Historical Dictionary of The Indochina War 1945 1954

414 SAINTENY

downtown Saigon. In 1949, Lucien Bodard tells urban population welcomed peace. Moreover,
us, as many as a hundred small grenades could there is no evidence indicating that the urban
go off in one night, usually around dusk, and populations in Saigon or Hanoi were ripe for
mainly in the European quarters located along or much less predisposed to rising up against
the rue Catinat in Saigon and the rue des Marins Franco-Vietnamese forces. By late 1952, the Viet
in Cholon. Shopkeepers responded accordingly. Minh could only count a few dozen operatives in
Protective fencing and iron mesh went up around Saigon. In the end, the best the DRV could hope
establishments. “Tout Saigon se cloître derrière for on the urban front in Saigon was that it could
des barreaux”, Bodard recalled: C’est alors que keep the civilians and non-communists national-
le Saigon bien prend l’aspect d’une prison. Il ists on the fence, prevent them from supporting
s’enveloppe de grillages – boutiques, bistrots et the Bao Dai solution or joining the Associated
dancings s’enferment dans des voiles métalliques. State of Vietnam’s army, and maintain its com-
Bien à l’abri, les Français en traîn de boire ou mercial activities in the city.
de manger écoutent les détonations. One Chinese
restaurant owner serving poor white settlers in the Sainteny, Jean (né ROGER13, 1907–1978).
city finally decided to “enferme son établissement French resistance leader and Gaullist sent to
dans un épais rideau de fer”. One dined in peace, Indochina at the end of the Pacific War to help
Bodard observed, but one did so “in a cage”. restore French colonial sovereignty. Married to
People were cognizant of their vulnerability. It the daughter of Albert Sarraut, one of France’s
weighed on their minds even if they got used to most powerful politicians and colonial thinkers,
it being there. Sainteny began his career working in the Banque
de l’Indochine in Indochina between 1929 and
At the same time, the Viet Minh needed Sai- 1931 then in France between 1932 and 1939. He
gon-Cholon as one of its major sources of imports joined the resistance following the French defeat
and trade. True, the DRV did its best to burn down in 1940 and served as one of the leaders of the Al-
the colonial cities upon withdrawing in 1945–46 liance network which collaborated with the Brit-
and subsequently issued orders to embargo them ish Intelligence Service. He escaped incarceration
as a part of its own politico-economic offensive by the Gestapo in June 1944.
to render enemy life unbearably expensive and In 1945, Charles de Gaulle sent him to Kun-
to sow a climate of terror. However, the paradox ming to help create Military Mission 5 in charge
was that the rural-based Viet Minh badly needed of gathering intelligence and organizing resistance
access to enemy urban centers to survive and in work against the Japanese inside Indochina. The
the end refrained from trying to destroy one of its Japanese capitulation in mid-August 1945 took
most important commercial centers. Commanders the French by surprise, however. After failed at-
carefully targeted urban sabotage. Intimidation tempts, Sainteny returned to Hanoi in late August
often worked better than scorched earth tactics. 1945 where he later became commissioner for the
Blind terrorism only served to alienate Vietnam- French Republic in Tonkin and Northern Annam
ese civilians, who would turn to the French and above the 16th parallel (replacing Pierre Mess-
their Vietnamese allies. Undercover operatives mer who had been captured by the Vietnamese).
soon received orders to cultivate relations with Sainteny held that position until December 1947
Western, Asian, and Vietnamese capitalists. The (except for a long interim from May to November
Viet Minh cut deals with Chinese merchants and 1946 when he was in France).
the owners of the biggest gambling casino in Shortly after his arrival in Hanoi in August
town, Le grand monde. Viet Minh underground 1945, he met with representatives of the Demo-
officials in Hanoi and Saigon were constantly on cratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), including
the look out for ways to buy the paper and ink Ho Chi Minh and other Vietnamese elite and na-
required to ensure the continued operation of tionalist leaders, communist and non-communist
printing presses, the medicine and antibiotics to alike. He understood that Ho Chi Minh and his
keep the state’s personnel, leadership, and fledg- entourage were open to negotiations and less anti-
ling army healthy, and the hard to find radio parts French than the Vietnamese Nationalist Party or
to guarantee real time communications. the Dong Minh Hoi. On 6 March 1946, faced with
the real possibility of Chinese opposition to the
When the French finally shut down the urban
terrorism and dismantled much of the underg­ round 13. His name change was legally accepted in 1949.
cities in Hanoi and Saigon by 1951, most of the

SALAN 415

landing of French troops in Haiphong, Sainteny Saint-Marc (de), Hélie Denoix (1922–).
received authorization to sign the Accords of 6 Entered Saint-Cyr but interrupted his studies to
March 1946 with Ho Chi Minh and Vu Hong join the resistance against the Germans. Arrested
Khanh. In this light, Stein Tønnesson has argued, in 1943, he was deported to the Nazi concentra-
Sainteny was perhaps not quite the prescient lib- tion camp of Buchenwald then Langestein. He
eral decolonizer some have thought. In any case, was barely alive when the Americans liberated
Sainteny escorted Ho Chi Minh to France for the the camp. After the war, Saint-Marc joined the
Fontainebleau Conference and entertained him Foreign Legion and arrived in Indochina in 1948
during that long summer of 1946. to fight the forces of the Democratic Republic
of Vietnam. In all, he served three tours of duty
In November 1946, Georges Thierry during the Indochina War. He commanded in the
d’Argenlieu sent Sainteny back to Hanoi in an Algerian War, took part in the Putsch of Algiers,
attempt to put pressure on Ho Chi Minh to replace and was condemned to 10 years in prison for do-
key members of the Vietnamese government with ing so.
more amenable ones. Sainteny followed those
orders leading down a dangerous path to full- SALA, VITO (1925–?). Born in Brooklyn, New
scale confrontation. He was wounded when his York, Sala served as a private in the U.S. army
car struck a mine at the start of hostilities on 19 during World War II, taking part in combat op-
December 1946, but survived and expressed his erations in Germany in April 1945. He apparently
expectation that the Viet Minh’s house of cards went absent without leave and joined the French
would come tumbling down at its first serious Foreign Legion. He served in the Indochina War
defeat. While this proved seriously wrong, he and Foreign Legion records confirm that he par-
continued to remain involved in Vietnamese af- ticipated in and was wounded during the battle of
fairs. In 1946, he received the title of gouverneur Dien Bien Phu in 1954, though it is very unclear
des colonies, one which he maintained until his how he escaped enemy capture or returned to
retirement in 1968. friendly zones. After 11 years of absence without
leave from the U.S. army, in 1956 he contacted
After the signing of the Geneva Accords American authorities in Paris and returned to the
and the division of Vietnam at the 17th parallel United States. See also CROSSOVERS; DESER-
in 1954, Sainteny became general delegate for TION.
France in Hanoi to the DRV (not an ambassador).
Following a mission to Hanoi, he advocated a Salan, Raoul (“LE MANDARIN”, 1899–
rapprochement with the DRV, explaining in a 16 1984). One of France’s most distinguished yet
September 1954 report that any effort to play the controversial soldiers, who served in every major
south against Hanoi would “end in failure and French war of the 20th century. Salan joined the
perhaps even a new conflict”. However, General army in 1917 and fought in World War I until
Paul Ely and others convinced Pierre Mendès the end. During the interwar period, he made his
France of the naïveté of Sainteny’s proposal career in the colonial army in Indochina, where
and the anger this might provoke in Washington. he served in 1924, 1929, and in the highlands
Mendès France felt obligated to make up to the of northern Vietnam between 1934 and 1937.
Americans for the French National Assembly’s According to one of his close collaborators in
sinking of the European Defense Community Indochina, Roger Trinquier, Salan admired Gal-
earlier that year. In the end, despite an impressive liéni and was fascinated by Indochinese cultures
array of contacts spanning the Cold War divide in and peoples. As a young officer, Salan traveled
Hanoi, Sainteny had to content himself with rather throughout northern Indochina by horse and on
consular affairs of an economic and cultural order. foot. He knew Tonkin and Upper Laos intimately.
He held his post in Hanoi until 1958. His contacts In June 1937, he transferred to the Ministry of the
and knowledge of the DRV later allowed him to Colonies to create, upon the request of Georges
play an intermediary role in secret negotiations Mandel, the Service de renseignements intercolo-
between Washington and Hanoi during the Rich- nies (S.R.I.). Salan shone in his new job and re-
ard Nixon presidency. Sainteny wrote two books turned to intelligence after the armistice of 1940,
about his time in Indochina and negotiations with commanding the Deuxième Bureau for Vichy’s
Ho Chi Minh: Histoire d’une paix manquée: Ministry of Overseas France. In January 1942,
Indochine 1945–1947 (1953) and Face à Ho Chi
Minh (1970).

416 SALE GUERRE

he left for French (Vichy) West Africa to head Vietnam and took command of the Operational
the Deuxième Bureau in Dakar, where he crossed Zone for Tonkin. Under de Lattre, he commanded
over to Free French forces in Algiers following the battles of Vinh Yen, Nghia Lo, and Hoa Binh
the Allied Landing in November 1942. He was in 1951. When de Lattre fell ill, he assumed the
named colonel in 1943 and served under General provisional command of the armed forces in
Jean de Lattre de Tassigny during the Allied Indochina and was named commissioner for the
landing in Provence and during the liberation of Republic to South Vietnam from 1 August 1951.
France and Germany. Following de Lattre’s death in January 1952, Sa-
lan became commander-in-chief of Ground, Air,
Promoted to brigadier general, in October 1945 and Naval Forces in the Far East. He held the post
he left for Indochina and was named commander until May 1953, when he returned to France. He
of French troops in Tonkin and China (those who came back to Indochina in the wake of the French
had escaped the Japanese onslaught in March defeat at Dien Bien Phu, serving as the military
1945). In Chongqing, he helped negotiate the 28 deputy to General Paul Ely. He oversaw the
February 1946 Franco-Chinese accord securing evacuation of Nung populations and troops who
the rapid withdrawal of Chinese Nationalist troops had fought with the French in northern Vietnam.
from Indochina above the 16th parallel. He then
landed in Hanoi, where he helped Jean Sainteny He returned to France on 27 October 1954 and
and Léon Pignon with negotiations leading to the went on to fight in France’s last major colonial
Accords of 6 March 1946. His mission was also war, the Algerian one. Determined to keep Algeria
to take command of military operations in Hanoi French and thus avoid another military debacle,
in case no agreement could be reached. In such Salan turned against the French Republic and
an event, he was authorized to arm French troops General Charles de Gaulle by creating the Or-
interned by the Japanese in the Hanoi citadel since ganisation armée secrète and attempting a failed
9 March in order to take control of the city in putsch in 1961. In 1962, Salan was arrested, tried
conjunction with a French landing in Haiphong. by a military court, and imprisoned until he ben-
On 3 April 1946, in accordance with the March efited from a general amnesty in 1968. See also
Accords and the peaceful arrival of French troops ALGERIAN WAR.
in Hanoi on 18 March, Salan signed a military
convention confirming that a maximum of 15,000 SALE GUERRE. French term meaning “dirty
French troops could be stationed in Vietnam war”, first used as a headline in the 17 January
above the 16th parallel. Two days earlier, on 1 1948 issue of Le Monde by its founder Hubert
April 1946, he bequeathed his post at the head of Beuve-Méry to describe the Indochina War.
French troops in northern Indochina to General Marcel Cachin of the French Communist Party
Jean Valluy. (FCP) picked up on it in an article he wrote in
L’Humanité, entitled La guerre du Vietnam, une
Between 17 April and 11 May 1946, Salan sale guerre (21 January 1948). The communists
helped prepare the first Dalat Conference, as head would use this term effectively in their propa-
of the French Military Mission. Georges Thierry ganda campaigns against the Indochina War and
d’Argenlieu designated him to accompany Ho popularized it in so doing. In May 1949, the FCP
Chi Minh to France in late May 1946 and Salan used for the first time the slogan: Plus un homme,
participated in the French delegation to the failed plus un sou pour la sale guerre en Indochine. See
Fontainebleau Conference. He resumed com- also LANGUAGE OF WAR; PUBLIC OPINION.
mand of French troops in northern Indochina in
May 1947 and became general later that year. He SALOTH SAR. See POL POT.
played a pivotal role in the preparation and execu-
tion of operation Léa, which almost captured the SAM SARY (1917–1961). Born in Kompong
Democratic Republic of Vietnam’s (DRV) lead- Cham province in Cambodia, Sam Sary studied at
ership at Bac Kan in October 1947. In 1948, he the Collège Sisowath before becoming a judge in
took over as commander of French Ground Forces Kompong Cham. He later transferred to the Court
in the Far East and then served as interim supreme of Appeals in Phnom Penh as deputy commissar
commander of troops in the Far East. He returned for the king of Cambodia to the prosecution ser-
to France in mid-1948. vice (parquet general). His activites during World
War II and into the late 1940s remain unclear. In
In late 1950, he returned to Indochina to serve
as acting commissioner for the Republic to North

SARRAUT 417

1950, he was director of economic and financial himself in the middle of France’s colonial war in
affairs in the Council of the Presidency. He served Vietnam as a member of the 2nd Foreign Legion
as under-secretary of state for the Presidency in Regiment guarding Vietnamese prisoners. This
the cabinet of Oum Chheang Sun’s cabinet of was not what he had signed up for. He informed
March 1951. He was on good terms with Noro- one of his Viet Minh prisoners of his desire to
dom Sihanouk during the Indochina War (though desert and the two of them took off in June 1946
this would change later). Sam Sary is best known making their way to Ninh Binh to join the armed
for arguing ardently and successfully against the forces of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
admission of the Cambodian Resistance Govern- (DRV). Sarantidis adopted Vietnamese national-
ment as delegates to the Geneva conference. As ity and learned Vietnamese. During this time, he
Sihanouk’s personal delegate to the meeting, Sam transferred to Inter-Zone V (Lien Khu V), where
Sary declared that the “democratic government of he executed propaganda and proselytizing the
Cambodia only exists in the imagination of the enemy (Dich Van) tasks. In exchange for his sup-
ministers from the Asian bloc”. He even asked port, he was named first lieutenant and served as
the Soviet Foreign Minister Viatcheslav Molotov an “internationalist soldier” (Chien Si Quoc Te) in
if, in a hypothetically similar situation, he would the People’s Army of Vietnam between 1946 and
accept the presence of the Polish government-in- 1958. He briefly led a platoon in 1951 before serv-
exile in London. Sam Sary surprised the negotia- ing in 1952 as an overseer in prison camp no. 5 in
tors at the eleventh hour of the Geneva negotia- Quang Ngai province, holding French and Afri-
tions, when he refused to sign the armistice unless can prisoners. Following the Geneva Accords, he
Cambodia obtained the right to ally the country relocated to northern Vietnam and served in the
as it saw fit and even allow foreign bases upon its 354th Regiment. In 1965, he returned to Greece
territory. While Molotov initially thought this was where he continued to support the Vietnamese
an American ploy, the Soviet diplomat conceded cause in the war against the Americans.
by agreeing that Cambodia could conclude any
accord in conformity with the United Nations’ Sarraut, Albert PIERRE (1872–1962).
charter. One of the Third Republic’s most important co-
lonial politicians and minds. He got his colonial
SAMUEL, RAYMOND. See RAYMOND AU- start in Indochina where he served as governor
BRAC. general between 1911 and 1914 and again be-
tween 1917 and 1919. During his two mandates,
SANG, MICHEL. See NGUYỄN BA SANG. he developed a dual policy designed to win over
the support of Vietnamese elites and crush those
SAO ĐỎ. See NGUYỄN LƯƠNG BẰNG. who continued to oppose French colonial rule. On
the first note, he developed the policy of “Franco-
Sarantidis, Kostas (NGUYỄN VĂN LẬP, Annamese Collaboration” and spoke of creating
1927–). Greek national who crossed over to the a political charter and federation for Vietnamese
Viet Minh after World War II. Following the working with the French. On the second count,
German occupation of Greece in 1942, the young he played a pivotal role in creating the efficient
Kostas Sarantidis and his siblings fanned out to colonial police. Besides ensuring order, it also
find work to help their parents make ends meet monitored and arrested scores of nationalists and
in the difficult wartime conditions. In 1943, the communists who threatened the colonial order
Germans arrested Kostas for selling cigarettes il- in Indochina. Sarraut left Indochina in 1919 and
legally on the blackmarket. Badly in need of man- became minister of Colonies in 1920, a position
power, the Germans forcibly inducted him into he held for four years. During this time, he met
the army rather than releasing him. In 1944, the briefly in Paris a young Vietnamese nationalist
young Greek found himself in German uniform in named Nguyen Ai Quoc (better known as Ho
Austria. At the end of the war in 1945, Sarantidis’s Chi Minh), but thought little of the meeting at
presence among the defeated Germans landed the time. Instead, Sarraut joined together with
him in a prisoner of war camp in Austria. Unwill- Pierre Pasquier to create what was essentially the
ing to return to wartorn Greece, he signed a five- first Bao Dai Solution. As minister of Colonies,
year contract with the French Foreign Legion to Sarraut sought to craft the young emperor into
get out of the camp. In February 1946, he found the living incarnation of his policy of Franco-An-

418 SARTRE

namese collaboration. Sarraut personally presided defending anti-colonial causes as part of the wider
over the young man’s education and upbringing struggle against capitalist domination. He went on
in France, before sending him back to Vietnam in to become a particularly outspoken critic of the
1932 to help win over the Vietnamese population, Algerian War. See also ANTICOLONIALISM;
tempted by nationalist and communist rebellions. INTELLECTUALS.
The experiment was a failure long before it was
resurrected after World War II. Sarraut was also Sassi, Jean (1917–2009). French colonel and
determined to promote his ideas within the Co- special operations officer during the Indochina
lonial Academy (École coloniale), calling upon War. Few details are known of Sassi’s activities
French cadres to help the “under-developed” before World War II. After having taken part in
colonial peoples. During World War II, the Nazis the failed Battle of France in 1940, he joined
deported him to Neuengamme, at the age of 72. Free French forces. In 1943 or 1944, he entered
Upon his liberation in 1945, he returned to France the Jedburghs, the elite special operations unit
where he was named in 1947 a representative to created by the Allies to fight the Germans. He
the Assembly of the French Union. parachuted into France and, when the war ended
there, transferred to Asia where British Force 136
In July–August 1946, during the Fontaine­ dropped him into Laos to help create a Service
bleau Conference, Sarraut renewed contact with Action to work against the Japanese. With the end
Ho Chi Minh. In 1950, he presided over the Pau of the Pacific War, he joined the 11ème Bataillon de
Conference between France and her newly cre- choc and left Indochina. He returned sometime in
ated Associated States of Indochina. As a mem- the early 1950s to lead a commando section of
ber of the French Union Assembly, he opposed 11ème Régiment parachutiste de choc before join-
decolonization in favor of creating a colonial ing the Groupement de commandos mixtes aéro-
federation. He was the founder of the Académie portés. In this capacity, he ran a Hmong maquis
des sciences d’Outre-mer and inspired a number operating behind enemy lines between 1953 and
of French administrators in Indochina such as 1955, located mainly in Laos. In April 1954, Sassi
Léon Pignon. His daughter was married to Jean led Hmong partisans in Opération Condor as part
Sainteny, who negotiated the Accords of 6 of operations to harass Vietnamese forces attack-
March 1946 with Ho Chi Minh. On 30 December ing the French camp at Dien Bien Phu. He was
1946, in order to underscore the legitimacy of his also part of a failed operation to help besieged
actions, Admiral Georges Thierry d’Argenlieu, French Union forces fighting at Dien Bien Phu.
high commissioner for Indochina, informed Sar- He went on to fight in Algeria as part of the 11ème
raut by telegraph that he “had the satisfaction of Bataillon de choc. See also MINORITY ETHNIC
being received in the residence of the governor GROUPS.
general that was a long time ago your dwelling”.
In 1953, Sarraut published an article in L’Express SÁU BÚA. See LÊ ĐỨC THỌ.
in which he called upon Ho Chi Minh to negotiate
with, in his view, the fully independent Associated SÁU PHÁT. See HUỲNH TẤN PHÁT.
State of Vietnam. His point of view was echoed
at the same time by Pierre Mendès France, who SÁU THANH. See NGUYỄN VǍN THANH.
gave an interview in the same paper in favor of
opening direct negotiations with the adversary Sauvagnac, henri (1905–?). Graduated
once a cease-fire was implemented. Sarraut would from Saint-Cyr in 1926, he served in the Middle
meet privately with Pierre Mendès France during East between 1928 and 1935. In 1937, he joined
the Geneva Conference of 1954. See also AS- Captain Frédéric Geille in the development of
SOCIATED STATES OF INDOCHINA. airborne troops and was the first certified para-
trooper officer in the French army. When war
SARTRE, JEAN-PAUL (1905–1980). Jean-Paul broke out in Europe, Sauvagnac was in Algeria
Sartre supported and published anti-colonialist where he created the Compagnie d’infanterie de
intellectuals in his review, Les temps modernes. l’Air no. 1 and joined Free French forces follow-
Tran Duc Thao and Paul Mus, for example, ing the Allied landing in 1942. In February 1943,
published articles on the Indochina War. The Sauvagnac revamped this company to create the
Henri Martin affair led by the French Com- Bataillon de chasseurs parachutistses, which be-
munist Party radicalized Sartre’s interests in

SAVARY 419

came the 1er Régiment de chasseurs parachutistes Republic of Vietnam (DRV) in the south, includ-
(1er RCP) the following year and participated in ing the Hoa Hao, Cao Dai, and Binh Xuyen.
the liberation of Europe. In 1947, he left his com- (Trinquier tried to do much the same in the north in
mand of the 1er RCP to join the Demi brigade de the early 1950s among minority ethnic groups.)
marche de parachutistes in Indochina. At the head Savani was married to a southern Vietnamese and
of this unit, his troops played important roles in apparently spoke the language well. In 1955, he
operations Léa, Ceinture, and Terminus. In 1948, published Visages et images du Sud Viet Nam and
he left for Algeria but returned to Indochina for from 1956 drew upon his experiences in southern
a second tour of duty in February 1954 to over- Vietnam in lectures he delivered at the Centre des
see all airborne missions in Indochina. He left hautes études d’administration musulmane as
Indochina in January 1955 and became brigadier France took up another colonial war in Algeria. See
general. See also ALGERIAN WAR. also ALGERIAN WAR; MAURICE BELLEUX;
MARCEL BAZIN; PIERRE PERRIER; SER-
SAVĀNGVATTHANĀ. Crown Prince of Laos VICE DE DOCUMENTATION EXTÉRIEURE ET
who worked closely with the French. He was the CONTRE-ESPIONNAGE; SÛRETÉ FÉDÉRALE;
oldest son of Sīsāvangvong and Thai Kham Ouan. OPIUM; PUBLIC SECURITY SERVICES;
He studied law at the Institut d’Études Politiques INTELLIGENCE SERVICES, DEMOCRATIC
in Paris in the late 1920s before returning to Laos REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM.
where in March 1930 he became general secretary
of the Luang Prabang Kingdom. In November SAVARY, ALAIN (1918–1988). Born in Algiers,
1941, he became president of the Privy Council Savary served as a naval officer during the inter-
of the same Kingdom and entered into increas- war period. With the fall of France, he joined Free
ing conflict with the Viceroy and Prime Minister French forces in 1940. After the war, he became
for the government of Luang Prabang, Prince a member of the Consultative Assembly, served
Phetxarāt. Like his father, Savāngvatthanā op- as secretary general for Austrian and German af-
posed Phetxarāt’s independent line and favored fairs 1946–1947, joined the Section française de
close collaboration with the French. Both the king l’Internationale ouvrière (SFIO), and was elected
and his son opposed Phetxarāt’s independence to theAssembly of the French Union during which
aspirations following the Japanese overthrow time he became interested in colonial affairs. In
of the French in March 1945, symbolized by 1949, as the Chinese communists moved to take
Phetxarāt’s decision to join the Lao Issara and all of China, the SFIO – then part of the ruling
sideline the royal family. Savāngvatthanā did, coalition government – sent Savary to Indochina
however, agree with Phetxarāt’s desire to unify all and authorized him to enter into contact with the
of French colonial Laos under the royal family of Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). With a
Luang Prabang. But this had to be done under the green light from Léon Pignon, high commissioner
king’s rule and in collaboration with the French, for Indochina, and Paul Coste-Floret, minister of
not against them. It occurred officially in 1947. Overseas France, Savary used his socialist con-
nections in Indochina to organize a meeting with
Savani,Antoine marie (1909–?). Influential, General Nguyen Binh, the commander-in-chief
behind-the-scenes French military intelligence of- of the DRV’s armed forces in the south. Savary
ficer stationed in southern Vietnam during most of sounded out the Vietnamese as to talks to resolve
the Indochina War. He graduated from Saint-Cyr in the war diplomatically. The DRV was open to the
1932 in the same class as Roger Trinquier, a close idea of arranging a meeting between Savary and
friend and fellow intelligence officer in Vietnam. A Ho Chi Minh. However, when Savary asked for
Corsican, Savani became a lieutenant in 1934 and permission to meet with Ho Chi Minh, the Henri
made his first tour of duty in Indochina in 1938. His Queuille government refused. In his meetings and
activities during World War II remain unknown. speeches to the SFIO leadership, Savary insisted
He returned to Indochina sometime in late 1945 that the French should negotiate a way out of the
or 1946. By 1948, he was running the Deuxième Indochina War. DRV nationalism, he insisted, was
Bureau for French forces in southern Vietnam. for real and the majority of Vietnamese wanted an
In 1947–1948, he masterminded the defection of end to French colonial rule. He also underscored
non-communist religious, nationalist, and criminal the lack of popular Vietnamese support for the
groups to French forces fighting the Democratic Bao Dai solution. Savary called on his party to

420 SCHEURER

make an attempt to contact the resistance, “c’est Schneyder, René François (1894–1973).
la seule chance d’arrêter la guerre”, he insisted. Decorated veteran of Verdun and career colonial
But given that the SFIO was still part of the rul- civil servant in Indochina. Educated in law, he
ing coalition, the leadership did not want to open first worked in the Ministry of War but success-
discussions with the DRV and thereby make itself fully transferred to the Ministry of Colonies.
vulnerable to attacks from the Right and even Having passed the entry examination, he began a
from the conservative, colonially minded wing of long colonial career when he arrived in Tonkin
the socialist party. It was only when the SFIO en- in 1924. He served as deputy administrator in
tered into opposition in 1952 that Savary was able Hanoi, Son La, Cho Bo, and Phu Lang Thuong
to push his party, with Louis Caput and others, before serving as the French résident to the Cam-
towards the idea of negotiating an end to the war. bodian provinces of Stung Treng, Takeo Pursat,
Despite Savary’s offer to use his socialist contacts Kompong Chnang, and Battambang. Transferred
to help open talks with the DRV, Georges Bidault to Cochinchina, he worked as the mayor-resident
only accepted when things turned bad during the of Ba Ria–Cap Saint Jacques. Between 1937 and
battle of Dien Bien Phu. In April 1954, Bidault 1941, he was chief of Gia Dinh province. During
authorized Savary to travel to Moscow to open the Vichy period, he served as chief of staff to
meetings with the DRV ambassador Nguyen Admiral Jean Decoux and inspector for Labor in
Luong Bang before moving on to meet the DRV Cochinchina. The Japanese arrested and incarcer-
leadership in northern Vietnam. Determined to ated Schneyder following the coup de force of
winning at Dien Bien Phu, the Vietnamese were 9 March 1945. Upon liberation, he remained in
not interested. Savary returned to France empty Indochina. Between January 1946 and April 1947,
handed. The endgame would be negotiated at he served as inspector of Political and Adminis-
Geneva. See also GENEVA CONFERENCE. trative Affairs and inspector of Labor. He was
charged with rebuilding the pre-existing colonial
Scheurer, joseph louis andré (1911– structures in line with Charles de Gaulle’s new
1948). Joined the Corps de liaison administrative policy towards Indochina. Schneyder returned
pour l’Extrême-Orient and was initiated into to France in 1947, but continued working in an
Indochinese affairs in Kunming before being advisory capacity for the high commissioner for
transferred to central Vietnam following the Japa- Indochina, who in 1949 designated him to lead the
nese defeat. There he became the delegate for the French delegation in its finalization of the Franco-
Populations montagnardes du Sud Indochinois Laotian Accords signed that year. Schneyder then
in 1946, French résident to Pleiku (1947), and became director of the Centre for Scientific and
résident to Ban Me Thuot in 1947–1948. He died Technical Research for the Associated States of
in a fire in 1948. Indochina, though this did not last long.

schlumberger, Étienne (1915–). Joined Schoendoerffer, Pierre (1928–). French
Free French forces in England in July 1940 and dis- novelist, film director, and veteran of the Indo­
tinguished himself as deputy to Admiral Georges china War. In 1947, looking for adventure, Schoen­
Thierry d’Argenlieu when the ship they were doerffer began working as a sailor on a Swedish
navigating came under fire off the coast of Vichy cargo ship, but yearned for something more excit-
Dakar in Senegal. He continued to serve Thierry ing. His grandparents, father, and oldest brother
d’Argenlieu in French Africa before running com- had served in both World Wars. In 1952, follow-
mando missions against the Nazis along the Euro- ing the death of the French army’s photographer
pean coastline. In 1945, he rejoined the Admiral, in Indochina, Georges Kowal, Schoendoerffer
followed him to Indochina where the latter became entered the Service cinématographique des ar-
high commissioner. Schlumberger remained one mées and began work as an official cameraman
of Thierry d’Argenlieu’s closest advisors and per- with the rank of corporal. He was wounded at the
sonal friends during this time. In the early days of start of the battle of Dien Bien Phu, evacuated
the French return, he headed up the high commis- but parachuted back in on 21 March 1954 as part
sioner’s intelligence service, the Bureau fédéral de of the 5th Battalion of Vietnamese Paratroopers.
documentation. Schlumberger was a partisan of He went down with the camp on 7 May and was
the high commissioner’s aggressive policy towards marched to a prison camp by the Democratic
the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Republic of Vietnam’s (DRV) forces.

