Document Index

1950
January - The newly-established People's Republic of China, followed by the Soviet Union, recognizes the Democratic Republic of Vietnam led by Ho Chi Minh. With Communist Chinese supplies now assured, General Vo Nguyen Giap declares that the guerrilla phase is now over: the counter-offensive had begun.
United States Recognition of Increased Sovereignty in the State of Viet-Nam: Note From the United States Ambassador-at-Large to the Chief of State of Viet-Nam, January 27, 1950
February - Britain, United States and Australia recognize Bao Dai's Government in South Vietnam. France's request for US military aid is largely unheard.
UNITED STATES RECOGNITION OF VIET-NAM, LAOS, AND CAMBODIA: Statement by the Department of State, February 7, 1950
February 27: It is recognized that the threat of Communist aggression against Indochina is only one phase of anticipated Communist plans to seize all of Southeast Asia. . . . The neighboring countries of Thailand and Burma could be expected to fall under Communist domination if Indochina were controlled by a Communist-dominated government. The balance of Southeast Asia would then be in grave hazard. (Report by the National Security Council). --Pentagon Papers
March 7- Letter from Undersecretary of State Dean Rusk to Major General James H. Burns on US Policy Toward Indochina, 7 March 1950
April - Memorandum from General Omar Bradley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the Secretary of Defense on the Strategic Assessment of Southeast Asia, 10 April 1950
May. US military aid to the French begins.
May - R. Allen Griffin, head of the special survey mission to Indochina, Memorandum to the Secretary of State Acheson on a Conference on Indochina, 4 May 1950
May - EXTENSION OF MILITARY AND ECONOMIC AID: Statement by the Secretary of State, May 8, 1950
Secretary of State Statement on Extension of Military and Economic Aid to Indochina, May 8, 1950, Department of State Bulletin, May 22, 1950
ECONOMIC AID PROGRAM: Note From the American Chargé d'Affaires at Saigon to the Chiefs of State of Viet-Nam, Laos, and Cambodia, May 24, 1950
US, Department of State, Press Release on an Economic Aid Mission to Indochina, 25 May 1950
June. Communist North Korean army crosses the 38th Parallel. The US announces a program of military aid for Indo-China. US military involvement in Indo-China had begun. America becomes concerned about the Sino/Soviet alliance.
Sir Percy Spender, Australian Minister for External Affairs
"Should the forces of communism prevail, and Vietnam come under the heel of Communist China, Malaya is in danger of being outflanked and it, together with Thailand and Indonesia, will become the next target for further Communist activities".
May 8 - US announces military and economic aid to the pro- French regimes of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. US aid was to jump from an initial $10 million to exceeding $1,000 million by 1954, 78% of the French war bill, even though all concerned conceded that the war could not be won.
EXTENSION OF MILITARY AND ECONOMIC AID: Statement by the Secretary of State, May 8, 1950
US, Department of State, Press Release on the Griffin Mission to Indochina, 11 May 1950
Senator William Fullbright of the US Finance Committee stated, "....Vietnam was a side issue...we did it only to please the French".
Vo Nguyen Giap prematurely switches to a general offensive and sustains heavy losses, a set-back lasting two years.
ECONOMIC AID PROGRAM: Note From the American Chargé d'Affaires at Saigon to the Chiefs of State of Viet-Nam, Laos, and Cambodia, May 24, 1950
June - US, Department of State, Letter from Dean Acheson to Robert Griffin on the Report of the Special Economic Mission to Southeast Asia," 3 June 1950
Press Release by President Truman Announcing Military Assistance to Indochina, 27 June 1950
July - Summary of existing Policy on Indochina for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 25 July 1950
September - October - General Vo Nguyen Giap launches his first major counter offensive against the French and overwhelms French forts in the far north. French losses in this period were 6,000 troops killed or captured. Equipment losses included more than 900 machine guns, 125 mortars, 13 heavy guns, 1,200 automatic rifles, 8,000 rifles and 450 trucks.
December - U.S., National Intelligence Estimate, NIE-15, "Probable Soviet Moves to Exploit the Present Situation," 11 December 1950

December - . French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny .is appointed High commissioner and Commander in Chief of Indochina. The French forces adopt an more offensive role with more use of air support. 22 - Napalm is used for the first time in Vietnam against Viet Minh forces at Tien Yen. Use of Napalm - Video Duration:2:47 mins

The Pentagon Papers, Gravel Edition, Volume 1, Chapter 2, "U.S. Involvement in the Franco-Viet Minh War,1950-1954"

The Pentagon Papers, Gravel Edition, Volume 1, Chapter 4, "U.S. and France in Indochina, 1950-56"

