Military of the France-associated State of Vietnam regime
The
Vietnamese National Army
(
VNA
;
Vietnamese
:
Quan đ?i Qu?c gia Vi?t Nam
,
lit.
'Military of the State (or Nation) of Vietnam',
ch? Han
:
軍隊國家越南
;
French
:
Armee Nationale Vietnamienne
,
lit.
'Vietnamese National Army') was the
State of Vietnam
's military force created shortly after the
Elysee Accords
, where the State of Vietnam was recognized by France as an independent country ruled by Vietnamese Emperor
B?o đ?i
. It was commanded by
Vietnamese
General Hinh
and was loyal to B?o đ?i. The VNA fought in joint operations with the
French Union
's
French Far East Expeditionary Corps
(CEFEO) against the communist
Vi?t Minh
forces led by
Ho Chi Minh
. Different units within the VNA fought in a wide range of campaigns including the
Battle of Na S?n
(1952), Operation Hautes Alpes (1953), Operation Atlas (1953) and the
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
(1954).
It should not be confused with the opposing
Communist-led
military force which has once adopted the synonymous name
National Army of Vietnam
(also
Quan đ?i Qu?c gia Vi?t Nam
) in about the same period but then soon renamed itself as the existing
Vietnam People’s Army
. With the departure of the French Far East Expeditionary Corps from Indochina in 1956, the VNA was reorganized as the
Republic of Vietnam Military Forces
.
Operations (1949?1955)
[
edit
]
The Vietnamese National Army was officially created on January 1, 1949, as the armed forces of the pro-French
Provisional Central Government of Vietnam
. It initially had roughly 25 000 troops, including about 10 000 irregulars. 1000 French officers were given the task of training and supervising the new army.
[2]
The
State of Vietnam
was proclaimed on July 2 of the same year, with former emperor
B?o đ?i
as Chief of State.
The VNA's ranks gradually grew as the VNA fought alongside the French against the
communist
Vi?t Minh
led by Ho Chi Minh during the
First Indochina War
. The French developed the VNA's strength as they sought to delegate more operations to native
loyalist
forces. B?o đ?i's army fought along the
French Union
forces during the until 1954 and the
partition of Vietnam
.
In 1955, the State of Vietnam was dissolved and replaced by
Ngo đinh Di?m
's
Republic of Vietnam
in the south while Ho Chi Minh's
Democratic Republic of Vietnam
remained the rival Vietnamese state in the north. In early May, civil war ensued in the capital of South Vietnam when the VNA fought General Le V?n Vi?n's
Binh Xuyen
forces in the latter's controlled areas of Saigon.
[3]
By 1956 all French Union troops withdrew from Vietnam and most of the VNA officers remained in service in the
Army of the Republic of Vietnam
. After the
fall of Saigon
breaking in 1975, some joined the
French Foreign Legion
and others exiled to France or the United States.
Military schools
[
edit
]
Benefiting with French cadres assistance and United States material support the VNA quickly became a modern army modeled after the
CEFEO Expeditionary Corps
.
[4]
Officers and
Non-commissioned officers
were trained in local schools of
cadres
known in French as
Ecoles des Cadres
, or at the elite National Military Academy,
Dalat
(EETD).
[5]
The Dalat Preparatory Military School (
ecole militaire preparatoire, EMP
) was led by its first director Lieutenant Savani, a metropolitan French who was educated in the
Autun
EMP. It was created in 1936 after the Autun EMP as the Dalat School of the Eurasian Servicemen's Children (
Ecole des Enfants de Troupe Eurasiens de Dalat, EETED
). Once dissolved during the
Japanese
occupation in 1944, General de Lattre reformed the EETED as the Dalat School for Children of Soldiers (
Ecole des Enfants de Troupe de Dalat
) in 1950.
In 1953, the cadres formation raised with 54 new battalions raised and hundreds of young Vietnamese officers commissioned.
[6]
By November the Vietnamese National Army was almost wholly manned by Vietnamese personnel of all ranks.
