French withdrawal from Lai Chao

© bwallartgh Front page of the Time-Magazine: „Navarre of Indochina - in the green jungles, a Red nightmare“

France had lost all of its colonies in Indo China as a result of the Second World War. After 1945, Paris made every effort to win back its previous position of power in the region. These re-colonialisation efforts resulted in intractable resistance by indigenous liberation movements.

Eventually French general Henri Navarre attempts a risky plan to drive a wedge between Vietnamese and Laotian troops by establishing an approximately 100-kilometre long line of defence. The city of Lai Chao and the jungle fortress of Dien Bien Phu are supposed to comprise the outer limits of this line. On 11 December 1953 the failure of Navarre’s strategy becomes evident when combat forces of the „League for the Independence of Vietnam“ (Viet Minh) are able to capture Lai Chao in only two days and force the French to withdraw to Dien Bien Phu. The French’s next defeat awaits them there: On 8 May 1954 the totally haggard fortress will capitulate to the Viet Mihn after a two-month siege. The „fall of Dien Bien Phu“ will herald France’s definitive withdrawal from Indo China.