Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-04-02
Frances Stond in Indo-C Chino

Constantine Browns recent column
on Indo-China contains a number OF
inaccuracies on Gen. Navarre's tao
tics and the war situation in IndoS
China, probably due to the fact that
the article was written from the comfort
of Washington Office.
Mr.. Browns description of the Lang
son raid of last summer as trout" is
false. was in Northern Indo-China at
the time and had the luck of seeing
the operation from rather close up. The
raid was designed to destroy important
dumps of Red-C Chinese supplies and was
a full, unqualified success. Not 1000
as Mr.. Brown states-but 2,700 para
troopers Go per cent members of the
new Vietnamese national army took
the Reds completely by surprise and
destroyed, among other equipment,
1000 machine guns and six Soviet-built
trucks before fighting their way out to
the coast, only to be met halfway by
seaborne French tank force They lost
two dead in the whole operation, and
their trout" was leisurely enough that
they could take along several hundred
Red civilians who were fed up with liv-
ing in the Communist area. The whole
operation was marvel of clockwork
precision and will go down as textbook
example of good air-Sea-land co-opera-
ton.
The Phu-Nho-Q Guam operation, second
on Mr.. Browns list of Gen. Navarre's
defeats" was also what is called a
raid in force" in order to destroy
enemy depots and to prevent Red build
ups. One has to f1y-or better, to crawl
through that maze of jungle-covered
rocks with it's countless concealed grot-
toes and holes truly to appreciate the
efforts of the French Union forces which
twice reconquered Phu-Nho- Quan and
churned up most of the Red 320th Di-
vision before re-embarking. The 320th
Viet-Minh Division has yet to reappear
as fighting force. AS to Mr.. Browns
side remark on the non-French troops
fighting under French command. he
conveniently overlookS the thousands
of Metropolitan French who have died
in Indo-China, among them some of
Frances best sons; Marshal De Lattre's
son died fighting in Viet-Nam's jungles:
Marshal Leclerc'S son is prisoner of
the Reds for the last three years, and
the son of Marshal JUN, French NATO
ground forces commander under Gen.
Gruenther, fights with the Foreign Le-
gion in the Red River Delta
AS to Gen. Navarre's tactics, they are
not built upon headline catching &C
QUESTIONS of useless jungle real estate
which would cost him thousands of
troops to hold to no good purpose. His
own type of elastic warfare makes the
utmost of his superior mobility while
keeping the most essential parts of
Indo-China in the hands of the forces
under his command. Calling his war
defensive" contradicts the hard fact
that in the last three months Navarro
again has blunted the Reds drive into
Laos, and that he haS-through his
! landings in Southern Annam-stabbed
into territory which had been under
Red control since 1915. The airhead of
en-Bien-Phu itself was carved out
of the middle of enemy territory It's
miles behind enemy lines and has sue
ceeded thus far in stalling number of
Red divisions four times superior to
that of the French defenders. In his
last press conference, President Eisen-
hover has paid just tribute to their
gallantry.
If Gen. Henri Navarres fight in Indo-
China is but series of "heartbreaking
defeats" as Mr.. Brown puts it, would
like to hear Mr.. Browns definition of
a victory. Korea, maybe?
Bernard B. Fall.