[7]
On the other hand, until 1954 some Vietnamese were trained four months in Infantry Instruction Centers (
Centre d'Instruction de l'Infanterie, CII
) based in southern Vietnam. Once licensed these recruits would not be part of the VNA but the French CEFEO. Other officer and
NCO
alumni were coming from all French Union national armed forces including
Cambodia
, Overseas (
Martinique
,
Reunion
,
French Guiana
), metropolitan French and "
French citizens
" of
French West Africa
and India.
[8]
[9]
Hoang Di?u promotion
[
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]
On April 20, 1952, the Dalat military academy celebrated its first promotion (
Hoang Di?u
) with a "
baptism
" which is the
Saint Cyr
-French
West Point
- fashion. Celebrating officials included Chief of State, H.M. Emperor
B?o đ?i
, Prime Minister
Tr?n V?n H?u
, General Governor of French Indochina Gautier and French
General Salan
, commander of the
CEFEO
.
[10]
The Emperor awarded the Hoang Di?u promotion's senior and junior classes with a Saint-Cyr styled
saber
as new officers of the armed forces.
[11]
As a symbol of the handover of self-defense responsibility of the whole Vietnam to the VNA, the senior class fired 4 traditional arrows in each direction (the arrows being a symbol of the old days of imperial Vietnam and its armed forces).
[12]
Training
[
edit
]
Alumni of the Vatchay
Light Infantry
Commando school located in the
Halong Bay
, were trained to anti-guerrilla warfare including
bayonet
fighting,
close quarters combat
,
jujutsu
art, river crossing, basic
rope bridge
(known as "monkey bridge") crossing, enhanced
camouflage
,
minefield
crossing,
barbed wire
field crossing and
trench warfare
.
[6]
Military ranks
[
edit
]
Military ranks
were organized after the
French army
's hierarchy. Shoulder patch insignia would have three, two or one bar or star.
[13]
Generals would have three stars while NCO officers with a straight bar (
Sous-Lieutenant
for "1st Lieutenant") were called
Ong Mot
("Mister One") and those with two straight bars (
Lieutenant
for "2nd Lieutenant") were unofficially named
Ong Hai
("Mister Two"). Since anyone working for the government was called
Quan
the rank
Lieutenant
soon replaced it,
Quan Mot
became
Sous-Lieutenant
,
Quan Hai
became
Lieutenant
and so forth.
[14]
After the founding of the Republic of Vietnam in 1955, the VNA was renamed the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. Its military ranks and hierarchy were reformed.
[14]
Composition
[
edit
]
Ground force
[
edit
]
Organized as a modern army the Ground Force included artillery, infantry, signal communications and armored cavalry units.
[13]
In 1953, the ANV formed six mobile groups - the GM 11, 21, 31, 32, 41 and 42 - made up of three infantry battalions and an artillery group, as well as an airborne group,
groupement aeroporte 3.
Airborne regiments including
paratrooper
"TDND" (
Tieu Doan Nhay Du
, "Commando Battalion"), the so-called 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th BAWOUAN, were later created. These elite units were referred as the "BPVN" (
Bataillon de Parachutistes Viet-Namiens
, "Vietnamese Paratroopers Battalions") by their French allies. Some of these paratroopers were attached to the
GCMA
special forces.
Air force
[
edit
]
The VNA air force first took part in the First Indochina War during the joint Operation Atlas in April 1953.
[15]
The aviation consisted of Morane Saulnier MS-500 reconnaissance planes and
Douglas DC-3
and
DC-4
transport aircraft useful in airborne operations.
[4]
Navy
[
edit
]
The navy included amphibious vehicles such as
Landing Craft Infantry
,
Landing Craft Mechanized
, small craft and materiel.
[4]
Marine troops
[
edit
]
The Marine Troops corps was modelled after the French
Troupes de marine
. Their particular
navy blue
uniform with white
gaiters
is still used by the French
Fusiliers Marins
.
Special forces
[
edit
]
Special forces consisted of Vietnamese commandos trained by French officers in local schools. They used a whole different personnel, uniform, equipment, training and warfare compared with the regular airborne or infantry troops.
The
GCMA
airborne commandos (
Groupe Commando Mixte Aeroporte
, "Airborne Mixed Commando Group") were
Vietnamese ethnic minorities
or
Laotian
montagnard
partisans
led by paratrooper officers of the
SDECE
French intelligence agency. Some of them would be used as cadres in the
North Vietnam Commandos
(
Commandos Nord Viet-nam
).