SCHRÖDER 421

Freed from captivity four months later, Scho- obscurs et ordinaires vinrent, non pour redresser
endoerffer began a new career as a novelist and une situation désormais sans espoir, mais pour
film director. He focused his work mainly on men maintenir jusqu’au bout et le plus haut possible
at war – comradeship, heroism, virility, sacrifice, quelque chose qui ressemblait à une certaine idée
and most of all honor, all major themes in his de la France”.
novels and films and in his work for the army’s in-
formation service during the Indochina War. Like Schoendoerffer sympathized with and contacted
Jean Lartéguy, Schoendoerffer’s men are brave, the wayward French generals who had turned
tragic “centurions” who keep marching on against against the French Republic during the Algerian
all odds. Schoendoerffer first gained notoriety for War – Raoul Salan, André Zeller, Edmond Jou-
his film, the 317ème section (1964), which followed haud, Maurice Challe, and Pierre Guillaume.
the flight of a heroic French-led platoon trying to Schoendoerffer sent Salan his novel La 317ème
make its way to safety as Dien Bien Phu and the section, with a photo of Salan in Indochina in the
French army’s time in Indochina came to a tragic 1930s. Schoendoerffer’s favorite American film on
end (Norodom Sihanouk loaned Schoendoerffer Vietnam is The Deer Hunter, “a simply remarkable
troops for the film and authorized him to film in film” he said. This film traces the lives of a group
Cambodia). The film won a prize for best scenario of American young men drafted into the Vietnam
at Cannes in 1964. He gained further notoriety for War, who ended up in a Vietnamese communist
La section Anderson (1967), when he followed an prison camp and were tortured. Schoendoerffer also
American platoon into battle during the Vietnam produced a film on prisoners of war in Vietnam.
War. He received an Oscar for this soldier’s view Despite his animosity towards Vietnamese com-
of war. In 1976–1977, he produced with Raoul munists, he accompanied François Mitterrand to
Coutard Le crabe tambour, which re-joined his Vietnam in 1993, thereby legitimating the French
“centurions” as older, seemingly rudderless men, renewal with their former colonial adversary. See
as they flash-backed to the Indochinese and Alge- also ANTICOLONIALISM; CINEMA; EXPERI-
rian Wars and reflected on the tragic turn of the ENCE OF WAR, DIEN BIEN PHU; MYTH OF
French Army in these colonial wars. WAR; NOVELS; PHOTOGRAPHY.

Schoendoerffer’s work does not seek to ques- SchrÖder, RUDY (1911–?). Former German
tion the reasons for the French involvement in professor at the Sociology Institute of Frankfurt
Indochina or Algeria. To Schoendoerffer, the sol- who crossed over to the Democratic Republic
diers of France’s colonial wars were unsung he- of Vietnam (DRV) in 1945. As a communist in
roes, who had been sacrificed by inept politicians. the politically charged atmosphere of the 1930s,
When asked what he felt about the Indochina Schröder loathed fascism. He fled to France to
debacle, he replied: La honte. La rage d’avoir été escape the Nazis and joined the Foreign Legion to
abandonné par la France, a message that comes carry on the fight against them. However, with the
through clearly in the 317ème section. fall of France and the collaboration of Vichy with
the Germans, Schröder suddenly found himself in a
Schoendoerffer was no proponent of Vietnam- pro-Vichy Foreign Legion and on his way to colo-
ese or Algerian decolonization. He declared in an nial Indochina in 1941. Once there, he immediately
interview in 1989 in Hommes de guerre that the began organizing anti-fascist cells among a hand-
DRV had not really won the war. He disdained ful of like-minded soldiers in the Foreign Legion.
the Algerian Front de libération nationale for Based in the north, he met secretly with socialists,
failing to take on the French army in battle. Anti- Gaullists, and Vietnamese opposed to the Japanese.
communist, Schoendoerffer declared in 1984 Following the formation of the DRV in September
that he would never return to Vietnam. He did, 1945, Schröder joined the Viet Minh and actively
however, in order to film Dien Bien Phu (1992), supported the Vietnamese anti-colonial war and
another heroic commemoration of the besieged shared the beliefs of the communist leadership.
French men fighting on during the battle of Dien Schröder saw himself as an internationalist and
Bien Phu. Tragedy serves as his trope for restor- opted for Vietnamese citizenship as a “New Viet-
ing national honor. As he put it to the Association namese” (Viet Nam Moi). He took the name of
nationale des anciens d’Indochine on the mean- Nguyen Duc Nhan and began work in propaganda
ing of Dien Bien Phu and his film on it 40 years matters in Hanoi until war broke out in all of Indo-
later: “tout était donc perdu. Alors, dans un ultime china on 19 December 1946. This young German
sursaut, des centaines et des centaines d’hommes

422 SCHULZE

also had the military confidence of the Viet Minh. Khac and Hoang Dao Thuy. Many of the former
In 1947, he commanded a Vietnamese combat Vietnamese leaders of the colonial scouting move-
unit of 100 men, including 40 foreigners, which ment had no trouble switching over to the DRV’s
engaged the Expeditionary Corps in small-scale nationalist cause and brought with them hundreds
battles. This Vietnamese–German unit was known if not thousands of scouts who were running on
as the William Tell combat platoon. From 1950, high levels of patriotism. Hoang Dao Thuy was a
with the arrival of Chinese advisors and communist notable case. He had been general commissioner
ideas, Schröder and other Europeans were moved of Vietnam’s lively scouting movement during
out of military positions and transferred to help World War II and had secretly worked with Tru-
rally and run propaganda and indoctrination units ong Chinh to bring over the scouts to the revo-
in DRV camps holding French Union prisoners. lutionary cause as World War II drew to a close.
Schröder and his Vietnamese family eventually re- Hoang Dao Thuy then put his scouting knowledge
turned to the then East Germany in the early 1960s, of communications in the service of the armed
a casualty of the ideological differences splitting forces of the DRV. He worked in the General
the communist world and of mistrust on the part of Staff and was the first director of the Ministry of
the Vietnamese brothers. See also REVOLUTION- Defense’s Bureau of Communications. He created
ARY WARFARE; RECTIFICATION; INDOC- the government and military’s first radio codes
TRINATION. and encryptions, telegram dispatching system,
and began teaching the first courses for a new
Schulze, Werner (NGUYỄN ĐỨC VIỆT). generation of Vietnamese communications, radio,
German pilot who served in World War II and in and intelligence specialists. Scouts were some
the fledgling Air Force of the Democratic Re- of the first to sign up in the southern Vanguard
public of Vietnam (DRV). He crossed over to the Youth League led by Pham Ngoc Thach and
DRV in early 1946, working as a pilot, technical they were present in the first combat units sent
translator, and weapons manufacturer. In 1949, he to fight in the south. During preparations for the
worked in the Ordinance Technical Research Of- battle of Hanoi, scouts in the Hanoi area were
fice (Nha Nghien Cuu Ky Thuat Quan Gioi) of the divided into two groups: those over 18 joined
nascent Vietnamese Air Force. He was charged the army whereas scouts between 12 and 17 took
with obtaining and translating French, Ameri- part in helping to evacuate people from the cities
can, and German materials on military affairs and assisted in transporting supplies and setting
in general and the development of the air force up defenses. Hoang Huu Nam, himself a former
in particular. As part of the Air Force Research scout, visited Dong Da in late 1946 to praise the
Section, he provided military courses on how to work of scouts there who were preparing the city
identify different types of planes, develop anti- for war. Some of these young scouts also joined
aircraft weapons, and began training the first pi- the Children’s Guard. See also CHILDREN; RED
lots for the DRV. At this time, thanks to a gift from CROSS; ORPHANS; WOMEN.
Bao Dai in the early days of the revolution, the
Vietnamese had two (civilian) airplanes stashed SECTION FRANÇAISE DE L’INTERNATION­
away in Chiem Hoa in northern Vietnam. Schulze ALE OUVRIÈRE (SFIO). The creation of the
returned to the then East Germany in 1955, but, SFIO in 1905 marked the unification of French
like many other Japanese crossovers, could not socialist groups and tendencies into one party.
take his Vietnamese family with him. See also While the SFIO was initially critical of colonial
REPATRIATION, JAPANESE TROOPS; RUDY excesses, the socialists were reformers, not
SchrÖder. decolonizers or even anti-colonialists. Local
chapters of the SFIO emerged throughout the
SCOUTING, INDOCHINA WAR. Thanks to Empire during the first half of the 20th century. In
scouting associations backed by the French dur- 1937, French socialist Louis Caput created the
ing the colonial period and mobilized by Vichy SFIO’s first Indochinese branch in Hanoi and
and the Japanese during World War II, the Demo- strongly advocated the opening of its doors to
cratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) was able to the Vietnamese. Indeed, he was instrumental in
find enthusiastic recruits to fill its ranks upon its admitting Hoang Minh Giam – future minister
establishment on 2 September 1945. Scouting in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV)
took off in Vietnam in the 1930s led by Tran Van – to the SFIO in Hanoi. During the Vichy period

SEH 423

and the Japanese occupation during World War Phuc Yen. In late 1942 and early 1943, the Central
II, the SFIO’s political activities were pushed Committee developed the secure zone further
underground, where a number of socialists, such into Bac Giang, Phu Binh, and Thai Nguyen, and
as Caput, joined the internal resistance and began began training cadres and militia in preparation
to think in anti-colonial terms. to take power in Hanoi at the propitious moment.
Following the Japanese overthrow of the French,
The SFIO emerged from World War II in the secure zone was well positioned to move cad-
France in a fairly strong position. However, res into positions of power following the Japanese
unable to win a majority vote in the legislative capitulation. The secure zone was revitalized as
elections of 1945, the party had to join a coalition war with the French became increasingly likely
government with the French Communist Party by late 1946. In the fall of 1946, for example, the
and the Mouvement républicain populaire. This ICP created the Committee for Communications
“tripartisme” marked French politics between and Liaison for the Secure Zone (Ban Giao Thong
1945 and 1947, the period during which the war Lien Lac An Toan Khu). Led by Nguyen Luong
in Indochina broke out. Caput came down in favor Bang, it counted among its members some of the
of Vietnamese independence, but ranking social- most important intelligence and security leaders
ists were divided over the Vietnam problem and of the ICP/Democratic Republic of Vietnam,
had no clear-cut policy on decolonization. The including Tran Dang Ninh, Tran Quoc Hoan,
conservative wing of the party, led by Marius and Tran Quoc Huong. Its first major task was to
Moutet, minister of the Colonies, found it hard create a new and secret communication and radio
to imagine an independent Vietnam. Colonial network for the Party in charge of all of Vietnam
reform, certainly, but decolonization, no. More down to Inter-Zone V (Lien Khu V) in the event
liberal thinkers such as Caput and Paul Rivet that full-scale war commenced. This party com-
argued in favour of respecting the reality of colo- munication center was to work closely with the
nial nationalism and decolonization. The problem government and the army. The second task was to
was that despite the SFIO’s hostility to High scout out and organize a new safe area in northern
Commissioner Georges Thierry d’Argenlieu’s Vietnam where the party, the state, and the army
aggressive policy towards the DRV in Indochina, could continue to exist free from French attacks
French national politics were such that the leader- in the event of war. In early 1947, this committee
ship did not want to endanger its political inter- set up the new secure zone in Dinh Hoa in Thai
ests in France by taking too risky a stand on the Nguyen province in the hills of northern Vietnam.
Indochina problem, preferring instead to turn a It housed the government and the ICP Standing
blind eye to Thierry d’Argenlieu’s actions. While Committee, the General Directorate of the Tong
the SFIO, once it was in the opposition, would Bo Viet Minh, the Lien Viet Association, the
become critical of the Indochina War and push Ministry of Defence and the Military High Com-
for a negotiated solution, it was unable to prevent mand. See also LEA, OPERATION.
war from breaking out on 19 December 1946. See
also ALAIN SAVARY. SEGUINS PAZZIS (DE), HUBERT MARIE
JEAN AMBERT (1913–1994). French military
SECURE ZONE (Ăn Toàn Khu). Refers to the officer involved in commando operations in
secure area first set up by Indochinese Com- northern Vietnam. In the late 1940s, he joined
munist Party (ICP) leaders outside of Hanoi the 3rd Office of 2nd Colonial Light Brigade of
during World War II and then in remote northern Paratroopers (2ème demi brigade coloniale de
Vietnam as the outbreak of full-scale war in Ha- commandos parachutistes). After a tour of duty
noi became increasingly likely by late 1946. The in North Africa, he returned to Indochina in the
Provisional General Secretary of the ICP Truong early 1950s as lieutenant colonel and chief of staff
Chinh played the pivotal role in creating and of the Groupement d’opération de la région Nord
running the secure zone outside of Hanoi from Ouest in January 1954. He also served as chief of
around 1941. The Standing Committee of the staff to General Christian de Castries during the
Central Committee operated from there and was battle of Dien Bien Phu and was taken prisoner
in secret contact with Ho Chi Minh who oper- before being liberated and returned to France.
ated near the Sino-Vietnamese border. The secure
zone was located on both sides of the Red River in SEH. See SERVICE D’ÉTUDES HISTORIQUES.
the areas of Ha Dong, Dong Anh, Hoai Duc, and

424 SEHAN

SEHAN. See SERVICE D’ÉTUDES HISTORIQUES. Executive (SOE) during World War II. The first
Franco-British Service Action or SA teams ap-
SERGENT, PIERRE (“ARTHUR”, 1926–1992). peared in Japanese occupied Laos towards the
French Foreign Legion veteran of the Indochina end of the Pacific War. They answered both to
War and right-wing politician in France. During the SOE and to Free French authorities. The SA’s
World War II, he joined the French resistance main mission was to prepare and direct subversive
as a teenager. Following the war, he trained to activities in enemy territory by creating insecurity
become an officer in the French Foreign Legion behind the enemy’s lines through sabotage, am-
and graudated from the École spéciale militaire at bushes, destructive actions, and assassination. It
Saint-Cyr in 1949 before transferring to the 1er Ré- was also designed to solicit favour among local
giment Étranger in Algeria. In 1951, he debarked people, generate complicities, and develop con-
in Indochina as part of the 1er Bataillon Étranger tacts.
de Parachutistes where he served as a captain
until 1953. He later returned to Algeria where he During the first half of the Indochina War,
opposed decolonization and participated actively French military strategists showed little interest
in the Organisation armée secrète. His actions put in SA operations. This changed in 1950, when
him on the wrong side of the French law. He was the Americans, worried by communist advances
tried in abstentia in 1962 and again in 1964, and in China, Korea, and Indochina, pressured the
sentenced to death each time. Sergent became a French to resume such World War II type of
fugitive moving across Europe using the alias of actions in Indochina. In April 1950, the French
“Arthur” to escape detection. He was amnestied renewed their interest in SA operations when
in 1968, returned to France, and became involved the Direction générale de documentation and
in center-right then right-wing politics, serving as the Service de documentation extérieure et de
a deputy for the Front National between 1986 and contre-espionnage produced a document entitled
1988. He was a prolific writer of military books Étude sur l’organisation d’un Service Action.
on the Legion, the French Army, Algeria and his However, nothing apparently came of these ef-
own itinerary. As he put it in the title of one of his forts until the Americans tried to create their own
books published in 1972, Je ne regrette rien. In separate SA in upper Indochina for using upland
what has to be one of the most fascinating connec- minority ethnic groups to harass the communists
tions in the memory of the Indochina War, Sergent on their own turf, even into southern China. The
wrote an absorbing biography of one of his former French refused to let them take over SA opera-
enemies during the Indochina War, an Austrian tions in Indochina, but countered by establishing
deserter, communist, supporter of the Viet Minh, the Groupement de commandos mixtes aéorpor-
turned Catholic and right winger himself at the tés (GCMA), which retrieved a number of officers
end of his life, Ernest Frey. Un étrange M. Frey who had first worked in Japanese-occupied Laos
is how Sergent entitled the biography of his coun- during World War II, including Jean Sassi.
terpart. See also ALGERIAN WAR.
“Action”, according to Edmond Grall of the
servant, henri Édouard jean-marie GCMA, was designed to “create favourable con-
(1924–). French colonial administrator during ditions for the realisation of an act of war” when
the Indochina War. Between 1948 and 1950, he the moment came. In Indochina, he said, this
served in the Press and Information Service in meant two things mainly: (1) creating a permanent
Hanoi before taking up a new post in the General sense of insecurity behind the DRV’s lines and (2)
Secretariat of the high commissioner’s in Saigon developing contacts with local populations hostile
between 1951 and 1952. He transferred to the dip- to the Vietnamese. See also REVOLUTIONARY
lomatic section of the high commissioner’s office WARFARE; OFFICE OF STRATEGIC STUD-
between 1952 and 1954. He remained in Saigon IES.
after the end of the war, working in the Economic
and Technical Assistance Mission between 1954 SERVICE D’ÉTUDES HISTORIQUES (SEH,
and 1957. SEHAN, SESAG). Created in December 1945,
the Service d’études historiques (SEH), with a
SERVICE ACTION (SA). French commando branch in Hanoi (SEHAN) and another in Sai-
units working within Britain’s Special Operations gon (SESAG), was designed to provide mainly
operational intelligence for French ground forces
in charge of retaking Indochina. Indeed, the SEH

SETTLERS 425

replaced the Service de renseignements opéra- ably accurate orders of battle on the adversary.
tionnels or the Operational Intelligence Service However, this did not always mean that the French
created by Lieutenant-Colonel Jean Augustin knew their enemy’s intentions. The Vietnamese
Trocard, who had worked in the army’s colonial Politiburo never had the intention of “taking”
intelligence service in Indochina before World Laos in 1954, the reason for which General Henri
War II. The SEH faded away in 1949–1950 to be- Navarre justified sending troops into Dien Bien
come a true Service de renseignement opération- Phu. The real Vietnamese strategy was to disperse
nel as the war entered a new and more intensive French troops as far across Indochina as possible,
military stage. hoping to draw the French into a much-needed
battle in the highlands.
SERVICE DE DOCUMENTATION EXTÉRI­
EURE ET DE CONTRE-ESPIONNAGE The wartime SDECE apparatus was withdrawn
(SDECE). The French foreign intelligence from Indochina in 1956, though the listening sta-
service that played a very important role in the tion remained operational in Dalat until 1960.
war in Indochina. The SDECE was created at On 2 April 1982, SDECE became the Direction
the end of 1945 at the national level to undertake Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure. See also OF-
counter-intelligence and conduct foreign intel- FICE OF STRATEGIC SERVICES.
ligence outside of France. The SDECE effectively
replaced the Direction générale des études et SERVICE DE PROTECTION DU CORPS EX-
des recherches. The SDECE was unique in that PÉDITIONNAIRE. See SÛRETÉ FÉDÉRALE.
it answered directly to the Présidence du Conseil
and not just to the General Staff. SERVICE DE RENSEIGNEMENTS OPÉRA-
Sometime in early 1946, the SDECE began TIONNELS. French military intelligence service
operating in Indochina under the direction of in charge of providing tactical intelligence to
a certain Barada. Following his transfer in De- territorial commanding officers to execute mili-
cember 1947, Colonel Maurice Belleux took tary operations. See also SERVICE D’ÉTUDES
over and would direct SDECE’s intelligence HISTORIQUES; SERVICE TECHNIQUE DES
operations in Indochina until 1956. While the RECHERCHES.
Indochinese branch of the SDECE was attached
administratively to the high commissioner’s of- SERVICE TECHNIQUE DES RECHERCHES
fice, the French central government was in charge (STR). The main French technical body in charge
of its personnel, financed an important part of of direction finding, intercepting, and decrypting
its budget, and oversaw its grand strategy and enemy communications during the Indochina
organization. The SDECE in Indochina consisted War. While it had begun functioning in southern
of two main services. The “service technique Vietnam before the outbreak of full-scale war
de recherches” was vital in that it translated all in the north on 19 December 1946, it became
coded intelligence intercepted by the Groupe de fully and officially operational in June 1947. It
contrôle radioélectrique, and provided crucial in- operated two main stations in Saigon and, from
telligence for political, diplomatic, and especially February 1947, Hanoi. The STR’s main target
military operations. The SDECE’s “service de was of course the Democratic Republic of
renseignements” gathered intelligence outside of Vietnam. The STR served as the central organ
Indochina, mainly from China, Thailand, Burma, through which all requests for interceptions, di-
Indonesia, etc. rection finding, and decrypting passed, including
The SDECE was particularly successful in its technical collaboration with Groupement des
providing military and civilian leaders with invalu- contrôles radioélectriques. The STR’s main de-
able intelligence on their Indochinese adversaries crypting center was set up in Dalat in 1948. This
and was especially effective in intercepting and was where the core of French code-breaking oc-
decrypting communications coming from lower curred. In 1954, it moved to Vung Tau (Cap Saint
and middle levels of the Democratic Republic Jacques) and continued operations until 1956 and
of Vietnam’s political and military services. It apparently left Vietnam definitively in 1957.
sometimes reached as high as General Vo Nguyen
Giap’s General Staff. Thanks to SDECE inter- SESAG. See SERVICE D’ÉTUDES HISTORIQUES.
cepts, the military was able to maintain remark-
SETTLERS. See FRANÇAIS D’INDOCHINE.

