The Black River and Beyond
The Viet-minh offensive north-west of Hanoi has reached the Black River, which is reported to have been crossed by advanced elements south of Van-Yen. The crossing is not believed to have been made in strength, and no threat has as yet developed to the main French defences, which it May, indeed, not be the purpose of the rebels to challenge in this sector. Since the capture of Nghia-lo their advance hag been virtually unopposed, though a French colonial parachute bat- talion, dropped to cover the retreat of the Nghia-lo garrison, fought a rearguard action lasting several days before it was finally able to cross the Black River and break contact. The troops involved in this extremely trying action acquitted them- selves with the utmost credit. Public opinion in France, though not unduly disturbed about the strategic implications of a suc- cessful Viet-minh incursion into territory which was really picketed rather than garrisoned by its defenders, is once more —and very naturally—becoming restive about France's com- mitments in Indo-China. Nearly 200,000 French troops, including a very high proportion of officers, N.C.O.s and specialists who serve with native forces now totalling a quarter of a million, are locked up in an outwardly thankless and intermittently bloody struggle, whose object is to deny the Communists control of a huge area of South-East Asia which France does not love and which does not love France. America is, in increasing measure, supplying the tools for this distasteful job; but the view is once more being expressed in some quarters that the United Nations should further the common cause by remedying France's basic deficiency„ in Indo-China, which is a shortage of troops. This is a project,which cannot, if only for practical reasons, commend itself even to France's best friends. These, not unaware of the solid achievements which stand to her credit both in the military and the civilian fields, will urge her to rely on her own resources and to hold fast. The only alternative—to cut her losses and write off her gains by with- drawing altogether—would imperil all South-East Asia.
Previous page
