From: "Adam Flinton" 


 wrote in message
news:c07477.263995{at}harborwebs.com...
> Replying to a message of Adam Flinton to Bob.Ackley:
>
>  AF> The British "liberated" Vietnam & it's
astonishing how quickly a
>  AF> recently soundly beaten France could find soldiers to put into
>  AF> Vietnam.
>
> Actually it isn't.  The French had a reconstituted army fighting along
with the
> British and Americans.  And in fact the French division commanded by
LeClerc
> was the first Allied force to (officially) enter Paris.  Also, the French
> Foreign Legion was available, its troops were not allowed to be in France.
> IIRC it was the Foreign Legion's 9th Parachute Regiment that was destroyed
at
> Dien Bien Phu.
>

Yes but that was many miles away in Europe. The logisitics of a just post
WW2 world & getting soldiers from France or near to France to Vietnam
is impressive given what must have been the distinct lack of available
shipping
& aircraft.

Adam


>  AF> Oddly if the US had liberated Vietnam vs the "arch colonialist
>  AF> British"....then they might have been a major ally vs the Chinese.
>
> Actually, if we'd recognized Ho's government in 1946 they probably would
be,
> too.  Most people either forgot or weren't aware that the Vietnamese and
> Chinese had a pretty good dust-up along their common border shortly after
the
> government of South Vietnam fell.  The Vietnamese don't trust the Chinese,
and
> that distrust goes back centuries.  Various Chinese emperors tried to
conquer
> Vietnam with varying degrees of success.
>

Yup. Not a warm relationship historically.

 My mother & father have just done a tour round thailand, cambodia, laos &
Vietnam & they liked it a lot. Lots of "ponds" in straight
lines still. Got a Viet Cong scarf out of it for xmas though. I'll have to
wear it next time I'm on your side of the pnd.

Adam

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