426 SHELDON

Sheldon, george. American intelligence of- served as a regional advisor to the territories of
ficer in Saigon after World War II. He was favor- Siemreap and Angkor, returned by the Thais in
ably impressed by the Vietnamese and the Demo- late 1946 and home to Khmer Issarak bands. Be-
cratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). Sheldon felt tween December 1948 and May 1950, he headed
that Ho Chi Minh was “recognized and desired up the Cambodian Information Service (Service
by most of the people of Cochinchina” and that Information Cambodge) before being named the
despite French efforts to restore colonial rule, high commissioner’s delegate to Battambang
the Vietnamese resistance would “survive and (May–October 1950) and Kompong Cham (No-
succeed in the end”. On 18 December 1946, the vember 1950–June 1951). Between December
day before full-scale war broke out, Sheldon pub- 1951 and April 1952, he worked as a deputy to the
lished an article favorably disposed towards the head of the information service in the ministry in
DRV in the Far Eastern Survey. He later returned charge of relations with the Associated States of
to Indochina as a United Press correspondent. See Indochina before assuming the post of delegate
also OFFICE OF STRATEGIC SERVICES. for the high commissioner to Phnom Penh and
then advisor for the high commissioner to Cam-
SIAO WEN (c. 1890–?). Intelligence and political bodia between October 1954 and January 1955.
officer to Zhang Fakui during the Republic of He finished his colonial career in French Africa
China’s occupation of northern Indochina in 1945– and Algeria before serving as the ambassador for
1946. During World War II, this native of Guang­ the Prince of Monaco to Paris in the 1970s.
dong province served as deputy chief for the For-
eign Affairs section in Zhang Fakui’s Fourth War SIEU HENG (1922–1975). Leader of the Khmer
Area Command and met Ho Chi Minh, then held People’s Revolutionary Party during the Indo-
as a political prisoner there. Siao Wen also worked china War. He grew up in Battambang province in
as Zhang Fakui’s pointman in relations with non- the 1930s. He was fluent in Vietnamese, thanks no
communist Vietnamese nationalist groups in south­ern doubt to the fact that his parents had come from
China, most importantly the Dong Minh Hoi or the colonial Cochinchina. When the Thais annexed
Alliance League. With the defeat of the Japanese in Battambang province at the start of World War
August 1945, Zhang Fakui transferred Siao Wen to II, Sieu Heng joined the Thai-backed Khmer Is-
Hanoi where he arrived in September and served sarak movement. In 1946, the Thais returned the
as deputy commander to Lu Han, commander of province to Cambodia. Sieu Heng continued his
the 62nd Guangxi Army and head of the Political anti-colonialist activities but shifted his alliance
Office. During his time in Vietnam, Siao Wen to the Vietnamese. In 1946, he allegedly joined
protected overseas Chinese interests in northern the Indochinese Communist Party. He certainly
Indochina and worked closely with communist and gained the trust of the Vietnamese communists in
non-communist Vietnamese nationalists, above all charge of Cambodia, most importantly Nguyen
Ho Chi Minh. Rather than overthrowing the Demo­ Thanh Son. In 1951, Sieu Heng joined up with
cratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) in favor of Son Ngoc Minh to be the two leading Cambo-
anti-communist nationalists, Siao Wen advocated dian radicals of the time and the closest allies of
a coalition government and urged non-communist the Vietnamese communists. See also KHMER
groups like the Vietnamese Nationalist Party and KROM; PARTY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE;
the Alliance League to join it. See also OCCUPA­ CAMBODIAN RESISTANCE GOVERNMENT.
TION, CHINESE; FRANCO-CHINESEACCORDS.
SIHANOUK. See NORODOM SIHANOUK.
Sicurani, Jean (1915–1977). French colonial
civil servant born in Algeria and graduated from SIM VAR (1906–1989). Completed his secondary
the Colonial Academy (École coloniale) in the studies at the Collège Sisowath in Phnom Penh and
late 1930s. Prisoner of war during World War II, worked in the colonial judicial system as a secre-
he started his career in Indochina in 1945 when tary–interpreter. During World War II, he joined
he became deputy to the advisor for the Southern his longtime friend, Pach Chhoeun, and served
Mekong Region (la région du Sud-Mékong). He on the editorial board of the nationalist newspa-
studied the Khmer language intensively (the lower per, Nagaravatta. Through family connections,
Mekong has a large Khmer Krom population). Sim Var also developed a wide array of contacts in
Between October 1946 and May 1948, Sicurani royal circles, including the support of the mother

SINGKAPŌ SĪKHŌTCHUNNAMĀLĪ 427

of Norodom Sihanouk. Following the Japanese rapatriés français d’Indochine et d’Afrique du
coup de force of 9 March 1945, Sim Var became Nord. See also PAYS MONTAGNARDS DU SUD.
minister of Foreign Affairs to Son Ngoc Thanh.
He navigated the return of the French in late 1945 SIMPSON-JONES, PETER. British naval officer
and helped create the Democrat Party in 1946. and member of the British Special Operations Ex-
The French arrested him in February 1947 on the ecutive during World War II and in Indochina. He
grounds that he was planning an insurrection in was involved in a number of audacious naval and
concert with the Khmer Issarak and transferred intelligence operations in Africa and Asia during
him to the Maison centrale in Saigon. He re- World War II, one of which landed him in a Japa-
gained his freedom on the king’s birthday on 25 nese prisoner of war camp near Hanoi. With the
November 1947 and resumed his activities within war over, the Japanese allowed Simpson-Jones to
the Democrat Party in Phnom Penh. He travelled board an inbound airplane carrying the head of the
to Paris in 1948 as a Cambodian delegate to the American Mercy Team, Archimedes Patti, and
French Union’s Assembly. In November 1951, Jean Sainteny. Lieutenant Commander Simpson-
back in Cambodia, he became under-secretary of Jones stayed on in Hanoi after his liberation to
state to the National Police. He was minister of serve as a British government observer. He was
the Economy in the cabinet formed in June 1952 also involved in intelligence gathering. Fluent in
by Norodom Sihanouk and was minister of For- French, he developed cordial working relation-
eign Affairs between September and October of ships with French leaders in northern Vietnam
the same year. Penn Nouth made him minister of such as Jean Sainteny and met on several occa-
the Economy and Public Works in January 1953 sions with Ho Chi Minh. For unclear reasons,
and minister of National Defence in a reshuffle Simpson-Jones was also the object of several
in July 1953. Sim Var served finally as minister assassination attempts by non-communist Viet-
of Public Works and Telecommunications in the namese groups. It is not clear in what capacity he
Penn Nouth cabinet of April 1954. was truly working in Hanoi at this time. He left
sometime in early 1946 and would go on to be a
simondet, jean (1919–). Colonial adminis- very successful businessman in France. See also
trator active in central Vietnam during the Indo- ARTHUR GOEFFREY TREVOR-WILSON;
china War. He began his colonial career in France DOUGLAS GRACEY.
attending to questions of Indochinese workers
between 1943 and 1945, all the while taking part SINGKAPO SIKHOT CHOUNLAMANY. See
secretly in the French resistance movement. In SINGKAPŌ SĪKHŌTCHUNNAMĀLĪ.
1945, he transferred to India as part of the Corps
de liaison administrative pour l’Extrême-Orient SINGKAPŌ SĪKHŌTCHUNNAMĀLĪ (Sing-
designed to restore colonial administrative rule to kapo Sikhot Chounlamany, 1913–?).
Indochina after Japanese defeat. Simondet arrived Senior Pathet Lao military leader and close
in Indochina in 1945 and worked in the high com- collaborator with the Democratic Republic
missioner’s office until 1946. Between 1946 and of Vietnam. Born in Thakhek, he trained as a
1947, he undertook administrative tasks among teacher and worked as a youth leader following
the highland peoples of southern Indochina, the Japanese overthrow of the French in March
referred to by the French administratively as les 1945. Prince Suphānuvong relied upon him to
populations montagnardes du Sud-Indochine. He bring over youth to the nationalist cause follow-
moved to Hue where he worked in the Financial ing the Japanese defeat. Singkapō joined the Lao
Services of the high commissioner’s office for Issara government and became chief of staff of
central Vietnam between 1947 and 1949. He re- the Army of Liberation and Defense on 1 Novem-
turned to France in 1949 where he held a post in the ber 1945. Following the return of the French in
Ministry of Overseas France, Indochina Section, mid-1946, he followed the Lao Issara government
until 1950. Between 1955 and 1959, he worked into exile in Thailand where he continued to run
in the French ministry in charge of relations with military affairs for the Thakhek region from bases
the Associated States of Indochina concerning in Thailand. Following the return of Pibun Song-
financial and economic matters and the repatria- gram in late 1947 and early 1948, he left Thailand
tion of Europeans following the Indochina War. In for central Vietnam to join the Lao Issara Com-
1956, he wrote a study of the question entitled Les mittee for the East. In 1950, he joined in the

428 SĪSĀVANGVONG

creation of the Lao Resistance Government and recognition of his services to the French during
became vice president of the Pathet Lao national World War II. See also ASSOCIATED STATES
front. He continued collaborating militarily with OF INDOCHINA.
the Vietnamese in Inter-Zone IV (Lien Khu IV).
He served as president of the Lao–Vietnamese SISOWATH MONIPONG (1912–1956). The
Military Committee based in Do Luong. When uncle of King Norodom Sihanouk and one of his
the Vietnamese army invaded large parts of Laos strongest political supporters. At the age of 15,
from 1953, he moved his residence to Sam Neua Sisowath Monipong travelled to France to study
with the rest of the Pathet Lao leadership. He under the supervision of the former Résident
worked as a political–military cadre and became Supérieur François-Marius Baudoin. Between
in 1953 president of the People’s Court for Sam 1927 and 1930, Sisowath Monipong attended
Neau before accompanying the Vietnamese army high school in Nice before returning to Cambodia
in its brief occupation of Thakhek later that year. to don the yellow Buddhist robe as a novice. He
He was named a colonel in the Pathet Lao army. returned to France to complete his education and
See also PARTY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE. entered Saint-Cyr where he specialized in avia-
tion. At the outbreak of World War II, he served as
SĪSĀVANGVONG (1885–1959). Lao king and a second lieutenant in the French Air Force and
dedicated ally of the French throughout the was cited for bravery during the Battle of France.
entire Indochina War. He studied in Saigon and Following the armistice, he returned to Cambodia
then at the Colonial Academy (École coloniale) to serve as deputy general secretary of the Royal
in Paris between 1900 and 1901. He returned to Palace. In January 1946, he signed the Franco-
Laos where he was officially crowned King of Khmer modus vivendi and served as prime min-
Luang Prabang on 4 March 1905. He ruled over ister in the Royal Government of Cambodia. In
Luang Prabang until the Japanese overthrew the March 1950, the king named him chief of staff of
French in March 1945. Under Japanese pressure, the Royal Khmer Army, before Monipong became
he agreed to initialize a declaration of indepen- a few months later Cambodian prime minister and
dence for Laos and the nullification of the French minister of the Interior and Information. He was a
protectorate. However, he remained faithful to the member of the Cambodian delegation to the Pau
French and bet his future on their return. To this Conference that same year. In January 1951, he
end, he named Prince Kindavong his personal was renamed prime minister and held the portfo-
representative to the Provisional Government of lios of Health, Labor, and Social Action.
the French Republic led by General Charles de
Gaulle. On 30 August 1945, the king declared SISOWATH SIRIK MATAK (1914–1975). Gradu-
null and void the independence forced upon him ated in 1938 from the École nationale d’admin­
by the Japanese and reaffirmed the legal valid- istra­tion du Cambodge. Little is known of his
ity and continuity of the French protectorate. He activities during World War II. He joined the
was adamantly opposed to the Lao Issara and Democrat Party in 1946 before moving on to
Prince Phetxarāt, whom he stripped of his rank the Renewal Party. In August 1949, he was put in
and titles. In return, the Lao Issara deposed the charge of military affairs in the autonomous zone
king by popular vote of the Provisional People’s in Siemreap province but lost his post following
Assembly (though this decision was reversed in a fall-out with Dap Chhuon. Sirik Matak was a
April 1946). The king fully supported the return member of the Cambodian delegation to the Pau
of the French in 1946 and counted on them to Conference in 1950 and served as director of the
protect Lao interests within the Indochinese Bureau of the Ministry of the Interior. Between
Federation. In 1946, he approved a constitution June 1952 and January 1953, he was state secre-
for what became a unified Royal Lao government tary for National Defense. Between January and
and in 1947 the French allowed Sīsāvangvong to July 1953, he served as minister of Defence, Posts,
become King of Laos. In July 1949, he signed the and Telecommunications. He was a member of
Franco-Lao convention by which Laos became the Franco-Khmer military committee created by
an Associated State, the Lao Issara government King Norodom Sihanouk.
was dissolved, and its members were allowed to
return to Laos, except for Phetxarāt. The French SISOWATH YOUTEVONG (1913–1947). Com-
bestowed on the king the Croix de guerre in pleted his primary and secondary studies in Phnom

SMITH 429

Penh and Saigon before pursuing his university and 1955, active mainly on the southern front.
education at the Faculté des sciences de Montpel- He married a Vietnamese woman from Thu Dau
lier, from which he graduated in mathematics in Mot, had a daughter, and adopted the Vietnamese
1941. He married a French woman. He joined the name, Nguyen Van Thanh. In 1954, following the
Democrat Party in 1946 and briefly served as division of Vietnam into two states at the Geneva
prime minister and minister of the Interior in De- Conference, he and his daughter regrouped to
cember 1946. He was one of the main architects the north and were soon presented as an official
of the constitution approved by King Norodom symbol of Soviet-Vietnamese Friendship. When
Sihanouk in 1947. He died of illness in 1947. Ho Chi Minh made a major public appearance
in Hanoi in January 1955, Skrzhinsky’s daughter,
SĪTHON KOMMADAM (1908–1977). Important Béatrice, was perched gently upon Ho’s knee.
ethnic minority leader of the Pathet Lao and ally Later in 1955, father and daughter were repatri-
of the Vietnamese in charge of operations against ated to the Soviet Union. Fluent in Vietnamese,
the French in southern Laos during the Indochina Skrzhinsky became the first head of the Vietnam-
War. Born in Attopeu province, he came from ese Section of Moscow Radio, a position he held
a family known for its opposition to the French until retiring in the 1990s. He translated into Rus-
during a famous revolt in the Bolavens. Little is sian Phung Quan’s Breaking out of Poulo Condor
known of his activities before or during World (Vuot Con Dao).
War II, except that he was incarcerated by the
French and liberated by the Japanese following SMITH, WALTER BEDELL (1895–1961). Bedell
their coup de force of 9 March 1945. He joined Smith served on the Western Front in France dur-
the Lao Issara upon its creation in October ing World War I and rose to the rank of lieutenant
1945 and was active in guerrilla operations in general in the United States Army during World
southern Laos and north-eastern Thailand, where War II. He owed his rapid ascent during this time
he worked closely with Vietnamese communists to his effective work for General George Marshall,
based out of Ubon. Following the dissolution of the army’s chief of staff. In 1942, Smith became
the Lao Issara in 1949, he refused to return to Laos secretary of the combined chiefs of staff. In March
and worked with the dissident Princes Phetxarāt 1944, the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe,
and Suphānuvong. In 1950, he participated in Dwight D. Eisenhower, named him chief of staff,
the congress that created the Lao Resistance a position he held until the German surrender in
Government and national front. He became a May 1945. After the war, Smith served as ambas-
minister without portfolio. See also PARTY AF- sador to Moscow between 1946 and 1949. In 1950,
FAIRS COMMITTEE; COMMITTEE FOR THE President Harry S. Truman named him to lead the
EAST, LAO ISSARA. Central Intelligence Agency. He left this post in
1953, retired from the army, and turned to creating
skrZHINSKY, Platon Alexandrovich the National Security Agency. In 1953–54, Eisen-
(NGUYEN VAN THANH, 1922–2003). Born hower, now president, named him under-Secretary
and raised in the Ukraine, Skrzhinsky was one of of State. As negotiators at the Geneva Conference
the Democratic Republic of Vietnam’s (DRV) moved towards an agreement in mid-July, Pierre
best known crossovers. Inducted into the Soviet Mendès France, who had staked his position on
Red Army in 1941, he saw combat against the making a deal on Indochina, pleaded with the
Germans, who captured him in May 1942 and Americans to send a high-ranking official to be
transferred him to Western Europe as a forced present during the final act. Mendès France wanted
laborer. At the end of the war, he landed in France the communist camp to see that the Americans were
or Denmark with no place to go. Uninterested in on board and that the Western camp was of the same
returning to the Soviet Union, in April 1946 he mind on Indochina. John Foster Dulles, who had
joined the French Foreign Legion and soon found left the conference early on, agreed to send General
himself in Indochina as the French and the Viet- Bedell Smith to head the American delegation at
namese moved towards full-scale war. Opposed to Geneva during the final sessions of the conference.
what he saw as an unjust colonial war, he deserted Smith had already served as a ranking diplomat in
his unit in southern Vietnam on 17 August 1947 the American delegation to the Geneva Confer-
and joined the DRV’s ranks. He was inducted ence earlier on. He had also worked as a deputy
and served in the Vietnamese army between 1947 to Dulles on American policy towards Indochina,

430 SOCIALISTS

including operation Vautour and at the head of a French in June 1946. See also JOSEPH STALIN;
special committee on Indochina. Smith left for Ge- AID, SOVIET.
neva. In line with Dulles’ policy, at the end of the
conference, he indicated that the United States took SOM PHOMMACHAN. Member of the Lao
note of the agreement. However, he issued an offi- Issara and close ally of the Vietnamese in the
cial communiqué clarifying the American position. resistance against the French. Born in Vientiane
In it, he said that the United States abstained from province, he joined the Lao Issara after World
taking note of Article 13 of the final declaration, War II. He was one of the core members of the
meaning that the United States would not take part Lao Issara’s Committee for the East, which col-
in consultations for implementing the execution of laborated closely with Vietnamese communists
the accords. He added that Washington would only in Inter-Zone IV (Lien Khu IV). Following the
recognize elections organized under United Na- dissolution of the Lao Issara in 1949, he joined the
tions supervision, knowing that communist China Lao Resistance Government in August 1950 and
was not part of the Security Council. the Pathet Lao national front.

SOCIALISTS, FRANCE. See SECTION FRAN- SOMSANIT VONGKOTRATANA (1913–1975).
ÇAISE DE L’INTERNATIONALE OUVRIÈRE. Non-communist Lao nationalist and politician.
He began his career in the colonial bureaucracy
SOK CHHONG (1918–1995). Prominent econo- in 1942, working as a local governor and a clerk
mist and nationalist leader in Cambodia during in the Résidence supérieure in Vientiane. Little
the Indochina War. Born in Battambang province, is known of his activities during World War II.
he studied medicine at the Faculté de medicine in Following the overthrow of the French in March
Hanoi, but did not graduate. He returned to Cam- 1945 and the defeat of the Japanese shortly there-
bodia and entered the School of Forestry in 1942. after, he joined the Lao Issara created in October
Little is known of his activities during World War 1945. He served as minister before following the
II. He served briefly in the police services of Son government into exile in Thailand following the
Ngoc Thanh’s government following the Japa- return of the French in mid-1946. With the dis-
nese overthrow of the French in the coup de force solution of the Lao Issara in 1949, he returned to
of 9 March 1945. After the Pacific War, he helped join the newly created Associated State of Laos.
create the Democrat Party in 1946 and became a In 1950, he became chief of cabinet of the min-
deputy from Kompong Thom province in the Na- ister of Justice and in 1952 he was named chief
tional Assembly. In 1948, he served as counsellor of Nam Tha. In 1954, he took over as general
to the Assembly of the French Union in Paris as a director of the National Police for the Associated
Democrat nominee, where he resided until 1951. State of Laos.
He returned to Cambodia that year and resumed
his activities in the Democrat Party. He served SON LAPRISON. Created by the French at the turn
as minister for the National Economy in the Huy of the 20th century, this northern prison located in
Kanthoul government between October 1951 and northern Vietnam held some of the highest rank-
June 1952. When Norodom Sihanouk moved to ing Vietnamese communists until the Japanese
consolidate his power against the Democrat party, overthrew the French during the coup de force
the king had Sok Chhong arrested and imprisoned of 9 March 1945. Those held included Nguyen
in January 1953 on anti-monarchist grounds. Luong Bang, Tran Quoc Hoan, Le Thanh Nghi,
Le Gian, Le Duc Tho, Xuan Thuy, Van Tien
SOLOVIEFF, STEPHAN. French-naturalized Dung, and Nguyen Van Tran among others. See
Russian who lived in Indochina from 1934 and also POULO CONDOR; JEAN COUSSEAU.
ran the Hanoi office for Asia Life Insurance
Company. After World War II, he helped the SƠN NGỌC MINH (PHẠM VĂN HUA, 1908–
Soviet Union trace missing soldiers, including in 1977). Close ally of Vietnamese communists in-
Indochina. During this time, he worked with Jean strumental in developing communism in Cambodia
Sainteny, commissioner for the French Republic during the Indochina War. Born to a Vietnamese
to Tonkin and Northern Annam, especially dur- father and a Cambodian mother, he spoke Viet-
ing the negotiation of the Accords of 6 March namese as fluently as his native Khmer. In the
1946. He returned to France “as a friend” of the early 1930s, Son Ngoc Minh worked on the Tonle

SƠN NGỌC THANH 431

Sap in Cambodia as a fisherman. In 1936, he be- Back in Cambodia, he declared the country in-
gan collaborating with Nguyen Thanh Son in dependent on 13 March 1945. On 14 August 1945,
My Tho province and was increasingly attracted he became prime minister and minister of Foreign
to radical politics. With the help of Nguyen Thanh Affairs in the first Cambodian government inde-
Son, Son Ngoc Minh created something of a com- pendent of the French since the 19th century. All
munist cell in Svay Rieng in 1939. During World of this was shortlived, however. Under orders to
War II, he moved to Thailand but returned to retake all of French Indochina, General Philippe
Cambodia following the ousting of the French to Leclerc flew to Phnom Penh and delivered Son
support Son Ngoc Thanh’s government. With the Ngoc Thanh to a Military Court in Saigon, where
return of the French to southern Indochina in late the latter received a sentence of 20 years of hard
1945, Son Ngoc Minh took refuge in Rach Gia labor for “high treason”. The French ended up
and renewed his collaboration with Nguyen Thanh bundling him off to France, putting him under a
Son. According to French intelligence, in 1948 he rather lax résidence surveillée at Poitiers, where
changed his name to Son Ngoc Minh and began he studied at the Faculté de droit between 1947
reorganizing the Khmer resistance movement in and 1950. His surveillance in France ended on
cooperation with Nguyen Thanh Son. The latter 29 October 1951 upon the request of Norodom
relied heavily upon Son Ngoc Minh to build up a Sihanouk.
revolutionary movement in Cambodia under the
guidance of the Indochinese Communist Party Two months later, Son Ngoc Thanh returned to
and in alliance with the Democratic Republic of Cambodia before a large crowd of supporters and
Vietnam’s Indochinese-wide struggle against the resumed his nationalist activities. He renewed his
French. Son Ngoc Minh studied in the Truong call for the full independence of Cambodia. He
Chinh Academy in Rach Gia sometime in the was a natural born orator, capable of mesmerizing
late 1940s, the equivalent of the Nguyen Ai Quoc his Cambodian audiences, much to the concern
Academy in the north. He led the Cambodian of the French and the Cambodian Royal family,
Resistance Government and the Revolutionary not least of all Sihanouk. Son Ngoc Thanh also
Party created in 1950 in collaboration with the communicated his ideas effectively through the
Vietnamese. He attended the Geneva Confer- modern press, resurrecting Nagaravatta in the
ence as an observer and was repatriated when the form of a new nationalist paper, the Khmer Krok
subsequent Geneva Accords failed to provide the (The Awakening of the Khmer). When the paper
Cambodian Resistance Government with regroup- was closed down in February 1952, Son Ngoc
ing zones. See also SIEU HENG; MÉTIS; PARTY Thanh fled to the maquis in Siemreap where he
AFFAIRS COMMITTEE; KHMER KROM. continued to use the radio and the newspaper to
exhort the population and Cambodians working
SƠN NGỌC THANH (1908–1977). Prominent in the French and Royal army to join his nation-
Cambodian nationalist and politician during the alist project. Before leaving Phnom Penh, Son
entire Indochina War. Born in the Khmer-populat- Ngoc Thanh had also developed good working
ed province (Tra Vinh) of colonial Cochinchina relations with two important nationalist forces in
(known to many Cambodians as Kampuchea Cambodian politics – the Democrat Party and
Krom), he completed his secondary studies in Sai- Dap Chhuon. Thanks to his contacts with the
gon before moving to Phnom Penh where he be- Democrats, Son Ngoc Thanh succeeded in or-
came active in nationalist politics at the head of the ganizing student demonstrations in Phnom Penh
paper Nagaravatta and in the Institut bouddhique in May 1952 calling for the full independence of
under Suzanne Karpelès. During World War II, Cambodia.
Son Ngoc Thanh played a pivotal role in organiz-
ing monks in nationalist ways to the consternation Determined to maintain control of the political
of Vichy authorities. Following the French repres- situation, in June 1952 King Norodom Sihanouk
sion of such a demonstration in 1942, Son Ngoc relieved one of Son Ngoc Thanh’s Democrat al-
Thanh fled to Thailand where he took refuge in the lies, Huy Kanthoul, of his post as prime minister
Japanese Embassy in Bangkok. The latter hurried and began preparing his own royal crusade for
him off to Japan (where he became a captain in the independence. On the defensive, Son Ngoc Thanh
army) until the coup de force of 9 March 1945 entered into limited contact with the forces of the
ousting the French from Indochina. Democratic Republic of Vietnam but little came
of this. With the end of the Indochina War in 1954,
Son Ngoc Thanh returned to legal politics but,

432 SON SANN

as one French intelligence officer confided at the SONG HÀO (NGUYỄN VĂN KHƯƠNG,
time, the Royal Government of Cambodia had 1917–2004). Prominent Vietnamese general in the
only partially won him over to its side. In 1972, Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Born in Nam
he briefly served as prime minister when Lon Nol Ha province in northern Vietnam, he became po-
did away with the monarchy and Sihanouk. See litically active during the Popular Front period in
also KHMER KROM. the late 1930s and joined the Indochinese Com-
munist Party (ICP) in 1939. In 1940, he was ar-
SON SANN (1911–2000). Born in the Khmer- rested and imprisoned by the French. He escaped
populated province of Cochinchina (Tra Vinh), in August 1944 and became a political commissar
he studied at the École Miche in Phnom Penh be- in the emerging Vietnamese National Salvation
fore entering the Collège de St-Aspais in Melun, Army. He attended the conference in Tan Trao
France. From there, he entered the elite Parisian in August 1945 and was responsible for taking
school, the Lycée Louis-le-Grand. Upon graduat- power in Tuyen Quang and Ha Giang provinces.
ing from the École des hautes études commercia- In late 1945, he became a member of the ICP’s
les in 1933, he returned to Cambodia, entered the Territorial Committee for northern Vietnam (Xu
colonial administration in 1935, and served as Uy Bac Bo) responsible for the provinces of Ha
governor of Battambang province. Son Sann was Giang, Tuyen Quang, and Thai Nguyen. During
active in creating and developing the scouting the Indochina War, he was a political commissar
movement in Prey Veng province. In 1939, he left in Inter-Zone X (Lien Khu X), the northwestern
his bureaucratic post to work in the Maison Denis zone, and was the secretary for the powerful
Frères in Phnom Penh. Nasir Carime-Abdoul Party Affairs Committee for Vietnamese vol-
states that he worked in the Au Petit Paris in unteer troop in upper Laos. With the decision to
Phnom Penh and remained there until 1945. Dur- rename the ICP the Vietnamese Worker’s Party,
ing World War II, Son Sann travelled to Tokyo to in 1950 he led a party delegation to Laos to hold
participate in an economic conference involved in discussions with counterparts there concerning
negotiating rice exports to Japan. He was also ac- the need to create a separate Lao communist
tive in the patriotic and mobilization movements party. Between 1951 and 1954, he was a political
let loose by the Japanese and the Vichy regime. At commissar in the 308th Division, the secretary of
the same time, he was among those who served as the Division’s Party Committee, and a member of
educators to the new boy king, Norodom Siha- the International Commission for Supervision
nouk. Son Sann dispensed lessons in economics. and Control in Vietnam for the implementation
After World War II, in 1946, he became a of the Geneva Accords.
member of the Democrat Party. In December
1946, he joined the Sisowath Youtevong cabinet SONN VOEUNSAI (1911–1986). Born in Phnom
as minister of Finance and served in the Sisowath Penh, he completed his secondary studies at the
Watchayvong cabinet as vice president in July Collège Sisowath in Phnom Penh and Lycée
1947. He held the same post in the Penn Nouth Chasseloup Laubat in Saigon before graduating
cabinet constituted in August 1948 and again as an engineer from the École centrale des arts
in March 1949. In 1949, as separate associated et manufactures in Paris. He became a French
states came into being for Cambodia, Laos, and citizen in 1928 and resided in France between
Vietnam, Son Sann was involved in negotiations 1931 and 1939. As a reserve officer in the French
over the status of Khmer Krom populations army in Indochina, he was mobilized between
living in southern Vietnam. Between May 1950 1939 and 1942 in the Régiment des tirailleurs
and March 1951, he served as minister of Foreign cambodgiens. Relieved of active duty that year,
Affairs in the Sisowath Monipong cabinet and at- he worked in the colonial Public Works Depart-
tended the Pau Conference. In October 1951, he ment in Phnom Penh until the end of World War
was elected president of the National Assembly, II. Between October 1945 and December 1946,
serving as a Democrat deputy for Phnom Penh. he served as deputy minister of National Defence
Following Norodom Sihanouk’s dismissal of in the cabinet of Prince Sisowath Monireth. He
Huy Kanthoul in 1952, Son Sann withdrew from held the same post in the Sisowath Youtevong
the Democrat Party and politics for the rest of the cabinet (December 1946–July 1947) and the
Indochina War. Sisowath Watchayvong government (July 1947–
February 1948). Sonn Voeunsai was minister

