the Japanese had helped them obtain from
Public Works, Health, and Communications in the French in 1941. Their efforts came to naught,
the French-backed cabinet of Prince Monireth in however, when the Thai government, under U.S.
late 1945 and joined the National Union Party in pressure, retroceded the territories to the French
1947, and soon served as its general secretary. In in November 1946 and the Conciliation Commis-
January 1948, he was elected an advisor to the sion designed to hear Thai desiderata closed in
Kingdom in charge of the provinces of Kratie early September 1947.
and Stung Treng. In December 1948, he began Shortly thereafter, the French High Commis-
publishing the paper Sachak Pardamean (The sioner to Indochina, Émile Bollaert, sent a report
Truth) on behalf of a group of royal advisors and to Paris explaining the importance of putting an
moderate nationalists. In October 1949, following end to the Khmer Issarak and Lao Issara inde-
Norodom Sihanouk’s dissolution of the National pendence movements in Thailand, both of which
Assembly, he resigned his post as president of undermined French efforts to build up and legiti-
the Commission of National Defense, the Inte- mize pro-French states in Laos and Cambodia. In
rior, and Foreign Affairs within the Council for mid-1947, the French moved to rally these “dis-
the Kingdom (conseil du royaume). Khim Tit sident elements” to the French cause in Indochina.
resumed his work as president in early 1951. On The French Commissioner in Cambodia Léon
19 January 1951, he signed a document sent to Si- Pignon, entered into contact with Poc Khun (and
hanouk calling for the restoration of the National Prince Phetxarāt) in the hope of wooing him
Assembly. He then became minister of Public away from the Thais. Pignon promised a total
Works and Communications in the first cabinet of amnesty to the Khmer Issarak partisans if they
Oum Chheng Sun, constituted on 23 March 1951, returned to Cambodia. While Poc Khun stayed
and was appointed governor of Kandal province put, many Khmer Issarak returned to Cambodia.
shortly thereafter. As governor, he helped win Meanwhile, Vietnamese communists, like their
over Puth Chhay to the Franco-Cambodian side. French adversaries, were keen on attracting the
He became minister of National Defense in the Khmer Issarak movement to their cause. In early
cabinet set up by Sihanouk on 20 November 1953 1948, the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP)
and led by Chan Nak. Khim Tith was virulently revived its Indochinese revolutionary vision and
opposed to Vietnamese support of the Khmer moved to create a new Cambodian nationalist front,
Issarak and supported Sihanouk’s opposition to based in Cambodia and allied with the Vietnamese,
the intervention of the DRV’s army in eastern called the “Committee for the Liberation of Kam-
Cambodia in early 1954. Khim Tith was minister puchea”. The Vietnamese explained that this com-
of the Interior in charge of local defense in the mittee would serve as a “provisional govern­ment”
newly formed cabinet of Sihanouk on 6 April in opposition to the one the French were creating.
1954 and maintained this post in the Penn Nouth The Vietnamese-backed Cambodian Committee
cabinet created on 17 April 1954. In March 1955, would later constitute a National Assembly and
he joined Sam Sary and Penn Nouth as a member thereby establish a permanent government. In
of the High Council for the Crown (Haut conseil charge of this revolutionary state-building project
de la courronne). was Nguyen Thanh Son, the ICP’s most impor-
tant official in charge of Vietnamese activities in

KHMER KROM 243

Cambodia. Thanks to his efforts, the Committee KHMER KROM. This term refers to ethnic
came to life in the Dangrek hills in mid-August Khmers living in the “lower” Mekong region
1948, led by Dap Chhuon and seconded by Poc (krom or duoi meaning “below” in Khmer and
Khun. Vietnamese respectively), now a part of the nation
state of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
However, as in Laos, it was the arrival of the Ethnic Khmers first inhabited the lower Mekong
Cold War in 1949–50 and French moves to create before the Vietnamese began consolidating their
the Associated States of Indochina in Laos and hold over the delta from the 17th century. Vietnam-
Cambodia that led the ICP to create a revolution- ese conquest left hundreds of thousands of Khmers
ary party and resistance government for Cambo- living under the rule of the Nguyen dynasty when
dia. The defection of Dap Chhuon in 1949, like the French began colonizing the Mekong delta
much of the Lao Issara in that same year, caused in 1859 in the form of a Cochin­chinese colony
a crisis for the ICP. As a result, the ICP assigned based out of Saigon. The French Second Empire
the task of creating a new government and party followed this up a few years later by establishing a
for Cambodia to Nguyen Thanh Son, head of the protectorate over all of Cambodia.
Committee for External Affairs (Ban Ngoai Vu) By creating colonial Cochinchina, the French
and Hoang Van Hoan, chief of the all-powerful established a precise and internationally recognized
Overseas Party Affairs Committee (Ban Can Su legal border separating this southern colony and
Hai Ngoai) based in Thailand. After a meeting in its inhabitants from the Cambodian protector-
Bangkok in 1949, Nguyen Thanh Son returned to ate, even though both territories were part of the
Indochina and created the Party Affairs Com- Indochinese Union created in 1887. This had the
mittee for all of Cambodia (Ban Can Su Toan effect of placing ethnic Khmers living within
Mien), the single most powerful revolutionary Cochinchinese borders under the sovereignty of
organization in all of Cambodia and run by the French Cochinchina, and not under the jurisdic-
ICP. tion of Cambodian “protected” authorities. In
other words, Khmer Krom, in legal terms, became
In March 1950, as in Laos a few months later, colonial Cochinchinese subjects. Meanwhile, dur-
the ICP organized a Cadres Congress for Cam- ing the colonial period, Khmer Krom concentrated
bodia bringing together Issaraks from across the in Cochinchinese provinces such as Tra Vinh and
country to create a new national front, provisional Tri Ton continued to come into contact with the
government, and revolutionary party. During this ever-increasing numbers of ethnic Vietnamese
meeting held in Ha Tien, Vietnam, the delegates living in and moving into the area. Many Khmer
outlined the future Cambodian Resistance Krom learned Vietnamese and intermarried, in-
Government and its revolutionary tack. In April, cluding future nationalists such as Dap Chhuon.
the Representative Assembly for all of Cambodia Moreover, Khmer Krom produced some of Cam-
(Cuoc Dai Bieu Hoi Nghi Toan Mien/Moho San- bodia’s best-known nationalists, including Son
nibat Tamnang I’sara’ Nokor Khmaer) formed a Ngoc Thanh. However, there were also tensions
new “Unifed National Front of the Khmer Issarak” between ethnic Khmer and Vietnamese living in
(Mat Tran Issarak Thong Nhut Toan Quoc or Sam- southern Vietnam, as increased Vietnamese immi-
makum Khmaer I’sara in Cambodian) and cre- gration put greater pressure on local Khmer lands,
ated a Provisional Central Committee of National opportunities, and identities.
Liberation (Uy Ban Giai Phong Dan Toc Trung The crumbling of colonial Indochina following
Uong Lam Thoi or Kana’ Cheat Mukkakeaha Mo- the Japanese coup de force of 9 March 1945 and
chchhoem Nokor Khmaer in Cambodia), based on the concomitant surge in Vietnamese nationalism
the Viet Minh model. Son Ngoc Minh and other did not ensure the peaceful resolution of such
Cambodian luminaries were present. However, problems. Nor did French efforts to turn the
creating a revolutionary party for Cambodia was Khmers against the Vietnamese during the Indo-
much harder. It was only in mid-1951 that the Party china War. Between 1945 and 1947, for example,
Affairs Committee for Cambodia finally created ethnic violence escalated between ethnic Khmers
the People’s Revolutionary Party for Cambodia and Vietnamese in the lower Mekong, resulting
with Son Ngoc Minh at its helm. Nguyen Thanh in a number of massacres setting Khmers against
Son, backed by Le Duc Tho and Le Duan, was its Vietnamese. While the French were at first content
caretaker. See also ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE to fan Khmer hostility in order to contain Viet-
FOR THE FRONTIER; COMMITTEE FOR THE
EAST, LAO ISSARA; MÉTIS.

244 KHUANG APHAIWONG

namese nationalism, they found themselves back- the seventh art. 20th-Century Fox employed him
tracking as their own Bao Dai solution obligated at one point and he made a film for this American
them to transfer their cherished Cochinchinese company in 1924 about the Cambodian jungle.
colony to the Associated State of Vietnam. Cochi- Khuang Aphaiwong became an important Thai
nchina, meaning its colonially established borders politician in the 1930s and supported the creation
and the populations residing within them, became of a constitutional monarchy in 1932. During
part of a territorially unprecedented Vietnamese World War II he served as prime minister in
nation-state, the Associated State of Vietnam. 1944 and 1945. He helped found the Democratic
Party in Thailand in 1946 and headed it up at the
The Cambodian government, led by Norodom outset. He became prime minister in 1946 and
Sihanouk, opposed the incorporation of territories again in 1947–48 before leaving the government
and populations considered to have been “Cambo- to lead the opposition party against the returning
dian” before the French carved out colonial Cochi- Pibun Songgram. During World War II and until
nchina. For Cambodian nationalists, “Kampuchea entering into opposition in 1948, Aphaiwong
Krom” or Lower Cambodia along with its ethnic supported Lao, Cambodian, and Vietnamese
Khmers had to be transferred to the nation-state resistance groups opposed to French rule in In-
represented by the Associated State of Cambodia. dochina, a goal shared by most Thai officials at
However, by signing accords with the Vietnam- the time. He was particularly interested in helping
ese creating the Associated State of Vietnam in the first Khmer Issarak groups located along the
1949, the French effectively acquiesced to the Thai-French Indochinese border during and after
transformation of precolonial Kampuchea Krom World War II. He was heavily involved in trading
territories and Khmer Khrom colonial subjects into activities, and helped supply representatives of
Vietnamese national ones, much to the anger of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam stationed
the Cambodian governments and Cambodian na- in Thailand during the first half of the Indochina
tionalists to this day. Some three hundred thousand War with arms and supplies.
ethnic Khmers are thought to live in southern Viet-
nam today. See also CAO DAI; CAM LY, MAS- KHƯƠNG MỄ (1916–2004). Prominent Viet-
SACRE; HÉRAULT, MASSACRE; HOA HAO; namese war photographer during the Indochinese
MINORITY ETHNIC GROUPS; MY THUY, conflict. Born in the Mekong Delta province of
MASSACRE; OVERSEAS CHINESE; OVER- An Giang, he dabbled in photography before tak-
SEAS VIETNAMESE IN THAILAND; PAYS ing it seriously with the outbreak of the war in
MONTAGNARDS DU SUD; TAI FEDERATION. southern Vietnam. In 1946, he joined the Demo-
cratic Republic of Vietnam’s independence
KHUANG APHAIWONG (LUANG KOVIT struggle as a war photographer and, with a group
APHAIWONG, 1902–1968). Important Thai of colleagues, created the Film-makers Group for
politician with ties to western Cambodia and Zone VIII. In spite of wartime shortages and the
supporter of Indochinese resistance movements damaging humidity of the south, his team man-
against the French. The Aphaiwong family was aged to produce its first film, The Battle of Moc
originally of ethnic Khmer origin, having ruled Hoa in 1948. This one was followed by others,
over vast parts of western Cambodia under Thai including Tran La Bang, Chien Dich Tra Vinh,
control until Battambang and Siemreap provinces and Chien Dich Cau Ke. Designed to support the
were ceded to the French at the turn of the 19th government’s war effort, these films glorified the
century. The Aphaiwong family nonetheless Vietnamese nationalist cause and the heroism of
maintained economic, family, and political links the soldiers. In 1954, with the end of the war, he
to Battambang province in particular. Khuang moved to northern Vietnam and continued to put
Aphaiwong completed his primary education at his photography and film-making in the service
the Assumption College in Bangkok and studied of the official war cause. Perhaps his best-known
engineering at the École centrale de Lyon in film was Co Nghip (Ms. Nghip), dedicated to the
France. After his return to Thailand he worked in liberation of Saigon and filmed in 1976 just after
the telegraph department and eventually became the unification of Vietnam under communist lead-
its director. Besides Thai and Khmer, Khuang ership. See also CINEMA; INDOCTRINATION;
Aphaiwong was also at ease in English and NOVELS; PIERRE SCHOENDOERFFER; PSY-
French. He was fascinated by cinema and trav- CHOLOGICAL WARFARE.
elled to Hollywood after World War I to study

