DANGER ZONES: Rich Experiences

“Speed up the general counter-offensive,” urged Communist Author Ho Ang Tung in the current issue of Truth, official organ of Indo-China’s “Marxist Study Association.” “We must learn the rich experiences of armed struggle . . .”

With the monsoon season waning, Communist-led Viet Minh rebels began to apply rising pressure against scattered French outposts along IndoChina’s rugged, 550-mile border with Red China. Four Communist battalions attacked the isolated clay fort at Dongkhe (100 miles north of Hanoi), overpowered its 200 French Foreign Legion defenders in a hand-to-hand fight. They also shelled Thatkhe, ten miles south of Dongkha, while other Communist forces massed near the French-Chinese frontier.

French authorities chalked up the attacks to “muscle-flexing” by some 20,000 Viet Minh troops trained and equipped in Red China during the summer. Said French Commander in Chief General Marcel Carpentier: “It is probable that Viet Minh will launch new attacks in the near future, but for the moment Viet Minh is not capable of seizing important French military positions.”

The French, however, were disturbed by two factors: Viet Minh troops appeared better trained than before, and somehow had stepped up their fire power.

But by week’s end, the French disturbed the Communists, capturing Viet Minh’s stronghold of Thai Nguyen (40 miles north of Hanoi) in what French authorities described as “the most important French operation undertaken since spring.”