ABSTRACT

After capturing Haiphong, the French planned to invade Hanoi and drive out the DRV government. On 15 December 1946, the French demanded that the DRV troops and the Tu Ve (local militia) ‘must evacuate Haiphong and the surrounding areas to prevent further clashes’. The DRV insisted that the position before 20 November (Chinese petrol junk incident) must be restored before negotiations to regulate Haiphong affairs could begin. The DRV held much of the Hanoi-Haiphong road and refused to allow the passage of traffic, including the passengers boarding the Pasteur at Haiphong. O’Sullivan in Hanoi cabled that this roadway was cut in several places and it was unclear which military group held which section of the highway. The election of the Provisional Government of France, 1944-1947, won by Léon Blum of the French Section of the Workers’ International, had little impact on events affecting Hanoi. However, O’Sullivan reported that ‘President Ho expressed reserve approval of the appointment of Blum’ as Chairman of the Provisional Government. Ho at this time was ill and confined to bed.1 On 18 December it was reported that 700 French troops had landed at Tourane (Da Nang), about which the DRV complained. It said that the French, in landing north of the 16th parallel, had violated the March Agreement. At the time the French were concerned at the DRV issuing its new currency, to which the DRV replied that it was ‘necessary for political reasons’.2 At this time Léon Blum had issued a press statement in Paris saying that a new government led by him would move quickly to solve the problem of French Indochina. It followed from the promises he had made during the election for Chairman of the Provisional Government on 17 December 1946. In Saigon his election aroused little comment and his published statements were taken as his private opinion and ‘not representing the position of the government’.3