KOMAKI OOMIYA 245

KINDAVONG, Prince  (1900–1951). Member of Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower’s
the Lao royal family who joined Allied forces policies towards Asia. He was staunchly opposed
against the Japanese during World War II. He to recognizing the People’s Republic of China’s
worked in the Indochinese colonial administra- entry into the United Nations and supported Jo-
tion during the interwar period, serving as chief seph McCarthy’s anti-communist crusade in the
of Meuang Kasy in 1945. Following the Japanese early 1950s. In the wake of the French defeat at
coup de force of 9 March 1945, he joined in the Dien Bien Phu, Knowland said during a televi-
resistance against the Japanese and secretly aided sion interview that if the Chinese communists
the Allies and Free French. Prince Kindavong intervened in Indochina, he would favor the dis-
supported the return of the French. In March 1945, patch of American troops there. He and Michael
King Sīsāvangvong named him royal delegate Mansfield urged non-communist Asian countries
to Upper Laos and royal representative to the to form an Asian defense pact.
Provisional Government of the French Republic.
On 27 August 1945, Kindavong sent a telegram to koenig, Marie pierre (1898–1970). French
Charles de Gaulle, expressing Laos’s “respectful general and committed Gaullist during the Indo-
fidelity”. Between 1946 and 1947, Kindavong china War. Koenig served in the 13 Demi Brigade
was minister in the government of the Kingdom of the French Foreign Legion in Norway before
of Laos. He died of illness in Paris in 1951. joining Charles de Gaulle’s Free French forces
in Africa and the Middle East during World War
KINIM PHOSĒNĀ (1916–1963). Lao non- II. He became major general in 1943 and was
communist nationalist who played an increas- named assistant chief of staff of French ground
ingly important role in Lao politics after World forces in North Africa before transferring to the
War II. Born of a Lao father and a Chinese United Kingdom in April 1944, where he became
mother, Kinim Phosēnā was educated in colonial commander-in-chief of French forces and French
Indochina and began his career working for the Forces of the Interior. A staunch defender of the
colonial bureaucracy in 1938. He joined French maintenance of the French Union, in June 1951
commandos resisting the Japanese towards the Koenig called for the introduction of the national
end of the Pacific War and refused to collaborate draft in order to win the war in Indochina once and
with the Lao Issara national government created for all. To no avail. In December 1952, he told a
in October 1945. He held numerous administra- French paper that the Indochinese countries were
tive posts and became a successful entrepreneur. not sufficiently committed to fighting the war.
He was elected deputy for Sam Neau province in They do not “fight the war in the way Clemenceau
1951. Between 1953 and 1955, he served as vice understood it and we are perhaps in the year 1917
president of the National Assembly of the Associ- of the Indochina War”. When, in the wake of the
ated State of Laos. Politically, he moved towards Dien Bien Phu disaster, the French government
neutralism and in 1955 he founded the Peace asked Koenig if he would take over in Indochina,
through Neutrality Party. He was assassinated he said only on the condition that the government
in 1963, while serving as foreign minister of the institute the draft. When the government refused,
Royal Lao government. he replied: “Don’t count on me”. Although Pierre
Mendès France successfully sidelined Koenig
KMT. See REPUBLIC OF CHINA. during the negotiation of the Geneva accords
in mid-1954, the French president’s threat to re-
KNOWLAND, WILLIAM FIFE (1908–1974). instate the draft if an agreement were not reached
American senator favorable to supporting non- by 20 July echoed Koenig’s repeated calls for just
communist states in Indochina during the Franco- such action. See also Expeditionary Corps.
Vietnamese war. Born into a Republican political
family, Knowland was elected to the California KOMAKI OOMIYA. Educated in France in
Senate in 1934 and joined the Republican Na- the 1920s, Oomiya worked in Indochina in the
tional Committee in 1938. After working as a staff 1930s as a specialist in mining, banking, and
writer in the army in Europe during World War II, legal questions. He was at ease in French. Dur-
he returned to the United States in 1945 to serve ing World War II, he collaborated secretly with
as a United States senator. He became increas- Vietnamese nationalists opposed to the French.
ingly conservative in his views and criticized both This collaboration came into the open following

246 KOREAN WAR

the Japanese defeat in August 1945 and the advent between the Korean and Indochina Wars continued
of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. After to the end. When an armistice stopped the fighting
his release from an internment camp, Oomiya in Korea in mid-1953, French leaders seeking to
began working as an intermediary between the find an “honorable end” to the Indochina conflict
Vietnamese, French, Chinese, and Soviet del- announced that it “would be hard to conceive that
egates, allegedly playing some sort of role in the a true peace could be instituted in the Far East
negotiations leading to the Accords of 6 March as long as war continued in other parts of Asia”,
1946. See also CROSSOVERS; DESERTION; meaning Indochina. Similar things were occur-
JAPANESE TROOPS, INDOCHINA WAR; RE- ring on the Vietnamese side, as the Soviets and
PATRIATION, JAPANESE TROOPS. the Chinese began to emphasize the importance
of negotiations both in Korea and Indochina. The
KOREAN WAR. The outbreak of the Korean War key decisions leading to both the battle of Dien
in June 1950 extended the heat of the Cold War Bien Phu and the Geneva Conference began in
from Europe to Asia, and this directly affected 1953, with the signing of the armistice on Korea
the course of the Indochina War. For one, upon constituting a major factor. North Korean pilots
the outbreak of the Korean conflict, American would later fly MIGs to protect the DRV against
President Harry S. Truman declared on 27 July the Americans during the Vietnam War. See also
that the United States would not only send troops DIEN BIEN PHU, BATTLE PREPARATION
to protect the Republic of Korea against com- AND CONTEXT.
munist aggression, but that it would also step up
its military aid to Taiwan and to the French fight- KOSAL (1904–?). Career magistrate and Cam-
ing communists in Indochina as part of a wider bodian politician. Born in Chau Doc province in
containment strategy in Asia. Second, the French southern Vietnam, he completed his secondary
saw in the Korean War the chance to recast the studies at the Lycée Sisowath and then at the Lycée
Indochina War as a vital part of the global Ameri- Chasseloup Laubat in Saigon before going on to
can Cold War to contain Sino-Soviet communism study at the teachers’ college in Hanoi from which
to its Eurasian limits. To this end, the French sent he graduated as a certified primary school teacher
a regiment to fight alongside American forces in 1928. In 1929, he changed tack and went to
in Korea, le régiment de Corée. American aid work as an advisor in the Cambodian Chamber of
began flowing to the French in earnest follow- Indictments (Sala Kromchot or Chambre de mises
ing the outbreak of the Korean War, symbolized en accusation). In 1933, he was named advisor
nicely by the creation of the American Military to the final court of appeals (Sala Vinichay or
Advisory and Assistance Group in Saigon in cour de cassation) and remained in that post until
September 1950. Third, not unlike the French, 1939. In 1940, he became president of the court
Vietnamese communists also saw in the Korean of first instance (Sala Dambaung or the tribunal
War a chance to link their movement more closely de première instance) in Takeo. Little is known of
to the communist revolutionary one. Just as the his activities during World War II or immediately
Chinese were fighting the American “imperial- thereafter. In February 1949, however, he was ap-
ists” in Korea, the Vietnamese were taking on the pointed minister of Justice in the Yèm Sambaur
French “colonialists” in Indochina as part of the cabinet and held the position until 1950. Hostile
wider internationalist battle against the “capital- to the Democrat Party, he helped Yèm Sambaur
ist camp” in Asia. The Democratic Republic of create the National Recovery Party and acted
Vietnam (DRV) recognized the North Korean as its general secretary. He lost, however, in the
government and dispatched delegates there during National Assembly elections of 1951.
the Indochina conflict.
Hence, for both the French and the Vietnamese, KOSHIRO IWAI (NGUYỄN VǍN SÁU, SÁU
the Korean War allowed them in varying degrees NHẬT, 1921–). Japanese soldier who crossed
to link colonial and national liberation wars to the over to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
wider global struggles inherent in the Cold War. (DRV) in the wake of World War II. He was
The DRV’s propaganda strongly supported the inducted into and served in the Vietnamese army
North Koreans and blamed the outbreak of the war between 1945 and 1955. In 1947, he led troops
in Korea on the United States. French propaganda into battle around Lang Son and conducted spe-
reflected the opposing view of course. The linkage cial operations behind enemy lines. By 1949, he

KU VÔRAVONG 247

had become a battalion deputy commander in the engaged intellectual, sympathetic to national libe-
DRV’s army. He was most appreciated, however, ration movements in Asia and Africa. She worked
for the technical training he provided in General with the French resistance in Brazzaville in 1944
Staff work, battle preparations, and military intel- and covered the French invasion of southern
ligence. The Vietnamese army no longer hides the France. She then reported the end of World War
important advisory and intelligence role Koshiro II in India, Indonesia, and Vietnam, working as a
Iwai played during the frontier battles against the journalist and a photographer. She was present in
French in 1950 as a member of the 174th regiment. Saigon when war broke out between the French
He also solved problems that allowed the Viet- and the Vietnamese on 23 September 1945, and
namese to employ their newly acquired Chinese was aghast at what she saw. She wrote a damning
artillery more effectively against French positions account of French actions in the coup de force of
during the battle of Cao Bang. His contributions 23 September. She continued to cover Southeast
and loyalty were sufficiently important for him to Asia in the following years, making Bangkok
be admitted to the Vietnamese Worker’s Party her home base. She knew Jim Thompson well
in 1952. He was also a member of the Japanese and met often with leading Vietnamese, Lao, and
Communist Party. He returned to Japan in 1955, Cambodian nationalists working out of or passing
where he established with Nakahara Minh Ngoc through Bangkok, including Oun Sananikone.
the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Association. See See also CINEMA; CULTURE; HERAULT,
also CROSSOVERS; DESERTION; JAPANESE MASSACRE; INTELLECTUALS; NOVELS.
TROOPS, INDOCHINA WAR; REPATRIATION,
JAPANESE TROOPS. KU APHAI (1892–1964). Lao non-communist
politician and royalist. Born in southern Laos,
KOWAL, GEORGES (?–1952). War photo- he studied in colonial Saigon and Phnom Penh
grapher for the Service cinématographique des before pursuing advanced studies in France. He
armées during the Indochina War. Little is known returned to Indochina on the eve of World War
about his family background other than the fact I and began his career in the colonial civil ser-
that he and his brother were orphaned at a young vice. Between 1915 and 1929, he worked in the
age and grew up in a public orphanage in France. office of the résident supérieur in Laos and was
Georges Kowal arrived in Indochina in December local leader of Khong district between 1929 and
1948 to work as a non-commissioned officer in 1941. When the French had to cede large parts
the Air Force, in charge of cinematography, be- of southern Laos to the Thais under Japanese
fore transferring to the information service of the pressure, he became governor of Pakse in 1941,
high commissioner for Indochina. He produced a a post he held in one form or another until 1947.
number of reports taking him across all of Indo- Between 1947 and 1949, he served as minister of
china until 1951, when he left the military and be- Education and Health and then president of the
came a civilian film-maker working on a contract Royal Council.
basis for the army. From the start in 1951 Kowal
made his name as one of Indochina’s leading war KU VÔRAVONG (1914–1954). Leading Lao non-
photographers, covering major battles occurring communist politician during the Indochina War.
in and around the Tonkin delta. He jumped with The son of a school teacher, Ku Vôravong was
paratroopers during the battle of Thai Nguyen born in Savannakhet and attended the Collège
and again at Hoa Binh. This was his last jump, Pavie in Laos and the Lycée Albert Sarraut in
however. He was killed in battle there in 1952. Hanoi before going on to France to complete his
His brother continued to serve in Indochina in the secondary studies in a high school in Montpellier.
Foreign Legion. See also CINEMA; CULTURE; He then studied law at the University of Montpel-
NOVELS; PIERRE SCHOENDOERFFER; PSY- lier. Back in Indochina, between 1933 and 1935,
CHOLOGICAL WARFARE. he studied and graduated from the École de droit
et d’administration in Laos. He worked between
Krull, germaine (1897–1985). Born in 1935 and 1938 as a secretary in the Résidence
Germany, Krull was on the cutting edge of mo- supérieure in Laos and then as a secretary in
dern photography and art by the 1920s and one of the Inspection des affaires administratives et du
the architects of what came to be known as New travail in Laos until 1941, when he became dis-
Vision Photography. She was also a politically trict chief (chaomuong). In that same year, in An