SPECIAL AIR SERVICE 433

of the National Economy, Public Works, and Soviet Union and China to keep out of Southeast
Communications in the Chhean Vam cabinet Asia. While Laos, Cambodia, and the Republic
(February–August 1948) and in the Penn Nouth of Vietnam had been barred by the Geneva agree-
government (August 1948–January 1949). He ments from joining such a foreign military pact,
was involved in negotiations over the status of a special protocol in the Manila Treaty included
parts of Khmer-populated areas in former colonial these countries within the SEATO zone (even
Cochinchina, now a part of the emerging Associ- though they were not officially members of the
ated State of Vietnam. In 1950–1951, he served pact). Based in Bangkok, SEATO was in the end
Norodom Sihanouk and Sisowath Monipong more of a deliberative and consultative body.
as minister of Defence. Under Huy Kanthoul, Unlike NATO, SEATO had no troops under its
he served as minister of the Interior and National command, no military structure, nor did it bind
Defence between October 1951 and June 1952. its members to respond if one member state were
In June 1952, he was re-elected Deputy General attacked. They would consult and respond as
Secretary of the Democrat Party. One month later, dictated by their own national political systems.
with the departure of Son Sann, Sonn Voeunsai
took charge of the Democrat Party. His influence If certain Asian states, such as India, Burma,
waned, however, with Sihanouk’s consolidation and Indonesia, did not take part in SEATO, it was
of political power in 1953. See also ROYAL largely because they had opted for a neutral path,
CRUSADE FOR INDEPENDENCE something which membership in SEATO would
have denied them. On 29 September 1954, Jawa-
Soulat, Henri (1918–1989). Joined the harlal Nehru told his parliament that the Manila
French Air Force in 1937 and distinguished him- Treaty was “dangerous” for “any Asian state”.
self in the resistance during World War II. He took Not everyone saw it this way, however. Member-
part in the Allied landing at Normandy in 1944. ship in SEATO and the continued presence of the
In September 1950, the Air Force transferred him Expeditionary Corps in lower Vietnam allowed
to Indochina to work as a transport pilot. After a the French to maintain their claim to being a
short stint in France, he returned to Indochina in world power on the same level as the British. In
September 1952 to lead the 2nd squadron of C- April 1956, the French withdrew the Expedition-
119s based at Cat Bi airbase. He made the first and ary Corps from Indochina and concentrated their
last supply mission over Dien Bien Phu in 1954. attention on the Algerian War. It was only after
the Evian Accords in 1962 that Charles de Gaulle,
SOUTH EAST ASIA TREATY ORGANIZA- the man who had led France into the Indochina
TION (SEATO). As the Chinese moved to neu- War, could distance France from the Americans,
tralize non-communist Asia against the Americans their war in Vietnam, and SEATO. See also NEU-
during the Geneva Conference, the Americans, TRALIZATION OF INDOCHINA.
led by John Foster Dulles, accelerated their
efforts to create an anti-communist collective SOUTH VIETNAM. See REPUBLIC OF VIET-
security organization for Southeast Asia. Hardly NAM.
a month after the ink had dried on the Geneva
Accords, the Americans presided over the sign- SPCE. See SERVICE DE PROTECTION DU
ing of the Manila Treaty on 8 September 1954, CORPS EXPÉDITIONNAIRE.
creating the South East Asia Treaty Organization
or SEATO as it is more commonly known. Its SPECIAL AIR SERVICE (SAS). This term, as
members included: the United States, France, the used by the French, referred to “British para-
United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, the trooper commandos” (commandos-parachutistes
Philippines, Pakistan, and Thailand. britanniques) with whom Free French forces
Together with the Bagdad Pact, the North trained and fought during World War II, mainly in
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the Europe. Indeed, the English term “SAS” entered
treaty signed with Taiwan at about the same time, the French military vocabulary via French officers
SEATO was the Southeast Asian link in Wash- trained in SAS operations in Ringway in Great
ington’s global containment of Sino–Soviet com- Britain in 1944–1945. After the war, French of-
munist expansion via the South. As Dulles put it, ficers, notably Pierre Ponchardier and Jacques-
SEATO was a “no trespassing” sign telling the Pâris de Bollardière, modeled the creation of
their commando paratrooper teams for Indochina

434 SPECIAL FORCES

on the SAS model of World War II. Ponchardier’s régiment de Tabors marocains) in May 1940. He
unit was referred to as the SASB (B for battal- joined the chief of cabinet to General Catroux
ion), while Bollardière created the Demi-Brigade in Algiers in September 1943 and took part in
SAS. Over time, during the Indochina War, the the Brazzaville Conference in January 1944.
French SAS was incorporated into the Colonial In 1945, Spillmann returned to France where he
Paratroopers (paras coloniaux). The French SAS worked with General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny
disappeared in 1948. and followed him to Indochina in 1950, when
the latter became high commissioner and com-
SPECIAL FORCES, DEMOCRATIC REPUB- mander-in-chief of the armed forces in Indochina.
LIC OF VIETNAM (Biet Dong). Clandestine, General de Lattre put Spillman in charge of the
commando troops employed by the Democratic French Military Mission attached to the Associ-
Republic of Vietnam (DRV) behind enemy lines. ated State of Vietnam. Spillman left Indochina in
These undercover troops lived within the heart 1952 for health reasons and returned to France as
of French controlled zones, especially in urban a brigadier general. He would serve in Algeria as
centers. Each combatant practiced a legitimate the head of the military division of Constantine.
profession as a cover (worker, soldier, policeman,
secretary, taxi-girl, etc.). On a signal, these forces STALIN, JOSEPH (1878–1953). Between 1922
would launch surprise commando attacks against and 1953, Stalin served as General Secretary
pre-ordained targets. Secrecy and their undercover of the Communist Party of the Union of Soviet
identities transformed the element of surprise into Socialist Republics (USSR) and ruled the mas-
an effective military tactic for striking otherwise sive Eurasian state with an iron fist following
unattainable installations or enemies for the DRV’s the death of Lenin in 1924. During the interwar
regular forces. This meant that Biet Dong troops period, Stalin focused mainly on the communist
had to attain a perfect “integration in the masses” transformation of the USSR. While he supported
(quan chung hoa) and obtain a waterproof legal the Comintern’s activities in Asia, he was never
situation (hop phap hoa). Such commando teams a great believer in the socio-economic prospects
struck down French and collaborating Vietnamese for socialist revolution in the non-industrialized
enemies, launched sabotage operations, and, more East. With the rise of the Nazis in Germany and
rarely, destroyed enemy ships, tanks, or airplanes. the expansion of the Japanese into Manchuria in
One of the most famous biet dong operations the early 1930s, Stalin placed greater emphasis on
was the audacious attack on the French military security in defining his dealings in Asia. Like the
airbase at Gia Lam on 8 March 1954, part of a United States, he maintained his diplomatic rela-
wider effort to block the aerial supplying of Dien tions with Chiang Kai-shek’s Republic of China
Bien Phu. One of the members of this special in order to check the Japanese, now in charge of
force team was Hoang Minh Chinh, an eminent a Manchurian government bordering the Soviet
intellectual who the DRV placed under commun­ Union. Ties existed between Stalin and Mao Ze-
ist arrest in the 1960s. See also GROUPEMENT dong, now holed up in the caves of Yan’an; but as
DE COMMANDOS MIXTES AÉROPORTÉS; the world slid into war and the Nazis invaded the
SERVICE ACTION; SPECIAL AIR SERVICE. USSR, Stalin’s main Asian partner was Chiang
Kai-shek, not Mao Zedong. As for Vietnamese
spillmann, georges Joseph roger communists, Stalin gave little if any real thought
andré (1899–1980). A graduate of Saint-Cyr to them or their plight in light of his larger wartime
in 1917, Spillmann first distinguished himself in concerns. Moreover, in 1943, Stalin disbanded
battle during World War I. During the interwar pe- the Comintern to reassure the Allies of his good
riod, he joined the colonial army in French Africa, intentions, but in so doing removed an important
where he served in the intelligence services and network linking Asian communists and informa-
“indigenous affairs” offices between 1920 and tion to Moscow.
1945. A trusted advisor to Marshal Louis Hubert With the end of World War II and the advent of
Lyautey, Spillmann participated in the “pacifica- the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, Ho Chi
tion” of rebellious parts of Morocco in the late Minh fired off letters to Harry Truman, Chiang
1920s and early 1930s. Promoted to battalion Kai-shek, and Joseph Stalin, pleading with them
leader shortly after the outbreak of World War II, to support Vietnamese independence. Long out
he led the 6th Regiment of Tabor Moroccans (6ème of touch, the Soviets knew little about Vietnam

SUPHĀNUVONG 435

and Stalin certainly did not give much thought to STR. See SERVICE TECHNIQUE DES RECHER-
Ho Chi Minh and his problems with the French. CHES.
Stalin was much more focused on Europe and had
little desire to annoy the French at a time when SƯ RĨ. See NGUYỄN CHÍ THANH.
the French Communist Party (FCP) was strong.
When Ho Chi Minh’s request arrived on the desk SUK VONGSAK (1913–1983). Senior member
of S. P. Kozyrev, chief of the European section of the Lao Issara government. Born in Luang
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow, Prabang, he was educated in the École de droit
the latter wrote on it simply: “Not to answer.” et d’administration before joining the colonial
Like the United States, Stalin had no intention of administration in Laos. After serving in the Sec-
forcing the French hand on decolonization via the retariat of the Royal Palace of Luang Prabang,
United Nations. he became personal secretary to the governor of
Vientiane, Xieng Mao. Following the Japanese
Stalin’s obsession with Tito from 1948 compli- overthrow of the French in March 1945, he served
cated the DRV’s isolation from the USSR. In fact, as governor of Paksane. He joined the Lao Issara
Stalin was one of Ho Chi Minh’s doubters. Mau- government in October 1945. Following the return
rice Thorez, general secretary of the FCP at the of the French to all of Laos in mid-1946, he fol-
time, tried to convince Stalin that Ho was a reli- lowed the national government into exile in Thai-
able and authentic communist believer. According land, where he was responsible for propaganda
to Thorez, Stalin felt that Ho Chí Minh had gone and information. Upon the dissolution of the Lao
too far in his collaboration with the Americans Issara in 1949, representatives of the Democratic
during World War II and was annoyed by Ho Chi Republic of Vietnam and Prince Suphānuvong
Minh’s failure to solicit advice from him before persuaded him to travel to northern Vietnam,
making major decisions. Stalin cited Ho Chi where he participated in the congress that pro-
Minh’s decision to dissolve the ICP in 1945. Ac- duced the Lao Resistance Government and the
cording to Ilya Gaiduk, in a memo on the DRV new national front, the Pathet Lao. Suk Vongsak
dated 14 January 1950, the Soviet Foreign Minis- represented the province of Paksane in the new
try pointed out that in Ho Chi Minh’s interviews government and became minister of Education
“there is some ambiguity … Speaking about the and Propaganda. He went on to become an im-
Vietnam government’s attitude towards the U.S., portant leader of the Pathet Lao. See also PARTY
Ho Cho Minh evades the issue of U.S. expansion- AFFAIRS COMMITTEE; ADVISOR GROUP
ist policy towards Vietnam. … Until now Ho Chi 100.
Minh has abstained from the assessment of the
imperialist nature of the North Atlantic Pact and SUPHĀNUVONG, Prince (CHINH, 1912–1995).
of the U.S. attempt to establish a Pacific bloc as Leading royalist leader of the Pathet Lao. Related
a branch of this pact.” Stalin had also suspected to the royal branch of Luang Prabang, he was a
Mao Zedong of Titoism. The Soviet leader feared half-brother to Prince Phetxarāt and Suvanna
that these “Asian” leaders were, at the core, more Phūmā. He undertook his primary and secondary
nationalist than internationalist and, like Tito, studies in Hanoi between 1921 and 1931, where
would not necessarily toe the Soviet line in this he graduated from the Lycée Albert Sarraut. He
tense time in the Cold War. then travelled to France to study at the Lycée Saint
Louis. In 1934, he entered the prestigious École
In the end, victorious Chinese communists nationale des ponts et chaussées from which he
played the decisive role in convincing a reluctant graduated in 1937 as a civil engineer. After com-
Stalin to take sides by diplomatically recognizing pleting several internships in France, he returned
the DRV in January 1950. Had Chinese commu- to Indochina and in 1938 joined the Administra-
nists agreed with Stalin and balked at recognizing tion des travaux publics d’Indochine. He worked
the DRV, it would have dealt a catastrophic blow as an engineer in Nha Trang, Muong Phin, and
to the DRV in its drive for independence. In ex- Vinh into the early 1940s. In 1943, he published an
change for his support, however, Stalin insisted in article in the Vichy cultural magazine, Indochine
meetings with Ho Chi Minh in 1950 and again in (no. 133, 18 March 1943) in which he praised
1952 that the Vietnamese could not have it both the national revolution let loose by Vichy during
ways. They had to adopt communist policies, the World War II. Fluent in Vietnamese, he married
most important of which was land reform. Viet-
namese communists complied.

436 SÛRETÉ FÉDÉRALE

a Vietnamese woman from Nha Trang during his Minh to build a new Lao revolutionary govern-
work there, Nguyen Thi Ky Nam (Vieng Kham ment in collaboration with the Vietnamese. In Au-
was her adopted Lao name). gust 1950, he helped create the Lao Resistance
Government and the Pathet Lao nationalist front.
Following the defeat of the Japanese in August When Prince Phetxarāt refused to serve as presi-
1945, his older half-brother, Prince Phetxarāt, dent, Suphānuvong became the chief of the new
cabled to ask him to return to Laos immediately resistance government. In 1953, as the DRV’s
to take part in the making of a postcolonial Laos. divisions occupied large swaths of eastern Laos,
Viet Minh representatives contacted him at about Suphānuvong returned to Laos from Vietnam to
the same time and invited him to Hanoi to visit Ho run the “resistance government”.
Chi Minh to discuss similar things. Suphānuvong
travelled to Hanoi by car from Hue in the com- Suphānuvong was one of the DRV’s clos-
pany of Le Van Hien, future minister of Finances est Lao collaborators during the entire Indo-
in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) china War, third only to Kaisôn Phomvihān and
and later ambassador to Laos. After a brief Nūhak Phūmsavan. The Vietnamese called him
meeting with Ho Chi Minh and others in Hanoi, Chinh and Cu, meaning venerable one. The com-
Suphānuvong returned to Laos and began creating munist leadership of Laos has recently unveiled
anti-colonialist committees in Thakhek and Sa- a monument in Luang Prabang in honor of the
vannakhet. He joined the Lao Issara government “Red Prince”. See also ASSOCIATED STATES
in October 1945, serving as foreign minister. OF INDOCHINA; METIS; PARTY AFFAIRS
COMMITTEE.
From the outset, he worked closely with
DRV representatives active among the overseas SÛRETÉ FÉDÉRALE. The colonial security and
Vietnamese in northeast Thailand. Together police service in charge of French Indochina until
they organized the defence of Thakhek against the withdrawal of the French following the Ge-
the return of French forces in March 1946. The neva Accords of July 1954. The Sûreté was first
Prince was injured while escaping to Thailand created in Indochina during World War I thanks to
across the Mekong. A young soldier, Le Thieu the efforts of Governor General Albert Sarraut
Huy,14 threw himself over the prince to protect and his allies, most notably Louis Marty. The
him from gunfire; the young Vietnamese man Sûreté closely tracked the birth, growth, and ac-
died in Suphānuvong’s arms. Suphānuvong tivities of Vietnamese communists and national-
continued to serve as minister of Foreign Affairs ists inside and outside of French Indochina. It was
in the Lao Issara government-in-exile and was on a number of occasions remarkably effective in
commander-in-chief of Lao Issara troops from shutting down anti-colonial activities, especially
December 1946. He became general secretary of in 1930–1931 and again in 1940–1941. One rank-
the short-lived South East Asia League upon its ing French intelligence officer in Indochina con-
creation in September 1947. In 1948 and 1949, he sidered it to be “all powerful” (toute puissante)
commanded troops positioned along the northern until early 1945.
Thai–Lao–Burmese border. The Japanese coup de force of 9 March 1945
changed all that. Not only did the Japanese bring
However, working relations between the down French Indochina in that month, but with
independent-minded prince and the Lao Issara it they put an end to the existing French colonial
leadership turned from bad to worse as the French police services. Following the Japanese defeat a
stepped up the pressure to reach a deal putting an few months later, Vietnamese nationalists in the
end to their dissidence. On 16 May 1949, the Lao south and especially above the 16th parallel took
Issara relieved Suphānuvong of his functions as over French Sûreté offices, files, archives, and
minister of Foreign Affairs and of Defence. When often their techniques. When the French returned
the Franco-Lao Treaty of 1949 gave birth to the to southern Indochina in late 1945, they moved
Associated State of Laos and the dissolution of to rebuild their civil police and security services.
the Lao Issara, Suphānuvong refused to return to However, the Sûreté would never regain its pre-
Laos. Instead he intensified his reliance on DRV war effectiveness. Too many of its Vietnamese
delegates in Thailand. In late 1949, he travelled personnel were compromised in 1945; some of
to northern Vietnam on the invitation of Ho Chi its best French officers were purged by Gaullists
for their collaboration with Vichy, including Paul
14. Le Thieu Huy, educated in France, was the son of
the interwar Vietnamese intellectual, politician, and
journalist, Le Thuoc.

SÛRETÉ FÉDÉRALE 437

Arnoux; and the colonial police apparently never forces with this nationally inspired one in the mo-
regained the financing it had during the interwar dus vivendi of March 1946. Despite some friction
period. at the outset, collaboration became increasingly
effective in light of the wider struggle against
Nevertheless, if the Indochinese colonial state the DRV and its Indochinese-wide pretensions.
were to function again, the Sûreté had to be re- Following the return of the French to all of Laos
made as well. On 14 September 1945, the French in mid-1946, an accord was struck in July accord-
created the Service de Sûreté de la Cochinchine, ing to which a national police service would be
relying upon recently liberated French and Viet- created in Laos. Until then, the French services
namese security personnel. On 17 September filled in.
1945, an attempt to recreate the Indochinese
Security Service occurred when nine bureaucrats As for Tonkin/Bac Bo and Annam/Trung Bo
of the colonial police created the Direction de la north of the 16th parallel, the DRV refused to
Police et de la Sûreté générale, which returned to recognize, much less allow the overt extension of,
its earlier address once the French retook Saigon the colonial police and security services in nation-
on 23 September 1945. However, since March ally controlled territory. The DRV only tolerated
1945, this service had lost some 800 Indochinese Moret’s work in Hanoi in order to avoid triggering
personnel. Like the Deuxième Bureau, the ter- a premature war. Following the outbreak of full-
ritorial reach of the Sûreté became more concrete scale war on 19 December 1946, however, the
and geographically complete as the French ex- French obviously felt no qualms about extending
tended their military and political presence into their federal services to all of Annam and Tonkin.
Cambodia and then, in 1946, discreetly into areas Although the idea of creating an Indochinese
above the 16th parallel. Federation was rapidly fading by late 1947, the
name “federal” continued to be used when refer-
Squadron Leader Georges Buis assumed the ring to the Sûreté.
interim direction of the reconstituted Sûreté in
1945. In December 1945, André Moret, who This changed with the creation of the Associ-
had previously directed the political section of the ated State of Vietnam under Bao Dai in 1949,
French police in Shanghai, took charge of reor- when the French began decolonizing their police
ganizing the Sûreté’s activities in Tonkin, while and security services. The French transferred con-
a certain M. Thierry did the same in Cambodia trol of the federal police and security services to
from late September. Pierre Perrier became the their counterparts in northern (15 June 1950), cen-
new director of the federal police and security tral (18 July 1950), southern Vietnam (10 March
forces. He was in direct liaison with other civil 1950), and early 1951 for the highlands. However,
and military intelligence services, including the it was harder to hand over more sensitive parts
Deuxième Bureau and the Bureau fédéral de of the colonial security apparatus, including a
documentation. secret section called the “territorial surveillance”
(surveillance du territoire), military security, the
The French colonial security and police ser- highly sensitive 5th Section in charge of control-
vices operated out of the main capitals of each ling postal and telegraph communications, and the
of the five parts of Indochina, each of which equally secretive “Police spéciale”. As a result,
was in charge of smaller posts throughout their on 5 April 1950, the French created the Services
territories. With the creation of the Provisional de Sécurité du Haut-Commissariat en Indochine,
Government of the Republic of Cochinchina, complete with its territorial subdivisions, in order
on 8 July 1946 there came also a separate Sûreté to ensure some of the main tasks of the former
nationale cochinchinoise. However, in light of security service and to run the “non-transferable”
its limited resources and under attack from the parts of the former colonial Sûreté. Pierre Perrier
Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), the ran this new service and much of the show.
French Direction de la Police et de la Sûreté
générale supported it and would continue to do so However, the Associated State of Vietnam
as the Sûreté nationale cochinchinoise eventually increasingly asserted its prerogatives and co-
morphed into the national intelligence service for operation was not always ensured between the
the Associated State of Vietnam from 1949. French and the Vietnamese fighting the Viet
Minh. In October 1953, as the French were forced
A national police force in Cambodia came to decolonize further, the Service de Sécurité du
to life in September 1945, in the absence of the Haut-Commissariat was dissolved and integrated
French. The French were able to ally their security

438 SURLEAU French to decolonize and tried to steer Laos down
a neutral path as the Cold War bore down upon
into the Service de Protection du Corps expédi- Indochina. Born in Luang Prabang of royal blood,
tionnaire, whose archives can be consulted in part he completed his primary and secondary school-
in the Centre des Archives d’Outre-Mer in Aix-en- ing in Luang Prabang and in colonial Hanoi at the
Provence, France. See also PUBLIC SECURITY Lycée Albert Sarraut before pursuing advanced
SERVICE; SERVICE DE DOCUMENTATION studies in France from 1927. He graduated in 1928
EXTÉRIEURE ET DE CONTRE-ESPIONNAGE; from the École des travaux publics et du bâtiment
MAURICE BELLEUX; ANTOINE SAVANI; LE de Paris and then in 1930 from the École supé-
GIAN; TRAN HIEU. rieure d’électricité de Grenoble. Suvanna Phūmā
returned to Laos in 1931 to work as an engineer.
Surleau, marcel-André (1900–1976). He was the younger brother of Prince Phetxarāt
Career colonial civil servant in Indochina. Born and a half-brother of Prince Suphānuvong.
in New Caledonia into a protestant family, he In August 1933, he married a school-teacher,
graduated at the top of his class at the Colonial Aline Claire Allard, born in Phongsaly province
Academy (École coloniale) in 1921. He was a to a French father and Lao mother. Until 1940,
Freemason. In 1925, he obtained his degree in Suvanna Phūmā worked in the Department of Ar-
law and in the Vietnamese language and left to chitecture and Public Works in Vientiane. He was
begin a long Indochinese career. He served as a involved in road building projects and the restora-
colonial administrator in Long Xuyen in southern tion of Lao monuments, including Wat Phra Keo
Vietnam (1925–1926), as deputy to the French in Vientiane. During World War II, he worked in
résident at Pakse in Laos (1926–30), as chief of the colonial public works administration in Laos.
cabinet of the résident supérieur to Laos (1934),
and résident to Savannakhet (1934–1936). He Following the overthrow of the French and the
directed the Service Radiophonique Indochine defeat of the Japanese in 1945, Suvanna Phūmā
(Radio Saigon) between 1939 and 1941 before joined the Lao Issara government in October
serving as governor of My Tho province in 1945, serving as minister of Public Works. He
1941–1942, when Vichy relieved him of his func- fled Laos in April 1946 for Bangkok following
tions in 1942 because of his Freemason affiliation. the return of the French by force. There he served
To make ends meet, Surleau turned to business in the Lao Issara government in exile as vice
interests in Can Tho and then became the director president of council and was in charge of eco-
of a business group selling soap and bottled oil nomic planning. In July 1949, when a Franco-Lao
and vinegar in southern Indochina during the rest accord was reached to create the Associated State
of the war. In 1945, he was recalled to the colonial of Laos, Suvanna Phūmā accepted the dissolution
service. He served as colonial administrator of of the Lao Issara and returned to Laos, making his
Cholon, in charge of Political Affairs, and took way to Vientiane in October or November 1949,
charge of Radio Saigon. In October 1945, a gre- when he became minister of Public Works in the
nade explosion injured him during his work to re- Phuy Xananikôn government and succeeded him
establish the police force in the area. He returned as prime minister in November 1951. Suvanna
to France and between 1946 and 1955 headed Phūmā attended the signing of the Franco-Lao
up the Indochinese Section of the Intercolonial Treaty in July 1949 and was a member of the Lao
Information Service and then entered the ministry Progressive Party.
in charge of relations with the Associated States
of Indochina. In 1952–1954, at the personal In October 1953, faced with the invasion of
request of Nguyen Van Tam, Surleau worked in Democratic Republic of Vietnam troops into
the Embassy of the Associated State of Vietnam to Laos and their support of the Pathet Lao led by
Paris in the Press and Information Service. During his half-brother Suphānuvong, Suvanna Phūmā
this time, he was most preoccupied with repatri- pressured the French to accord Laos its full inde-
ating the French population leaving Indochina. pendence in a Treaty of Friendship and Associa-
Between 1955 and 1959, he was vice president tion signed on 22 October 1953. This occurred as
of the Interministerial Commission involved in the battle for Dien Bien Phu was shaping up. Laos
repatriating these populations. remained within the French Union, however,
and signed a defense accord with Paris. Suvanna
SUVANNA PHŪMĀ (1901–1984). Prominent Phūmā resigned his premiership in October 1954,
non-communist Lao nationalist who pushed the following the signing of the Geneva Accords and

