French colonial soldier (Tirailleur Tonquinois), from Indochina (present day Vietnam), on sentry duty at the Trocadero signals station. This station was linked by cables to the Eiffel Tower, which was used as a signals tower during the First World War and which could cover the whole Western Front as well as some colonies.
Vietnamese pilots of the French Indochina by a Morane Saulnier MS500 Criquet.
A bugler rallies parachutists after the drop of 2nd Battalion, 1er RCP, on the beach around Quang-Tri during Operation Camargue, Vietnam. 28 July 1953
French POWs pass a destroyed M24 Chaffee after the surrender of Dien Bien Phu, 1954.
French POWs pass a destroyed M24 Chaffee after the surrender of Dien Bien Phu, 1954.
Paratroopers
of the French Army’s 35th Parachute Light Artillery Regiment (35e
régiment d’artillerie légère parachutiste) operate a 75mm recoilless
rifle during Operation Castor, at Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam. Dec
1953.
Paratroopers
of the French Army’s 35th Parachute Light Artillery Regiment (35e
régiment d’artillerie légère parachutiste) operate a 75mm recoilless
rifle during Operation Castor, at Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam. Dec
1953.
French Hellcats on the deck of the Arromanches, Indochina.
Generals Cogny and Gilles. Indochina, 1953
> Draft
> Heavy counter-culture movements in the country
> A country no one knew existed until the army came
> Terrible humid climate that made everyone miserable
> Extreme use of drugs and alcohol.
> Pointless bloody battles fought in places that seemed random
> No clear goals, frontlines and even enemy formations
Way too much stuff got in the way to make it one hell of a war.
Failure to learn from he past.
The US was fighting a colonial resource war, the Vietnamese were fighting a war of national liberation.