248 KUBIAK

Appeal to the Youth, he exhorted the patriotic fee- Vietnam (DRV) during the Indochina War. Born
lings of his Lao listeners and expressed hostility in Lodz, Kubiak was the son of a poor weaver.
to continued Vietnamese immigration and civil While in uniform in the Polish Army, he fell into
servants in Laos. In 1941, he was named general German hands during World War II and ended up
secretary of the Royal Palace in Luang Prabang. in a labor camp in Germany in 1940. In 1943, he
Following the Japanese coup de force of 9 March escaped and joined the Soviet army in 1944 in the
1945, he joined French guerrillas parachuted into offensive against the Nazis before re-joining the
Laos working against the Japanese. He refused to Polish Army at the end of the war. For unclear
join the Lao Issara and was virulently opposed to reasons, he deserted and made his way to Wes-
Viet Minh interference in Lao affairs. Following tern Europe where he joined the French Foreign
the French reoccupation of Laos in mid-1946, Legion and eventually ended up in Indochina
he became minister of Justice and Religious in December 1946. In April 1947, he deserted
Affairs in the first constitutional government of yet again, this time the Foreign Legion at Nam
the Royal Lao government between late 1947 and Dinh, and crossed over to the ranks of the DRV,
early 1949. He was minister of the Economy and where he went to work in the army’s propaganda
of the Interior (March 1949–February 1950) in and proselytizing the enemy (dich van) offices.
the newly created Associated State of Laos, and Between 1948 and 1954, he participated in 10
minister of Religious Affairs, Sports, and Youth battles and scores of minor operations, distin-
in 1950. He was elected deputy of Thakhek in guishing himself during the battles of Hoa Binh
1947 and was co-founder of the Lao Union Party and Dien Bien Phu. He was an official member
(Lao Rouam Sampan). In 1948, he created his of the People’s Army of Vietnam between 1947
own political party, Democracy, favorable to a and 1963, taking the Vietnamese name of Ho Chi
constitutional monarchy. In 1954, when Viet- Toan. Between 1955 and 1957, he served as a
namese communist forces invaded Lao territory, chief of staff for a DRV artillery regiment. He was
Prime Minister Suvanna Phūmā designated him named captain in the Vietnamese army in 1958.
minister of Defense. On 18 September 1954, he Between 1957 and 1963, he was on the staff of
was assassinated in Vientiane, contributing to the the People’s Army newspaper. He died in 1963
fall of Suvanna Phūmā’s government. in Hanoi. See also DESERTION.

Kubiak, Stefan (HỒ CHÍ TOÁN, 1923–1963). KUOMINTANG. See REPUBLIC OF CHINA.
Polish crossover to the Democratic Republic of

L

La Chambre, Guy (1898–1975). French particular. Both were expelled from the party on
politician and minister of the Air Force between their return to northern Vietnam in late 1950. La
January 1938 and March 1940. He was the French Vinh Loi apparently got into trouble again in the
minister responsible for relations with the Asso- 1960s when he was accused of being a pro-Soviet
ciated States of Indochina between September “revisionist”.
1954 and February 1955 in the cabinet of Pierre
Mendès France. Labrouquère, André. General secretary
of the Cominindo in the first half of 1946 before
LÃ VĨNH LỢI (LÊ HI, LÊ HY, TỪ LÂM, serving as the private secretary to the minister of
HỒNG LỆ, ANH LINH, DR. LEE, 1913–1994). Overseas France, Maurice Moutet. He was the
During the Popular Front period, he became author of La Justice en Indochine (1938).
involved in nationalist and communist politics,
working under Truong Chinh in the Hanoi bu- Lacharrière (de), Ladreit. Served
reau of Tin Tuc newspaper. In 1939, Le Vinh Loi as Legal advisor to the high commissioner for
joined the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) Indochina Georges Thierry d’Argenlieu from
before the French arrested and incarcerated him at late 1945 and was named commissioner for Legal
Poulo Condor shortly thereafter. He was heavily Affairs in October 1946.
involved in prison politics and rubbed shoulders
there with the likes of Tran Ngoc Danh, Ton Duc Lacheroy, Charles (1906–2005). One of
Thang, and Pham Hung. He regained his liberty the best-known French theoreticians of “revolu-
in September 1945 and helped run the southern tionary warfare”, who got his start during the
resistance newspaper, Cuu Quoc. At ease in Indochina War. Lacheroy joined the École spé-
French and English, Le Hy arrived in Bangkok in ciale militaire at Saint-Cyr in 1925. In 1927, he
early 1946 to promote the Vietnamese nationalist transferred to the colonial infantry, serving in the
cause to the region and the world. He helped es- Upper Volta in a regiment of Senegalese tirailleurs
tablish and run the Democratic Republic of Viet- between 1928 and 1930. He subsequently moved
nam’s (DRV) information bureau there (Thong on to Syria, where he learned of the exploits of
Tan Xa Viet Nam or the Vietnam News Service) Lawrence of Arabia and concluded that victory in
between 1945 and 1948. He also met regularly guerrilla war depended on “psychology”. He was
with American and other diplomats stationed in arrested in Rabat in December 1940 for assisting
Southeast Asia. He accompanied Pham Ngoc French resistance agents. Though the charges
Thach to Rangoon in April 1948 on a diplomatic were unfounded, he ended up in jail in Clermont-
mission. Later that year, he left for Prague via Ferrand, sharing a cell with none other than Pierre
Shanghai and Moscow in the company of an Mendès France. Released for lack of incriminat-
Australian communist, Alexander Brotherton, ing evidence, Lacheroy returned to Vichy North
to create a new Bureau of Information in Prague Africa before joining Free French forces upon the
for the DRV. He arrived in Moscow in August Allied landing there in 1942. He took part in the
1948. However, neither the DRV nor the ICP had liberation of Italy under General Alphonse Juin,
authorized his “mission”. In Moscow, he nonethe- and then served under General Jean de Lattre de
less attempted to establish direct contact with the Tassigny in the 1st French Army taking part in the
Soviet government and communist party, hoping liberation of France and Germany.
to obtain military, diplomatic, and financial aid. In February 1951, after working in the Ivory
To this end, he also collaborated with Tran Ngoc Coast, he landed in southern Vietnam where he
Danh, who had also contacted the Soviets without took command of the Bien Hoa Zone. It was also
authorization and criticized the ideological mettle there that he began studying in detail the Viet
of the ICP in general and that of Ho Chi Minh in Minh’s guerrilla tactics and developing his ideas

250 LACOUTURE

on counter-insurgency, thanks to the archives Indochina, Lacouture interviewed Ho Chi Minh,
of the Deuxième Bureau in charge of southern Vo Nguyen Giap, Bao Dai, and other Vietnamese
Vietnam. In 1952, he ran an internal conference political leaders. This French correspondent also
for officers in his sector on the organizational and met and interviewed ranking French officials
psychological nature of the Viet Minh’s warfare, before returning to France on 18 December 1946.
entitled Une arme du Viet Minh: les hiérarchies Like Devillers, Lacouture was struck by the force
parallèles. He emphasized how the communists of Vietnamese nationalism as represented by the
effectively organized and controlled the popula- leaders of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam,
tions as a weapon and he popularized the idea of in particular Ho Chi Minh. It was vain for France
parallel hierarchies in French military science. to try to maintain its colonial rule in Indochina, he
Lacheroy also discovered the military writings of concluded. The key to the war resided in recog-
Mao Zedong on “revolutionary war”. nizing Vietnamese independence. After spending
several years in Morocco and Egypt, he became
All this launched something of a new career a journalist in Paris. He returned to Indochina
for him as theoretician and instructor in what he in 1953 for Le Monde and published a series of
(and others) would call guerre révolutionnaire. articles on different aspects of the conflagration.
He returned to France in mid-1953 to teach such Jean Lacouture together with Philippe Devillers,
subjects at the Centre of Asian and African Stud- Bernard Fall, Paul Mus, and Ellen Hammer
ies within the Colonial Army headquarters. An were among the first journalists-historians to pro-
excellent speaker, he propounded his ideas on vide detailed accounts and analyses of contempo-
counter-insurgency and psychological warfare rary Vietnamese history and the Indochina War.
and began to attract the interest and attention of
high-ranking army strategists, theorists, and lead- Lalande, André (1913–1995). French officer
ers facing similar wars in the Empire. Indeed, his taken prisoner during the battle of Dien Bien Phu.
understanding of Vietnamese communism and the Graduated from Saint-Cyr in 1933, he partici-
adversary’s organization, adaptation, and use of pated in the Allied expedition against the Nazis at
guerrilla, communist and psychological strategies Narvik, Norway. He fled to Great Britain on 20
would serve as a model for counter-insurgency June 1940 and immediately joined the emerging
fighting during the Algerian War and elsewhere. Free French forces under the command of General
In 1955, Lacheroy ran a pivotal conference Charles de Gaulle. Lalande worked in the Gener-
bringing together his ideas (and those of others) al Staff of French Ground Forces in Great Britain
on counter-insurgency, entitled Action Viet Minh from June 1941. Two years later he was named
et communiste en Indochine ou une leçon de major and took part in all the major Free French
“guerre révolutionnaire”. In 2003, he published military campaigns in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia,
his memoirs, entitled De Saint-Cyr à l’action Italy, and France, usually in the 13th Half Brigade
psychologique. See also Antoine SAVANI; of the Foreign Legion. In 1946, he graduated at
GROUPEMENT DE COMMANDOS MIXTES the head of his class from Saint-Cyr before taking
AÉROPORTÉS (GCMA); ROGER TRINQUIER; a job with the North Atlantic Treaty Organiza-
SERVICE ACTION. tion. In 1953, Lalande volunteered for service
in Indochina, where he commanded a regiment
lacouture, jean (1921–). Jean Lacouture of the Foreign Legion (3ème Régiment étranger
left for Indochina in October 1945 as part of Gen- d’infanterie, REI) and Mobile Group 6. He com-
eral Philippe Leclerc’s service de presse. Lacou- manded troops during the battle of Dien Bien Phu
ture shared a cabin on the same boat with Philippe and was named colonel as the battle raged. He led
Devillers. They would discover Vietnam together the famous strongpoint of Isabelle which put up a
in 1945–1946 and go on to co-author a number ferocious fight against the adversary until Lalande
of major works on the wars for Indochina. Like and his remaining men were taken prisoner on 8
Devillers, Lacouture wrote for the Expedition- May 1954. He was liberated in September and
ary Corps’s paper, Caravelle, and helped found returned to France in October 1954. He would go
the weekly paper Paris-Saigon, which sought to on to serve in the Algerian War.
inform the French in Indochina of world events
and promote a peaceful solution to a war which LÂM THÀNH NGUYÊN (1909–?). Leading
had already begun with the Vietnamese in the Hoa Hao figure, who crossed over to the French
south on 23 September 1945. During his time in

