NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011
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INDOCHINA
The following are comments made by Major General Thomas J. H. Trapnall, Junior, former Chief of the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) Indochina, at his debriefing, 3 May 1954.
GENERAL
The battle of Indochina is an armed revolution which is now in its eighth year. It is a savage conflict fought in a fantastic country in which the battle may be waged one day in waist-deep muddy rice paddies or later in an impenetrable mountainous jungle. The sun saps the vitality of friend and foe alike, but particularly the European soldier. Torrential monsoon rains turn the delta battleground into a vast swamp which no conventional vehicle can successfully negotiate. It is a war of many paradoxes —
Where there is no popular will to win on the part of the Vietnamese.
Where the leader of the Rebels is more popular than the Vietnamese Chief of State.
Where a sizeable French army is composed of relatively few Frenchmen.
Where the partners of the Associated states regard each other as more dangerous than the enemy.
Where a large segment of the population seeks to expel the French at any price, possibly at the cost of extinction as a new nation.
This is a war which has no easy and immediate solution, a politico-military chess game in which the players sit thousands of miles distant -- in Paris, Washington, Peiping, and Moscow.
STRATEGIC POSITION OF INDOCHINA
The autonomous Associated States of Indochina consist of Viet Nam, Laos, and Cambodia. They occupy a blocking position against the expansion of Chinese Communist influence along the principal routes of communication in Southeast Asia. If this area, approximately the size of the state of Texas, defects or is neutralized the frontiers of Burma, Thailand and Malaya would immediately be exposed and eventually the positions of Australia, New Zealand, India, Ceylon, Pakistan, Indonesia and the Philippines would be weakened. A state of Civil War presently exists in Indochina, which pits the Communist Viet Minh against French Union forces essentially deveoted to the ideals of freedom. Other issues, such as varieties of Nationalism, are involved as well. Moreover, a state of transition is concurrently underway in which a formerly strong Colonial power is crumbling. France is giving way to a self-determination movement by the indigenous peoples, who, while numbering more than 30 million, lack stability and security. The population of the three states is not completely compatible in matters of economics.
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