ABSTRACT
The origins of local naval forces in Vietnam after the end of the Second World War reflected the confusion and developing conflict between Vietnamese factions seeking independence, as the Japanese departed and a French regime bent on restoring control over its colonies. From the declaration of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on 2 September 19451 by the Indo-Chinese Communist Party under Ho Chi Minh, many believed that France would never regain the colonial grip that it had possessed before 1940. The Viet Minh approach was ‘long-term resistance war, selfreliance, and the appropriate fighting principle: guerrilla warfare and eventually advancing to mobile warfare’,2 a strategy which culminated in the humiliating French defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Efforts to establish non-Communist Vietnamese forces were stymied by the dubious legitimacy of the successive French-endorsed local governments. Apart from the fragmented and often corrupt administrations which frequently proved incapable of coherent governance, factors such as French reluctance to allow military capabilities not under their direct control, or which might compete for the limited pool of literate manpower also contributed. Thus, although conflict rapidly escalated between the French and the Communist Viet Minh, development of local proFrench forces was fitful and protracted. Ironically, for naval capabilities, this occurred despite the intensifying war having a significant waterborne dimension from the outset. The French Navy had contributed much to French reoccupation efforts,3 took riverine operations seriously from the beginning, and criticized the French Army for not using the rivers more effectively.4 Inland waterways had long been important in Vietnam – a landward extension of sea power.5 The two major river basins, the Red and Mekong, were heavily travelled, and even in peacetime most traffic in the north was riverine.6 For example, the Red River was navigable all the way to the Chinese border. Initial French activity involved locally available river craft, either Vietnamese or ex-Japanese, modified with armour and some armament. Some ex-British vessels,
including infantry landing craft (LCI), assault landing craft (LCA) and LCT were also used. By 1946, the French Navy had organized river flotillas.7 Each could transport and land about a battalion group and its equipment. This relatively successful concept was later copied by the US.8