LAND REFORM 251

in the early years of the Indochina War. Born in officially began land reform in December 1953
Can Tho, Lam Thanh Nguyen converted to the – at the height of the Indochina War. Vietnamese
Hoa Hoa Buddhist faith in 1941. During World communists adopted this radical measure in order
War II, his collaboration with the Japanese to transform both society and state into the com-
landed him in a French colonial jail. He walked munist mold, enter the internationalist communist
free following the Japanese coup de force of 9 bloc, and mobilize peasants in the war against the
March 1945. After the Allied defeat of the Japa- French for national independence.
nese a few months later, he joined the ranks of
the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1946, In 1945, more than 80% of the population lived
serving as a deputy to Tran Van Soai. In March in the countryside, precisely where the govern-
1947, the French thought they had won him over ment and army had been operating since 1947.
as violence with the Viet Minh nationalist front Until 1950, however, Vietnamese communists
in the south escalated; however, he returned to the had stressed national unity over social revolution.
maquis shortly after opening talks with his former Ho Chi Minh had been central to this shift in
enemies. In January 1948, he broke with Tran Van policy when he presided over the creation of the
Soai in order to maintain his independence and Viet Minh in 1941. And whatever the internal,
control of his troops. At the same time, his rela- theoretical credo, the Indochinese Communist
tions with the Viet Minh deteriorated to the point Party leadership continued to stress national
that he crossed over definitively to the French on solidarity throughout the first half of the war.
14 February 1949 and agreed to serve as deputy The party had already confiscated and distributed
to General Tran Van Soai with the rank of colonel. enemy land in its possession. It had also approved
He broke yet again with the latter in July 1950, rent and interest rate reductions. Following Sino-
but was considered by the French still to be “pro Soviet diplomatic recognition of the DRV in Jan­
French”. The latter needed him and his men in uary 1950, Vietnamese communists adopted more
order to build an army for the Associated State of communist-minded policies in social, state, intel-
Vietnam. In August 1953, the French estimated lectual, and diplomatic affairs.
his forces to number 3,306 men.
Most ranking Vietnamese communists saw
Lami, PIERRE (1909–1994). French colonel in the implementation of land reform in 1953 as a
1946 and director of Political and Administrative powerful source for mobilizing the countryside
Affairs in Tonkin and North Annam. Graduated against the French (peasants would serve more
from the Colonial Academy (École coloniale), ardently in exchange for land) and indispensable
he served in Chad where he joined Free French to breaking the hold of the landlord class in order
forces in 1940. After World War II, he resumed to promote eventual communist revolution such
his colonial career in Indochina. From 1 October as agricultural collectivization. Adopting land
1946, he served as General Louis Morlière’s reform would also be an important part of join-
chief political advisor. During the Haiphong ing the internationalist communist movement led
incident of November 1946, he helped both by Joseph Stalin at the top and Mao Zedong
sides reach a cease-fire on the afternoon of 20 in Asia. No sooner had they taken power than
November 1946. When Pierre Debès, under Chinese communists began sending specialists to
instructions from Jean Valluy, broke it in order Vietnam to help the Vietnamese Worker’s Party
to take Haiphong from the Democratic Republic (VWP) devise and implement land reform based
of Vietnam and to teach the Vietnamese a “severe largely upon the Chinese model (which the Chi-
lesson”, Lami did his best to dissuade them, but to nese themselves were enthusiastically applying
no avail. Lami met on several friendly occasions on a national basis between 1950 and 1953).
with Vietnamese nationalist Pham Khac Hoe,
arrested by the French during the outbreak of war Although the VWP officially implemented
in Hanoi on 19 December 1946 and placed under land reform in December 1953, preparations had
surveillance. Lami later transferred to Dalat, but it been underway since early 1953 following Ho Chi
is unclear when or why he left Indochina. Minh’s return from Beijing and Moscow in 1952.
Full-scale land reform was limited mainly to areas
LAND REFORM. The communist leadership of in northern and central Vietnam under DRV con-
the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) trol. Little occurred in southern DRV areas. The
VWP organized special land reform cadre teams,
which investigated and classified the population
as landlords, rich peasants, middle peasants, poor

252 LẠNG SƠN INCIDENT

peasants, or agricultural laborers. These teams liaison committee, relations became increasingly
penetrated villages and, with the backing of the strained as High Commissioner Georges Thierry
police and the military, organized mobilization d’Argenlieu and General Jean Valluy adopted a
and hate sessions against landlords and rich peas- more aggressive line towards the DRV.
ants, and tried many of them in hastily convened
“people’s courts”, before proceeding to expro- As in the port of Haiphong, the month of No-
priate and redistribute their land as the Chinese vember was particularly tense in the inland border
were doing to the north. This social revolution town of Lang Son. On 20 November, the French
in the countryside continued until 1956, when its exhumed the cadavers of individuals killed by
disastrous results finally forced the party to end the Japanese in 1945 near the Lang Son citadel,
it and apologize publicly for its excesses, errors, but in doing so they destroyed DRV defenses
and executions. Ho Chi Minh replaced Truong obstructing their work. The Vietnamese rebuilt
Chinh as general secretary of the party. their defenses and mined them in a bid to ensure
their protection and assert their government’s
While the exact numbers killed because of the sovereignty. When two French men were killed
land reform remain contested, hundreds of Viet- in unclear circumstances on the morning of 21
namese perished during this time, many of whom November, the French forces opened fire on the
had supported the DRV’s nationalist cause since Vietnamese positions facing them. A cease-fire
the outset of the Indochina War. Many “bour- was reached in order to prevent the incident from
geois” nationalists also left the DRV at this point. escalating out of control. However, this did not
The start of land reform in late 1953 was also con- last long as local French troops led by Colonel
nected to the need to mobilize the peasant popula- Sizaire decided to destroy the DRV citadel. Like
tion in favor of modern war and set-piece battles Pierre Debès in Haiphong, Sizaire issued an ulti-
requiring unprecedented levels of manpower both matum to the Vietnamese side ordering its leaders
for fighting and running logistics. By promising to to free two French prisoners and 10 Chinese. The
distribute land to the peasants, the party sought to DRV released the two French men, but not the
mobilize the manpower vital to ensuring victory Chinese (considered to be subject to Vietnamese
at Dien Bien Phu as negotiations began at the law). On 25 November, Sizaire attacked and took
international level to end the war diplomatically. the citadel at Lang Son from the Vietnamese.
See also DIEN BIEN PHU, BATTLE PREPARA- On 30 November, Valluy ordered General Louis
TION AND CONTEXT. Morlière to extend French military control over
the strategically important region lying between
LẠNG SƠN INCIDENT. This “incident” oc- Lang Son and the sea.
curred in late November 1946 in a Vietnamese
provincial capital located near the Chinese border. Although the responsibility for the initial in­
Like the preceding Haiphong incident (without cident remains unclear, local French officers deliber­
which the Lang Son incident would not have oc- ately chose to escalate the incident in order to re-
curred), the Lang Son clash between French and take Lang Son and to extend military and colonial
Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) forces control over the strategically important northern
can be explained at two levels. On the one hand, it frontier and coastline. The leaders of the DRV
marked the failure of the French and the Vietnam- held back their troops in the hope of reaching a
ese to negotiate a peaceful solution to the future negotiated solution. See also 19 DECEMBER
of Vietnam’s political status. On another level, 1946; OVERSEAS CHINESE.
the Lang Son incident pointed up the degree to
which local French authorities were willing to act Langlade (de), François Giron
independently of their superiors. (LUTÈCE). Gaullist resistance leader involved
French troops arrived in the border town on 8 in Indochinese affairs, who had been a rub-
July 1946, in accordance with the Accords of 6 ber planter in British Malaya for almost two
March 1946 and the related April military con- decades. In 1941, Charles de Gaulle sent him
vention authorizing 15,000 French troops to take to India where de Langlade joined the French
over from the Chinese now leaving Indochina Indochina section of Force 136 and was deeply
above the 16th parallel. While the DRV accepted involved in its resistance plans for Indochina. In
the stationing of French troops in Lang Son and mid-1944, with the liberation of France under-
worked with them via a Franco-Vietnamese way, de Gaulle named Colonel de Langlade his
“political delegate” and sent him on a secret mis-

LANGLAIS 253

sion to Indochina to contact the Vichy Governor General Philippe Leclerc’s 2nd Armored Division
General Admiral Jean Decoux, in order to win and took part in the liberation of Europe. De Lan-
over local French authorities to the Free French glade served after World War II as military gov-
cause. In July 1944, the British parachuted de ernor of Strasbourg in 1946–47 and commander
Langlade (code name Lutèce) into Tonkin, where of the École d’application de l’arme blindée
he entered into contact with General Eugène cavalerie between 1947 and 1950. Between 1952
Mordant at the head of the Indochinese colonial and 1953, he was commanding officer of Ground
army. Mordant had secretly entered into contact Troops in Cambodia and deputy commander-in-
with the Free French in late 1942 and had been chief for Ground Troops in Indochina in 1953 and
designated in 1944 to lead resistance operations 1954. He became lieutenant general in 1948.
there. Mordant, however, was not keen on taking
up arms and prevented de Langlade from meeting LANGlais, pierre charles albert
Decoux. The mission was a failure. No sooner had marie (1909–1988). French officer who com-
de Langlade returned to liberated Paris in August manded hundreds of French Union soldiers dur-
1944 and made his report to de Gaulle than the lat- ing the battle of Dien Bien Phu. Born in Brittany,
ter told him to “go back” to Hanoi to make direct Langlais graduated from Saint-Cyr and made a
contact with Decoux. In late November 1944, de career in the army. During World War II, he saw
Langlade reached Hanoi and met personally with combat in Italy, France, and Germany, before
Decoux, Mordant, Aymé, and Sabattier. Decoux transferring to Indochina in October 1945 as part
recognized the legitimacy of the Provisional Gov- of the 9th Colonial Infantry Division. He par-
ernment of de Gaulle, but insisted on remaining in ticipated in the French reoccupation of southern
control of Indochinese affairs and au courant of Vietnam before transferring to the north where he
resistance activities, contrary to de Gaulle’s orders took part in the street fighting in Hanoi following
to the admiral. De Langlade could not make such the outbreak of full-scale war on 19 December
assurances and the mission was a limited success. 1946. In 1949, he returned to Indochina for a sec-
De Gaulle, however, was exasperated by the lack ond tour of duty and witnessed from the northern
of fighting spirit demonstrated by French authori- border the Chinese communist decimation of their
ties in Indochina. De Langlade became a close nationalist rivals. He also served in central Viet-
confidant to de Gaulle on Indochina policy. In the nam and northern Laos before returning to France
wake of the Pacific War, de Langlade served as where he took over from Jean Gilles at the head
de Gaulle’s trusted advisor on Indochinese affairs, of the 1st Colonial Half-Brigade of Paratrooper
appointed general secretary of de Gaulle’s newly Commandos. This also meant that Langlais had
created Cominindo in charge of Indochinese to become a paratrooper himself, which he did.
policy. The former rubber planter and résistant Around 1953, he returned to Indochina for a third
was nonetheless unable to prevent his boss from tour of duty and found himself commanding
naming Georges Thierry d’Argenlieu high not just his paratroopers at Dien Bien Phu, but
commissioner to Indochina. Thierry d’Argenlieu hundreds of other soldiers who looked to him for
was, de Langlade later told British historian Peter leadership as the battle turned into a defeat. He
Dunn, “a bit of a disaster. But that was de Gaulle. provided it until the camp went down on 7 May
The man didn’t matter – what was important was 1954.
the job, and any man should have been able to fill Langlais was famous for his temper and no-
it”. See also COLLABORATION. holds-barred directness. He was also unique
among French officers for his capacity after the
Langlade (DE), Paul Annet Joseph war to recognize the extraordinary feat which the
Alexandre Girot (1894–1980). Distin- adversary had achieved at Dien Bien Phu. Unlike
guished himself in combat in World War I and was so many left bitter by defeat, especially in the
seriously injured in 1915. In 1916, he became a army, Langlais credited the Vietnamese, com-
pilot and served in the French Air Force. During munist or not, for what they had done in 1954. He
the interwar period, he returned to the cavalry and also refused to blame others for French mistakes.
served in French North Africa until World War II He reserved a particularly harsh criticism for the
saw him join forces with Free French and Allied likes of Charles Lacheroy and the proponents
forces in Tunisia following the Allied landing in of “revolutionary warfare”. The problem with
November 1942. It was at this time that he joined Lacheroy and the anti-communist ideas his aco-