Document Index

1951
January 14-15. Two Viet Minh divisions attack a French force of 8,000 troops at Vinh Yen, 56 klms north west of Hanoi. Air support plays a major role. The Viet Minh under General Vo Nguyen Giap retreat suffering heavy losses(Est 6,000 to 9,000 killed, 7,000 to 8,000 wounded with 600 captured).
United States Minutes of the First Meeting Between President Truman and French Prime Minister Pleven, Cabinet Room of the White House, January 28, 1951, 2:30-5 p.m.
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Chief of the Policy Reports Staff (Barnes), January 29, 1951. 
United States Minutes of the Second Meeting Between President Truman and French  Prime Minister Pleven, Cabinet Room of the White House, January 30, 1951, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
January 31: [Military assistance for Indochina is essential because] it is generally acknowledged that if Indochina were to fall under control of the Communists, Burma and Thailand would follow suit almost immediately. Thereafter, it would be difficult, if not impossible for Indonesia, India and the others to remain outside the Soviet-dominated Asian Bloc. -- Dean Rusk
March . Vo Nguyen Giap confronts French forces at Mao Khe and is defeated mainly because of French artillery fire.
Marh 17: General de Lattre is to be here in a few minutes (at 8:45)to see me reference his request for reinforcement for Indochina: the French have a knotty problem on that one--the campaign out there is a draining sore in their side. Yet if they quit and Indochina falls to Commies, it is easily possible that the entire Southeast Asia and Indonesia will go, soon to be followed byIndia. --Dwight D. Eisenhower
April - President Truman's Radio Report to the American People on Korea and on U.S. Policy in the Far East, April 11, 1951
May - President Truman's Special Message to Congress on Mutual Security Program, May 24, 1951
June - Vo Nguyen Giap confronts French forces at the Day River and is defeated again. French forces cut his supply line and Giap over extends his force and leaves himself without reserves. Giap's leadership is questioned by the Viet Minh leadership. A scapegoat in the form of Nguyen Binh is found and Giap and Ho continue to lead the Viet Minh. Giap restructures his command and tightens control over various functions.
October - Vo Nguyen Giap orders his 312th Division against the French position at Nghia Lo.French paratroopers reinforce the fort and Vo Nguyen Giap's forces retreat and scatter.
August - Mutual Defense Treaty Between the United States and the Republic of the Philippines; August 30, 1951
September - Security Treaty Between the United States, Australia, and New Zealand (ANZUS); September 1, 1951 - The Anzus Treaty
Security Treaty Between the United States and Japan; September 8, 1951
The Military Aid Program: Statement by the Departments of State and Defense, September 23, 1951
October - The Military Aid Program: Statement by the Departments of State and Defense, September 23, 1951, Department of State Bulletin, October 8, 1951
November.
US Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy (future US President) visits Vietnam and declares, "in Indo-China we have allied ourselves to the desperate effort of the French regime to hang on to the remnants of an empire".
Dang Lao Dong Viet Nam is founded, succeeding the Indochinese Communist Party.
November 14 - French troops occupy Hoa Binh, a Viet Minh staging area, 80 klms west of Hanoi. The French over over extend their forces by setting up additional posts and Vo Nguyen Giap takes advantage and inflicts heavy casualties. VO Nguyen Giap then withdraws and allows the French to retake their positions.
Australian/American Alliance 
Eisenhower on the Strategic Link between French Forces in Europe and Vietnam

Document Index

1952
January - General de Lattre de Tassigny dies of cancer and is succeeded by General Raoul Salan. Salan orders the withdrawal of French forces from posts along the Black River between Hoa Binh and Viet Tri and finally Viet Binh. Vo Nguyen Giap's forces continually ambush French forces during the retreat and destroy many elements of the French rearguard.
During the summer both sides settle down to re-group. The Viet Minh bring their divisions up to full strength and concentrate on training with new weapons supplied by China. The French prepare for an all-out offensive and receive some American supplies, small arms, tanks and aircraft.
February 13: Communist domination of Southeast Asia, whether by means of overt invasion, subversion, or accommodation on the part of the indigenous governments, would be critical to United States security interests. . . . The fall of Southeast Asia would underline the apparent economic advantages to Japan of association with the Communist-dominated Asian sphere. . . . In the long run the loss of Southeast Asia, especially Malaya and Indonesia, could result in such economic and political pressures in Japan as to make it extremely difficult to prevent Japan's political accommodation to the Soviet Bloc. --NSC Staff Study
February 26 1954 - Comrade Pavel Yudin asks the CCP to inform Comrade Ho Chi Minh that the discussion at the upcoming conference in Geneva will include the Korea question and restoring peace in Indochina.
October - Vo Nguyen Giap takes the offensive and orders his troops to the delta area between the Black and Red Rivers, withdraws, then attacks Nghia Lo.
October 17 - Nguyen Giap's forces attack Nghia Lo several times and overrun the French position, followed by nearby posts. The Viet Minh then advance westward for a month and are forced to halt after over-extending their supply line.
October 29 - The French Operation "Lorraine" in the area around Nghia Lo aimed at drawing the Viet Minh into a full scale battle begins. It involves nearly 30,000 troops. With limited success the operation is then canceled.

