Operation Passage to Freedom transported 310,000 Vietnamese from communist North Vietnam to monarchist South Vietnam between 1954 and 1955. Between 600,000 and one million people moved south, including more than 200,000 French citizens and soldiers in the French army. The mass migration of northerners was facilitated primarily by the French Air Force and Navy. The period was marked by a Central Intelligence Agency-backed propaganda campaign on behalf of South Vietnam’s Roman Catholic Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem.
About Operation Passage to Freedom in brief
Operation Passage to Freedom transported 310,000 Vietnamese from communist North Vietnam to monarchist South Vietnam between 1954 and 1955. The French and other countries may have transported a further 500,000. Between 600,000 and one million people moved south, including more than 200,000 French citizens and soldiers in the French army. The mass migration of northerners was facilitated primarily by the French Air Force and Navy. The period was marked by a Central Intelligence Agency-backed propaganda campaign on behalf of South Vietnam’s Roman Catholic Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem. The migration boosted the Catholic power base of Diem; whereas the majority of Vietnam’s Catholics previously lived in the north, now most were in the south. In the long run, the northern Catholics never fully integrated into southern society and Diem’s favoritism toward them caused tension that culminated in the Buddhist crisis of 1963, which ended with the downfall and assassination of the South Vietnamese leader. In May 1954, after eight years of fighting, the French were defeated in a mountainous northern fortress at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. France’s withdrawal from Indochina was finalised in the Geneva Accords of July 1954. The accords resulted in the partition of Vietnam at the 17th parallel north, with Ho Chi Minh’s communist Viet Minh in control of the north and the French-backed State of Vietnam in the South. The partition was intended to be temporary, pending elections in 1956 to reunify the country under a national government.
Under the terms of the agreement, Vietnam was temporarily divided at the17th Parallel north pending elections in 1956. Both sides would gradually withdraw from Vietnam as the situation stabilised. Both the French Union and the Soviet Union would eventually withdraw from the situation. The situation would gradually stabilise as French forces would gradually withdrawal from Vietnam. In November 1946, France attempted to reassert control over Indochine with an attack on the northern port city of Haiphong. The DRV was recognised by the Soviet union and the People’s Republic of China, while the western powers recognised the French-backed State of Vietnam, nominally led by Emperor Bảo Đại, but with a French-trained Vietnamese National Army which was loyal to French Union forces. In November 1947, the DRV declared independence under the name of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. This occurred after the withdrawal of Imperial Japan, which had seized control of Frenchindochina during World War II. In September 1945, the Viet Minh declared independence under the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in September 1945. The DRV was recognised by the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China, while the Western powers recognised the French backed State of Vietnam nominally led by Emperor Bồng Văn Vĉn ăn. He expressed bitterness after his backers threatened to cut support if he did not agree to the peace terms. He stated: “We can neither concur in the brutal enslavement of millions of compatriots”
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This page is based on the article Operation Passage to Freedom published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 04, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