254 LANGUAGE AND WAR the American “imperialists” intervening in the
war from 1950 whereas non-communists directed
lytes would apply in the Algerian War, Langlais it towards Chinese “communists” (trung cong)
concluded, was that they failed to understand the interfering on behalf of their Vietnamese allies.
reality and the power of another ideology, modern
nationalism: La guerre d’Indochine fut une guerre With the communization of the DRV, com-
d’indépendance contre la France et si l’outil de munist Vietnamese cadres introduced more class-
combat fut forgé par des méthodes marxistes, il oriented terms to refer to their French, American,
n’en reste pas moins vrai que le soldat Viet Minh and Vietnamese enemies, including of course
qui montait, et avec quel courage, à l’assaut des “imperialists”, “capitalists”, and “bourgeois”. Dif-
positions de Dien Bien Phu, luttait pour nous ferent social categories for the peasants emerged
mettre à la porte de chez lui où nous n’étions pas in DRV zones in central and northern Vietnam.
chez nous. See also AID, CHINESE; EXPERI- Via the army, the school, newspapers, and scores
ENCE OF WAR, DIEN BIEN PHU; MARCEL of mass mobilization and propaganda campaigns,
BIGEARD; MYTH OF WAR. the DRV introduced a panolpy of revolutionary
terms, few of which had ever been used in the
language AND WAR. War always affects the Vietnamese countryside where the government
nature of language. The Indochina War was no ex- was now based. Shortly after arriving in Hanoi in
ception. In French and Vietnamese, for example, a early 1951, one famous DRV operative, Nguyen
host of words entered each vocabulary to identify, Bac, had a real scare, when, during a visit to the
denigrate, and even dehumanize the other. Mem- local barber, the latter asked him if he were not
bers of the French army shortened Viet Minh to from the maquis. Terrified, Bac asked him why he
les Viet early on in the conflagration to refer to would think such a thing. The barber told him to
their adversaries in the Democratic Republic take a look at the poor quality of his clothes, the
of Vietnam (DRV). French officers and French buttons, and above all “your way of speaking”. As
Union soldiers used it widely in daily conversa- he later reminisced in his memoirs: “We, the party
tions, reports, and later in the war literature some cadres, no longer spoke like ordinary people. We
of them produced. Many in the European settler said “solidarity” for mutual assistance, “emula-
community, the Français d’Indochine, did the tion” for an everyday rivalry, “revolutionary
same. Authors such as Roger Delpey popularized enthusiasm” instead of village celebrations … In
les Viet in Soldats de la boue. Memoirs published any case this incident served as a lesson for me.
in the 1980s by Marcel Bigeard and others gave It taught me to be on guard against myself and to
it a new lease on life in French and in the heat of rediscover my normal diction”.
the Boudarel affair.
But such use of language was not an exclusive- War forced the DRV and the Associated State
ly French affair. Civil war witnessed Vietnamese of Vietnam to rely heavily on the Vietnamese na-
coin and use words to refer to each other in simi- tional language, quoc ngu. For both sides, literacy
larly dehumanizing ways. Anti-communist Viet- was vital to their ability to educate populations,
namese nationalists referred to their opponents train bureaucrats, cadres, and officers, in short
with the derogatory term Viet Cong, meaning operate a sustained and effective nation-state. War
Vietnamese communist but conveying something reinforced the use and spread of the Vietnamese
less than human. Communist nationalists shot language in other ways, too. Because the number
back with couplets such as Viet gian, bu nhin, and of elites at ease in French was never sufficient to
nguy (“traitor”, “lackey”, and “puppet”). The idea meet the needs of the war-state, the DRV promot-
in using all of these epithets was to try to deny ed the Vietnamization of all types of knowledge.
legitimacy and oftentimes humanity to the other Specialists translated into Vietnamese scores of
in what was a civil as much as a colonial war. technical texts on radio transmissions, encryption,
Early on in the war, Vietnamese nationalists of all and decrypting.
political colors opposed to the return of the French
resurrected the term giac, meaning “pirate” or War even led to a “re-indigenization” of Viet-
“bandit”, to refer to the “foreigners” attempting namese medicine and its French-trained doctors.
to steal or pillage the country. The Vietnamese As the conflict intensified from 1950, the number
had used this term to refer to the French during of serious, combat-related casualties skyrocketed,
the conquest of the 19th century. Communist increasing the DRV’s needs for medical person-
nationalists would use it to refer increasingly to nel, doctors, and pharmacists as well as nurses,
assistants, and medics. The DRV’s medical ser-

LANSDALE 255

vices had no choice but to recruit students from French camp at Dien Bien Phu. Despite the Laniel
the countryside, where Vietnamese knowledge of government’s hope that the American Air Force
French had always been weakest. As a result, in would intervene through operation Vautour, it
the middle of a full-blown war, the Vietnamese never happened. On 7 May 1954 Dien Bien Phu
medical corps embarked upon the extraordinary fell to the DRV’s armed forces. Although Laniel’s
project of translating scores of French medical government went ahead with the Geneva Confer-
textbooks, manuals, and lectures into Vietnamese, ence, his cabinet fell on 12 June, allowing Pierre
bringing French-trained intellectuals into closer Mendès France to take over the negotiations and
touch with their own language and identity. end the war. It was also the Laniel government
that was forced, in a declaration on Indochina on
Lastly, the DRV, the French, and the Associated 3 July 1953, to grant much fuller independence
States of Indochina all sought out and recruited (parfaire) to the Associated States of Indochina,
translators, interpreters, and bi- or multi-lingual especially following Norodom Sihanouk’s royal
people at all levels of society. Intelligence services crusade for independence and the unilateral de-
in particular turned to the large overseas Chinese valuation of the piastre. Laniel wrote a book about
communities in Vietnam to serve as spies and all these events, entitled Le drame indochinois. De
sources of information. Vietnamese and French Dien Bien Phu au pari de Genève. See also CUR-
turned to métis to help them to navigate safely RENCY, FRENCH INDOCHINA; FINANCIAL
wide yet vital cultural divides. Bi-lingualism was COST OF THE INDOCHINA WAR.
a sine qua non.

LAniel, joseph (1889–1975). French presi- Lansdale, Edward Geary. (1908–1987).
dent who presided over the opening of the Ge- Prominent American intelligence officer in the
neva Conference and the fall of Dien Bien Phu. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the
Deputy for Calvados, he served as under secretary Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) active in
of state for Finances in the Paul Reynaud govern- Southeast Asia during the Indochina War. Born
ment in March 1940 and voted full powers to in Detroit, Michigan, he served in the European
Philippe Pétain ending the 3rd Republic. However, theatre in the OSS during World War II. In 1945,
he joined the resistance in 1941 and helped estab- he transferred to the Philippines with the rank of
lish the Conseil national de la Résistance. After major and was appointed chief of the Intelligence
World War II, he was re-elected deputy for Calva- Division in the Headquarters Air Forces Western
dos and founded the center-right Parti républicain Pacific. Until 1948, he helped resolve cases of
de la liberté. After serving as minister in several US soldiers missing in action and collaborated
governments in the 4th Republic, he became Pré- with the Filipino military in rebuilding their intel-
sident du Conseil in June 1953. His government ligence services. He returned to the Philippines in
would last but one year, racked by strikes and the 1950 on the personal request of President Elpidio
questions of the European Defense Community Quirino and joined the Joint United States Mili-
and decolonization. To help negotiate an end to tary Assistance Group there. He helped Filipino
the war in Indochina, Laniel relied on two men Defense Minister Ramon Magsaysay stamp out a
who had been directly involved in the failure to communist insurgency, the Huks, and developed
head off war in 1945–1946 – Georges Bidault Filipino psycho­log­ ical operations in order to
in charge of Foreign Affairs and René Pleven as combat this new type of war. Lansdale was named
minister of Defense. Financially burdened and colonel in 1951.
under pressure to focus on Europe, Laniel’s gov- In light of his counter-insurgency experience,
ernment’s strategy was nonetheless more realistic the CIA dispatched Lansdale to Vietnam in 1953
than its conservative predecessors. The main goal to help the Associated State of Vietnam led by
was to try to negotiate an “honorable way out” Bao Dai. Lansdale worked again in Indochina be-
(sortie honorable) of the war. To do this, the gov- tween 1954 and 1956. During this time, he served
ernment approved the Navarre plan. It was de- in Saigon training and advising on counter-insur-
signed to strengthen the French military position gency techniques, engineering anti-communist
in Indochina in order to open negotiations on fa- propaganda, and entering into contact with militia
vorable terms with the adversary. However, things groups and religious groups in the south, such
did not work out as planned when the Democratic as the Cao Dai and Trinh Minh The. After the
Republic of Vietnam’s (DRV) army besieged the Geneva Conference confirmed the withdrawal