Document Index

1953
April - Communist forces mass for an invasion of Laos. Vo Nguyen Giap deploys his divisions with little encounter. Giap realizing that he cannot sustain his primitive supply line withdraws but the Viet Minh now have freedom of movement through a large part of northern Laos and could dominate the territory west of the Black River. Giap keeps the French forces tied down.
US Vice President Nixon arrives in Hanoi and tells the French, "It is impossible to lay down arms until victory is won".
May. French General Henri Navarre appointed as Commander in Chief and is sent by Premier Rene Mayer with orders to return in a month and report. He reports ".... that there was no possibility of winning the war in Indo-China". Navarre returns to Vietnam with only ten battalions, far less than he had hoped for. Support for the war in France has waned and the French Communist Party foster anti-war sentiment. Navarre conducts "search and destroy" missions with some success.
July. The Korean Armistice is signed.
September : [An unidentified American official in Saigon said] "A year ago none of us could see victory. There wasn't a prayer. Now we can see it clearly--like light at the end of a tunnel". --Time magazine
September 9 : [Adm. Arthur Radford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told an NSC meeting] that this was the first time that the political climate had actually improved to a point where military success could be achieved. With aggressive implementation of the Navarre Plan, Admiral Radford predicted that the war in Indochina could be reduced in scale to mere guerrilla operations in the course of a single season of fighting--certainly in two such seasons.

French military carry missile to planes. French aircraft take off, to bomb Vietnam. French aircraft drop napalm. FRENCH LAUNCH BOMB RAIDS ON INDO-CHINA REDS - Video Duration:00:44.3 secs

November 20. 800 French paratroopers parachute into Dien Bien Phu. and begin preparations for a fortified camp. They build two airstrips to link the base with Hanoi. French Vietnamese War footage. Canon blasts, CU rifle shooting. Lots of blasts, "nice" war footage. Shot up Jeep moves - bullet holes in windshield, flat tires. French Air Force planes overhead, drops bombs - Video Duration:11:30 mins

Vice President Nixon visits Vietnam. Nixon in Jeep. Nixon walking with officers past villagers. Nixon inspects fox hole / foxhole. Nixon meets with soldiers. NIXON VISITS FRONT LINES IN INDO-CHINA. - Video Duration: 00:28 secs

Vietnamese aid French against communists. General Hinh inspects his troops of the Vietnamese National Army. General Hinh puts medal on officer. Aerial over camp. Soldiers look at map in the field. Vietnamese troops walk through the jungle. Troops firing hand held missiles. NATIVE TROOPS AID OFFENSIVE IN INDO-CHINA - Video Duration:00:46 secs

November 1953: I attended his [Gen. John O'Daniel's] briefing of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which he opened by stating that he was "encouraged by the prospects of victory in Indochina in the next twelve to fifteen months.  --George Allen
The Bait
The bait chosen (to trap Viet Minh General Giap's elite divisions] turned out to be an oblong valley, about ten miles long and six miles wide, in which the Japanese had built a fairly solid airfield. In pre-French limes the little city in the center of the valley had been near the Chinese border and was. therefore, named "Seat of the Border Prefecture," or in Vietnamese, Dien Bien Phu.
Contrary to what has been asserted elsewhere, the attack at Dien Bien Phu was never conceived as a "large-scale airborne raid." Its entire mission from the outset was to become a "meat-grinder" for the bulk of the Communist battle force far from the vital Red River Delta, while the French command would concentrate the remainder of its forces upon mopping up the delta without interference by regular enemy troops....
"Operation Castor"—the code name for the Dien Bien Phu attack—began on November 20, 1953....
Considering the number of troops available for the operation .... the size of the valley prevented the occupation of the high grounds surrounding the fortress and their inclusion in the defense perimeter. (Ibid.)

Document Index

1954
Beginning of 1954 - American aid to France's military campaign now totals $US1.1 Billion. Australia gives small amounts of military and economic aid. France has lost 74,000 troops with another 190,000 bogged down.
January - Operation "Atlante" begins. It is designed to clear the coastal areas of Viet Minh. The operation ends in failure in March.
January 16: In the conflict in Indochina, the Communist and non-Communist worlds clearly confront one another on the field of battle. The loss of the struggle in Indochina, in addition to its impact in Southeast Asia and in South Asia, would therefore have the most serious repercussions on US and free world interests in Europe and elsewhere-.NSC 5404. US, National Security Council, NSC 5405, "United States Objectives and Courses of Action With Respect to Southeast Asia," 16 January 1954
January 21: Admiral Radford . . . was inclined to feel that the press had exaggerated the emergency in French Indochina, and that things were not as bad as they were presented.
Memorandum for the Record, Meeting of the President's Special Committee on Indochina, 29 January 1954
President Eisenhower's News Conference, February 10, 1954, Public Papers of the Presidents, 1954
February 11: [DCI Allen Dulles told the NSC meeting that] The surrounding force [of Viet Minh troops] which remained at was now sufficiently reduced so that a frontal attack on the French strong point appeared unlikely.
February 18: Plans for the Geneva Conference on Korea and Indochina: Quadripartite Communiqué of the Berlin Conference, February 18, 1954
February 26: Telegram, Communist Party of the Soviet Union Central Committee [CPSU CC] to CCP [Chinese Communist Party] Central Committee, via [Soviet Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China (PRC)] Comrade [Pavel F.] Yudin
March . Navarre has a dozen battalions dug in around Dien Bien Phu including two groups of 75mm guns, 28 X105mm, four 155 guns, including mortars, and 10 light tanks. Six Grunman fighters armed with napalm are on alert on the airfield. Three main bastions form the defense of the larger airstrip, while the main stronghold included the village itself. Four smaller outposts formed the outer defense. The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was about to begin. The French hope that Giap will hurl his army to destruction.