SUVANNARĀT 439

the withdrawal of Vietnamese troops. See also as minister of the Royal Government of Luang
ASSOCIATED STATES OF INDOCHINA. Prabang. Following the Japanese overthrow of
the French in March 1945 and the defeat of the
SUVANNARĀT, Prince  (1893–1960). Born into Japanese shortly thereafter, the newly created Lao
the royal family of Luang Prabang, he completed Issara government removed Suvannarāt from his
his secondary studies in Phnom Penh between position. Following the return of the French to
1908 and 1911 before pursuing advanced studies Laos in 1946, he served twice as prime minister
in France between 1911 and 1914. He entered the of Laos between 1947 and 1949. He retired from
Lao section of the Lao Colonial Administration in political life with the dissolution of the Lao Issara
1915 and helped in putting down revolts in north- and the creation of the Associated State of Laos.
ern Laos. During World War II, Suvannarāt served

T

TẠ NGỌC PHÁCH. See TRẦN ĐỘ. French counterparts, Ta Quang Buu fleshed out
positions over the demarcation line, regrouping
TẠ QUANG BỬU (1910–1986). One of the best- zones, and the nature of a cease-fire. He signed
known Vietnamese intellectuals and diplomats the cease-fire agreement at Geneva on behalf of
of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) Vo Nguyen Giap, the minister of Defense for the
between 1945 and 1954. Born in Nghe An pro- DRV. See also TRUNG GIA CONFERENCE.
vince in central Vietnam, he studied mathematics
and electrical engineering in France and was one TẠ THÁI AN. See HOÀNG MINH THẢO.
of the rare Indochinese, other than Lao Prince
Phetxarāth  Rattanavongsā, to have studied in TẠ THU THÂU (1906–1945). Leading Vietnam­
Great Britain (briefly at Oxford). On his return ese Trotskyist killed in revolutionary violence
to Vietnam, Ta Quang Buu taught school and in mid-1945. Born in Long Xuyen province in
worked as a lamp manufacturer near Hue. During southern Vietnam, he studied to become a school­
this time, he also became increasingly involved in teacher in Saigon in 1925. He also became in-
nationalist politics and youth mobilization, crea- creasingly involved in patriotic and revolutionary
ting a local branch of the Vietnamese scouting politics, taking part in student demonstrations
organization in central Vietnam. sparked by the death of Phan Chu Trinh in 1926.
After the overthrow of the French in Indo- In 1927, Ta Thu Thau traveled to France and
china in March 1945, he served as assistant to the enrolled in the Faculté des sciences de Paris
minister of Youth, Phan Anh, in the Tran Trong and became increasingly involved in left-wing
Kim government in the royal capital of Hue. After politics, becoming a Trotskyist in 1929. He was
the Japanese defeat, he joined the DRV bringing expelled for that reason from France in 1929.
with him a good part of the central Vietnamese On his return to southern Vietnam, he joined a
scouting movement. He was not a member of the common front with “Stalinist” communists and
Indochinese Communist Party. The DRV made jointly edited La Lutte, an influential leftist paper
him a professor at the University of Hanoi and published between 1933 and 1937. He was elec-
director of the Polytechnical College of Hanoi, ted a Municipal Counselor in Saigon in 1935 and
where he often taught history. His Oxford English commanded considerable popularity at the time.
surprised Archimedes Patti, who met him in Ha- The French arrested him in 1937 and sentenced
noi in late 1945. In 1946, Ta Quang Buu was an him to two years in prison. He was released in
under-secretary of state in the provisional govern- February 1939 but arrested and deported to Poulo
ment before being elected deputy to the National Condor in October 1940. Following the Japanese
Assembly in early 1946. In 1947, he briefly served coup de force of 9 March 1945 ousting the
as minister of Defense, only to relinquish his post French from Indochina, Ta Thu Thau regained his
to Vo Nguyen Giap to become a vice minister, liberty and traveled to northern Vietnam to contact
a position he held until 1960 (except for about a Trotskyites there. Upon his return to the south in
year in 1947–1948, when he replaced Vo Nguyen the heady days of August and September 1945,
Giap as minister of Defense). he was caught up in the revolutionary violence
Ta Quang Buu was also deeply involved in the sweeping parts of Vietnam, and which got badly
DRV’s diplomacy during the Indochina War. He out of hand in areas of Quang Ngai province. In
was part of the Vietnamese delegation to the Fon- September, local communist authorities there
tainebleau Conference in mid-1946 and to the executed him. However, they were not necessarily
Geneva Conference in 1954, where he worked working on orders from the central government,
in tandem with Ha Van Lau and was co-president the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP), or
of the military commission with General Henri the Viet Minh’s General Directorate (Tong Bo)
Delteil. In secret military negotiations with his all based in Hanoi. It was also at this time and

TÂY NGUYÊN, BATTLE OF 441

in this province where similar local revolutionary an agreement with Tai leaders in the strategically
councils almost executed Le Van Hien, a loyal important areas in the highlands of northwestern
communist and future minister in the Democratic Vietnam. This agreement allowed for the creation
Republic of Vietnam. After heated exchanges, of an autonomous Tai Federation nominally located
Le Van Hien finally convinced his captors to outside of the jurisdiction of the larger counter-rev-
contact the ICP by telephone or telegraph. They olutionary Vietnamese state the French were build-
did and it saved him from certain death. See also ing with Bao Dai, the Associated State of Vietnam.
EXECUTIONS; HÉRAULT, MASSACRE. Led by White Tai leader, Deo Van Long, this
Federation regrouped the provinces of Lai Chau,
TẠ TIẾN. See TẠ XUÂN THU. Phong Tho, and Son La. The French also relied
on Tai allies in this region to help them organize
TẠ XUÂN THU (TẠ TIẾU, 1916–1971). Born in opposition to the Viet Minh, most notably via the
Thai Binh province in northern Vietnam, Ta Xuan Groupement de commandos mixtes aéroportés. In
Thu joined the Indochinese Communist Party in so doing, the French supported the development of
1938. In 1940, he was arrested and incarcerated by “ethnonationalism”, as Oscar Salemink has argued
the French. He escaped from prison in September for the central highlands, promoting the teaching
1944 and joined the Viet Minh and its military of the Tai language, a separate education system,
forces in northern Vietnam. In March 1945, he the militarization of the uplands, their political and
commanded a platoon of the National Salvation cultural distinction from the ethnic Vietnamese and
Army (Cuu Quoc Quan) and was active in the their identification with the French. The DRV natu-
Tuyen Quang area where the Viet Minh was head- rally opposed the French politico-military project
quartered. Between 1945 and 1950, he served as a to remove this region and these populations from
political commissar in Inter-Zone I (Lien Khu I) the Vietnamese nation-state it was set on creating.
in northern Vietnam and then in Zone X (Khu X) With the withdrawal of the French from northern
in the northwest. He was in charge of the “Western Vietnam in 1954, the DRV dissolved this federa-
Advance” front along the Vietnamese–Lao border. tion and crushed those who resisted their efforts to
He also assumed powerful oversight positions in do so. Although the DRV replaced the elites sup-
the army: he was a control member (Uy Vien Kiem ported by the French with their own, Vietnamese
Tra) of the party’s Military Committee (Quan Uy) communists maintained a special legal status for
and inspectorate for the army (Thanh Tra Quan the Tai, the Tay Bac Autonomous Region. See also
Doi). Between 1950 and 1953, he helped the Lao PAYS MONTAGNARDS DU SUD.
Resistance Government as the Democratic
Republic of Vietnam’s special delegate and he TẠM CHÍ. See HUỲNH TẤN PHÁT.
directly commanded Vietnamese volunteer troops
in upper Laos during that time. In 1954, he joined TẠM NGẠI. See HUỲNH VǍN NGHỆ.
the 335th Division as commander-in-chief and
political commissar. TÂN HỒNG. See CHU VǍN TẤN.

TAI. See MINORITY ETHNIC GROUPS; PAYS tauriac, michel (1927–). An ardent Gaul-
MONTAGNARDS DU SUD; TAI FEDERATION. list, Michel Tauriac served in the Expeditionary
Corps in Indochina in the early 1950s before be-
TAI FEDERATION. In order to facilitate their coming a journalist. He published several novels
colonial return after World War II and oppose on Vietnam, including Jade, La Tunique de soie,
the Democratic Republic of Vietnam’s (DRV) and La Nuit du Têt. In 2001, he published an
attempt to create a new nation-state in eastern indictment of Vietnamese communism and left-
Indochina, the French adopted a divide in order ists supporting their cause since 1945, entitled Le
to rule policy. This meant turning ethnic minor- livre Vietnam : Le dossier noir du communisme de
ity groups against the Viet Minh and playing off 1945 à nos jours. See also CINEMA; NOVELS;
real and imagined anti-Vietnamese sentiments. CIVIL WAR; POULO CONDOR; CULTURE;
In the upland Tai principalities of northern and LUCIEN BODARD; MYTH OF WAR.
northwestern Vietnam, the French cultivated the
loyalty of White, Red, and Black Tai lords such as TÂY NGUYÊN, BATTLE OF. See ATLANTE,
Deo Van Long. In July 1948, the French reached OPERATION.

442 TÉMOIGNAGE CHRÉTIEN

TÉMOIGNAGE CHRÉTIEN. Together with Esprit, the Japanese overthrow of the French in March
the Christian newspaper Témoignage Chrétien 1945, Tep Phan assumed the direction of the Com-
(Christian Witness) was one of the rare French mission des Prix et du Service du Ravitaillement
papers to criticize the war in Indochina and recog- de Phnom Penh. In 1946, he ran the Ministry of
nize the reality of Vietnamese nationalism. Having National Economy. In 1947, he served as governor
emerged clandestinely during World War II and for Kompong Thom province. Between August
taken a firm stance against Nazism, the hostility 1948 and January 1949, he was state secretary
of Témoignage Chrétien to the Indochina War and for the Interior in the Penn Nouth cabinet before
its critique of the colonial project had an impor- being named governor of Battambang province
tant impact on its readers, mainly “progressive” in February 1949. Between May and September
Christians, who looked to it for guidance on major 1950, he was a royal delegate to Siemreap with
issues of the day. Nowhere was this better seen the rank of minister. From May 1951, he was min-
than in the paper’s decision to publish a graphic ister of Trade and Industry in the Oum Chheang
description and indictment of the French army’s Sun cabinet. In 1952, he worked as chief of the
use of torture in Indochina, written by Jacques Foreign Trade Service for Cambodia and served
Chegaray on 29 July 1949 (and rejected by his as president of the Committee for the Implemen-
paper, L’Aube). It was followed by the publication tation of American Aid to Cambodia. In January
of a series of essays by Paul Mus in late 1949 1954, he became head of the General Staff of
and early 1950. In them, this specialist of Asia the Khmer Armed National Forces and served as
from the École française d’Extrême-Orient and minister of Defence in the Norodom Sihanouk
head of the Colonial Academy (École coloniale), cabinet of 6 April 1954 and minister of Foreign
condemned the French use of torture and took the Affairs in the Penn Nouth government of 17 April
French to task for failing to see the humanity of 1954. Together with Sam Sary, he was one of the
the Vietnamese and the historical reality of na- government’s main negotiators during the Geneva
tionalism. The French right was outraged by Té- Conference of 1954, and played a pivotal role in
moignage Chrétien’s criticism. Chegaray’s piece denying the representatives of the Vietnamese-
triggered a formal investigation into the charges backed Cambodian Resistance Government a
of torture in Indochina, some of which were seat at the negotiating table or the right to regroup-
confirmed. In 1957, as the French army resorted ment zones. At the 11th hour of the negotiations,
to torture to shut down Algerian nationalists in he supported Sam Sary’s ultimately successful
Algiers, Témoignage Chrétien renewed its op- demand that Cambodia be given the right to solicit
position to colonial wars. However, unlike Esprit, American aid if the government so desired.
intellectuals working in Témoignage Chrétien,
such as Robert Barrat and Robert de Montvalon, ter sarkissoff, alexandre (1911–1991).
still believed in a certain idea of colonial human- Graduate from the École militaire spéciale Saint-
ism and sometimes favored colonial reform and Cyr and member of the French resistance during
liberalism over outright decolonization. See also World War II, Ter Sarkissoff landed in Indochina
CAM LY, MASSACRE; HÉRAULT, MASSA- in 1946 and began work in the personnel section
CRE; JULES ROY. of the French high commissioner for Indochina
in Saigon. Between 1946 and 1948, he served as
TEP PHAN (1905–1978). Prominent Cambodian a provincial advisor in Thakhek in Laos before
politician who played an important role in de- working for the political advisor of the high com-
fending Cambodian interests during the Geneva missioner’s office in Saigon in 1949. Between
Conference. He completed his studies at the Col- 1950 and 1951, he served as a regional advisor
lège Sisowath in Phnom Penh and the École in the Lai Chau area, working with local Tai
d’administration cambodgienne before entering populations against the Democratic Republic of
the Cambodian provincial government in 1925. Vietnam. He transferred to Battambang province
He also served as secretary–interpreter in the to work as the delegate of the commissioner for the
colonial administration from 1923, working in the French Republic to Cambodia. Between 1949 and
Resident’s office for Kandal province until 1931. his departure in 1952, he also took care of person-
Until the end of the closing months of World War nel matters for the high commissioner’s office. See
II, he worked as a district administrator in Kandal, also TAI FEDERATION; PAYS MONTAGNARDS
Battambang, and Kompong Thom provinces. With DU SUD; MINORITY ETHNIC GROUPS.

THAO SING 443

TERRITORIES, RETROCESSION. On 17 Nov­ prison on 2 July 1946. See also CATHOLICS IN
ember 1946, a Franco-Thai agreement was signed VIETNAM AND THE WAR; TÉMOIGNAGE
in Washington by which the Tokyo convention CHRÉTIEN; ESPRIT; PAUL MUS; JULES ROY.
of 9 May 1940 was annulled. This effectively
directed the Thai government to return the right- THAKHEK, BATTLE OF. Following the signing
bank provinces of Pak Lay and Bassac to Laos and of the Franco-Chinese Accords of 28 February
the provinces of Battambang and Siem Reap to 1946 directing Chinese troops to withdraw from
Cambodia. Under Japanese pressure, the French Indochina above the 16th parallel, French strate-
had ceded these territories to the Thais following gists decided to retake all of northern Laos im-
a short border war in early 1941. mediately. Chinese officers on the ground did not
object. As a result, a major urban battle shaped up,
THÁI LƯƠNG NAM. See HOÀNG VĂN HOAN. when Vietnamese and Lao leaders, led by Prince
Suphānuvong, decided to defend the city of
THÁI VǍN LUNG (1916–1946). Southern Viet- Thakhek against French forces. On 21 March 1946,
namese non-communist and Catholic intellectual under the command of Jean Boucher de Crève-
and lawyer actively opposed to the French war in coeur, European and Lao troops in the Forces du
Vietnam. Born into a Catholic family in Gia Dinh Laos, supported with artillery and airpower, at-
province, Thai Van Lung was the younger brother tacked their adversaries in what was a short-lived
of Thai Thi Lien, the wife of Tran Ngoc Danh. but intense urban battle. British-supplied Spitfires
A French citizen, Thai Van Lung completed most wreaked havoc on the Vietnamese–Lao troops as
of his studies in France where he graduated as a they tried to withdraw from the city under heavy
lawyer from the Faculté de droit in Paris. He also fire and across the Mekong to safety in Thailand.
studied at the Institut d’études politiques and the The French opened fire from the banks and sent
Colonial Academy (École coloniale). Between Spitfires to machine-gun from the air hundreds
1923 and 1938 he lived in France. During the of boats and pirogues trying to transport troops
German occupation, his brother was sent to Bu- and civilians to safety across the river in Thai-
chenwald, where he perished. Back in Indochina, land. Suphānuvong himself was injured while
Thai Van Lung was in uniform during the short trying to escape, saved by a young Vietnamese
Franco-Thai border war of early 1941. Demobi- man who died when he threw himself on top of
lized, he returned to Saigon to work as a lawyer. the Lao prince. In all, the French Forces du Laos
At the same time, he became increasingly active contingent lost 19 men, including 12 Europeans
in nationalist politics. Though he spoke French and thirty wounded. The adversary lost 400 men,
better than Vietnamese, he joined the Vanguard mostly Vietnamese. De Crevecoeur later wrote
Youth League (Thanh Nien Tien Phong), orga- that the French counted 250 dead within the city of
nized by Pham Ngoc Thach in southern Vietnam, Thakhek itself, suggesting that perhaps as many as
and was active in paramilitary affairs. With the 100 perished in the Mekong. In their propaganda,
advent of the Democratic Republic of Viet- the Democratic Republic of Vietnam accused the
nam, he became president of the Resistance and French of a massacre. Vietnamese strategists also
Administrative Committee for Thu Duc (outside learned from Thakhek that the defense of Hanoi
Saigon) and won a seat in the National Assembly would need to be thought out very carefully. The
in March 1946. Disappointed by the French drive battle of Thakhek also made it clear that the city
to retake Vietnam militarily instead of negotiating would be an integral part of this violent war of
decolonization, he organized the “Thai Van Lung decolonization. See also CAM LY, MASSACRE;
troops” and helped run military matters in Thu EXECUTIONS; HANOI; HÉRAULT, MASSA-
Duc province. His talents in military affairs made CRE; PRISONERS OF WAR; SAIGON.
him a valuable addition to the southern command,
where he obtained the rank of major. During an THẦN. See TRƯỜNG CHINH.
engagement with French forces sometime in 1946,
Thai Van Lung fell into enemy hands. He rejected THAO SING (1879–?). Active member in the
all French attempts to win him over to their side. Lao Issara government formed in 1945. Born
French forces severely tortured him during his in southern Laos, he was the son of a high court
incarceration and many were not convinced by official of the former Kingdom of Champāsak. He
the official report that he had taken his life in pursued his secondary studies at the Lycée Chas-

444 THẬP VẠN ĐAI SƠN, OPERATIONS

seloup Laubat in Saigon. He travelled to Paris as THI ĐUA. See EMULATION CAMPAIGN.
an interpreter in 1900, as part of a delegation to
the Exposition coloniale. He remained there to thibau, jacques (1928–1997). Graduated
study briefly at the Colonial Academy (École from the École nationale d’administration, Jacques
coloniale) before returning to Indochina in 1901. Thibau served as deputy to the delegate of the com-
He played an energetic role in suppressing the missioner of the Republic to Cambodia in Kampot
revolt of the Khas in the Bolovens between 1901 province (1950–51) and as a private secretary to
and 1904. Although he officially retired in 1932, the high commissioner for Indochina between
Thao Sing remained active in public life. In 1942, 1952 and 1953.
for example, he was a member of the Lao Con-
sultative Assembly and an associate judge in the THIÊN HỘ, MEETING. On 25 October 1945, a
provincial court of Pakse. While little is known of month after the outbreak of war in southern Viet-
his activities during World War II, he broke with nam, Hoang Quoc Viet, a member of the Stand-
the French and joined the Lao Issara government ing Committee of the Indochinese Communist
as minister of Defence in April 1946. Party’s (ICP) Central Committee, presided over
this important meeting of the ICP’s Territo-
THẬP VẠN ĐAI SƠN, OPERATIONS (June– rial Committee for Nam Bo (Xu Uy Nam Bo).
October 1949). In early 1949, Chinese and The gathering was designed to re-establish and
Vietnamese communists met along the Sino– consolidate the ICP’s leadership in the south. Re-
Vietnamese border to discuss the possibility of a cently released communists from Poulo Condor
joint military action against the likely retreat of were also present, including Le Duan. During this
Chinese nationalists towards the south and the meeting, Le Duan and his Poulo Condor allies,
need to create an opening to the Gulf of Tonkin including Pham Hung and Nguyen Van Linh,
for the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). occupied important posts in the revamped ICP
Plans for a joint operation solidified when the Territorial Committee for the south. This meeting
Chinese Red Army began crossing the Yangzi also decided to take up guerrilla warfare as its
River into southern China in April 1949. On 23 main strategy in the war against the French in the
April, the Indochinese Communist Party issued south.
the order to assist the Chinese Communist Party
in the creation of a free zone in the areas of Dien Thierry d’Argenlieu, Georges LOUIS
Que and Viet Que across the border from Cao MARIE (1889–1964). The controversial French
Bang province in southern China. In June 1949, admiral named by General Charles de Gaulle on
Vietnamese combat units left Cao Bang and Lang 16 August 1945 to serve as High Commissioner
Son provinces and took up positions in Longzhou for Indochina. Thierry d’Argenlieu served in
east of Langson and in the districts of Yongzhou, the French Navy during World War I. In 1920,
Feng Cheng, and Qinzhou across from Hai Ninh he entered the Carmelite order as a friar until
and Lang Son. Fluent in Chinese, Nam Long, Le he joined Free French forces under Charles de
Quang Ba, and Chu Huy Man led this operation Gaulle in 1940. A devout Gaullist and Catholic,
into Chinese territory, attacking Chinese national- Thierry d’Argenlieu became the Free French high
ist forces in Shuikou, Ninh Ming, and joined Chi- commissioner of the French Pacific in 1941, head
nese communist troops in operations in Longzhou of French naval forces in 1943, and then the new
and Truc Son. Further to the east, between July and high commissioner to Indochina after the Japa-
October 1949, Vietnamese units commanded by nese coup de force of 9 March 1945. He arrived
Le Quang Ba attacked the nationalists at Qinzhou, in Indochina on 31 October 1945 and, on 6 June
Feng Cheng, Giang Binh, and Dong Hung. The 1946, he attained the rank of full admiral.
Vietnamese withdrew from China in late October. Thierry d’Argenlieu vigorously applied de
In 1956, the Chinese built a memorial in honor of Gaulle’s instructions to retake and rebuild colo-
the Vietnamese who had fought with the Chinese nial Indochina piece by piece. He was successful
and for those who died during these operations. in achieving accords with Lao and Cambodians
It still stands in Dong Hung to this day. See also allowing the French to return to western Indo-
MAO ZEDONG; AID, CHINESE; CHINESE china. Negotiations with the Vietnamese were
MILITARY AND POLITICAL GROUP. much more difficult, especially as he adopted a
more aggressive policy towards the Democratic

THOMPSON 445

Republic of Vietnam (DRV) following the Ac- THIẾU SƠN (LÊ SỸ QUÝ, 1908–1978). Viet-
cords of 6 March 1946. While he accepted the namese intellectual who supported the inde-
necessity of this accord, Thierry d’Argenlieu pendence cause of the Democratic Republic of
objected to the idea that the French would have Vietnam (DRV). Born in Hai Duong province in
to begin withdrawing their army within five years northern Vietnam, he began his career in 1929 in
and that a referendum would be held to determine the colonial civil service, working in the Posts and
whether Cochinchina would be unified with the Telegraphs Office. He resigned from the colonial
rest of “Vietnam”, that is the DRV. At a deeper bureaucracy during the Vichy period and suppor-
level, Thierry d’Argenlieu found it difficult to ted the DRV after World War II as a member of
reconcile his determination to create a federal the Vietnamese section of the Section française
Indochinese colonial state based on Cochinchina de l’Internationale ouvrière (SFIO). In the late
with the DRV’s national claim to all of eastern 1940s, Thieu Son was editor of the SFIO’s Sai-
Indochina – meaning colonial Tonkin, Annam, gon-based journal critical of French colonialism,
and Cochinchina. Cong Ly (Justice). In 1949, General Nguyen Binh
invited him to join the maquis. Thieu Son accepted
From April, he began to adopt policies that and teamed up with a number of other non-com-
effectively sought to roll back the sovereignty of munist intellectuals working for the nationalist
the DRV in favor of that of the Indochinese Fed- cause, including Nguyen Ba Luat, Pham Thieu,
eration. To that end, on 1 June 1946, as Ho Chi Ca Van Thinh, and Nguyen Ngoc Nhut. Thieu
Minh was visiting France and a DRV delegation Son secretly escorted Alain Savary, a French
was preparing to resume negotiations with the national assembly member, to liberated zones to
French in Fontainebleau, Thierry d’Argenlieu an- meet with southern DRV leaders such as Pham
nounced the creation of the Provisional Govern- Van Bach, Nguyen Binh, Huynh Tan Phat, and
ment of the Republic of Cochinchina. For the Tran Nam Hung. Marcel Bazin’s security forces
high commissioner, Cochinchina had to remain later arrested Thieu Son, but released him under
a separate “free state” within the federation, not pressure from the Indochinese SFIO branch. In
a regional part of “Vietnam”. He supported the the maquis, Thieu Son worked in Radio Nam Bo.
violent take-over of Lang Son and Haiphong in Following the war, he remained in Saigon to work
November 1946, pushing the DRV into a corner as a journalist and latered entered into conflict
as he effectively assumed control of French policy with Ngo Dinh Diem.
towards Indochina. Ho Chi Minh hoped that the
imminent creation of a new socialist government THIRD FORCE. See ATTENTISME.
led by Léon Blum – known to be keen on reach-
ing a negotiated solution to the Franco-Vietnamese THOMAS, PIERRE-ALBAN. Having fought in
dispute – would allow Paris to regain the reins on the French resistance against the Germans during
its Indochinese policy and its high commissioner. World War II, this former school teacher landed in
Instead Thierry d’Argenlieu successfully blocked Saigon on 14 November 1945 in the 9th Colonial
Ho Chi Minh’s last-minute attempts to contact Infantry Regiment (9ème Régiment d’infanterie
Blum to head off war. On 19 December 1946, with coloniale). But instead of fighting the Japanese,
their backs against the wall, the Vietnamese lashed as he had thought he was going to do, he was
out at the French forces, setting off full-scale war. part of the French effort to oust the Democratic
The Paul Ramadier government recalled Thierry Republic of Vietnam from southern Vietnam and
d’Argenlieu and relieved him of his position on 4 restore French colonial rule. He participated in
March 1947; but it did little to change policy. his regiment’s military operations until February
1948, when he was transferred to Algeria. He
Significantly, “containing” Vietnamese com- later became critical of the legitimacy of France’s
munism was not the major concern for Thierry colonial wars and the army’s use of heavy-handed
d’Argenlieu in his brinksmanship towards the methods, including torture. Much later he would
DRV in 1946; regaining France’s colonial control write a memoir discussing these matters, entitled
over Indochina as instructed by de Gaulle was. In Combat intérieur. See also ALGERIAN WAR.
January 1947, he circulated internal orders forbid-
ding the use of the term “Vietnam”. After leaving Thompson, James HARRison wilson
his position in Indochina, Thierry d’Argenlieu (1906–1967?). American businessman and intel-
returned to the  religious life in Avon. General
Charles de Gaulle attended his funeral in 1964.