256 LAO ISSARA Lao Issara now operated out of Bangkok, where
it was based, and Northeastern Thailand, where
of the French, Lansdale threw his weight behind its soldiers and guerrillas were stationed. While
the Republic of Vietnam and its new leader, Ngo militarily the Issara never posed a threat on the
Dinh Diem. He also trained Pham Xuan An, other side of the Mekong, the presence of many of
who had recently gone to work as a mole for the the best and brightest of the French-trained elite
DRV secret services. Lansdale’s autobiography in exile undermined French attempts to legitimate
is entitled In the Midst of Wars: An American’s their post-war colonial project in Laos. Through-
Mission to Southeast Asia (1972). See also out the late 1940s, Lao Issara representatives did
ANTOINE SAVANI; GROUPEMENT DE COM- their best to use Thailand to build regional and
MANDOS MIXTES AÉROPORTÉS (GCMA); international contacts and recognition. Issara del-
MARCEL BAZIN; MAURICE BELLEUX; NO- egates met with Thai, American, Vietnamese, and
VELS, FRENCH, INDOCHINA WAR; SERVICE British officials to discuss the course of events in
ACTION; SERVICE DE DOCUMENTATION Indochina. As for the French, their main concern
EXTERIEURE ET DE CONTRE-ESPIONNAGE. was to dissolve the Lao Issara as quickly as pos-
sible, bring its members back to Laos, and thereby
LAO ISSARA. Also known as the “Promoters” legitimate their own political project.
(Khana Kokan), the Lao Issara leadership con-
sisted of patriotic civil servants who had worked The coming of the Cold War, marked by
in the French colonial administration and a group Chinese communist victories and increasing
of Lao patriots like Thao Oun who had been in American pressure on the French to decolonize,
Thailand during World War II as exiles or in the modified the thrust of this policy. The chang-
service of the Bangkok government. A number of ing international context effectively pushed the
them had worked directly with the Seri Thai or French to sign conventions with each monarchy
Free Thai movement run by Pridi Phanomyong in 1949, recognizing their national independence
and dominated by ethnic Lao from Isan such as within the confines of the French Union. Political
Tieng Serikhan and Thongin Phuriphat. Others strategists led by High Commissioner Léon Pi-
came from the Lao offshoot known as the Lao Pen gnon used the creation of these Associated States
Lao (Laos for the Lao). to remove the raison d’être of the Lao Issara (and
Whatever its weaknesses, the Lao Issara gov- the Khmer Issarak) and thereby bring its lead-
ernment took the first steps to create a postcolonial ers back to Laos. The Franco-Lao convention as
nation-state in Laos in the wake of World War II. signed in Paris on 19 July 1949 followed the one
On 8 October, its spokesman informed King Sisa- signed with Bao Dai and preceded another one
vang Vong that its leaders intended to establish a with Norodom Sihanouk.
constitutional monarchy. The King refused. On 12
October, the Issara held a ceremony in Vientiane No sooner had the ink dried on the conven-
to proclaim the independence and unity of Laos tion than the French turned to dissolving the Lao
under its national authority. The new government Issara. In a remarkable operation, the French
promulgated the nation’s first constitution and on opened secret meetings with Issara members that
15 October presented its programme to the provi- successfully neutralized the movement in Thai-
sional National Assembly. On 19 November, the land and brought most of its leaders back to Laos.
Lao Issara deposed the king. This operation was facilitated by the fact that the
As was the case in Vietnam, the presence of Franco-Lao convention creating the Associated
Chinese troops in Laos did not last for long. In State of Laos satisfied the desires of most of the
February 1946, the geopolitical situation changed Issara nationalists who had been in Thailand since
significantly when French and Chinese authori- 1946. On 24 October 1949, three weeks after the
ties signed an accord allowing French troops to proclamation of the People’s Republic of China,
replace their counterparts above the 16th parallel. the prime minister of the Provisional Government
On 21 March, the French re-occupied Thakhek in of Laos, Khammao, proclaimed the official dis-
a bloody attack and moved northwards to retake solution of the Lao Issara government and move-
all of Laos by May. They restored Sisavang Vong ment. Guaranteed amnesty and often posts in the
to his pre-March 1945 positions. In the spring of Associated State of Laos, almost all of the major
1946, Phetsarath and the Lao Issara government leaders of the movement and government returned
crossed the Mekong for exile in Thailand. Under to Laos in late 1949 and 1950. The two revealing
the continued premiership of Khammao, the exceptions were Phetsarath and his half-brother

LAOS, SECOND BATTLE OF 257

Prince Suphānuvong. See also ADMINISTRA- bang and counter-attacked from 9 May, retaking
TIVE OFFICE FOR THE FRONTIER; ASSOCI- Xieng Khouang. While the battle ended for the
ATED STATES OF INDOCHINA; COMMITTEE Vietnamese on 18 May, the DRV’s army occupied
FOR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS; COMMITTEE Sam Neau and large parts of Xieng Khouang and
FOR THE EAST, LAO ISSARA; INDOCHI- Phongsaly. The Vietnamese installed the Pathet
NESE COMMUNIST PARTY; INDOCHINESE Lao in these areas. Thanks to the DRV, Prince
FEDERATION; KAISÔN PHOMVIHĀN; LAO Suphānuvong established his resistance capital
RESISTANCE GOVERNMENT; PARTY AF- in Sam Neua.
FAIRS COMMITTEE.
At the international level, the spectacular Viet-
LAO RESISTANCE GOVERNMENT. As the namese invasion of Laos set off warning bells in
French accelerated their efforts to create the As- Washington. Many American strategists worried
sociated States of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia that the DRV’s Indochinese ambitions hid wider
in 1948–1949, the Democratic Republic of Southeast Asian ones. The Americans were also
Vietnam (DRV) countered from April 1949 by increasingly disappointed by General Raoul
developing their own revolutionary Indochinese Salan’s defensive strategy, urging him to take
alliance. In August 1950, the Vietnamese pre- the initiative in the battlefield instead of letting
sided over the creation of the Lao Resistance the Vietnamese do it for him. Even voices in
Government (Chinh Phu Khang Chien Lao) and the French public took notice of the Vietnamese
the Pathet Lao national front, replacing the now invasion into Laos and the fact that the DRV was
defunct Lao Issara movement. With Chinese sup- not a simple hit-and-run guerrilla movement but
port now behind them, Vietnamese communists a remarkably modern army, now on the move in
reaffirmed their internationalist commitment to western Indochina. French leaders had also been
an Indochinese revolution and to Indochinese caught off guard by the DRV’s threat to Luang
associated states in opposition to those supported Prabang, an ally whose defense the French were
by the French and backed by the West. Prince now obligated to defend by treaty commitments.
Suphānuvong led this Laos resistance govern- This concern influenced the French decision to oc-
ment aligned with the DRV. See also ADMINIS- cupy and hold Dien Bien Phu in order to prevent
TRATIVE OFFICE FOR THE FRONTIER; AD- the DRV from moving on Laos again in 1954.
VISORY GROUP 100; ASSOCIATED STATES Lastly, the DRV’s Indochina strategy had forced
OF INDOCHINA; COMMITTEE FOR EXTER- the French to commit and disperse more troops to
NAL AFFAIRS; COMMITTEE FOR THE EAST, defend western Indochina and the highlands.
LAO ISSARA; INDOCHINESE COMMUNIST
PARTY; INDOCHINESE FEDERATION; KAI- Although this does not appear to have been one
SÔN PHOMVIHĀN; LAO RESISTANCE GOV- of the goals of the spring 1953 attack on upper
ERNMENT; NGUYEN THANH SON; PARTY Laos, DRV strategists understood the significance
AFFAIRS COMMITTEE. of what they had done and identified drawing the
French into the highlands and across Indochina as
LAOS, FIRST BATTLE OF (13 April–18 May one of the main aims of their 1953–1954 campaign
1953). The Democratic Republic of Vietnam’s leading to the victory at Dien Bien Phu. See also
(DRV) High Command launched a major attack DIEN BIEN PHU, BATTLE PREPARATION
into northern Laos in April and May 1953 in a bid AND CONTEXT; LAOS, SECOND BATTLE
to open a land route to supply Inter-Zones IV OF.
and V and to boost the Lao Resistance Govern-
ment as part of its wider Indochinese ambitions. LAOS, SECOND BATTLE OF (15 December
As General Vo Nguyen Giap put it at the time: 1953–May 1954). In mid-September 1953, the in-
“Our strategic aim is to take all of Indochina, that telligence services of the Democratic Republic of
is Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia…” Elements of Vietnam (DRV) “acquired a good understanding
the 308th, 312th and 316th divisions attacked upper of the basic elements of the Navarre Plan” and
Laos from mid-April, moving into Sam Neua and used this in their preparations for the 1953–1954
Xieng Khouang before threatening to move on Winter Spring Campaign. The Vietnamese Polit-
Luang Prabang. Whereas the French pulled out of buro and High Command concluded that General
the first two places, they held solid in Luang Pra- Henri Navarre was massing his forces to occupy
and hold the Tonkin lowlands. Vietnamese strat-
egists concluded that it was imperative to force

258 LAPIERRE

Navarre “to disperse his forces out to other sec- in Hanoi. Vichy named him colonel in September
tors so that we can annihilate them”. Rather than of 1941. During the Japanese coup de force of 9
trying to attack the delta, where the French could March 1945, his troops were overwhelmed by the
concentrate their artillery and air power easily on adversary and those who survived were impris-
the attacking forces, the Politburo decided to try oned until Allied liberation. Lapierre remained in
to disperse the French, taking advantage of the Indochina after the Japanese capitulation. In late
rougher terrain in northwest Vietnam and Laos. 1945, with the arrival of the French Expedition-
This was the context in which the second battle of ary Corps, General Philippe Leclerc assigned
Laos was conceived and launched weeks after the him the command of the Northern Cochinchinese
Politburo approved the winter 1953–spring 1954 Zone. Lapierre left Indochina in December 1946.
military plan in November 1953. In early 1953, he led a mission to study the use of
colonial troops in the Indochina War.
On 20 December, the DRV sent elements of
three divisions into central Laos and briefly oc- lartéguy, Jean (jean pierre luciEn
cupied the Lao town of Thakhek and threatened oasty, 1920–?). Volunteered to fight at the start
briefly the French military base at Séno. When of World War II and joined the Free French forces
Navarre decided to dig in at Dien Bien Phu, the in 1942, conducting commando operations in
Vietnamese maintained the pressure on central France. After the war, he became a correspondent
Laos and pushed troops even further into north- during the Korean War and a prolific writer on
eastern Cambodia and the highlands of Inter- decolonization, nationalist movements in the
Zone V (Lien Khu V). It was now vital to draw South, and on France’s forgotten soldiers, the
as many French forces as possible away from the “centurions” as he liked to put it. He dedicated
main battlefield at Dien Bien Phu. Meanwhile, several novels to Indochina, including La ville
following the cancellation of the first attack étranglée (1955), Les âmes errantes (1956), Les
on Dien Bien Phu in January 1954, General Vo centurions (1960), and Le mal jaune (1962). See
Nguyen Giap pulled his famous 308th division also CINEMA; EXPERIENCE OF WAR; LAN-
away from the battlefield and sent it into northern GUAGE OF WAR; MYTH OF WAR; NOVELS.
Laos in a bid to further divert the French from
Dien Bien Phu so that final preparations for the Laurentie, Henri (1901–1984). High-rank-
March attack could be made (when Giap then ing colonial administrator and principal architect
recalled the 308th to let it loose on Dien Bien of Gaullist colonial policy during World War II
Phu). Both attacks on Laos (in the center and the and that of the early French 4th Republic. Trained
north) revealed yet again the capacity of the DRV in law and a graduate of the École nationale des
to operate militarily on an Indochinese level and langues orientales vivantes, Laurentie began a
this explains to a large extent why the DRV and long career in the colonial civil service in 1922. In
its Lao allies were in a stronger position in Laos 1924, he served as deputy director of Indigenous
when negotiations opened in Geneva the day Dien Affairs in Cameroon, rising rapidly in the colonial
Bien Phu fell to the DRV. See also DIEN BIEN hierarchy. In 1927, he became an administrator of
PHU, CANCELLATION OF FIRST ATTACK; the colonies and moved into the Bureau of Politi-
GENEVA CONFERENCE; PATHET LAO. cal Affairs in Cameroon. Between 1930 and 1934,
he served as high commissioner for the Levant
Lapierre, Henri GUSTAVE LEON in Damas. In August 1940, in Chad, Laurentie
(1895–1985). Longtime military officer serving helped win over the colony to Free French forces
in Indochina. Graduated from Saint-Cyr in 1914, and became general secretary of Chad then part of
Lapierre served throughout World War I, being French Equatorial Africa.
wounded at the Somme in 1915. He served in Named governor of the colonies in 1942,
the colonies during the interwar period, mainly Laurentie played a leading role in the preparation
in Africa. However, in 1937 he transferred to of the Brazzaville Conference and the 24 March
Indochina, where he would remain in one way or 1945 Declaration on Indochina. René Pleven
another until 1947. As lieutenant colonel he was named him directeur des Affaires politiques au
the head of the General Staff of the Colonial Divi- Commissariat aux Colonies in Algiers. There
sion of Tonkin, second in command in the 10th Laurentie worked closely with Léon Pignon on
Colonial Infantry Regiment based in Hue and then formulating a new colonial policy for Indochina.
head of the 1st Regiment of Tonkinese Tirailleurs