March 3. Vietnamese refugees leave on trains. People at Communist checkpoints. Refugees on boats. Refugees on the streets. Refugees Flee - Video Duration: 42:06 secs

March 5: Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "Reappraisal of General O'Daniel's Status with Respect ot Indochina," 5 March 1954
March 12: Should Indochina be lost to the Communists and in the absence of immediate and effective counteraction on the part of the Western Powers which would of necessity be on a much greater scale than that which could be decisive in Indochina, the conquest of the remainder of Southeast Asia would inevitably follow. . . . Orientation of Japan toward the West is the keystone of United States policy in the Far East. In the judgment of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the loss of Southeast Asia to Communism would, through economic and political pressures, drive Japan into an accommodation with the Communist Bloc. The communization of Japan would be the predictable result. --Adm. Arthur Radford, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff  .
Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "Preparation of Department of Defense Views Regarding Negotiations on Indochina for the Forthcoming Geneva Conference," 12 March 1954
March 17:Memorandum for the President's Special Committee, "Military Implications of the US Position on Indochina in Geneva," 17 March 1954
April 3 - The day the US "didn't go to war".(Supporting the French with air strikes at Dien Bien Phu.
April 04 1954 - The Vietnam group of the Chinese delegation offers a solution involving peaceful unification within Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, so that these nations can govern themselves as independent, sovereign states.
April 6: [President Dwight D. Eisenhower stated that] Indochina was the first in a row of dominoes. If it fell its neighbors would shortly thereafter fall with it, and where did the process end? If he was correct, said the President, it would end with the United States directly behind the 9-ball: "in certain areas at least we cannot afford to let Moscow gain another bit of territory. Dien Bien Phu itself may be such a critical point."
Department of State Telegram to Embassy Canberra and Wellington-Situation in Indochina and Support by Coalition Forces (4 pages) [06 April 1954]
April 7: In a press conference on April 7, 1954, -Dwight D. Eisenhower . . . [applied] what might be called the falling domino principle; he compared Indochina to the first of a row of dominoes which is knocked over, making the fall of the last one a certainty. The fall of Indochina would lead to the fall of Burma, Thailand, Malaya and Indonesia. India would then be hemmed in by Communism and Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Formosa and Japan would all be gravely threatened-.-Sherman Adams, President Eisenhower's Special Assistant.
April 8 - Australian - R. G Casey
"The United States of America is on our side. It is on the side of democracy, decency and right, and the forces of darkness opposed to it are very apparent and very powerful. The world may have a showdown at any time between our form of life and the forces of darkness".

9 April. French troops unload plane in "Indo-China" (Vietnam). Paratroopers climb aboard plane. Planes take off, aerial shot of planes in flight. Aerial shot of gasoline bombs being dropped from bomb bay, explosions in the jungle below. Ammunition, guns and supplies are pushed out of the cargo bay of in-flight plane. Low angle shot as cargo is parachuted down. Aerial of paratroopers parachuting out of plane Ground shot of paratroopers landing, in a field surrounded by other troops. Crisis at Dien Bien Phu - Video Duration: 54:06 secs

Australian - Sir Paul Hasluck - [The conflict in Indo-China is] "part of a world wide struggle... The French are defending liberty".
April . Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies states;
"If communist forces again come on the march and a great war ensues, the farther north the lines of defense are drawn, the better for those communities of Viet Nam, and Laos, and Cambodia, and Thailand, and Burma, and Malaya, and the Philippines, and Indonesia and all the rest of us who wish to retain control of our own future and govern ourselves in our own way".

19 April. Military supply trucks along roads in Vietnam. Tanks guarding train tracks connecting Hanoi and Hai Phong. Low angle of supply train traveling past the camera while soldier stands by. Truck travels down road past barbed wire. Train moves along the tracks slowly. Overturned rail car. Rails destroyed by bombings are repaired. Another overturned railcar just feet from the tracks. Landmine explodes on the Hanoi Hai Phong road. Soldiers walk down road with landmine detectors. French troops making repairs on the road. Weary Battle Roads - Video Duration: 1:08 mins

8th year of war in Vietnam. Refugees flee down the street. Bombed out countryside. Air raids; plane attacks. Dien Bien Phu. Bomb strikes. French troops in the jungle. Wounded carried out of jungle. Aerial of countryside. French nurse honored. The War in Indo-China- Video Duration:0:46 secs

As the fighting at Dienbienphu raged, individuals both inside and outside the Eisenhower administration called for American intervention in Vietnam. U.S. Army Chief of Staff General Matthew B. Ridgway had to weigh the risks of intervention.)
I fell it was essential therefore thai all who had any influence in making the decision on this grave matter should be fully aware of all the factors involved. To provide these facts I sent out to Indochina an Army team of experts in every field, engineers, signal, communication specialists, medical officers and experienced combat leaders who knew how to evaluate terrain in terms of battle tactics----The atea they found was practically devoid of those facilities which
modern forces such as ours find essential to the waging of war. Its telecommunications, highways, railways, all the things that make possible the operation of a modern combat force on land, were almost nonexistent. Its port facilities and airfields were totally inadequate. To provide the facilities we would need would require tremendous engineering and logistical efforts. (General Matthew B. Ridgway, recalling events of spring 1954, from Soldier: The Memoirs 0/Matthew B. Ridgway* as told to Harold H. Martin.)

