Nebulous Strategy
stood firm behind strong defences at Seno, as they did last time at Nasam, and the rebels, whose movements soon lost their initial dash, suffered heavily in probing attacks and now seem to be in retreat. They carried out one or two successful ambushes but otherwise, beyond scaring the politicians in Paris stiff for a couple of days, they do not seem to have achieved a great deal. Further north, pressure on the French positions at Dien Bien Phu, which might have been expected to increase while their attention (and their transport aircraft) were diverted to the Seno area, has not none so to any noticeable extent. When European forces are operating against Asian comman- ders, the working of whose minds is abstruse and whose relations with each other are largely a matter for conjecture, there is sometimes a tendency to invest the enemy's actions, which may sometimes be whimsical, perverse or merely ill- judged, with a deeper strategic significance than is warranted; and it is in fact just as easy, on the map, to make recent Vietminh operations appear aimless as it is to give them the pattern of a subtle purpose. They may possess such a purpose; but the main thing at the moment is that they have not yet shown what it is—let alone achieved it.
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