Operation Camargue
Operation Camargue was one of the largest operations by the French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Vietnamese National Army in the First Indochina War. It took place from 28 July until 10 August 1953. French armored platoons, airborne units and troops delivered by landing craft to the coast of central Annam, modern-day Vietnam, attempted to sweep forces of the communist Viet Minh from the critical Route One.
About Operation Camargue in brief
Operation Camargue was one of the largest operations by the French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Vietnamese National Army in the First Indochina War. It took place from 28 July until 10 August 1953. French armored platoons, airborne units and troops delivered by landing craft to the coast of central Annam, modern-day Vietnam, attempted to sweep forces of the communist Viet Minh from the critical Route One. The first landings took place in the early morning on 28 July, and reached the first objectives, an inland canal, without major incident. A secondary phase of mopping-up operations began in a ‘labyrinth of tiny villages’ where French armored forces suffered a series of ambushes. Reinforced by paratroopers, the French and their Vietnamese allies tightened a net around the defending Viet MinH, but delays in the movement of French forces left gaps through which most of the guerillas, and many of the arms caches the operation was expected to seize, escaped. For the French, this validated the claim that it was impossible to operate tight ensnaring operations in Vietnam’s jungle, due to the slow movement of their troops, and a foreknowledge by the enemy, which was difficult to prevent. From then on the French focused on creating strong fortified positions, culminating in Operation Castor and the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. With the French forces withdrawn from the operation by the late summer of 1953, Vietminh Regiment 95 re-infiltrated Route One and resumed ambushes of French convoys, retrieving weapons caches missed by French forces.
The French used the lessons learned at Nà Sản – strong ground bases, versatile air support and a model based on the British Burma Campaign – as the basis for their new strategy. In October 1952, fighting around the Red River Delta spread into the Thai Highlands, resulting in the battle of Nà sỉn, at which the VietMinh were defeated. In May 1953, General Henri Navarre arrived to take command of the French Forces, replacing General Raoul Salan. The French strategy of occupying small, poorly defended outposts throughout IndochINA, particularly along the Vietnamese-Chinese border, started failing. In December 1950, the United States, concerned about Chinese influence, started providing a first payment of US$15 million to the French. By June 1953, the US had sent 1,224 vehicles and combat vehicles; French forces had 1, 224 tanks and combat planes. In the spring of 1953 the French increased its military and financial support to the U.S…. by dramatically increasing its financial and military support to France. In June 1953 the US released its heavy burden in the Korean conflict. Meanwhile, China was able to give much more attention to its southern neighbour, the Vietnam War, and was able to give more support to its northern neighbour, China. The common border meant that China became a’sanctuary’ where the Viet MINh could be trained and refitted.
You want to know more about Operation Camargue?
This page is based on the article Operation Camargue published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 30, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