As the French position [at Dienbienphu] crumbled, a (U-S.) carrier task force was alerted for possible air strikes against the Viet Minh. There was even a plan to drop atomic bombs on Viet Minh troop concentrations. Code-named "Vulture," the plan called for using up to six bombs, each three times more powerful than the one that destroyed Hiroshima. The President [Eisenhower], however, failed to win congressional approval, and no action was taken. (Albert Martin, relating events ca. April 1954, from America and Vienuim: The Elephant and the Tiger.)

The monsoon and (Vietminh General) Giaps artillery reduced ihe inadequate French trenches and bunkers to mud and nibble. Both sides fought in water often waist-deep. The wounded on both sides suffered cruelly from gangrene, lack of care, and from the mud and tilth of the field hospitals.... Dien Bicn Phu was for both sides an epic of agony and courage....
[On| 6 May, Giap's best unit... attacked the pulverized stronghold (called Eliane 2], now heavy with the stench of hundreds of decaying bodies. The at' tack was preceded by an intense concentration of artillery and mortar fire, and by something new—the screech of the Katyushas, the Soviet rockets. The Katyusha is not a particularly lethal weapon.... Its whine, however, can be unnerving ... and its blast can do serious damage to fortifications already weakened by rain and the constant pounding of artillery.
At about 1900 hours on 6 May, the 102d (Vietminh) Regiment... went "over the top" toward the summit of Eliane 2. The French artillery ... hit the exposed Vietminh Infantry with a "TOT" ("time on target") concentration in which the various artillery units fire at different times (depending on their distances from the target) so that the rounds all arrive on target at the same moment----|The Vietminh) assault wave... vanished—only several hundred new bodies remained. The French had won the first round....
Giap had one more ploy... one ... borrowed from World War I----He drove a mine shaft under Eliane 2 and loaded it with 3,000 pounds of TNT. The Vietminh touched off the TNT ... and its explosion literally blew up Eliane 2....
By mid-morning on 7 May, the situation on the main French position was hopeless.... |R|esistance weakened rapidly as white tings began to appear. At 1500 hours Giap ordered an all-out assault by all units toward the center of the camp. By
1730 hours, 7 May 1954, the Vietminh had taken the centra! camp and its defenders---- Over the following days, the French troops were rounded up----The battle of Dien Bien Phu was over. (Philip B. Davidson, describing events of May 6-7, 1954. Vietnam at War.)

May 8. Geneva conference on Indochina opens. Documents Relating to the 1954 Geneva Conference on Indochina
May 12 1954 - Zhou Enlai reports mainly on the second session of the Indochina issue. Participants are divided on the issue of a ceasefire. The Republic of Vietnam's Pham Van Dong agrees that the releasing of sick and wounded POWs will include both French and Vietnamese troops.
June 1. The initial CIA team in Saigon was the Saigon Military Mission, headed by United States Air Force Colonel Edward Lansdale. His diplomatic cover job was Assistant Air Attaché. The broad mission for the team was to undertake paramilitary operations against the enemy and to wage political-psychological warfare.

28 June 1954: French Vietnam War (IndoChina) - France returns POWs. French ambulances in Hanoi, at medical camp.. France Returns POWs - Video Duration: 00:50 secs

July 7 - Ngo Dinh Diem, newly chosen Premier of South Vietnam, completes the organization of his cabinet. His regime proves to be oppressive and inhumane.
July 13 1954 - Chauvel presents Zhou Enlai with a draft agreement for a cease-fire in Indochina. Chauvel notes that the issue of armed forces limitation should be discussed by the entire conference, and that the draft has been handed out to all the delegations for suggested additions and corrections. Minutes of Zhou Enlai’s Meeting with [Jean] Chauvel
July 20-21 - The Geneva Agreements are signed, partitioning Vietnam along the 17th Parallel and setting up an International Control Commission to supervise compliance with the Agreements.
The American Response to the Geneva Declarations, 3 July 21, 1954.
AGREEMENT ON THE CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES IN VIET-NAM, JULY 20, 1954 (The Geneva Accords)
The Final Declaration of The Geneva Conference: On Restoring Peace in Indochina, July 21, 1954
MISSION OF THE SPECIAL UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE IN VIET-NAM: Statement Issued by the White House, November 3, 1954
Letters from Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy to Diem, 1954 and 1961
August - Australian Prime Minister - Robert. G Menzies, in Parliament
"It is therefore foolish, superficial, and dangerous to speak of the conflict in the world as a contest between two economic systems, capitalism and communism. Nor can the cynics dispose of it as an old-fashioned struggle for military or physical power, with territory and resources as the prizes of victory. It is desperately important that the world should see this as a moral contest, a battle for the spirit of man. There can be no easy or enduring compromise between peoples who affirm the existence of a divine authority and the compulsion of a spiritual law and those others who see nothing beyond an atheistic materialism".