446 THONGIN BURIPHAT

ligence officer who closely followed Indochinese (DRV) during the Indochina War. He served as a
affairs. Thompson was born into a wealthy and deputy for the province of Ubon between 1933
prominent East Coast family. A graduate of Princ- and 1949. During World War II, he was an active
eton, he majored in architecture and worked in a member of the Free Thai (Seri Thai) movement
New York architectural firm between 1931 and and a close collaborator of Pridi Banomyong,
1940, when he became a director in the Monte serving as a member of Pridi’s cabinet between
Carlo Ballet Company, rebaptized later the New August 1945 and January 1946. Thongin Buriphat
York City Ballet. provided arms and assistance to local DRV forces
and shelter to Vietnamese populations forced to
In 1940, with war looming, he quit his job and flee Laos when the French retook the country by
joined the National Guard as a private. He attended force. He was also a firm supporter of the Lao Is-
Officer Candidate School and served in a coastal sara and the idea of creating a wider trans-Mekong
artillery unit before joining the Office of Stra- Lao nation state. He died in Thai police detention
tegic Services (OSS). In 1942, fluent in French, in March 1949.
he was swnt by the OSS to North Africa as part
of efforts to liberate Europe from the Germans. thorez, maurice (1900–1964). Maurice
He took part in French and Italian campaigns. In Thorez was the most important 20th-century leader
1945, he headed a special unit that was parachuted of the French Communist Party (FCP) and a
into Thailand to establish contact with Free Thai supporter of the Vietnamese nationalist cause.
forces and obtain intelligence on the Japanese in The son of a miner, Thorez joined the FCP at its
Thailand and Indochina. Although he arrived after beginnings in 1920. Thanks to his political acu-
the Japanese capitulation, Thompson, now pro- men and strict adherence to the internationalist
moted to the rank of colonel, remained on active communist line enunciated by Joseph Stalin,
duty in Thailand, serving as acting OSS station Thorez rose rapidly within the FCP. Between
chief in Thailand and establishing a temporary 1930 and 1964, he served as the party’s general
American “consulate”. It was during this time, secretary. Towards the end of World War II, when
that he fell in love with the country and stayed. the FCP emerged as one of the dominant parties
in French politics, Thorez returned to France from
Thanks to his position in the OSS, his business exile in the Soviet Union and served as minister
interests, and his personality, Thompson developed and deputy prime minister in several coalition
an extraordinary array of Western and Asian con- governments between 1945 and 1947. It was
tacts in Thailand. Not only did he know ranking also during a brief period when Léon Blum led
Thai leaders such as Pridi Banomyong and Pibun a transitory all-socialist government (and Thorez
Songgram, but he was also in contact with the was not in government) that the French went to
exiled leaders of the Lao Issara, such as Thao Oun war with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
Sananikone, the Khmer Issarak, and the mem- (DRV), led by another communist, Ho Chi Minh.
bers of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam’s That Thorez was favorable to the independence
diplomatic delegation in Bangkok. Thompson was aspirations of the Vietnamese communists and
a member of the Vietnam–American Friendship supported them, there can be no doubt, as Alain
Association, based in New York, and sympathized Ruscio has shown. However, Thorez’s attitude
with the nationalist aspirations of the Vietnamese, towards the Vietnamese communists at the outset
Lao, and Cambodians. He retired from government of the Indochina War was complicated by the
around 1948 and dedicated himself full time to FCP’s success in French national politics. At the
developing his business interests and projects in head of a political party that in one of the 1946
Thailand. He and his associates bought the legend- elections became the largest in France, Thorez
ary Oriental Hotel in Bangkok knowing that tour- did not want to undermine the FCP’s chances of
ism would develop in Thailand after World War eventually leading the government by presiding
II. Thompson himself became legendary when he over the liquidation of the French Empire, some-
disappeared without a trace while on a vacation at thing which he feared his nationalist opponents on
a former colonial hill station in Malaysia in 1967. the right and center could use effectively against
No sign of him has ever been found. the communists. Thorez made this point of view
perfectly clear on several occasions, even to the
THONGIN BURIPHAT (?–1949). Northeast Thai Gaullist high commissioner for Indochina in
politician of Lao origin who supported the Lao
Issara and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam

TỐ HỮU 447

1946, Admiral Georges Thierry d’Argenlieu. TÔ HOÀI (NGUYỄN SEN, 1920–). Born in
Just after the outbreak of war in December 1946, Hanoi, To Hoai is one of modern Vietnam’s
Thorez made sure that the communist members best-known literary figures. With the advent of
in the National Assembly voted in favor of a mo- the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV)
tion of sympathy for French soldiers. The FCP in 1945, he put his cultural talents in the service
also did not seek to prevent the transfer of funds of the Vietnamese nationalist movement. In that
from one part of the budget to another in order to same year, he joined the National Salvation Cul-
finance the war. Later in 1947, however, Thorez’s tural Association (Hoi Van Hoa Cuu Quoc) and
party directed members to abstain from voting became a member of the Indochinese Commu-
the military credits for the war against the DRV. nist Party around the same time. He worked to
However, those communists who held ministerial mobilize and organize intellectuals in favor of the
portfolios (including Thorez) voted in favor of DRV’s struggle against the French and its state-
the credits, and against their conscience, in order building endeavors. During the Indochina War, he
not to let the Indochina War break “ministerial worked as a journalist for the Viet Minh’s official
solidarity”. That said, the failure of the FCP to mouthpiece, Cuu Quoc, and eventually became
fully support the war in Indochina contributed its editor. To Hoai emerged on the Vietnamese
greatly to the crisis that forced the communists to literary scene as a realist writer during World War
leave the coalition government in May 1947. The II, when he published Foreign Land (Que Nguoi)
FCP’s policy on Vietnam changed from that point in 1942, in which he had already begun to mix
as it overcame its reticence and began condemn- fiction and autobiography, one of his trademarks
ing the sale guerre. When meeting with a Soviet to this day. While working in the hills of northern
representative in Switzerland in September 1947, Vietnam following the evacuation of Hanoi in
Ho Chi Minh’s diplomat at large, Pham Ngoc late 1946, he published a novel on the Tai people
Thach, criticized Thorez’s failure to be of greater of northwestern Vietnam, where he worked as a
help to Vietnamese communists now engaged in cadre as the DRV wrestled the French for control
a full-scale war. See also JACQUES DUCLOS; of this strategically important territory. The novel
DISSOLUTION OF INDOCHINESE COMMU- was entitled Stories from the Northwest (Truyen
NIST PARTY. Tay Bac). In 2006, To Hoai created something of
a controversy when he revealed in a semi-autobi-
THƯỢNG UYỂN. See NGUYỄN TIẾN LÃNG. ographical novel, Three Others (Ba Nguoi Khac),
that not only had he worked as a cadre during
TIANG SIRIKHAN (?–1952). Thai politician the land reform launched during the Indochina
from the northeast and of ethnic Lao origin. After War, but that terrible errors had been committed
completing his studies in Bangkok, he returned by the party in applying this radical social pro-
to the northeast and was elected deputy for his gram. Authorities had blocked the publication of
home province of Sakhon Nakhon between the novel for 14 years because of its politically
1938 and 1952. During World War II, he worked incorrect point of view. In his memoirs, Dust and
closely with Pridi Banomyong in the Free Thai Sand at Somebody’s Feet (Cat Bui Chan Ai) and
movement. He was a strong supporter of greater Every Afternoon (Chieu Chieu), To Hoai took up
autonomy for the Lao located in much of north- the tricky subject of northern Vietnamese intel-
eastern Thailand (Isaan). He also supported the lectuals who had committed themselves to the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam, providing national resistance led by the communist party
shelter to Vietnamese fleeing the violent French and the moral and intellectual compromises this
re-occupation of Laos in mid-1946 and furnishing entailed. See also TAI FEDERATION; NOVELS;
arms to Vietnamese soldiers fighting the French in CINEMA; CULTURE; HISTORY.
Indochina. He was general secretary of the Thai-
Vietnamese-conceived Southeast Asia League TỐ HỮU (NGUYỄN KIM THÀNH, 1920–2002).
in 1947. He disappeared in mysterious circum- Leading poet and propagandist for the Viet-
stances. See also THAKHEK, BATTLE OF. namese Worker’s Party during and after the
Indochina War. Born in Thua Thien province in
TỐ. See PHẠM VǍN ĐỒNG. central Vietnam, he published a large body of na-
tionalist, anti-colonialist, and communist poetry,
TÔ GĨ. See LÊ GIẢN. which he put in the service of the Democratic

448 TÔ KÝ

Republic of Vietnam from its inception. He France where he worked as a sailor. While he
was a member of the Indochinese Communist became famous in Vietnamese historiography
Party and served prison time in northern Vietnam for taking part in the Black Sea Mutiny in 1919,
until his release in 1942. He worked in the com- recent research calls into question this allegation
munist underground outside Hanoi until the Viet and explains it as a myth designed to legitimate
Minh took power in August–September of 1945. communist Vietnam’s place in the internationalist
To Huu was a close ally of Truong Chinh. His communist world. But all was not a myth. What
communist contacts and artistic talents made him is sure is that he was arrested by the French in
one of the party’s most important propagandists 1929, incarcerated at Kham Lon in Saigon, and
and contacts with foreigners. In 1949, he became then deported to Poulo Condor prison where he
director of the government’s information services remained until September 1945. There, he forged
for central Vietnam. In 1951, he became director close ties to ranking leaders of the party, including
general of Information for the government, taking Le Duan. He was a member of the Central Com-
over from Tran Van Giau. During the Second mittee of the Indochinese Communist Party.
Party Congress held that same year, he joined the
Party’s Central Committee. From 1953, he played TÔN THẤT TÙNG  (1912–1982). Famous Viet­
an important role in various literary and cultural namese surgeon who worked for the Democratic
organizations under the Party’s leadership. In Republic of Vietnam (DRV) during the Indo-
1954, he became vice minister of Information. china War. Born in Hue in central Vietnam, he
See also INDOCTRINATION; CULTURE; PSY- was a distant relative of Bao Dai. Between 1932
CHOLOGICAL WARFARE. and 1939, Ton That Tung studied medicine and
graduated as a doctor of medicine from the Fac-
TÔ KÝ (NAM, 1919–1999). Influential military ulté de médicine in Hanoi. He specialized in heart
leader in southern Vietnam during the Indochina and liver disorders. In the late 1930s, he broke the
War. Born in southern Vietnam, he became politi- colonial barrier when he became one of only a
cally active during the Popular Front period and handful of surgeons allowed to practice in Indo-
joined the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) china. He gained some early valuable experience
in 1937. In early 1939, he served as a member of in war medicine in the early 1940s, treating those
the party’s district committee for Hoc Mon. He wounded by Allied bombing raids over northern
was arrested on two occasions but apparently es- Vietnam. It was also during this time that Ton
caped both times. In 1945, he served on the ICP’s That Tung was deeply moved by the courage of a
provincial committee for Gia Dinh in charge of young Viet Minh cadre whom he could not save
military affairs and helped nationalists take power from the effects of severe torture at the hands of
there in August–September 1945. With the out- the Japanese. A few weeks later, with the defeat
break of war in southern Vietnam in September of the Japanese, Dr. Ton That Tung rallied to the
1945, he led detachment 12 (Chi Doi 12) in war nationalist cause of the DRV. When war engulfed
Zone VII (Chien Khu VII). Between 1947 and Hanoi in late 1946, he joined the government in
1950, he worked closely with Nguyen Binh the hills of northern Vietnam. He worked there in
as deputy commander of Zone VII and military building the government’s medical facilities and
commander of the special zone for Saigon and training centers. He helped establish, run, and
Cholon. To Ky also sat on the Party’s committee teach in the new Medical School that operated in
for this zone as well as its committee for war Zone and out of the Chiem Hoa area throughout the war.
VII. Between 1950 and 1953, he was the Party In 1947, he served as acting minister of Health.
and military leader for the province of Gia Dinh. In July 1949, he began working as the surgical
In 1954 and 1955, he headed the committee for advisor to the Ministry of Defense and served in
the Relocation of Party and Military Cadres of the numerous battles to aid the wounded and sick, in
Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Ham Tan particular during the battle of Dien Bien Phu. He
and Xuyen Moc to northern Vietnam. also tended to captured enemy troops. He was a
strong supporter of the communist cause, deeply
TÔN ĐỨC THẮNG (1888–1980). Venerated involved in emulation and new hero campaigns
veteran communist leader who held a symbolic designed to create a “new man” and society in
place in the revolutionary pantheon second only the early 1950s. From 1952, he worked as the
to Ho Chi Minh during the war. He traveled to government’s representative to the International

TOREL 449

Committee of the Red Cross and was involved terms. These geographical terms had contested
in negotiations on prisoner exchanges. Ton That political meanings throughout the Indochina War.
Tung and Dang Van Ngu were instrumental in See also COCHINCHINA.
developing an effective penicillin vaccination for
use during the resistance. In 1958, he performed Torel, Albert (1895–1987). French career
the first Vietnamese open heart surgery in Viet- colonial servant in Indochina and specialist on
nam. See also DISEASE; DO XUAN HOP; EX- legal questions. He was secretary to the résident
PERIENCE OF WAR; EXPERIENCE OF WAR, supérieur of Annam between 1921 and 1924
DIEN BIEN PHU; PAUL GRAUWIN. before serving in 1925–1926 as deputy chief of
Qui Nhon province. He then served as secretary to
TỔNG BỘ VIỆT MINH. The General Director- the résident supérieur for Cambodia and directeur
ate of the Viet Minh nationalist front created by des Bureaux there between 1927 and 1930. After
Ho Chi Minh and the Indochinese Communist a brief stint in Annam, he served in Laos between
Party (ICP) in 1941. Contrary to what French 1932 and 1936, working as head of the province
authorities thought at the time, the Tong Bo was and mayor of Vientiane between 1933 and 1936.
not an all-powerful communist decision-making He returned to Annam yet again to serve as an
entity. Despite the ICP’s desire in November advisor to the Annamese protectorate government
1945 to transform the Tong Bo into some sort of until 1939, when he became cabinet director for
permanent headquarters to oversee and transmit Governor General Georges Catroux. Torel sup-
instructions down to local Viet Minh chapters and ported Catroux’s decision to enter into dissidence
cadres, this never occurred. It is not even sure a against Vichy following the fall of the Third
chairman for the Tong Bo was ever named, ac- Republic. While Vichy leaders in Indochina criti-
cording to David Marr. With the movement of the cized him for supporting Catroux, Torel remained
government to the hills of northern Vietnam fol- in Indochina and served loyally during World War
lowing the outbreak of full scale war in late 1946, II as labor inspector (1940–1941) and as résident
the Tong Bo faded away. in Quang Ngai province (1941–1943). Even
Catroux’s successor, Admiral Jean Decoux, was
TONKIN. Colonial term referring roughly to pres- willing to forget the past: Torel “mérite cependant
ent day northern Vietnam. Under the Tay Son and d’être utilisé à plein”, Decoux wrote in 1944.
during the first half of the Nguyen dynasty, this In that same year, Torel became Inspector of
northern part of today’s Vietnam was referred to Administrative Affairs and of Labor in Vientiane,
as Bac Thanh. In 1834, following a major admin- Laos. He was a member of the Indochina Council
istrative reform, the Nguyen renamed it Bac Ki created by Decoux in December 1944.
(or Bac Ky in modern Vietnamese), running as His support of Catroux’s “treason” in 1940
far south as today’s Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, and served Torel well when Gaullists went about
Ha Tinh provinces. When the French colonized retaking and purging the Indochinese colony the
all of Vietnam during the second half of the 19th French had lost to the Japanese in March 1945.
century, they maintained the Vietnamese term Bac In 1946, Torel became federal commissioner for
Ki, referring to it in French as “Tonkin” (meaning legal questions (Commissaire fédéral aux ques-
capital of the East). The French, however, trans- tions juridiques), a position he held until 1947.
ferred Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, and Ha Tinh to An- He was no liberal, however, when it came to
nam (Trung Ky). Following the Japanese coup de the question of decolonization. As he told Paul
force of 9 March 1945 ousting the French from Mus in the wake of World War II, “les Annamites
Indochina, the Tran Trong Kim government ad- n’attendent que notre retour”. He took part in
opted the term “northern section” or Bac Phan to the first Dalat Conference of April 1946. During
refer to former colonial Tonkin. The Democratic this meeting, he engaged in a heated legal debate
Republic of Vietnam followed suit but dropped with Vo Nguyen Giap over the national reality
Phan in favour of Bo to form Bac Bo. During the of Vietnam, something which did not exist ac-
Indochina War, the French would revive the colo- cording to Torel. He also took part in the failed
nial term, “Tonkin”, as part of a wider battle over negotiations over the unification of “Vietnam” at
the future of Vietnam. Leaders of the Republic of Fontainebleau during the long French summer
Vietnam would use the word Bac Phan in order of 1946. Philippe Devillers says that he was the
avoid borrowing either the colonial or communist éminence grise to Georges Thierry d’Argenlieu.

450 TORTURE

In 1948, Torel provisionally served as com- regulation banning the use of physical violence in
missioner of the Republic to the Provisional interrogations for fear of its possible manipulation
Government of South Vietnam. He was close to by the enemy, alienation of local Vietnamese sup-
Léon Pignon: they used the informal tutoiement port, and danger to the legitimacy of the party’s
to address each other, and they often worked cause. The DRV’s physical torture was mainly
together on major political questions. Torel was directed against Vietnamese, not French prison-
strongly opposed to Vietnamese nationalism and ers. Recently the Vietnamese Communist Party
decolonization, to say nothing of communism. has acknowledged that torture was used against
On 20 October 1948, he was raised to the rank Vietnamese based on class. This occurred during
of governor of the colonies. Between 1948 and the land reform begun in upper Vietnam from
1949, he served as the personnel director for High 1953. See also CIVIL WAR; EXECUTION;
Commissioner Léon Pignon before being named HÉRAULT, INDOCTRINATION; LANGUAGE
in 1949 director general of the administration for OF WAR; MASSACRE; PROSELYTIZING THE
the high commissioner in Indochina, a post which ENEMY; RECTIFICATION; VIETNAMESE
he occupied until 1950. Torel was involved in the NATIONALIST PARTY.
development and application of the Bao Dai Solu-
tion in collaboration with Pignon. In 1949, Torel TORTURE, FRENCH. The French Army prac-
assumed the leadership of the French delegation ticed torture during the Indochina War. How wide-
in charge of applying the March 1949 Accords ly? No one knows for sure. The army, however,
with Bao Dai. In so doing, he implicitly accepted was not the first to do so in Indochina. During the
the national unity of Vietnam, something that he colonial period, the Sûreté did so with consider-
had strongly denied the Democratic Republic of able impunity. In 1933, Esprit published the notes
Vietnam in Dalat and Fontainebleau in 1946. See of Andrée Viollis’s detailed investigation into the
also JEAN COUSSEAU. official use of torture against the Vietnamese who
had revolted against the French in 1930–1931.
TORTURE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF Marcel Bazin was known for the harsh methods
VIETNAM. The Vietnamese intelligence and he used on Vietnamese political prisoners. After
public security forces used torture during the his liberation from a Japanese prison camp (where
Indochina War. In the north, the Democratic he himself was tortured), Bazin resumed his harsh
Republic of Vietnam’s (DRV) use of torture got methods against the Democratic Republic of
out of hand during the H122 affair in 1948, when Vietnam’s men and women who fell into his
the party suspected the French of having planted hands. He was the head of the Sûreté Fédérale in
a mole in the army’s General Staff. In southern southern Vietnam.
Vietnam, torture became a real problem in 1949 There was continuity in the use of this practice
when it was learned or feared that French-backed flowing out of the colonial period and World War
“reactionary” nationalist party spies had penetrat- II. The French army practiced torture during the
ed the Public Security Services. Again, officials colonial reconquest of southern Vietnam, espe-
turned to torture and heavy-handed interrogations cially in mid-1946 when General Jean Valluy
to ferret out these suspected moles. had to issue orders to stop it. The French public
From the evidence currently available, it ap- became aware of the use of torture when, in July
pears unlikely that the Vietnamese intelligence 1949, the influential Catholic newspaper, Té-
services used physical torture systematically, moignage Chrétien, published Jacques Chega-
fearful of its negative impact on their popular ray’s account of its use within the army. Outraged
base. However, there is no denying that it existed; by what Chegaray described, the French specialist
communist sources confirm it. The problem, at of Indochina and then head of the Colonial Acad-
least at the beginning, is that it often spun out of emy, Paul Mus wrote a series of famous essays
control when paranoia and hysteria quickly got the in which he publicly condemned the use of torture
best of the security officials. Indeed, the excessive (Non pas ça! is how he titled it). The Right and
use of torture seems to have done serious dam- military circles in Indochina, notably General
age on several occasions, resulting in the deaths Roger Blaizot, condemned the articles. However,
of dozens if not hundreds of innocent people Paul Ramadier, then minister of Defence, issued
in the north and south. The situation got so bad secret instructions to authorities in Indochina pro-
that in 1951 the Public Security Service issued a scribing the use of torture. High Commissioner

TRẦN BỘI CƠ 451

Léon Pignon was appalled, writing in September Komaya participated in organizing the frontier
1949 that torture was contrary to everything that battles designed to open the border to China
the French were trying to do in Indochina in the via Cao Bang in mid-1950. His most important
name of une valeur essentiellement humaine et de contributions were in the training of cadres and
civilisation. It had to be stopped at all levels. In officers, the development of Viet Bac’s Military
fact, Chegaray’s article coincided with internal Intelligence, and his operational work in the
investigations into the use of torture and sum- planning and mapping of major northern battles.
mary executions in the Service de sécurité d’Air See also DESERTION, JAPANESE; THẬP VẠN
in Hanoi on at least two separate occasions in ĐAI SƠN, OPERATIONS.
mid-1949. Ramadier and Pignon were referring to
this as much as to Chegaray’s article. TRAITOR. See VIET GIAN.