In 1951, French General de Lattre commander of the
CEFEO
ordered for the creation of the North Vietnam Commandos to Louis Fourcade. These remained operational until 1954 with Fourcade as the "Big Boss" (
le Grand Patron
) until June 21, 1953.
Their mission was to collect intelligence, perform hit-and-run ambushes and bring confusion in Vi?t Minh controlled areas (northern Vietnam) wearing enemy uniforms and using
unconventional warfare
such as
guerrilla
techniques.
[16]
These were based on both, GCMA director and famous
counter-insurgency
theorician
Roger Trinquier
's experience as
French Jedburgh
in World War II, and on Vi?t Minh
POWs
collaboration.
Independent Armies within the VNA (1949?1955)
[
edit
]
In 1949, after becoming the Head-of-State, B?o đ?i made the most controversial decision concerning the armed forces of the new State of Vietnam: recognizing all non-communist military forces in the country as independent armies within the VNA. These forces included: Viet Binh Doan, Bao Chinh Doan,
Binh Xuyen
(approximately 40,000 strong),
Hoa H?o
(30,000 men under different leaders) and
Cao đai
(25,000 men). Doing so, B?o đ?i solved the problem of having to spread the army too thin in the war against the Vi?t Minh. Furthermore, the independent forces did not need money from the central government since they either were self-financed through clandestine activities or they were armed and financed by Savani's 2e Bureau in Vietnam. The Binh Xuyen was an organized crime military force in Saigon that provided part of B?o đ?i's luxury life.
In 1955, with
Lansdale
's support, Prime Minister Diem ordered all forces to surrender their weapons and to be part of one army. Some groups joined willingly while others were attacked by the regular VNA. By late 1955, all these forces ceased to exist. Many of their ranks joined the NVA or the Vi?t Minh, while others returned to a civilian life.
[17]
Weaponry and equipment
[
edit
]
Just like in the CEFEO, most of the VNA's military equipment was World War II vintage. Firearms were mixed U.S. and French. Helmets were mostly U.S.
M1 Helmet
(and airborne version) with some French copy "Model 51" (
modele 51
, M51) and certain units wearing the World War II U.S. or
Australian Imperial
similar
Slouch hat
(
chapeau de brousse
nicknamed "broussard"). Uniforms were mixed U.S., French and British (
SAS
airborne).
Heavier equipment of the armoured cavalry was made of World War II vintage U.S. light tanks as they had the ability to be drop stripped and assembled by specialized
engineering companies
on location.
Vi?t Minh captured arms like German
Karabiner 98k
with
bayonet
, U.S.
Browning MGs
or Japanese "knee mortars" were sometimes used.
[18]
These arms would often be supplied to the guerrillas by China as captured material from the
Chinese Civil War
(the
NRA
had been supplied by both Nazi Germany and the USA) or left behind by the Japanese
Southern Expeditionary Army Group
after the
Pacific War
.
Tanks
[
edit
]
Artillery
[
edit
]
Cavalry
[
edit
]
Infantry / Airborne
[
edit
]
Transmission
[
edit
]
Planned participation in Europe
[
edit
]
With the 1954 cease-fire, pro-French and optimistic General Nguy?n V?n Hinh stated that as early as 1955 "a Vietnamese division will be sent to France as compensation for sacrifices in Indochina by the latter. This great unit will participate in the defense of Europe as part of the opposition between the western and eastern blocs."
[19]
However the
European Defence Community
project was rejected by France and Nguy?n V?n Hinh's French counter-intelligence
SDECE
/
GCMA
-backed planned coup (scheduled for end October 1954) against pro-USA and
CIA
-backed (
Edward Lansdale
)
Ngo đinh Di?m
failed. The Vietnamese general was eventually dismissed, leaving South Vietnam in November 1954, following French general
Raoul Salan
's departure and return to France in October.
[20]
[21]
The French-American secret war and influence struggle in Vietnam engaging the SDECE against the CIA continued until 1956
[22]
when the CEFEO Expeditionary Corps was dissolved and returned to France.