|Under the Geneva Accords, any Vietnamese wanting to leave one :one for the other, would be allowed to do so.)
Task Force 90 was ordered to "proceed on 12 August 1954 to Haiphong, Vietnam, Indo-China, anchor in stream and await instructions." Operation "Passage to Freedom" was getting under steam, wc were part of it, and wc were not to discuss it with anyone. That last command was easy to obey. Few of us knew anything about Indo'China other than the fact that it was south of China and east of India. And we knew even less of this "Passage to Freedom." Who or what was passing to freedom, and where, and why?
Our "Op Order," the Operation Order detailing a mission, was not to reach us until the day we dropped anchor off Haiphong.. ..
What we did know, however, was that we were to prepare our ship to transport 2,000 people. We were ordered to prepare for this new type of cargo in two days, then sail. The trip would take about two days. Total, four days. Four days in which to transform the Montague, a cargo ship built to transport tanks and trucks, into a ship to carry a cargo of humans, 2,000 at a time----
What we did during the two days at Subic Bay and the two days under sail was unbelievable- We converted this ship into a passenger liner, though without many of the ocean-going luxury items, to be sure. (Lt. (j.g.) Thomas A. Dooley, medical officer, aboard the USS Montague, from Subic Bay in the Philippines to Haiphong, Vietnam, August 12, 1954 and thereafter, from Deliver Us from Evil: The Surry of Vietnam's Ffigni to Freedom.)
(Dooley describes the extraordinary preparations: from bringing in fans to assure ventilation to raking on board not just food and water but empty paint cans to serve as possible portable toilets. The Montague arrives off Haiphong and lines up with other ships to receive the refugees. An LCT—landing craft for tanks—approaches and Dooley describes what he sees.|
78. |T|here were more than a thousand people huddled on the deck, close-packed like fowl in a crate, wet, seasick, and exposed to a brutal sun. They were numb with fright. Among them were a multitude of babies. (Ibid.)
Hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese would eventually flee North Vietnam. Dooley would help care for refugees in Haiphong camps. Later, he would resign from the navy and return to Indochina to become a medical missionary. He would set up hospitals in Laos to take care of the refugees.|
Prisoner Exchange
Of the 10,754 PWs returned after the cease-fire|including troops from the French mainland, the Foreign Legionnaires, North Africans, and Vietnamese], 6,132 required immediate hospitalization. Of these, 61 died within the next three months....
[A]ll of them were not surgical cases but simply "walking skeletons"—men who, after 57 days of continuous combat, had simply been marched to death over 500 miles of jungle paths from Dien Bien Phu to the camps of northern central Vietnam under conditions which made the infamous Death March of Bataan look like the proverbial "walk in the sun." (Bernard B. Fall, events of August-November 1954, Street Without Joy.)

September 8 - An agreement is signed at Manila establishing aSouth East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), aimed at checking Communist expansion.
Understanding of the United States
The Unitied Stales of America in executing the present treaty does so with the understanding that its recognition of the effect of aggression and armed attack and its agreement with reference thereto in Article IV, paragraph 1 apply only to communist aggression but affirms that in the event of other aggression or armed attack it will consult under the provisions of Article II, paragraph 2. (Protocol to the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, Manila, the Philippines, September 8, 1954, entered into force as to the Untied States, February 19, 1955, cited in The War in Vietnam, by Anthony O. Edmonds.)
[This treaty is the foundation for SEATO—the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization. The signatories: the United States, Great Britain, France, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Thailand, and Pakistan. Though South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia were not permitted to be part of any military alliance under the Geneva Accords, they were protected as part of the Southeast Asia region.)
September 1954. The Australian Minister for Defence, Sir Philip McBride, outlined the Australian government's fears upon which Australian foreign policy was predicated for the following twenty years.
"It is a matter of vital importance to maintain the gap between Australia and the present high-water mark of the southward flow of communism. Should this gap narrow, the nature and scale of attack on Australia would become intensified as distance shortened. Finally, should the tide of communism lap on our shores, we would face an intolerable defense burden and a scale of attack which would be beyond our capacity to repel alone. There is, therefore, every reason strategically and economically why Australia should co-operate to keep aggressive Communism within its present boundaries, and to stem its onward flow".
October 5 - The last French troops leave Hanoi.