How widespread was the use of torture during tramier, albert (1917–). Between 1945 and
the Indochina War? Jules Roy left the army dis- 1949, he worked in the Economic Affairs section
gusted by the army’s use of it. Vietnamese-language of the high commissioner’s office for Indochina.
memoirs and histories of the conflict leave no doubt
as to its existence. However, in the absence of any TRẦN BẠCH ĐẰNG (TƯ ÁNH, TRẦN
methodologically reliable study of the question, it QUANG, TRƯƠNG GIA TRIỀU, NGUYỄN
is impossible to gauge how widespread the use of TRƯỜNG THIÊN LÝ, 1926–2007). A powerful
torture was in the army and security services across behind-the-scenes southern communist during the
all of Indochina. Was the Algerian experience wars for Vietnam between 1945 and 1975. Born in
engraved in the Indochinese one? In an internal the province of Kien Giang, he became politically
Étude sur les renseignement tirés de la campagne active as a journalist during World War II and se-
d’Indochine en matière de “renseignements”, the cretly joined the Indochinese Communist Party
Deuxième Bureau for North Vietnam concluded at this time. He worked in clandestine operations
in 1955 that when it came to interrogating Viet for the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the
Minh prisoners during the Indochina War, the use Saigon-Cholon area and was a member of the
of torture had in no way improved the quality of secretariat of the party’s Territorial Committee
the intelligence provided (les mauvais traitements for Nam Bo (Xu Uy Nam Bo) under Le Duan.
n’améliorent nullement le rendement des inter- His activities landed him in jail in 1948 when
rogatoires). The opposite was often true, as the Indochina’s master security chief, Marcel Bazin
DRV’s services had also learned the hard way. See captured him. Upon his release, Tran Bach Dang
also ALGERIAN WAR; CAM LY, MASSACRE; became the deputy director of the Information
MY THUY, MASSACRE; MOTHERS OF GIO Service for Saigon run by the Resistance and
LINH; PHAM DUY; TORTURE, DEMOCRATIC Administrative Committee for Nam Bo. In 1954,
REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM. he was secretary of the permanent bureau of the
Lien Viet national front. He would go on to play
TOSHIO KOMAYA (NGUYEN QUANG THUC). a pivotal role in the war against the Americans in
Japanese soldier who crossed over to the Demo- southern Vietnam in general and in Saigon-Cho-
cratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) in northern lon in particular.
Vietnam at the end of World War II. There, he
worked as a military advisor to the Chinese- TRẦN BỘI CƠ (1932–1950). The name of the
trained Vietnamese officer, Nam Long. He ac- young Chinese girl killed during Vietnamese anti-
companied Le Quang Ba into southern China in colonialist demonstrations in Saigon in 1950. One
mid-1949 to help the Chinese Communist Party of Saigon’s leading high schools is now named
defeat Chinese nationalist forces on the run. As after her. She was from the Fujian community.
the Chinese communist victory approached, Her death allowed the partisans of the Democra-
the Vietnamese moved Toshio to the operations tic Republic of Vietnam’s nationalist cause to
section of the DRV General Staff in the newly mobilize intellectuals and students in Saigon and
formed Inter-Zone Viet Bac (Lien Khu Viet Bac). elsewhere against the war and its internationaliza-
He played a particularly important role in helping tion, marked by the arrival at the port of Saigon of
to organize and plan a new level of modern mili- an American ship delivering arms to the French
tary operations against the French, thanks to the army. See also OVERSEAS CHINESE.
aid now being provided by the Chinese. Toshio

452 TRẦN BỬU KIẾM

TRẦN BỬU KIẾM (1921–). One of the founders in France towards the end of the war (leaving just
of the Vietnamese Democratic Party (Dang before the Allied bombing of Halle).
Dan Chu Viet Nam). Born in Can Tho province in
southern Vietnam, Tran Buu Kiem graduated as a During his visit to France in mid-1946, Ho
lawyer from the Faculté de droit in Hanoi. During Chi Minh persuaded Tran Dai Nghia to return
World War II, he helped create the Democratic to Vietnam to join the nationalist cause. As war
Party and was active in the General Association looked increasingly likely, the Vietnamese badly
of Indochinese Students. He was arrested by the needed weapons specialists and engineers. In Oc-
French but escaped in early 1945. He returned to tober 1946, Tran Dai Nghia returned to northern
Saigon following the Japanese overthrow of the Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh’s entourage and joined
French in March, resuming his activities in the the armaments section in the DRV Ministry of
Democratic Party and participating in the Van- National Defense. He put his French and German
guard Youth League (Thanh Nien Tien Phong) engineering and wartime training in Europe to
led by Pham Ngoc Thach. Tran Buu Kiem was work making home-made bazookas, mortars, gre-
a firm supporter of the independence cause of nades, and recoilless guns for the DRV’s nascent
the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). army. On 5 December 1946, he headed up the
Between 1946 and 1949, he was the general newly established Bureau of Armaments Produc-
secretary for the Resistance and Administrative tion (Cuc Quan Gioi). He oversaw the creation of
Committee for the south. From 1950, he served as a network of weapons-making workshops across
the deputy director of Economic Services of Nam the country, though mainly located in central and
Bo. He was simultaneously active among student northern resistance zones. In mid-1948, these
and intellectual groups agitating in favor of the workshops began producing hand-grenades
DRV’s cause. and the first 60mm and 81mm mortars. In late
1949, his recoilless guns appeared in northern
TRẦN ĐẠI BIÊN. See TRẦN QUANG VỊNH. skirmishes. However rudimentary they certainly
were, these weapons often worked. Even French
TRẦN ĐẠI NGHĨA (PHẠM QUANG LỄ, 1913– military authorities recognized their effectiveness
1997). Vietnamese engineer and specialist in and the quality of Tran Dai Nghia.
armaments production for the Democratic Repu-
blic of Vietnam (DRV) during the Indochina War. He joined the Indochinese Communist Party
He was born in Vinh Long province in southern in 1949, having already been named major gen-
Vietnam. Between 1926 and 1930, he studied eral in 1948. In 1949, Tran Dai Nghia assumed
at the provincial elementary school of My Tho, the leadership of the Office of Artillery (Cuc
where one of his classmates was the future head Phao Binh), became deputy director of the Gen-
of the DRV’s southern security forces, Pham eral Technical Bureau (Tong Cuc Ky Thuat), and
Hung. Between 1930 and 1935, Tran Dai Nghia served as deputy director of the General Direc-
was in Saigon completing his secondary studies at torate of the Rearguard of the People’s Army of
the Lycée Pétrus Ky. Thanks to a locally provided Vietnam (Tong Cuc Hau Can Quan Doi Nhan
scholarship, he traveled to France in September Dan Viet Nam). In September 1950, as the battles
1935 to study engineering and mathematics, and intensified with the arrival of the Cold War and
apparently successfully completed his studies increased military aid for the belligerents, he
in 1939, graduating from the École centrale des became vice minister for Heavy [Armaments]
arts et manufactures. Despite repeated requests Industry, a post he held until 1963. He was also a
to study weapons engineering, the French turned founding member of the Vietnam–USSR Friend-
him down. This was off limits to colonial “sub- ship Association.
jects”. On the eve of World War II, however, he
found himself working in a French aviation fac- TRẦN DẦN (TRẦN VĂN DẦN, 1926–1997).
tory. Following the French defeat in June 1940, Vietnamese poet and writer who supported the
the occupying Germans sent him to work in a nationalist cause of the Democratic Republic
central German aviation plant in Halle in 1942. of Vietnam and published perhaps the most
He also studied and worked in a weapons research important war novel of the Indochina War in
institute there and was thus initiated into basic any language. Born into a wealthy family in
German research in avionics. He returned to work Nam Dinh province, Tran Dan studied French
literature in high school, where he discovered the
work of Baudelaire, Verlaine, and the symbolists.

TRẦN ĐĂNG NINH 453

According to Georges Boudarel, Tran Dan began the party. According to Georges Boudarel, Tran
writing in earnest during World War II, but was Dan was influenced by the ideas of Hu Feng and,
less interested in politics than in art for its own like him, rejected Maoism and the party’s right to
sake. Little else is known of his activities during define art so directly. His war novel reflected this
the war or during the events that brought the De- new way of thinking. In it, soldiers certainly fight
mocratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) into being heroically, and the party is there; but we see some
in September 1946. In Nam Dinh in late 1946, he of the human side of the soldiers, their doubts,
joined with a group of symbolist poets to publish fears, and fatigue. The party criticized his realistic
the first issue of their literary review, Dia nguc/ accounts of the war, preferring heroic and ideo-
Hell. As the founding manifesto read: “We are logical representations. Tran Dan left the party in
a band of wanderers, without a light or a place, April 1955, was arrested for his participation in
reincarnated accidentally at the very time when Nhan Van Giai Pham movement, accused of being
the stars are fading”. “anti-party” (chong Dang), and forced to undergo
re-education. His work would not be rehabilitated,
His life indeed his perspective on art changed, like that of Hung Feng, until the 1980s. See also
however, with the outbreak of full-scale war on 19 CINEMA; CULTURE; EMULATION; EXPERI-
December 1946. Unlike some of his friends, Tran ENCE OF WAR; HISTORY; MYTH OF WAR;
Dan not only chose to support the DRV against NEW HERO; NOVELS.
the return of French colonialism, he also agreed to
put his art in the service of the party’s nationalist TRẦN ĐĂNG NINH (1910–1955). Powerful,
cause. The Viet Minh put him to work tending to behind-the-scenes leader in the Indochinese
matters of information and propaganda. In early Communist Party (ICP) in charge of high-level
1948, he joined the army in Son La province and and sensitive intelligence, security, and internal
became a member of the Indochinese Commu- investigative matters. Born in Ha Tay province
nist Party (ICP) in August of that year. He worked near Hanoi, Tran Dang Ninh was a printer by pro-
on propaganda within the army in Son La and fession who became politically active in the early
took part in the creation of the literary and artistic 1930s. He joined the ICP in 1936. In 1939, he was
Black River Group and contributed regularly to a member of the party’s underground Committee
its review. He soon stood out for the originality for Hanoi. During World War II, he joined the
of his writings on the war and also his drawings ICP’s Territorial Committee for Tonkin (Xu Uy
of soldiers (some of which drew criticism from Bac Ky) and worked closely with the likes of
political cadres unable to understand his cubist Truong Chinh, then acting general secretary of
style). After undergoing cadre rectification in the party. In May 1941, Tran Dang Ninh became
1951, he was promoted to the committee in charge the secretary of the same Territorial Committee
of artistic questions for the army. When this did and entered the ICP’s Central Committee. He
not work out, he transferred to the people’s army participated in the 8th Plenum in May 1941 which
magazine and covered a number of the major gave birth to the Viet Minh. The French arrested
battles in the north. In late 1953, he volunteered him shortly thereafter and incarcerated him in
to go to Dien Bien Phu. Tran Dan travelled to the Son La and Hoa Lo prisons following an escape
front with the composer Do Nhuan and the painter in 1943. He regained his freedom following the
To Ngoc Van. Japanese coup de force of 9 March 1945 and
resumed his activities in northern Vietnam. Du-
Based on his first-hand experience of seeing ring a party plenum adopted during the Tan Trao
men engaged in this epic battle, in April 1955 Conference in August 1945, he joined the General
he published his famous novel about the war Directorate or the Tong Bo Viet Minh. As a senior
as seen from the Vietnamese soldier’s point of leader in the ICP, he was in charge of the Party’s
view Nguoi Nguoi Lop Lop or Man after man, own internal security affairs and its control over
wave after wave. However, before publishing the government of the Democratic Republic of
his novel, he made a two-month trip to China to Vietnam. In 1947, he assumed the leadership of
work on a documentary film of the same battle. the Control and Inspection Board (Ban Kiem Tra)
During this time, he rejected the efforts of the of the Executive Committee of the ICP’s Central
political commissar accompanying him to impose Committee, a powerful position. He served as the
a crude propagandistic stamp on the film. He also deputy director of the Party’s General Inspectorate
journeyed in China at a time when the Chinese
Communist Party allowed intellectuals to criticize

454 TRẦN ĐÌNH VỸ

for the Government (Pho Truong Ban Thanh Tra (serving briefly as the latter’s body guard). Tran
Chinh Phu). And he headed up the ICP’s Central Do helped the Party take power in the Vinh Phuc
Committee’s own Surveillance Board (Ban Trinh area and became a member of the Revolutio-
Sat), designed to oversee and coordinate all secu- nary Military Committee for Hanoi. He joined
rity services. the army in 1945 and helped edit the Liberation
Army Paper in 1946. Between January 1947 and
While Tran Dang Ninh was a committed com- 1950, he served as deputy political commissar for
munist, he was also a cool-headed, rational, and Zone II (Khu II), which covered Hanoi, before
organized leader and thinker. This helps explain being named head of the Bureau of Propaganda
why Ho Chi Minh brought him in to handle in the army’s political section as well as editor of
the sensitive H122 Affair, which had generated the army paper Ve Quoc Doan. In March 1950,
a climate of paranoia within the army and even he served as the political commissar to the 209th
the Party as security services tried to ferret out Regiment. In April 1951, he became deputy, then
an alleged French mole, H122. After close inves- chief, political commissar in the 312th Division.
tigation, Tran Dang Ninh concluded that there Between October 1955 and 1964, he was political
was no spy. H122 was, he concluded, a French commissar as well as secretary of the party’s Mi-
deception operation. Party and military unity litary Committee for the Right Bank [of the Red
was re-established in large part due to Tran Dang River] War zone.
Ninh, and this at a crucial point in the Indochina
War. He accompanied Ho Chi Minh on the latter’s TRẦN ĐỨC THẢO (1917–1993). Vietnamese
voyage to China in late 1949 and early 1950. He philosopher and supporter of the nationalist cause
also met with the nationalist archbishop Le Huu of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV)
Tu in an effort to keep Catholics from leaning to during the Indochina War. Born in Hanoi, Tran
the French side. Soon thereafter, he joined the Duc Thao grew up in a civil service family in co-
Party’s General Military Commission (Quan Uy) lonial Indochina. He arrived in Paris in 1936, after
(together with Vo Nguyen Giap and Nguyen Chi having completed an academic year at the Faculté
Thanh) and attended to questions of logistics and de droit in Hanoi. He completed his secondary
supply. In 1951, he became a member of the Cen- studies at the select Paris schools Lycée Louis le
tral Committee of the Vietnam Worker’s Party. Grand and Henri IV. In 1939, he was admitted to
the elite French École normale supérieure on the
TRẦN ĐÌNH VỸ. Sergeant and second-in-com- rue d’Ulm in Paris, entering third in his class. In
mand to Roger Vandenberghe’s Commando 1943, he successfully passed the exam to obtain
Nord Vietnam no. 2 during the Indochina War. his specialization in philosophy (agrégation de
Tran Dinh Vy accompanied Vandenberghe on philosophie). He was the top-ranked candidate
some of the most audacious commando operations and submitted a thesis on Edmund Husserl’s phe-
of the Indochina War and was apparently the only nomenology. While Vichy France heralded this as
survivor of the Viet Minh attack that assassinated a sign of the French génie colonisateur, Tran Duc
Vandenberghe. After the war, Tran Dinh Vy served Thao also became an ardent supporter of Viet-
in the army of the Republic of Vietnam before namese nationalism and French decolonization.
evacuating his family to the United States in 1975 In 1944, he was elected to the General Delegation
while he went to France and attained the rank of of the Indochinese living in France.
colonel in the French Foreign Legion. He retired Although he remained in France after World
in 1988 and was present in 1989 when Vanden- War II, he publicly supported the DRV’s quest
berghe’s remains were deposited in a monument for independence and (moderate) social revolu-
erected in the latter’s honor at the National Non- tion. When he warned in an interview that the
Commissioned Officers’Academy in Pau, France. Vietnamese would and should resist the return of
the French to Vietnam, he was arrested and spent
TRẦN ĐỘ (TẠ NGỌC PHÁCH, 1924–2002). three months behind bars in the Parisian jail La
Born in northern Vietnam, he joined the Indo- Santé in late 1945. It was during this time that
chinese Communist Party in 1940. The French he wrote a celebrated article criticizing French
incarcerated him at Son La the following year. colonialism, published in Les Temps Modernes
In 1944, he escaped from prison and resumed his edited by Jean-Paul Sartre (Les relations
work for the party in the Red River Delta, where franco-vietnamiennes, February 1946). It was
he collaborated closely with Truong Chinh

TRẦN HIỆU 455

also during this time that he emerged as a world- of Phan Chu Trinh in 1925. He drifted leftwards
class philosopher. He collaborated with Sartre as in the late 1920s, joining a communist-oriented
a debater and contributor to Les Temps Modernes. youth group in 1929. Though trained as a mechan-
Their collaboration broke down, however, when ic, he became actively involved in journalism and
differences in 1949 and 1950 over Marxism and radical politics during the Popular Front period. In
existentialism divided them. Tran Duc Thao 1938, Truong Chinh and Dao Duy Ky introduced
published important philosophical works, above him into the Indochinese Communist Party
all his famous Phénoménologie et matérialisme (ICP). In September 1939, with the end of this
dialectique (1951). liberal period, the French police arrested him and
shipped him off to Son La prison. In June 1941,
In 1951, he returned to Vietnam by way of the French deported him to a jail in Madagascar
Prague, Moscow, and Beijing to take part in the with seven other communists, including Le Gian,
resistance. He arrived in early 1952. He was com- Hoang Huu Nam, and Hoang Dinh Giong.
missioned to write a number of reports for the
government on the education program in the north Following the overthrow of the Vichy regime
and the status of two industrial workshops. During there in 1942, these political prisoners, includ-
the spring of 1953, he translated several works of ing Tran Hieu, regained their freedom but were
Truong Chinh into French, all the while undergo- blocked from returning to Vietnam because of
ing political indoctrination sessions himself. In the Japanese occupation of Indochina. In 1943,
1953 and 1954, he was involved in land reform however, Gaullist authorities allowed the British
efforts in Phu Tho province. Following the end of Intelligence Service MI6 to recruit these Vietnam-
the war in mid-1954, he was named professor at ese men. Tran Hieu, Hoang Huu Nam, and Hoang
the University of Hanoi. Between 1954 and 1955 Dinh Giong agreed that this was the only way for
he held the Chair in Ancient History, the Chair in them to return to Vietnam and justified their ac-
the History of Philosophy between 1955 and 1958, tions in light of the wider communist approved
and was dean of the Faculty of History between anti-fascist struggle. In 1944, the British trained
1956 and 1958. However, his disillusionment Tran Hieu in New Delhi in intelligence, radio,
with the non-democratic nature of Vietnamese and cipher operations before parachuting him in
communism became increasingly evident after March 1945 to a village near Hanoi. From there,
the Indochina War ended. His critical voice during he provided intelligence on the Japanese to the Al-
the Nhan Van Giai Pham movement in 1956 cost lies and went to work to help the ICP take power.
him his right to teach at the University of Hanoi With the help of Tran Quoc Hoan, the deputy
and isolated him professionally and personally. Party secretary of the Tonkin regional committee,
See also CULTURE; COLLABORATION; HIS- Tran Hieu was provided with access to a radio in
TORY; INTELLECTUALS; RECTIFICATION. order to communicate with the Allies in Calcutta,
administer radio communications for the Tonkin
TRẦN DUY HƯNG (1912–1988, PHẠM THƯ). committee with the ICP central committee to the
Born near Hanoi, Tran Duy Hung was a member north, and teach a class on military reconnaissance
of the Indochinese Communist Party and served operations for the Tonkin committee. This he did.
on the party section for the city of Hanoi in 1945–
1946. He was thus involved in efforts to head off With the birth of the DRV in September 1945,
war with the French in the explosive month of De- he put his clandestine communist experience,
cember 1946, all the while preparing the city for prison contacts, and recently acquired modern
war. He was a deputy to the National Assembly of intelligence knowledge to work for the nationalist
the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. cause. When the government created the Bureau
of Security Forces for Northern Vietnam (So Liem
TRẦN HIỆU (HOÀNG MỸ, VŨ VǍN ĐÍCH, Phong Bac Bo) in late 1945, he seconded Le Gian
1914–1997). Born in Ha Dong province near Ha- as deputy director. He remained deputy director
noi, he was one of the most secret and important when this bureau was replaced in February 1946
architects of the Democratic Republic of Viet- by the Public Security Department (Cong An
nam’s (DRV) early military intelligence appara- Vu). In this capacity, he played a pivotal role in
tus. He studied at the École pratique industrielle combating non-communist nationalist efforts
in Hanoi. As a youngster in Hanoi, he witnessed to contest communist power in 1946. Tran Hieu
the nationalist outpouring surrounding the death headed up the Ministry of Defense and High
Command’s intelligence bureau (Cuc Tinh Bao)

456 TRẦN HƯNG ĐẠO, BATTLE

between 1947 and 1948. In early 1948, the DRV overthrow of the French. He contributed to the
officially named him Director of the Intelligence Viet Minh’s newspaper, Cuu Quoc, and attended
Department of the Vietnamese National Army’s the Conference of the ICP at Tan Trao, when he
High Command. This department was disbanded was elected vice president of the National Libera-
in April 1950. Tran Hieu became the Deputy tion Committee. He served as minister of Com-
Director of Vietnam Public Security Directorate munications and Propaganda in the first DRV Pro-
and served concurrently as Chief of the Public Se- visional Government. He accompanied Nguyen
curity Directorate’s Intelligence Buerau. In July Luong Bang and Cu Huy Can to Hue to receive
1951, a strategic intelligence agency for the party the abdication of the Emperor Bao Dai on 29–30
and the government emerged, called the Liaison August 1945. He was secretary of the Viet Minh’s
Department, directly subordinate to the Prime General Directorate or the Tong Bo Viet Minh in
Minister’s office. Tran Hieu was director of this 1945. He joined the DRV’s National Assembly in
powerful department. In June 1967, the Liaison 1946 as a deputy for Nam Dinh province. Howev-
Department merged with the General Staff’s Mili- er, his public interference in major foreign policy
tary Intelligence Department to create the Intel- issues handled by Ho Chi Minh, especially his
ligence Department, the Party, and army’s overall criticism of negotiations with the French in 1945
strategic intelligence agency. Tran Hieu, the man and 1946, probably ended his career as minister.
who got his intelligence start with the help of the Like Tran Van Giau, Tran Huy Lieu would turn
allies, was in charge. See also DEUXIÈME BU- to writing the party’s national and official history.
REAU; H122; MAURICE BELLEUX; PUBLIC In 1953, Tran Huy Lieu ran the DRV’s new Social
SECURITY SERVICES; SERVICE DE DOCU- Sciences Committee, the Ban Nghien Cuu Van Su
MENTATION EXTÉRIEURE ET DE CONTRE- Dia. He eventually became head of the Vien Su
ESPIONNAGE. Hoc (Historical Studies Institute) in 1959 and edi-
tor of Nghien Cuu Lich Su (Historical Research).
TRẦN HƯNG ĐẠO, BATTLE. See VINH YEN, See also HISTORY.
BATTLE.
TRẦN KHÁNH GIƯ. See KHÁI HƯNG.
TRẦN HỮU MAI. See HỮU MAI.
TRẦN KHUY. See TRẦN NAM TRUNG.
TRẦN HUY LIỆU (1901–1969). Born in Nam
Dinh province in northern Vietnam, Tran Huy TRẦN KIM TUYẾN (1925–1995). Born in Thanh
Lieu became a prolific journalist and nationalist Hoa province to a Catholic family, Tran Kim
in southern Vietnam during the 1920s, writing for Tuyen received a religious education and briefly
the Vietnamese newspaper Dong Phap. He also studied to become a priest in a northern seminary
joined the Vietnamese Nationalist Party (Viet before shifting to education. He returned to Thanh
Nam Quoc Dan Dang, VNQDD) around 1927. In Hoa and taught at a Catholic school there until
1928, the French arrested him and deported him 1949, when he renewed his studies at the Facultés
to Poulo Condor where he crossed over to the de medecine et de droit at the Indochinese Uni-
Indochinese Communist Party (ICP). Before versity in 1949. He obtained his degree in law but
his arrest, he had helped recruit into the national- was drafted into the army of the Associated State
ist party the future general of the southern army of Vietnam before finishing his medical studies.
of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), He became a physician’s assistant in the military
Nguyen Binh. The two were particularly close medical school in Hanoi. There he became close
during their time behind bars at Poulo Condor. friends with Ngo Dinh Nhu and eventually his
Tran Huy Lieu emerged from prison in 1935 and brother, Ngo Dinh Diem. Upon taking charge of
resided thereafter in northern central Vietnam the State of Vietnam in mid-1954 and becoming
where he worked as a journalist during the Popu- president of the Republic of Vietnam a year later,
lar Front period. He was the editor in 1938 of the Ngo Dinh Diem selected Tran Kim Tuyen to serve
communist paper Tin Tuc in Hanoi and worked as one of his most trusted advisors, in charge of the
closely with Truong Chinh. In 1939, the French Social and Political Research Bureau (So Nghien
arrested and sent Tran Huy Lieu to prison in Son Cuu Chinh Tri Xa Hoi). In short, Tran Kim Tuyen
La and then Nghia Lo, where he remained until became the chief of intelligence and security in
his release in March 1945 following the Japanese the office of the President. See also CATHOLICS

TRẦN NGỌC DANH 457

IN VIETNAM AND THE WAR; LE GIAN; He also kept in close contact with other patriotic
PUBLIC SECURITY SERVICE; TRAN HIEU; intellectuals in Saigon, such as Luu Van Lang
TRAN QUOC HOAN; TRAN QUOC HUONG. and Bui Thi Cam. Following a secret trip to the
maquis, he returned to Saigon determined to help
TRẦN LƯƠNG. See TRẦN NAM TRUNG. the DRV clandestinely. He helped smuggle vital
medicines to his friends and resistance doctors,
TRẦN MAI (TRẦN VǍN MAI, LÊ VǍN LẠC, Ho Van Hue and Nguyen Van Hoa. He signed the
NAI PRASERT PHINIKORN, 1915–?). Promi- 1950 petition of intellectuals calling on the French
nent diplomat in Asia for the Democratic Repub- to negotiate directly with Ho Chi Minh.
lic of Vietnam (DRV) during the Indochina War.
Born in Thai Binh province in northern Vietnam, TRẦN NAM TRUNG (TRẦN KHUY, TRẦN
he studied at the Lycée Albert Sarraut in Hanoi LƯƠNG, 1913–2009). Born into a peasant fam-
in the mid-1920s before returning home to work ily in Quang Ngai province in central Vietnam,
in the family business. He reappeared on the Tran Nam Trung was an active union leader and
political scene following the Japanese overthrow worker by the late 1920s. He joined the Indochi-
of the French in the coup de force of 9 March nese Communist Party in 1931. Until 1943, he
1945 and their defeat shortly thereafter. He joined was in and out of colonial prisons for a variety
the nationalist cause of the DRV, became a mem- of different reasons. In 1944 and 1945, he was
ber of the government’s National Assembly in active in the creation of the Committee for the
1946, and worked in the newly founded Public Mobilization of the National Salvation Front of
Security Services (Cong An) section in Nghe Quang Ngai province and took part in the Ba
An province. For unclear reasons, he moved to To uprising. With the advent of the Democratic
Bangkok in 1948 and began a diplomatic career Republic of Vietnam in September 1945, he
in the DRV’s delegation, where he took over the became the Party’s provincial secretary for Quang
direction of the Viet Nam News Service from La Ngai and Binh Dinh. Between September 1945
Vinh Loi (Le Hy). In this position, Tran Mai agi- and 1946, he served as a member of the Party’s
tated against French colonialism and their moves Territorial Committee for Trung Bo (Xu Uy Trung
to create a counter-revolutionary government in Bo), in charge of military matters. In September
the person of Bao Dai. In May 1950, he moved to 1946, he became a political commissar and joined
Jakarta to plead the DRV’s cause to a sympathetic the Party’s Standing Committee for Inter-Zone V
Indonesian public and government. In the end, (Lien Khu V). Between 1951 and 1954, he served
however, the Indonesian government preferred under Nguyen Chi Thanh in the General Political
not to recognize either of the two Vietnams. See Bureau as his deputy. He oversaw the mobiliza-
also INDONESIA; INDIA; NEUTRALIZATION tion of local populations in support of the battle of
OF INDOCHINA. Dien Bien Phu.