Collins-Ely memorandum
[
edit
]
On December 13, 1954, the 1954?55 French
High Commissioner
in Indochina (CEFEO Expeditionary Corps Commander), General Paul Ely, and the newly appointed ambassador, U.S. Special Representative in Vietnam General
J. Lawton Collins
, sign the following agreements:
- Personnel reduction from 167,000 to 90,000 (pro-French officers purge)
- Organization and training transferred from France to the United States
Military Assistance Advisory Group
on January 1, 1955 (under "virtual" overall authority of the French CEFEO Commander)
- Progressive reduction of French and U.S. advisors and trainers
- Full autonomy granted on July 1, 1955
Both generals acknowledge the size of
the new force
would be insufficient to protect South Viet Nam against an external aggression, hence ultimate reliance is placed on the
Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
(
Cold War
era Asian equivalent to
NATO
) which France and the United States are members.
Notables
[
edit
]
Units
[
edit
]
Famous units of the VNA are:
- The 5th Vietnamese Artillery Group (
5e Groupe d'Artillerie Viet-namienne, GAVN
) and the 55th Vietnamese Battalion (55e Bataillon Vietnamien) which fought at the
battle of Na S?n
in 1952.
- The 301st Vietnamese Infantry Battalion (
301e Bataillon Viet-namien, BVN
) and the 5th Vietnamese Airborne Battalion (
TDND 5
or
5e BAWOUAN
) both fought at the 1954
battle of Dien Bien Phu
.
Personnel
[
edit
]
Notes
: "ARVN" stands for
Army of the Republic of Vietnam
, "FFL" stands for
French Foreign Legion
, "USA" stands for
United States Army
, "VNA" stands for
Vietnamese National Army
.
- Nguy?n V?n Hinh
(commander of the VNA)
- Tr?n V?n đon
(VNA, ARVN)
- Ph?m V?n đ?ng
(VNA, ARVN)
- Nguy?n Khanh
(VNA, ARVN)
- Tr?n Thi?n Khiem
(VNA, ARVN)
- Lam Quang Thi
(VNA, ARVN)
- D??ng V?n Minh
(VNA, ARVN)
- Tr?n V?n Minh
(VNA, ARVN)
- Nguyen Van Phong (VNA, FFL)
- đ?ng V?n Quang
(VNA, ARVN)
- Nguy?n Chanh Thi
(VNA, ARVN)
- Cao V?n Vien
(VNA, ARVN)
- Tran Dinh Vy (VNA, ARVN, FFL)
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
LES ANCIENNES FORCES ANNAMITES
Archived
2016-03-03 at the
Wayback Machine
, Colonel Maurice Rives based on the scholar thesis Nguyen Van Phai's "L'Armee Vietnamienne", Universite Paul-Valery Montpellier, 1980
- ^
Ivan Cadeau,
La Guerre d'Indochine. De l'indochine francaise aux adieux a saigon 1940-1956
, Tallandier, Paris, 2016, p. 340-341
- ^
Indochina: Saigon after the combats
(rushes)
French news archives, ORTF, May 10, 1955
- ^
a
b
c
A Brief Overview of the Vietnam National Army and the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces
(1952-1975)
Archived
2009-03-27 at the
Wayback Machine
, Stephen Sherman and Bill Laurie
- ^
Revival of Vietnamese culture - the Nguyen Dynasty seminar
(Office of The Imperial Nguy?n Dynasty of Vietnam)
- ^
a
b
Future Vietnamese cadres
(Vietnamese National Army footage)
, French newsreel archives (Les Actualites Francaises) March 5, 1953
- ^
The young army of Vietnam
(Vietnamese National Army footage)
Archived
2010-05-16 at the
Wayback Machine
, French newsreel archives (Les Actualites Francaises) November 26, 1953
- ^
French Defense Ministry archives ECPAD
Archived
2007-09-27 at the
Wayback Machine
, Raoul Coutard reportage (text), June 1954
- ^
French Defense Ministry archives ECPAD
Archived
2007-09-27 at the
Wayback Machine
, Raoul Coutard reportage (picture), June 1954
- ^
First promotion of the Vietnamese Army
(Vietnamese National Army footages)
, French newsreel archives (Les Actualites Francaises) May 1, 1952
- ^
French Defense Ministry archives ECPAD
Archived
2007-09-27 at the
Wayback Machine
, Raymond Varoqui reportage, April 20, 1952
- ^
French Defense Ministry archives ECPAD
, Raymond Varoqui reportage, February 15?28, 1952
- ^
a
b
The young army of Vietnam
(Vietnamese National Army footages)
Archived
2010-05-16 at the
Wayback Machine
, French newsreel archives (Les Actualites Francaises) November 26, 1953
- ^
a
b
"Toan Nguyen in
Vietnamese Military Mail Terms and Markin
"
. Archived from
the original
on 2016-01-02
. Retrieved
2007-06-24
.