October 11 - The Viet Minh formally assume control over North Vietnam. October 23 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower advises Ngo Dinh Diem that the US will provide assistance directly to South Vietnam, instead of channeling it through French authorities. Letter from President Eisenhower to Diem, 23 October 1954 Ngo Dinh Diem 1954 - Video Duration: 2:40 mins

15 Nov 1954: Picture of Ho Chi Minh on building in Hanoi Vietnam. Street market activity. Propoganda posters. Sign for Pho Phap Quoc. Soldiers walk down the street (not quite marching). Young girls and boys in military uniforms walk down street. Movie house with Communist painting. EXT US Embassy in Hanoi. EXT Catholic Mission with three brothers outside. Nuns use jump rope and little girls jump. Vietnam flag hangs from building. REDS SHOWER PROPAGANDA ON CAPTURED HANOI - Video Duration: 00:58.6 secs

22 Nov 1954: Refugees from Vietnam flee from the Communists in boats. Narrator says they are Catholic families. Lots of refugees fill small boats. French destroyers pick up the refugees. Vietnamese aboard ships. Two young boys do the father, son, and the holy ghost. REFUGEES FLEE INDO-CHINA - Video Duration: 00:47 secs

1955
January 1. Direct US military aid to South Vietnam begins.
February 12. US advisers begin training South Vietnamese troops.
March 29 - Ngo Dinh Diem launches his successful campaign against the Binh Xuyen and the religious sects.US Ambassador Collins advises Washington to consider a change of leadership. Bao Dai, from Paris accuses President Diem of "selling the blood of Vietnamese". Diem is advised by the CIA to conduct a plebiscite and let the people decide.
Ngo is warned by the Edward Lansdale(CIA) "not to rig the elections".
April - Australian Prime Minister - R. G Menzies, Parliament
"...there is no country in the world more completely British than Australia, nor...more devoted to the throne and person of Her Majesty the Queen. We are a proud member of a Crown Commonwealth, and will ever continue to be so. But we would be strangely blind if we did not see that...the rise of the United States to supremacy in industrial power, her vast population, her intellectual and moral influence are all such that she has become ...vital to the existence of the free world...[her]friendship and cooperation are vital to our safety".
May 10 - South Vietnam formally requests US instructors for Armed Forces.
May 16 - The United States agrees to furnish military aid to Cambodia, which becomes an independent state on 25 September.
June. Hanoi asks for formal talks to prepare for the international supervised elections scheduled for October.
President Dwight Eisenhower on the likely outcome of elections in Vietnam in 1955, Mandate for Change
Diem holds the plebiscite and wins by 98%. CIA knows the plebiscite was rigged. President Diem places family members in key positions.
Much later, Diem's last military Chief of Staff, General Tran Van Don was to say of Diem's Government, "They resorted to arbitrary arrests, confinement in concentration camps for undetermined periods of time without judicial guarantees or restraints, and assassinations of people suspected of Communist leanings. Their use of Gestapo-like police raids and torture were known and decried everywhere. Had they confined themselves to known Communists or proven Communist sympathizers, one could understand their methods. The repression, however, spread to people who simply opposed their regime, such as head or spokesmen of other political parties, and against individuals who were resisting extortion by some of the government officials".
July 20 - South Vietnam refuses to take part in the all-Vietnam elections called for by the Geneva Agreements, charging that free elections are impossible in the Communist North.
October 23 - A national referendum deposes Bao Da in favor of Ngo Dinh Diem, who proclaims the Republic of Vietnam.
By late 1955 Diem had consolidated his power in the South, defeating the remaining sect forces and arresting communist operatives who had surfaced in considerable numbers to prepare for the anticipated elections. Publicly opposed to the elections, Diem called for a referendum only in the South, and in October 1955 he declared himself president of the Republic of Vietnam. The North, not ready to start a new war and unable to induce its Chinese or Russian allies to act, could do little.

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1956
February 18- While visiting Peking, Cambodia's Prince Norodom Sihanouk renounces South East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) protection for his nation.
March 31. Prince Souvanna Phouma becomes Prime Minister in Laos.

April 28 - An American Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) takes over the training of South Vietnamese forces.  The French Military High Command disbands and French troops leave South Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh - Video Duration: 0:54 secs

June. Le Duan, "Duong Loi Cach Mang Mien Nam," [The Path of Revolution in the South], circa 1956
UNITED STATES POLICY WITH RESPECT TO VIETNAM: Address by the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs, Walter S. Robertson, Washington, June 1, 1956. Delivered to the American Friends of Vietnam at the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC.
August 5 - Souvanna Phouma and the Communist Prince Souphanouvong agree to acoalition government in Laos.

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1957
January 3 - The International Control Commission declares that neither North Vietnam nor South Vietnam has carried out the Geneva Agreements.
March. Australia announces a new defense policy providing for closer co-operation with America in South East Asia. Australian Prime Minister R. G Menzies states, " Though this is a wholeheartedly British nation this is not a hearsay. It merely recognizes the facts of war".
May 29- Communist Pathet Lao attempt to seize power in Laos.
June. The last French training missions leave South Vietnam.
September - SVN President Ngo Dinh Diem visits Australia and the Government reaffirms support for Diem. Diem is successful in South Vietnamese general election.
Diem's unexpected offensive against communist political organizers and propagandists in the countryside in 1955 had resulted in the arrest of thousands and in the temporary disorganization of the communists' infrastructure. By 1957, however, the communists, now called the Viet Cong, had begun a program of terrorism and assassination against government officials and functionaries. The Viet Cong's ranks were soon swelled by many noncommunist Vietnamese who had been alienated by the corruption and intimidation of local officials.