LÊ ĐÌNH CHI 259

With the end of World War II, this bureau moved the French defeat, he returned to Indochina in
to Paris and was renamed the Ministry of Overseas February 1941 and was stationed at the Tan Son
France, in which Laurentie served as director of Nhut air base. In March 1943, he transferred to a
Political Affairs until 1947. He thereafter worked bomber squadron at the colonial airbase in Tong
as deputy delegate for France to the United Na- in northern Vietnam, but left the air force a few
tions. months later. Between 1943 and March 1945, he
worked as a secretary in the commercial office
According to British historian Martin Shipway, of the Brasserie et glacières d’Indochine (BGI)
Laurentie was something of a “colonial liberal”, and became in 1945 deputy director then director
ready to take up the question of Vietnamese in- of the BGI in Can Tho province. Following the
dependence which the 24 March Declaration on overthrow of the French and the advent of the
Indochina refused to do. For Laurentie, the March Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), he
declaration could have been a point of departure became president of the People’s Committee in
for a new colonial policy. However, like Paul Mus, Can Tho and remained in charge of the BGI, si-
Laurentie had to accept that Charles de Gaulle multaneously providing military training to youth
was opposed to making any serious concessions groups. In October 1945, he joined the resistance
to Vietnamese nationalism. As Laurentie wrote to against the French and took the BGI’s funds with
the director of Combat in September 1945: “I can, him. In November 1945, he created one of the first
in a private capacity, tell you this: the Annamese Vietnamese weapons repair factories. However,
national sentiment, or even the Lao and Cam- for unclear reasons, he returned to the French
bodian national ones, constitutes an undeniable zone in March 1946 and resumed his work at the
fact and French policy would do well to satisfy Tan Son Nhut airbase as a deputy commander
it”. In October 1945, Laurentie went through the there. In August 1949, the British invited him to
Cominindo in an attempt to warn against what participate in an air show in Singapore. Between
he saw as High Commissioner Georges Thierry 1951 and 1954, he served as general director of
d’Argenlieu’s and Commander-in-Chief of the the Associated State of Vietnam’s first airline
Armed Forces Philippe Leclerc’s dangerous company, Air Vietnam. On 16 June 1954, pre-
underestimation of Vietnamese nationalism. He sident Buu Loc made him Chevalier de l’ordre
was called back into line but not before exhorting national du Vietnam.
the French to demonstrate “their liberal intentions
and publicly admit the principle of conversation LÊ ĐÌNH CHI (1912–1949). Lawyer instrumen-
with (legitimate) elements representing Annam- tal in the creation of the Democratic Republic
ese nationalism”. of Vietnam’s (DRV) judicial branch during the
Indochina War. He completed his secondary
While he would salute the signing of the education in northern Vietnam and studied law
Accords of 6 March 1946 as a sign of French at the Faculté de droit in Hanoi, obtaining his
liberalism, he would be profoundly disappointed degree in 1935. He was also deeply involved in
by what followed, not just the Cochinchinese radical politics. He joined the Vietnam Revolu-
separatism supported by Thierry d’Argenlieu but tionary Youth League in the late 1920s and was
also by what he saw as the Democratic Republic a classmate of Truong Chinh. Le Dinh Chi left
of Vietnam’s (DRV) preference for war from Hanoi for Saigon in the 1930s, where he worked
November 1946. In late 1946, he argued against as a lawyer in the Saigon Municipal Court (some
making any more concessions to the DRV. On 12 sources say the Criminal Court). He took part
June 1947, he resigned from his position in the in the Indochinese Congress during the Popular
Ministry of Colonies. Front period. With the advent of the DRV in 1945,
Le Dinh Chi sold some of his possessions in order
le chinh. See jean marrane. to buy weapons for troops opposing the return of
the French and supported detachment 11 (chi doi
LÊ CỘNG TRINH (MARCEL, 1916–?). Viet- 11) in Tay Ninh province. In early 1946, he headed
namese pilot and general director of the Associ- up the Board of Military Justice for war Zone VII
ated State of Vietnam’s Air Vietnam. Born in Go (Ban Quan Phap Khu VII). He played a role in
Cong province in southern Vietnam, Le Cong persuading reluctant intellectuals, bureaucrats,
Trinh held French citizenship. In 1939, he was and professionals in Saigon-Cholon to join or at
called to arms in France and trained to fly obser-
vation planes in the French Air Force. Following

260 LÊ DUẨN French broke out in southern Vietnam. But once
in Vietnam, he lost no time asserting his authority
least support clandestinely the national resistance over party and security affairs in the south. With
movement led by the DRV. In early 1946, working Tran Van Giau recalled to the north, in October
with the lawyer Nguyen Thanh Vinh, Le Dinh 1945 a plenum of the Executive Committee of the
Chi organized the secret visit to Saigon-Cholon ICP’s Territorial Committee for Cochinchina (Xu
of Nguyen Binh, the head of war Zone VII (Khu Uy Nam Ky) named him its new leader. From that
VII) and the commander-in-chief of the southern point until the end of the war in 1954, Le Duan was
Armed Forces. In 1948–1949, Le Dinh Chinh the highest-ranking communist leader in southern
ran the Bureau of Military Justice for the Nam Vietnam. In 1946, he traveled to Hanoi where
Bo High Command (Phong Quan Phap Bo Tu he met with Ho Chi Minh and other senior ICP
Lenh Nam Bo) before becoming the director of members about the policies to adopt in Vietnam
the Military Justice Service of the Military High in general and in the south in particular. In late
Command of Nam Bo (Nha Quan Phap Thuoc Bo 1946, the Central Committee sent him back to the
Tu Lenh Nam Bo). He helped develop the DRV’s south to reassert the party’s control and rebuild its
justice system in the south, producing legal texts bases, membership, and activities. He arrived in
on a wide range of socio-political matters. He also the south in early 1947.
oversaw the training of the DRV’s first lawyers
in southern Vietnam. In 1949, he perished in a Shortly thereafter, Le Duan became secretary
French air raid. of the party’s Territorial Committee for Nam Bo
(Xu Uy Nam Bo) as well as the head of the Bureau
LÊ DUẨN (ANH BA, CHÍN, DEUX CENTS of Nam Bo Militia (Phong Dan Quan Nam Bo).
BOUGIES, 1907–1986). The most powerful His deputy in the Territorial Committee was an-
communist leader in southern Vietnam during the other powerful communist, Le Duc Tho. In 1951,
Indochina War. Born in Quang Tri province in the Territorial Committee of Nam Bo transformed
central Vietnam, Le Duan grew up in a working- into an even more powerful ICP organization in
class family. In 1928, he joined the Vietnam charge of both southern Vietnam and Cambodia –
Revolutionary Youth League and then the In- the Bureau of the [ICP’s] Central Office for the
dochinese Communist Party (ICP) in 1930. In Southern Region (Trung Uong Cuc Mien Nam,
1931, he was a member of the Committee for better known by its American acronym, COSVN).
Political Propaganda and Ideological Indoctrina- Le Duan served as its secretary; his deputy was Le
tion within the ICP’s Territorial Committee for Duc Tho. During the ICP’s Second Party Congress
Tonkin (Xu Uy Bac Ky). He was arrested in that of early 1951, Le Duan was elected to the Party’s
same year in Haiphong and sentenced to 20 years Executive Committee for the Central Committee
in prison and shipped off to the French maximum and the Politburo (he remained in the south). In
security prison in Poulo Condor. Thanks to the 1951, with the disappearance of Nguyen Binh,
liberal policies of the Popular Front government, Le Duan’s team transformed the politico-military
however, he regained his freedom in 1936 and organization of Nam Bo into two new regions,
resumed his political activities for the party in the the Eastern and Western Inter-zonal Sections
central Vietnamese provinces. He played an ac- (Phan Lien Khu Mien Dong and Phan Lien Khu
tive role in the creation of an Indochinese Demo- Mien Tay) in a clear move to consolidate the ICP’s
cratic Front and Congress during the Popular control over military matters. Le Duan was sec-
Front period. In 1937, he became secretary of the retary of the eastern party section, while Le Duc
Party’s Territorial Committee for Annam (Xu Uy Tho took over the western section.
Trung Ky). In 1939, he joined the ICP’s Standing
Committee of the Central Committee. In 1940, In late 1952, Le Duan returned to the north
the French colonial police arrested him in Saigon where he worked closely with the party leadership
and sent him back to Poulo Condor. He was very in Thai Nguyen province until early 1954. One
active in communist politics while serving time conclusion he reached was the need to create main
and forged crucial and long-lasting relationships force military units in the south capable of keep-
with communist and non-communist nationalists, ing pace with expanding military developments
including Pham Hung, Nguyen Van Linh, and and military strength in the north. He also called
Pham Van Dong. for a strengthening of the ICP’s network and con-
Le Duan returned to the Vietnamese mainland trol over the Democratic Republic of Vietnam’s
on 23 September 1945, the very day war with the administration in southern Vietnam. In June 1953,

LÊ ĐỨC THỌ 261

he made a brief trip to Beijing to recover from August 1948, he served as political commissar in
illness, during which time he met Liu Shaoqi. Detachment 1 (chi doi 1) before carrying out the
Le Duan returned to Vietnam in September. In same task in the 301st Regiment. Between October
early 1954, he left for the south with the rank of 1948 and 1950, he was on the General Staff of the
Politburo member and as secretary of the ICP’s Military Command of Inter-Zone VII (Lien Khu
Territorial Committee for Nam Bo. He stopped VII) and then Inter-Zone VIII (Lien Khu VIII).
over in Quang Ngai province to organize political Between 1951 and 1954, following the disappea-
training of mid-and upper-level communist cad- rance of Nguyen Binh, he became deputy chief
res for lower-central and southern Vietnam. He of staff then chief of staff for the High Command
finally returned to the south in early September of Nam Bo. He worked closely with Le Duan,
1954, following the signing of the Geneva Ac- Pham Hung, Nguyen Van Linh, and Le Duc
cords in July. Tho during the entire war and well after.