- ^
French Defense Ministry archives ECPAD
Archived
2007-09-27 at the
Wayback Machine
, Fernand Jentile reportage, April 1953
- ^
Pissardy, Jean-Pierre (1999). "Commandos Nord-Vietnam: 1951-1954" (in French). Indo Editions.
ISBN
2914086008
.
- ^
Military History volume 4
- ^
Vietnamese National Army gallery (May 1951-June 1954)
, French Defense Ministry archives ECPAD
- ^
LES ANCIENNES FORCES ANNAMITES
Archived
2016-03-03 at the
Wayback Machine
, Colonel Maurice Rives based on the scholar thesis Nguyen Van Phai's "L'Armee Vietnamienne", Universite Paul-Valery Montpellier, 1980, "D'ailleurs, avec un bel optimisme, le general Nguyen Van Hinh affirme qu'a cette date "une division vietnamienne sera envoyee en France en compensation des sacrifices consentis en Indochine par cette derniere. Cette grande unite participera a la defense de l'Europe dans le cadre de l'opposition des blocs ouest et est".
- ^
Rendez-vous With X: 1954, The Secret Franco-American War In Indochina (1954, LA GUERRE SECRETE FRANCO-AMERICAINE EN INDOCHINE)
, Patrick Pesnot, France Inter, March 12, 2005
- ^
Rendez-vous With X: 1954, The Secret Franco-American War In Indochina (archived podcast pt.1)
- ^
"It was the first-and last time that two Western intelligence -agencies entered open combat."
", Kris Millegan, Sat, 10 Jul 2004, from Warlords of Crime by Gerald Posner, 1988, Penguin Books,
ISBN
0-14-012340-7
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Pissardy, Jean-Pierre. "
Commandos Nord-Vietnam: 1951-1954
", Indo Editions, 1999.
- Simpson, Howard R. (August 1992).
Tiger in the Barbed Wire: An American in Vietnam, 1952-1991
. Brassey's Inc.
ISBN
0-7881-5148-7
.
- AFRVN Military History Section, J-5, Strategic Planning and Policy.
Quan S? 4: Quan l?c Vi?t Nam C?ng Hoa trong giai-đo?n hinh-thanh: 1946-1955 (reprinted from the 1972 edition in Taiwan, DaiNam Publishing, 1977)
[
Military History volume 4: AFRVN, the formation period, 1946?1955
] (in Vietnamese).
CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link
) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link
)
- Guillemot, Francois (2012). "
'Be men!': Fighting and Dying for the State of Vietnam (1951?54)".
War & Society
.
31
(2): 184?210.
doi
:
10.1179/0729247312Z.0000000009
.
S2CID
161301490
.
Archive newsreel
[
edit
]
- (in French)
Bao Dai honors war heroes
(Vietnamese National Army footages)
, French newsreel archives (Les Actualites Francaises) January 3, 1952
- (in French)
First promotion of the Vietnamese Army
(Vietnamese National Army footages)
, French newsreel archives (Les Actualites Francaises) May 1, 1952
- (in French)
Future Vietnamese cadres
(Vietnamese National Army footages)
, French newsreel archives (Les Actualites Francaises) March 5, 1953
- (in French)
Operation Mouette in the delta
(Vietnamese National Army footages)
, French newsreel archives (Les Actualites Francaises) November 5, 1953
- (in French)
The young army of Vietnam
(Vietnamese National Army footages)
, French newsreel archives (Les Actualites Francaises) November 26, 1953
- (in French)
Indochina: Saigon after the combats
(Vietnamese National Army rushes)
French news archives, ORTF, May 10, 1955
External links
[
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]