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1958
January - Communist guerrillas attack a plantation north of Saigon.
March 7. President Ngo Dinh Diem receives a letter from North Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Van Dong, proposing a discussion on troop reductions and trade relations as a renewed step towards reunification.
April 26. President Diem rejects any discussion until North Vietnam has established "democratic liberties" similar to those in the South.
President Sukarno of Indonesia survives a CIA backed rebellion. This disturbs the Australian Government who now believe they are becoming increasingly isolated.
CIA activities in Indonesia
CIA activities in Laos

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1959
North Vietnam initiated a long-term campaign aimed at destroying the government of South Vietnam through political subversion and armed action. The goal was to unify Vietnam under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh.
o achieve this end, the North Vietnamese directed Communists in the South to spark unrest, infiltrated guerrilla reinforcements, and began preparing a logistical line of communication, soon labeled the Ho Chi Minh Trail, through neighboring Laos. To ease the threat to this supply system, the North Vietnamese exacerbated existing political tensions in Laos. They supported with troops and supplies the indigenous Pathet Lao Communists, who were attempting to overthrow the pro-Western Royal Laotian Government.

A specialized North Vietnamese Army unit, Group 559, is formed to create a supply route from North Vietnam to Vietcong forces in South Vietnam. With the approval of Prince Sihanouk of Cambodia, Group 559 develops a primitive route along the Vietnamese/Cambodian border, with offshoots into Vietnam along its entire length. This eventually becomes known as the Ho Chinh Trail. Video - Ho Chi Minh Trail. - Duration : 5:24 mins

During 1959 several detachments from naval mobile construction battalions (NMCB), known as Seabees, improved strategically important roads and the country's main airfield, Wattay, at the capital of Vientiane.
April - A branch of the Lao Dong (Worker's Party of Vietnam), of which Ho Chi Minh became Secretary-General in 1956, is formed in the South, and Communist underground activity increases.
THE IMPORTANCE TO THE UNITED STATES OF THE SECURITY AND PROGRESS OF VIET-NAM: Address by President Eisenhower, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, April 4, 1959 (Excerpt)
May - The US Commander in Chief, Pacific, begins sending the military advisers requested by the South Vietnamese government.
May 6 - President Diem SVN passes oppressive laws on his countrymen. Excerpts from South Vietnam's Law 10/59, legislation against suspected Communists, May 6,1959.
June-July - Communist Pathet Lao forces attempt to gain control over northern Laos, receiving some Vietnamese Communist assistance.
July 8 - Communist South Vietnamese wound American advisers during an attack on Bien Hoa.
During September 1959, in the autumn of 1960, and again in January 1961, the Seventh Fleet deployed multi ship carrier task forces into the South China Sea as a deterrent to further Communist guerrilla attacks on pro-American forces in Laos.
December 31 - General Phoumir Nosavan seizes control in Laos.
Between 1959 and 1964, poor leadership constituted the greatest hindrance to an effective Vietnamese Navy. Political intrigue, cultural differences, and seemingly petty personal disputes troubled the officer corps. Because of the navy's short existence, senior officers were relatively young and inexperienced. Its small size in comparison with the Vietnamese Army and the consequent domination by the ground force stifled the naval command's initiative. In the enlisted ranks, lack of motivation, low pay, austere living conditions, and inadequate training for navy life caused some to desert. Poor maintenance of obsolete World War II-vintage ships and craft and the inefficient repair and supply systems reflected a lack of modern technological heritage in South Vietnam. All of these factors resulted in the mediocre operational performance of the naval service. Many of the problems identified by Rear Admiral Henry S. Persons during his inspection of the Vietnamese Navy in November 1961 for the Commander in Chief, Pacific remained when Captain Phillip S. Bucklew made a similar visit in early 1964. Indeed, the disruption in the officer corps caused by the coup d'etat against President Diem in November 1963 and the Communist exploitation of the subsequent political and military chaos in South Vietnam even lessened the Vietnamese Navy's ability to carry out its mission at the end of 1964.Beginning in the spring of 1959, armed bands of Viet Cong were occasionally engaging units of the South Vietnamese army in regular firefights. By that time the Central Committee of the Vietnamese Communist Party, meeting in Hanoi, had endorsed a resolution calling for the use of armed force to overthrow the Diem government. Southerners specially trained in the North as insurgents were infiltrated back into the South along with arms and equipment. A new war had begun.

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Video - Viet Minh Duration: 09:11 mins

The "Viet Minh also known as the "Viet Cong" The Viet Minh info) (abbreviated from Viet Nam Ðộc Lập Among Minh Hội, English "League for the Independence of Vietnam") was a national liberation movement formed by Hồ Chí Minh in 1941 to seek independence for Vietnam from France as well as to oppose the Japanese occupation.

Documents Relating the the Period 1940 till 1959

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