French Far East Expeditionary Corps The French Far East Expeditionary Corps ( ) was a colonial expeditionary force of the French Union Army that was initially formed in French Indochina during 1945 during the Pacific War . The CEFEO later fought and lost in the First Indochina War against the Viet Minh rebels . History ( 1945 – 1956 ) . Pacific War ( 1945 ) . The CEFEO was created in early 1945 as a replacement for the older Far East French Expeditionary Forces ( " Forces Expéditionnaires Françaises d ' Extrême - Orient " , FEFEO ) . Its purpose was to support Saigon - based General Gilbert Sabattier , divisional commander of colonial " Indochina French Forces " ( " Forces Françaises d ' Indochine " ) and Free French Forces resistance small groups C . L . I . then fighting with the Japanese Southern Expeditionary Army Group during the Second French Indochina Campaign . After the 1944 Liberation of France and the fall of Nazi Germany in Europe the following year , the French authorities wanted to " free " the last Axis powers occupied territories in Southeast Asia , these included the newly established Empire of Vietnam , which was a Japanese colony . On June 7 , 1945 , Leclerc was nominated commander of the CEFEO . On June 22 , Leclerc transferred commanding of the 2nd Armored Division ( " 2ème D . B . " ) - the famous unit who liberated Paris in August 1944 - to Colonel Dio . Leclerc received command of the Far East French Forces ( " Forces Françaises en Extrême - Orient " ) on August 15 . First Indochina War ( 1946 – 1954 ) . In 1946 , nationalist , then communist popular rebellion movement rose up against established colonial rule in the French Indochina federation then including the Kingdom of Laos , the Kingdom of Cambodia , Tonkin ( North Vietnam ) , the Empire of Annam ( Middle Vietnam ) and Cochinchina ( South Vietnam ) , all states being protectorate s excluding the latter which was a colony with Saigon as its capital . In 1946 , they would become associated states within the French Union and by 1949 Tonkin , Annam and the Republic of Cochin China would merge as the State of Vietnam . The communist Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh overwhelmed its rival nationalist movements and organized itself as a guerilla army using guerrilla warfare , then in the 1950s — due to a massive Chinese support — using conventional warfare . The First Indochina War officially lasted from November 20 , 1946 until July 20 , 1954 and was settled by the Geneva Agreements . Dissolution ( 1956 ) . After withdrawal of the last CEFEO troops from the independent Vietnam , Laos and Cambodia in 1956 , the corps was disbanded by General Pierre Jacquot . Composition . The CEFEO was made of enlisted and volunteer troops from the French Union colonial territories in Maghreb , Africa , Madagascar , Overseas ( future Dom - Tom ) and South - East Asia with the notable exception of the French Foreign Legion gathering mostly European troops ( French , Spaniard s , Poles , and notably Germans etc . ) . Most of the professional colonial airborne units ( BPC ) and the entire Chief of Staff were metropolitan French though . In early November 1953 , the French U . N . volunteers returning from the ended Korean War joined the French Union CEFEO and sailed from Incheon to Vietnam . They would be later involved in the battle of Mang Yang Pass of June and July 1954 . ( North Vietnam Ground Forces ) ( South Vietnam Ground Forces ) Far East Forces . Forces Terrestres en Extrême - Orient ( FTEO ) . Among the French ground forces in the Far East was the 6th Engineers Regiment ( 6 RG ) . ( Far East Naval Direction )