In the region around Hanoi in Vietnam, an important, but long forgotten, battle was being waged.
It was March 23-28, 1951 in Tonkin, Indochina…
In the second attack of his general counter-offensive, Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap targets a French outpost near Haiphong in what becomes known as the Battle of Mao Khe. After days of bloody, sometimes hand-to-hand, fighting Giap withdraws. Viet Minh troops suffer a pounding from French naval gunfire and air strikes. French napalm once again wreaks havoc on the attacking Viet Minh. 3000 Viet Minh are killed….
September 16, 1950 – General Giap begins his main attack against French outposts along the Route Coloniale 4 near the Chinese border. As the outposts fall, the French lose 6000 men and large stores of military equipment to the Viet Minh. According to Bernard Fall: “When the smoke cleared, the French had suffered their greatest colonial defeat since Montcalm had died at Quebec.” – Street Without Joy. Pg. 33
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