TRẦN MAI NAM. See HỮU MAI. TRẦN NGỌC DANH (LÊ DUY NGHĨA,
BLOKOV). Ranking Vietnamese communist
TRẦN NAM HÙNG (1915–1993). Born in Tien leader expelled from the Indochina Communist
Giang province in southern Vietnam, Tran Nam Party (ICP) in 1951 for unilaterally closing the
Hung was admitted to the Faculté de médecine in Vietnamese diplomatic delegation in Paris in
the late 1930s and graduated as a doctor in 1943. 1949 and criticizing Ho Chi Minh and the Party
He immediately went to work in a French military in reports to the Soviets. Born in central Vietnam,
hospital in Phnom Penh with the rank of surgeon Tran Ngoc Danh was the younger brother of Tran
captain. He supported the nationalist cause of Phu, the first general secretary of the ICP, who had
the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) in criticized Ho Chi Minh’s “narrow nationalism”
September 1945 and served it as the director of in the early 1930s. Tran Ngoc Danh completed
the medical service for his home province of Tien his primary and secondary studies in colonial
Giang. The French arrested him in October 1945 Indochina before studying in the Soviet Union
while he was at work in a My Tho hospital. He in the late 1920s. He returned to Indochina in the
was released and put to work by the French in a early 1930s and joined the ICP in 1931 before the
military hospital near Cho Ray where he honed French arrested him about a year later. He was not
his medical skills in treating war-related injuries. released from prison until the Japanese overthrew

458 TRẦN NGỌC NGHIÊM

the French in 1945. He immediately joined the arrested him briefly. On 9 May 1946, French
Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) in security forces then arrested him and succeeded
September, serving as a deputy in the National in winning over his support in the war against the
Assembly, and was named an alternate member in Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the south.
the ICP’s Central Committee. In 1946, during his Tran Quang Vinh brought over his troops to the
trip to France, Ho Chi Minh named Hoang Minh French side and recognized the legitimacy of the
Giam and Tran Ngoc Danh to create and lead the Provisional Government of the Republic of Co-
DRV’s Permanent Delegation to France. Tran chinchina created by the French on 1 June 1946.
Ngoc Danh assumed direction of the delegation in The French named him commander-in-chief of the
late 1946 and held this position until he dissolved Cao Dai Armed Forces and helped him arm, train,
the mission in 1949. During his time in France, he and reorganize his troops. On 23 May 1948, he
worked to win over the support of the Vietnamese became under-secretary in the National Defense
living in France, the French people, and world of the provisional government of South Vietnam.
opinion to the Vietnamese independence cause. Between May 1950 and March 1951, Tran Quang
He also maintained good relations with Jacques Vinh served as minister of the Armed Forces in
Duclos and other ranking members of the French Tran Van Huu’s first government. In August
Communist Party. Duclos helped him escape 1951, he returned to the “Holy See” of the Cao
the French police and make his way to Prague in Dai in Tay Ninh province. A rival, Trinh Minh
1949 where Tran Ngoc Danh created another dip- The, held him prisoner until May 1954.
lomatic delegation. It was also during this tense
time in the Cold War that Tran Ngoc Danh sent a TRẦN QUỐC HOÀN (NGUYỄN TRỌNG
series of letters to the French, Chinese, and Soviet CẢNH, NAM ĐÀN, 1916–1986). Became one
communist parties criticizing the “nationalist” and of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam’s most
“bourgeois” tendencies of the ICP in general and powerful public security officers during the Indo-
of Ho Chi Minh in particular. The ICP expelled china War. Born in Nghe An province, Tran Quoc
him in 1951 for having endangered the country’s Hoan became involved in radical politics in the
foreign relations, for having dissolved the del- early 1930s while working as a miner in the silver
egation in France without authorization, and for mines of Laos. In March 1934, he joined the In-
criticizing a senior member of the party. See also dochinese Communist Party (ICP) in Laos. The
H122 AFFAIR; HOANG VAN HOAN; JOSEPH French arrested him later that year and placed him
STALIN; LA VINH LOI; NGUYEN DUC QUY. under surveillance in Ha Tinh until the Popular
Front period allowed him to relocate to Hanoi
TRẦN NGỌC NGHIÊM. See HOÀNG MINH where he worked in communist papers such as
CHÍNH. Ban Dan, Thoi The, and the Ha Thanh Thoi Bao.
During World War II, he worked clandestinely in
TRẦN QUANG. See TRẦN BẠCH ĐẰNG. the Hanoi area in close collaboration with Truong
Chinh and served as the secretary of the Party’s
TRẦN QUANG VINH (TRẦN ĐẠI BIÊN, Urban Committee for Hanoi. In June 1941, with
TRƯƠNG VỊNH THANH, 1897–1975). One of the French police closing in on him, Tran Quoc
the prime movers of the Cao Dai religious move- Hoan organized the withdrawal of the party to
ment, born in Long Xuyen province in southern “Secure Zones” (An Toan Khu) outside the city.
Vietnam. He began working in the colonial of- While working as liaison between the Party and
fices of Phnom Penh as a secretary in Cambodian cells inside Hanoi, he fell into French hands in
Arts. He joined the Cao Dai movement in 1930 1941 and ended up in Son La prison. There he
and served as head of the movement’s mission rubbed shoulders with the likes of Tran Dang
in Cambodia until 1941. In September 1941, the Ninh and Le Duc Tho.
French took him into custody but he walked free Tran Quoc Hoan walked out of Son La following
thanks to Japanese protection. At this time, he also the Japanese overthrow of the French on 9 March
joined the Vietnamese Restoration Society (Viet 1945. He secretly returned to Hanoi where he
Nam Phuc Quoc Hoi) and, with the overthrow became secretary of the ICP’s Territorial Commit-
of the French in March 1945, helped create the tee for Tonkin (Xu Uy Bac Ky) and served as the
first Cao Dai combat force with Japanese backing. Central Committee’s Special Committee envoy to
Following the Japanese defeat, Viet Minh forces Hanoi (Thanh Uy). He helped in preparations for

TRẦN QUÝ HAI 459

the battle of Hanoi and was the handler for the Quoc Huong served as Truong Chinh’s private
agent that cut the electricity on the evening of 19 secretary. From 1949, Tran Quoc Huong entered
December 1946. He stayed in the capital city dur- the Democratic Republic of Vietnam’s Military
ing much of the sixty-day battle of Hanoi, serving Intelligence Service (Cuc Tinh Bao) and became
as the ICP’s special delegate. He remained under- deputy director of the Central Intelligence Depart-
cover in Hanoi as the Central Committee’s special ment. After the Geneva Accords divided Vietnam
delegate to the occupied city, running a network in 1954, the Party dispatched Tran Quoc Huong to
of operatives and secretly mobilizing intellectu- southern Vietnam to create a secret secure zone
als and the youth against the French. outside of Saigon-Cholon and to create and run
top secret intelligence operations for the Territo-
Between 1949 and 1951, he was political rial Committee of Nam Bo, as he had done for
commissar for the provinces of Hanoi and Ha the ICP from outside Hanoi in 1944–1945. From
Dong. In 1949, he also became the director of December 1954, he helped operate a newly cre-
the ICP’s “special zone” for Hanoi, a position he ated southern espionage network designed to fol-
held until 1977. In 1951, during the Second Party low developments in the south, the southern Party
Congress, he joined the Executive Committee of Commission’s Research Branch Responsible for
the Vietnamese Worker’s Party’s Central Com- Following the Enemy Situation (Ban Nghien Cuu
mittee. He was deeply involved in setting up and Dich Tinh Xu Uy). He was the ranking case-officer
running the public security system in Hanoi. In for Pham Ngoc Thao, Pham Xuan An, Vu Ngoc
1952, the ICP appointed him to run the national Nha, and Le Huu Thuy, all of whom penetrated
security services. In 1953, he became the director the Republic of Vietnam led by Ngo Dinh Diem.
of the newly created Ministry of Public Security, The Republic of Vietnam’s security forces arrest-
a position he would hold for years to come. In ed and incarcerated Tran Quoc Huong in the late
1954–1955, he served on the Central Committee’s 1950s. However, he regained his freedom in 1964,
board in charge of the land reform. He presided shortly after Ngo Dinh Diem’s assassination. In
over the Party and government’s return to Hanoi 1968, Tran Quoc Huong returned to southern
in late 1954. Rising to the top of the security forces Vietnam where he worked as a ranking security
during the Indochina War, he became one of the officer in the party’s Saigon regional committee.
most powerful Vietnamese communists until his Tran Quoc Huong later became secretary of the
death in 1986. See also JEAN COUSSEAU; LE Central Committee of the Vietnamese Communist
GIAN; POULO CONDOR; REEDUCATION; Party.
TRAN HIEU.

TRẦN QUỐC HƯƠNG (MƯỜI HƯƠNG, TRẦN QUỐC TUẤN MILITARY ACADEMY
TRẦN NGỌC BAN, 1924–). One of communist (Trường Võ Bị Trần Quốc Tuấn). The first and
Vietnam’s best spy masters during both Indochina most important military academy of the Demo-
Wars. Born in Ha Nam province in northern Viet- cratic Republic of Vietnam. Created on 17 April
nam, he became active in revolutionary politics 1946, it began teaching its first class of over 250
during the Popular Front period, when he worked officer cadets in May 1946. The first director of
in the Vietnamese Youth Union. In 1943, after the academy was Hoang Dao Thuy, with Tran
serving time in prison, he joined the Indochinese Tu Binh serving as political commissar. See also
Communist Party (ICP). During World War II, ACADEMY, ASSOCIATED STATE OF VIET-
he remained in the north collaborating closely NAM; SCOUTING, INDOCHINA WAR.
with Truong Chinh and Le Duc Tho in the
outskirts of Hanoi. He distinguished himself in TRẦN QUÝ HAI (BÙI CHẤN, 1913–1985).
the Department for the Secure Zone (An Toan Born in Quang Ngai province in central Vietnam,
Khu), run by the Party’s Standing Central Com- he joined the Indochinese Communist Party
mittee. From there, Tran Quoc Huong was in in 1930. He was arrested by the French and in-
charge of running secret missions, operations, and carcerated in the prison of Ba To in the central
preparations for taking power in Hanoi. Truong highlands. Following the Japanese overthrow of
Chinh authorized him to enter into contact with the French in March 1945, Tran Quy Hai regained
European leftist crossovers in the French Foreign his freedom and joined other prisoners to form an
Legion based in the Hanoi area, in particular ultra-leftist group in Quang Ngai and helped com-
Erwin Börchers (Chien Si). In 1945–1946, Tran munists take power in Quang Ngai province. He

460 TRẦN THIỆN KHIÊM

became the Party provincial secretary for Quang alist leader. Born in Ha Tinh province in central
Ngai and a member of the Standing Committee of Vietnam, he was first trained in the Collège des
the People’s Committee for Quang Ngai. In 1946, interprètes in Hanoi before studying to become
he became an alternate member of the Territorial an educator at the École normale d’instituteurs
Committee for Trung Bo (Xu Uy Trung Bo) in in France. Upon his return to Vietnam, he taught
charge of the provinces of Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, as a professor in the Collège du Protectorat and
and Khanh Hoa. Between 1947 and 1952, he was the École normale d’instituteurs, both in Hanoi,
a political commissar in the 101st Regiment and and was inspector for Franco-Annamese Primary
then political commissar in the Binh Tri Thien Schools. He wrote widely on Vietnamese culture
Front. Between 1953 and 1954, he was divisional and history, incorporating both subjects into the
leader as well as the first political commissar to educational curriculum. He founded and ran the
the 325th division. He also served as political com- educational journal Hoc Bao and served as vice
missar to the Central Lao front and commander president of the Association pour la formation
of the battle of lower Laos in 1953–1954. He intellectuelle et morale des Annamites (AFIMA).
adopted a Maoist line in the 1950s. Vichy authorities placed him under surveillance
during World War II. The governor general, Jean
TRẦN THIỆN KHIÊM (1925–). Following the Decoux, even had him removed from his position
overthrow of the French in March 1945, the Japanese on the Conseil du gouvernement. Tran Trong Kim
named him acting governor of Tan Binh province in escaped to Singapore in 1944 thanks to the protec-
southern Vietnam. He graduated from the sole class tion of the Japanese and became prime minister in
of the École militaire d’Extrême-Orient in Dalat and the first Vietnamese government formed after the
served as under-secretary in the Nguyen Van Xuan Japanese coup de force of 9 March 1945 ousted
southern Vietnamese government. From May 1948, the French. With the birth of the Democratic Re-
he worked as his general secretary. By the end of the public of Vietnam, he holed himself up in Hanoi,
Indochina War, Tran Thien Khiem was a lieutenant refusing offers to join the new government. He left
colonel and deputy chief of staff in the Associated for Nanjing on 9 July 1946 as part of an attempt
State of Vietnam’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was later to create a non-communist, nationalist alternative
involved in a number of coups in Saigon in the mid- to French neo-colonialism and Vietnamese com-
1960s and served as prime minister to Nguyen Van munism. He entered into contact with Bao Dai
Thieu between 1969 and 1975. along these lines and returned to Vietnam to put
the idea to the French. When High Commissioner
TRẦN THIỆN VANG. Catholic politician in the Georges Thierry d’Argenlieu sent him packing,
French-backed governments during the Indochina Tran Trong Kim moved to Cambodia and swore
War. He was related to Empress Nam Phuong never to take up politics again. Nevertheless,
and served as counselor for Cochinchina and in October 1953, he agreed to take part in the
My Tho province during the Vichy period. Anti- organization of the first National Assembly for
communist, he cooperated closely with the French the Associated State of Vietnam, of which he was
following World War II. He was a member of the elected unanimously president that year. He died,
Cochinchina Democrat Party representing mainly however, shortly thereafter on 2 December 1953.
Catholic constituents. In October 1947, he served
as minister for Agriculture in Nguyen Van Xuan’s TRẦN TỬ BÌNH (PHẠM VĂN PHU, 1907–
cabinet and traveled to Hong Kong to help con- 1967). Born into a Catholic family in northern
vince Bao Dai to return to lead a non-communist, Vietnam, he was expelled from his seminary for
pro-French Vietnamese government. See also taking part in nation-wide student strikes fol-
ASSOCIATED STATES OF INDOCHINA; BAO lowing the death of Phan Chu Trinh in 1926. In
DAI SOLUTION. 1927, he moved to southern Vietnam to work as a
laborer on a rubber plantation and joined the Viet-
TRẦN THỌ. See HOÀNG TÙNG. namese Youth League in 1929 and the Indochi-
nese Communist Party (ICP) about a year later.
TRẦN THÚC KÍNH. See TRẦN VǍN QUANG. Following his participation in a demonstration of
plantation workers against their harsh working
TRẦN TRỌNG KIM (1883–1953). Vietnamese and living conditions, he ended up serving time in
educator, intellectual, and non-communist nation- Poulo Condor prison cell. In 1936, thanks to the

TRẦN VǍN GIÀU 461

Popular Front, he left the island, but remained un- force of 9 March 1945 and led the Vietnamese
der résidence surveillée in the north. In 1941, he Nationalist Independence Party (Viet Nam Quoc
joined the ICP’s Territorial Committee for Tonkin Gia Doc Lap Dang). He also collaborated closely
(Xu Uy Bac Ky). In late 1943, the French arrested with the head of Cao Dai armed forces, Tran
him again and incarcerated him in three different Quang Vinh, in a failed attempt to bring Prince
prisons. Following the Japanese overthrow of the Cuong De back to Vietnam to serve as emperor
French, Tran Tu Binh regained his freedom and of a constitutional monarchy. With the advent of
resumed his political activities in the north. As a the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, Tran Van
member of the Standing Committee of the Ter- An withdrew briefly from politics. In September
ritorial Committee for Tonkin, he took part in the 1946, however, he joined efforts with Nguyen Van
insurrection of August 1945 and used the colonial Sam to create a non-communist Front of National
telegraph network to inform other areas and issue Unity and then the Vietnamese National-Socialist
orders to turn power over to the Viet Minh. Dur- Party (Dang Viet Nam Dan Chu Xa Hoi, or Dang
ing the Indochina War, he served in the army and Dan Xa for short) in alliance with the head of the
became a major general in January 1948. He also Hoa Hao, Huynh Phu So. His anti-communism
served as the deputy general director of the Army was virulent. In October 1947, he became minis-
Investigative Board (Pho Tong Thanh Tra Quan ter of Information in the government of Nguyen
Doi) and was involved in the investigation of the Van Xuan. However, he thereafter faded from the
H122 incident. Tran Tu Binh later served as the political scene for unclear reasons.
Democratic Republic of Vietnam’s ambassador
to China during the height of the Vietnam War. TRẦN VǍN ĐÔN (1917–). Born in Bordeaux,
France, Tran Van Don was a French national and
TRẦN VǍN. See TRẦN VǍN GIÀU. a Vietnamese non-communist nationalist. He
graduated from the Hautes études commerciales
TRẦN VǍN ẨN (1903–2002). Born in Long (HEC) in Paris in 1939 and served in the French
Xuyen province in southern Vietnam, Tran Van army. He was captured during the Battle of France
An completed his secondary studies at the Lycée in 1940 and returned to Vietnam in 1942 in the
Chasseloup Laubat in Saigon. Between 1923 colonial army now in the service of Vichy. He
and 1928, he studied in Aix-en-Provence, where served with General Philippe Leclerc during the
he became involved in nationalist politics. He French reoccupation of Indochina in 1945 and
published articles in favor of Vietnamese indepen- 1946. With the creation of the Associated State of
dence in a paper he set up at that time, l’Annam Vietnam in 1949, he left the French army to serve
scolaire. Upon his return to Saigon, he joined in the emerging Vietnamese one. He studied Gen-
the editorial board of the Duoc Nha Nam until it eral Staff work at the École de guerre in France
went under in 1934. In 1935, he turned to more in 1950–1951. In Vietnam, he headed the army’s
radical politics when he joined the communist Military Security between 1951 and 1953, when
paper, La Lutte, run by one of his friends, Ta Thu he became colonel. Between 1953 and 1957, he
Thau. Tran Van An also made ends meet as the served on the Joint Chiefs of the General Staff of
manager of a distillery until 1940. In February the Republic of Vietnam following the signing of
1941, the French arrested him briefly as a threat the Geneva Accords.
to “national security”. Although he was released a
few months later, colonial authorities placed him TRẦN VǍN GIÀU (HỒ NAM, HOÀNG, TRẦN
in a special worker’s unit (Formation spéciale de VǍN, 1911–2010). Leading Western-trained Viet­
travailleurs) in southern Vietnam. During World namese communist who helped Vietnamese
War II, in 1942, he joined the Japanese police nationali­sts take over in Saigon in August 1945.
force in Indochina and actively agitated for the Born in Tan An province in southern Vietnam,
independence of Vietnam as one of the leaders Tran Van Giau pursued his secondary studies in
of the Cochinchinese branch of the Vietnamese Toulouse, France, where he became involved in
Restoration Association (Viet Nam Phuc Quoc radical politics. He joined the French Commu-
Dong Minh Hoi). The Japanese transferred him to nist Party in May 1929 and in 1931 he traveled
Singapore around September 1944. He broadcast to the Soviet Union, where he studied at the Uni-
there in Vietnamese for the Japanese. He returned versity of Toilers in the Far East. After pursuing
to Indochina following the Japanese coup de advanced ideological training there, he joined the

462 TRẦN VĂN HỮU

Comintern which dispatched him to Cochinchina Nguyen Binh, who ran military affairs for all of
in 1935 to build up the Territorial Committee for the south from December. In 1946, the government
Cochinchina on behalf of the Indochinese Com- sent Tran Van Giau to Thailand to procure arms
munist Party (ICP). Shortly after his return, the for the southern resistance and to win over Thai
colonial police arrested him for illegal political support (Tran Van Giau had known Prime Minis-
activities. Tran Van Giau regained his liberty after ter Pridi Banomyong since their days in France).
four months. In 1935, the French sentenced him Tran Van Giau represented the DRV at the Asian
to five years of prison for his involvement in the Relations Conference held in New Delhi in 1947.
“Deschamps affair”. Upon his release in 1940, he For unclear reasons, he was recalled to Vietnam
was interned in a “Special Workers Unit” (Forma- in 1948 and arrived in Inter-Zone IV (Lien Khu
tion spéciale de travailleurs) in southern Vietnam, IV) sometime in 1949. He briefly served as the
from which he escaped shortly thereafter. director of Communications and Propaganda in
this zone before dedicating himself to educational
Following the Allied liberation of France and and intellectual matters. Until the end of the Indo-
General Charles de Gaulle’s rapprochement china War in 1954, he worked in central Vietnam
with the Soviet Union, Tran Van Giau entered as the vice director of the Provisional University
into contact with French Gaullists in Indochina of Inter-Zone IV. It remains unclear why he was
concerning the need to collaborate against the removed from important political and diplomatic
common enemy, the Japanese. In December 1944, positions in the government, Party, and in South-
he contacted secretly the Section française de east Asia. See also HOANG VAN HOAN; LE
l’Internationale ouvrière leader in Indochina HY; TRAN NGOC DANH.
Louis Caput along similar lines, just as Truong
Chinh was doing in the north. From this time, TRẦN VĂN HỮU (1896–1984). Prominent and
Tran Van Giau produced brochures and published active non-communist politician during the Indo­
clandestine papers explaining why the Indochi- china War. Born in Vinh Long province in southern
nese should collaborate with the New France led Vietnam, he completed his secondary studies at the
by De Gaulle against the Japanese in exchange Lycée Chasseloup Laubat in Saigon and then stud-
for French colonial reform and eventual decolo- ied agricultural engineering at the École coloniale
nization. During this time, he was not in direct d’agriculture in French Tunisia and in Nogent-
contact with the ICP leadership located in north- sur-Marne in France, from which he graduated as
ern Vietnam, nor was he a member of the Viet an engineer in tropical agronomics. He married a
Minh, which was also located far to the north. Vietnamese French national and was naturalized
Tran Van Giau worked closely with Pham Ngoc as a French citizen himself on 6 February 1925. In
Thach in mobilizing the youth in the Saigon area Indochina, he worked in the colonial agricultural
and would use Thach and his Vanguard Youth service in southern Vietnam between 1915 and
League (Thanh Nien Tien Phong) to promote 1929. In that year, he went to work as an inspector
the communist position in the south following in the Crédit hypothécaire de l’Indochine (also
the Japanese defeat in August 1945. Relations, known as Crédit foncier d’Indochine) in Saigon
however, between communists such as Tran Van and became in 1931 a member of the Grand
Giau and non-communist political, national, and conseil des intérêts économiques et financiers de
religious groups, such as the Cao Dai, Hoa Hao, l’Indochine. He was also an important landowner
and Binh Xuyen, were difficult from the start. in Cochinchina. In 1935, he ran for election to the
Colonial Council in Cochinchina and was a cor-
In August and September 1945, Tran Van Giau responding member of the Académie des sciences
served as chairman of the Provisional Administra- coloniales. In 1939, he joined the Indochinese
tive Committee for Nam Bo and supported the Democrat Party (Dang Dan Chu). His activities
Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) de- during World War II are unknown. The French
clared in Hanoi by Ho Chi Minh on 2 September reported that he collaborated neither with the Japa-
1945. Recalled to Hanoi in November 1945, Tran nese nor with the Viet Minh.
Van Giau headed a special Bureau for Nam Bo Following the Japanese defeat in August 1945,
(Phong Nam Bo). While he advised the govern- he was hostile to the advent of the Democratic
ment on southern affairs, he ceded his communist Republic of Vietnam (DRV) and supported the
leadership position in the south to Le Duan, who southern autonomy being pushed by High Com-
headed up the revamped Territorial Committee
for Nam Bo (Xu Uy Nam Bo) from October, and

TRẦN VĂN LUẬN 463

missioner Georges Thierry d’Argenlieu against Saigon, he completed his primary education at the
Ho Chi Minh. On 6 December 1946, the French Catholic school Taberd in Saigon. In 1909, he left
named Tran Van Huu minister of Finances in for France where he pursued his secondary studies
the Provisional Government of the Republic at the Lycée Lakanal near Paris. Upon gradua-
of Cochinchina. He held this post until October tion, he worked in the French Ministry of War
1947. On 8 October 1947, he became the first between 1911 and 1921 in the Section for Colonial
vice president of the provisional government of Workers. During this time, he became active in
Cochinchina and minister of Finances and of the patriotic politics and met with leading nationalists
National Economy and remained in those posi- such as Phan Chu Trinh, Phan Van Truong, and
tions until 1948. In April of that year, he became even the future Ho Chi Minh. Upon his return to
state minister and vice president of the Council of Cochinchina in 1921, he married a Vietnamese
the Provisional Government of Vietnam as well as woman of French nationality. He was president
governor of Southern Vietnam. He played an ac- of the Federation of Boy Scouts, a member of the
tive part in the Bay of Ha Long negotiations aimed Colonial Council between 1926 and 1939, and
at creating an independent, non-communist Viet- joined the Grand conseil des intérêts économiques
nam under Bao Dai but allied closely with France. et financiers de l’Indochine. Little is known about
his activities during World War II, other than the
In May 1950, with the advent of the Associ- fact that he was very active in scouting and sports.
ated State of Vietnam, he became president of the During negotiations leading up to the Accords of
Vietnamese Council of Government, minister of 6 March 1946, he sent a telegram to the minister
Foreign Affairs and minister of National Defense. of Overseas France asking the French to take the
With the support of Robert Schuman, Tran Van Huu Vietnamese desire for independence seriously.
obtained his government’s participation in the San However, he was no supporter of the Democratic
Francisco Conference officially ending a state of Republic of Vietnam. In 1946, Tran Van Kha
war between the Associated State of Vietnam and became a titular member of the Cochinchinese
Japan. Bao Dai confided special powers to Tran Council for the province of Gia Dinh and actively
Van Huu to destroy “terrorist” networks operating supported the non-communist Associated State of
in southern Vietnam. Tran Van Huu traveled to Vietnam. Bao Dai named him the Vietnamese rep-
France with Bao Dai on 20 June 1950 to attend the resentative to the Assembly of the French Union
Pau Conference, during which time he openly in early January 1950 and in January 1951 he
criticized the French delegation in an interview, was elected vice president of the Assembly of the
saying that that the French Union must not be French Union. On 18 February 1951, Tran Van
used as a “cover” to return to a “disguised protec- Kha became minister of National Economy in the
torate for Vietnam”. He also solicited American second Tran Van Huu government. In 1952, he
help in promoting full Vietnamese independence. became the Associated State of Vietnam’s minister
He remained president of the government follow- to the United States, the first Vietnamese to hold
ing a ministerial shakeup in February 1951 and the title. In July 1952, Tran Van Kha presented
headed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and that his credentials to President Harry Truman at the
of the Interior. He also presided over the defeat of White House in Washington, D.C.
Nguyen Binh’s urban war of terror in Saigon in
1949–1950. In another shakeup in March 1952, TRẦN VĂN KỲ. See HOÀNG SÂM.
he remained at the head of the government and
took charge of the Ministry of Finances and that TRẦN VĂN LUẬN (1910–?). Vietnamese diplomat
of National Defense. He withdrew from the politi- stationed in Southeast Asia during the Indochina
cal scene when Nguyen Van Tam replaced him as War. Born in Saigon, Tran Van Luan completed
president of the government council in June 1952. his secondary education in Aix-en-Provence be-
With the rise of Ngo Dinh Diem in 1955 he went fore studying to become a pharmacist in Montpel-
into exile in France where he came to favor the lier. He also studied painting under the direction
DRV’s cause and the neutralization of Vietnam. of André Lhote. In 1938, after 13 years in France,
He died at Val-de-Grâce in France in 1984. See he returned to Saigon to work as a pharmacist.
also BAO DAI SOLUTION. During World War II, Tran Van Luan participated
in youth movements organized by Vichy and then
TRẦN VĂN KHA (1894–?). Leading non-commu- in Pham Ngoc Thach’s Vanguard Youth League
nist politician during the Indochina War. Born in