Although he was not happy with the party’s LÊ ĐỨC THỌ (PHAN ĐÌNH KHAI, SÁU
decision to accept the provisional division of BÚA, ANH SÁU, 1911–1990). One of the most
the country at Geneva, or to agree to elections, powerful leaders in the Vietnamese communist
he nonetheless accepted the difficult task of per- movement, both in the Politburo and in southern
suading southern cadres and fighters to lay down Vietnam during the Indochina War. Born into a
their arms and relocate to northern Vietnam. Le mandarin family in Nam Dinh, Le Duc Tho be-
Duan, however, remained in the south to set up an came politically active in the 1920s. He took part
ultra-secret communist network in former Zone in the general student strikes triggered by Phan
IX (Khu IX). He simultaneously worked under- Chu Trinh’s death in 1926; joined in 1928 the
cover in Saigon in 1955 and 1956, with his friend student association of Nam Dinh, run by the Viet-
from Poulo Condor, now secretary of the Party’s nam Revolutionary Youth League; and became a
City Committee for Saigon-Cholon, Nguyen member of the Indochinese Communist Party
Van Linh. The Bureau of the Central Committee (ICP) in 1930. The French colonial police arres-
for the Southern Region reverted to the Territo- ted him in November 1930 and imprisoned him
rial Committee of Nam Bo whose headquarters in Poulo Condor where he became an important
was secretly located in Saigon itself. Ngo Dinh communist leader. Thanks to the more liberal-
Diem’s intelligence services were aware that Le minded Popular Front, in 1936 he walked free and
Duan had stayed behind, and worked vigorously returned to his political activities as a journalist
to prevent the communists from creating sleeper and party organizer in northern Vietnam, mainly
cells and infiltrating the emerging Republic of in his home province of Nam Dinh. In 1939, the
Vietnam. Le Duan returned to the north in 1957 French arrested him again and incarcerated him in
via Hong Kong and Guangzhou (Canton), thanks prisons in Hanoi, Hoa Binh and Son La under the
to overseas Chinese working in the government’s direction of Jean Cousseau, then interim résident
Bureau for Overseas Chinese Affairs in Nam for this northern province. Little is known about
Bo. He went on to become general secretary of the Le Duc Tho’s activities in prison during this time,
communist party shortly thereafter. although he must have rubbed shoulders with
other communists who would go on to hold high
LÊ ĐỨC ANH (1920–). Senior Vietnamese mili- positions in the Democratic Republic of Viet-
tary and communist cadre during the Indochina nam (DRV) – Le Gian and Tran Quoc Hoan
War. Born in central Vietnam, he became politi- among others.
cally active during the Popular Front period and Upon his release in September 1944, the ICP
joined the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) assigned him important tasks in the Hanoi area as
in 1938. He participated in the Vanguard Youth preparations accelerated to launch an insurrection
League (Thanh Nien Tien Phong) that helped in conjunction with an expected Allied invasion.
nationalists take power in southern Vietnam in Le Duc Tho was one of the leaders in charge of
August 1945. He joined the army in that same running the party’s Secure Zone (An Toan Khu)
month and became a member of the ICP Standing set up near the northern capital. He was also in
Committee for the Provincial Committee in Thu charge of important organizational work and the
Dau Mot. Between August 1945 and April 1947, training of reliable communist cadres. In October
he was a platoon leader before becoming a batta- 1944, his influence was such that he became a
lion political commissar. Between May 1947 and

262 LÊ DUY NGHĨA

member of the ICP’s Central Committee and was La, then administered by the interim Résident
directly responsible for running the powerful Jean Cousseau. Le Gian was then deported to
party Territorial Committee for Tonkin (Xu Uy Madagascar in June 1941 where he served time
Bac Ky). He worked closely during this period with Tran Hieu, Hoang Huu Nam, and Hoang
with the provisional general secretary of the party, Dinh Giong. Cao Dai leader Pham Cong Tac
Truong Chinh. In August 1945, during the Tan later joined them. With the Allied occupation of
Trao Conference, Le Duc Tho joined the ICP’s Madagascar in 1943, the British recruited Le Gian
Standing Committee and became responsible for and the other communist nationalists to work in
the internal organizational operations of the party, Allied propaganda and intelligence operations
a powerful position that he would retain through- against the Japanese in Indochina. Le Gian’s
out both Indochina wars. knowledge of English, anti-fascist credentials
and willingness to fight the Japanese trumped his
In 1948, the Central Committee decided to send communist affiliation. The British transferred him
him to southern Vietnam as its special delegate to to India and trained him in guerrilla warfare,
strengthen contacts, transmit directives, and help radio operations, and espionage. Despite initial
revamp and expand the party’s organization in hesitations, Le Gian agreed to work in the Allied
the south. He arrived in 1949, with a letter from intelligence operations, providing information on
Truong Chinh designating him to run the party’s the Japanese and helping to free downed Allied
affairs in the south. For unclear reasons, he ended pilots. In August 1944, the British or Americans
up deferring to Le Duan, to which the ICP leader- parachuted him into northern Vietnam, where he
ship agreed. Despite clashing at the outset, the two immediately went to work providing intelligence
men developed a close working relationship that on the Japanese to the Allies, all the while ente-
would last well into the 1980s. In 1949, Le Duc ring into contact with the ICP whose leaders were
Tho became the deputy secretary of the party’s eager to assist the Allied war effort while prepa-
Territorial Committee for Nam Bo. In early 1951, ring to launch an uprising in conjunction with an
during the Second Party Congress, he joined the Allied invasion of Indochina. In February 1946,
Executive Committee of the ICP’s Central Com- the DRV created the Public Security Department
mittee and seconded Le Duan on the ICP’s newly (Viet Nam Cong An Vu) with Le Gian serving as its
created Central Office for the Southern Region general director. He held this post under one title
(Trung Uong Cuc Mien Nam, better known by its or another until Tran Quoc Hoan replaced him in
American acronym, COSVN). Le Duc Tho also 1953. Le Gian played a particularly important role
headed its “Organizational Board” (Ban To Chuc). in helping to eliminate non-communist nationalist
parties in northern Vietnam in 1946. See also
In 1954, following the division of Vietnam dur- CIVIL WAR; H122 AFFAIR; VIETNAMESE
ing the Geneva Conference, Le Duc Tho repatri- NATIONALIST PARTY.
ated to northern Vietnam and joined the Politburo
in 1955. In late 1956, in keeping with his earlier LÊ HIẾN MAI. See DƯƠNG QUỐC CHÍNH.
organizational work for the party, he became head
of the Organization Board of the party’s Central LÊ HỒNG. See HOÀNG MINH CHÍNH.
Committee. Together, Le Duc Tho and Le Duan
were the two single most powerful party leaders LÊ HỮU TỪ (1897–1967). One of the most
in southern Vietnam during the Indochina War and influential Catholic nationalist priests during
eventually in the entire Vietnamese Worker’s the Indochina War, opposed both to Vietnamese
Party during the Vietnam War. communism and French colonialism. Born in
Quang Tri province in 1897, he was ordained a
LÊ DUY NGHĨA. See TRẦN NGỌC DANH. priest of the Order of Cistercians in December
1928. He became vicar apostolic of Phat Diem
LÊ GIẢN (TÔ GĨ). One of the founders of the in June 1945 and was ordained archbishop on 1
Democratic Republic of Vietnam’s (DRV) Public November 1945. As Charles Keith has noted, this
Security Services. He became politically active “was the first ordination in independent Vietnam
in the 1920s and joined in the general student and the first ordination of a Vietnamese bishop to
strikes triggered by the death of Phan Chu Trinh take place without a single European bishop or
in 1926. He joined the Indochinese Communist missionary present. The event marked the degree
Party (ICP) in the 1930s. In April 1940, the
French arrested and incarcerated him at Son

LE PULOCH 263

to which Vietnamese bishops had become a locus THE WAR; CHRISTIANS AND OPPOSITION
of growing cultural nationalism in the Vietnamese TO THE INDOCHINA WAR; VATICAN.
Catholic community”. Hostile to the return of
French colonialism to Vietnam, Le Huu Tu ac- LÊ HY. See LÃ VĨNH LỢI.
cepted Ho Chi Minh’s invitation to serve as a
supreme advisor to the government, like Bao Dai. LÊ LIÊM  (TRỊNH ĐÌNH HUẤN, 1922–1985).
Senior Vietnamese military leader during the
Following the outbreak of full-scale war on Indochina War. Born in Ha Dong province in the
19 December 1946, Le Huu Tu did his best to north, between 1936 and 1938 he studied at the
keep his large Catholic diocese out of the line of famous private high school Thang Long, where
fire. The two dioceses of Bui Chu and Phat Diem he rubbed shoulders with Vo Nguyen Giap and
constituted a sort of autonomous Catholic zone in other future nationalist leaders. He became active
upper central Vietnam. Until the Cold War inten- in nationalist politics during the Popular Front
sified the war, Le Huu Tu was largely successful period and joined the Indochinese Communist
in keeping the French colonialists and the Viet- Party (ICP) during this time. In 1940, the French
namese communists at bay. He was also perhaps arrested and incarcerated him in the Son La co-
the only priest at the time in Vietnam to head his lonial prison. Released in 1943, he resumed his
own private “army”, a Catholic militia numbering political activities in areas around Hanoi where
some 6,000 individuals as of 1951. However, as he served as a member of the Standing Committee
the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) of the party’s Territorial Committee for Tonkin
moved to control this strategically important area (Xu Uy Bac Ky). With the advent of the Demo-
in the early 1950s, the French responded in kind, cratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945, he served as
drawing Le Huu Tu and his followers inexorably the ICP’s secretary for war Zone III (Khu Chien
into the conflagration. Despite the DRV propa- III) near Hanoi as well as the president of the
ganda attacks against him, Le Huu Tu remained Resistance and Administrative Committee for the
ardently anti-colonialist and continued to repel same zone. Following the outbreak of full-scale
French efforts to bring him and his disciples over war on 19 December 1946, he led the Bureau of
to their side. His hostility towards the French was the People’s Militia (Cuc Dan Quan). He served
such that General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny in the political section of the General Political
met privately with the Pope in Rome in 1951 in an Bureau (Tong Cuc Chinh Tri) and eventually be-
attempt to rein in this independent-minded priest. came the deputy director of this powerful military
organization. He participated in the army’s major
Caught in the middle, Le Huu Tu eventually military operations in the north between 1950 and
agreed to work with the emerging Vietnamese 1954. During the battle of Dien Bien Phu, he was
state led by the former emperor, Bao Dai. In April in charge of all political questions at the front.
1951, the bishops of Bui Chu and Phat Diem
joined the Associated State of Vietnam. How- le puloch, louis (1904–1976). Served in
ever, Le Huu Tu’s hostility to French colonialism the colonial army in Indochina during the inte-
remained. In 1953, he advised Bao Dai to take rwar period (1925–1929, 1935–39), commanding
refuge in the United States rather than cooperate troops mainly in the regiment of the Tirailleurs
with the French. Le Huu Tu met personally with tonkinois. The Germans took him prisoner during
the American consulate general in Hanoi and the Battle of France in mid-1940. Upon his release
tried to negotiate directly with them rather than in 1941, he transferred to French Vichy Africa and
going through the French. He commanded a loyal then crossed over to Free French forces following
following among Vietnamese Catholics and his the Allied Landing in North Africa in November
nationalism even earned him the respect of Ho 1942. He took part in the liberation of France and
Chi Minh and the communists. One of the Indo- Germany. After World War II, now a colonel, Le
chinese Communist Party’s top officials, Tran Puloch headed up the colonial section in the gene-
Dang Ninh, met with this independent-minded ral staff of the National Defense ministry and re-
priest in a bid to keep him on the DRV’s side. turned to Indochina in August 1946 to serve as the
To no avail. Following the division of Vietnam head of cabinet to High Commissioner Georges
into two states in mid-1954, Le Huu Tu moved Thierry d’Argenlieu. In December, interim high
to southern Vietnam where he died in April commissioner for Indochina, General Jean Val-
1967. See also CATHOLICS, EXODUS FROM
NORTH; CATHOLICS IN VIETNAM AND