French Far East Expeditionary Corps


The French Far East Expeditionary Corps was a colonial expeditionary force of the French Armed Forces that was initially formed in French Indochina in 1945 during the Pacific War. The CEFEO in fact fought in the Vietnam (1945–1946)">State of Vietnam">Vietnam (1945–1946) and later fought in the name of the French Union army during the First [Indochina War] against the communist Viet Minh rebels. It did not include the Vietnamese National Army although Vietnam was part within the French Union and fought in the war, because Vietnam gained independence within the French Union in 1949 and had its own army the following year.
The CEFEO was largely made up of voluntarily-enlisted indigenous tirailleurs from the French Union colonial or protectorate territories, one exception being the French Foreign Legion, which consisted mainly of volunteers from Europe and the rest of the world. Metropolitan conscripts did not serve in the CEFEO unless they volunteered to do so. Less than half of the total personnel of the Corps were French professional soldiers, mostly serving with paratrooper, artillery and other specialist units.

History

Composition

"The French Far East Expeditionary Corps was designed to fight a conventional battle against the Japanese Armed Forces|Japanese Army], but under one of two scenarios: either as part of a reconquest of Indochina or, to placate American desires, as part of a follow-on wave of assault troops in the upcoming invasion of Japan’s home islands. The early fall of Japan obviated the need to invade Japan, but it also meant that American logistical and transportation support was lost. This corps was at first organized with two Colonial Far East Infantry Divisions composed of Senegalese soldiers, but upon more detailed consideration the was composed of the 3rd [Colonial Infantry Division (France)|3d] and 9th Colonial Infantry Divisions with mostly European soldiers, the 2d Armored Division, the Far East Brigade composed of colonial troops in Madagascar, and the Far East Marine Brigade which had two infantry battalions, an armored battalion, and an artillery battalion and was intended as the amphibious assault element of the corps. Mostly organized and equipped along American lines, this was a powerful conventional force that could assault and fight Japanese divisions in the vicinity of Saigon, Hanoi, or the Japanese home islands."
The CEFEO was largely made up of voluntarily-enlisted indigenous tirailleurs from the French Union's colonial or protectorate territories in Northwest Africa Maghreb, sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar, and South-East Asia. An exception was the French Foreign Legion which consisted mainly of European volunteers.
In 1954, the CEFEO included 177,000 men, including 59,000 indigenous people. Colonial soldiers made up the bulk of the ground forces. Between 1947 and 1954, 122,900 North Africans and 60,340 Black Africans landed in Indochina, or 183,240 Africans in total. On February 1, 1954, they represented 43.5% of the 127,785 men of the ground forces. Most of the professional airborne units and the entire Chief of Staff were metropolitan French, as were some artillery and specialist units.
From September 1945 to the cease-fire in July 1954, a total of 488,560 men and women served in Indochina:
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.

Pacific War (1945)

The CEFEO was created in early 1945 as a replacement for the older Far East French Expeditionary Forces. Its purpose was to support Saigon-based General Gabriel Sabattier, divisional commander of colonial "Indochina French Forces" and Free French Forces resistance small groups C.L.I. then fighting with the Japanese Southern Expeditionary Army Group during the March coup. 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 command of the 2nd Armored Division -the famous unit which had liberated Paris in August 1944- to Colonel Dio. Leclerc received command of the Far East French Forces on August 15.
On October 3, 1945, this force entered the South of the 16th parallel of Indochina with the recognition of the Allies and supported the existing Anglo-French forces there to suppress the uprising of the Viet Minh, a Vietnamese political alliance led by communists. By February 1946, this force was advanced to the North by China. However, negotiations between France and the Viet Minh that followed did not go smoothly, with sporadic clashes still occurring.
[Image:French indochina 1952 05 2.png|thumb|Colonial paratroopers in the delta area of northern Vietnam (1952)]

First Indochina War (1946–1954)

In December 1946, a communist rebellion started against French colonial rule in the Indochinese Federation then including Laos, Cambodia, Tonkin, the Annam and Cochinchina, all states being protectorates excluding the latter which was a colony with Saigon as its capital. In 1949, they would become associated states within the French Union. Tonkin, Annam and Cochinchina would merge as the State of Vietnam, an independent associated state within the French Union and led by former emperor Bảo Đại. 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 support—using conventional warfare. Communist allies of the Viet Minh in Laos and Cambodia also operated against the French army and indigenous allies. The First Indochina War officially lasted from December 19, 1946 until July 21, 1954 and was settled by the Geneva Armistice Agreements, in which the French army withdrew to Vietnam south of the 17th parallel. The Vietnam was divided with the State of Vietnam losing the North. Later the State of Vietnam became the Republic of Vietnam.

Dissolution (1956)

In January 1956, the South Vietnamese government demanded that France withdraw all its troops, and France agreed two months later. With withdrawal of the last CEFEO troops from South Vietnam on 28 April 1956, the corps was disbanded.

Commanders

Far East Forces

South Vietnam Ground Forces (''Forces Terrestres du Sud Vietnam'', FTSV)

Among the French ground forces in the Far East was the 6th Engineers Regiment.

Far East Air Forces (''Forces Aériennes en Extrême-Orient'', FAEO)

Among the aircraft supplied to the French in Indochina in 1950-51 were B-26 Marauders that went to Bomber Group 1/25 Tunisie, B-26 Invaders, P-63 Kingcobras, C-47 Dakotas that went to Transport Group 1/64, 2/64, 2/63 which had both C-47s and C-119 Packets, former U.S. Navy F6F Hellcats that went to 11th Carrier Assault Flotilla, SB-2C Helldivers that went to 3rd Carrier Assault Flotilla, F8F-1B Bearcats that went to Groupe de Chasse 1/22 Saintonge and Group de Chasse 2/22 Languedoc, PB4Y2 Privateers that went to the 28th Bomber Flotilla, and F4U Corsairs that went to 14th Carrier Fighter Flotilla.
At the beginning of April 1954, Lt. General Earle E. Partridge, Commander of the U. S. Far East Air Force, had arrived in Saigon and begun talks with his French counterpart, Gen. Lauzin, as well as with Gen. Navarre. He had brought with him Brigadier General Joseph D. Caldara, then the chief of the FEAF Bomber Command—the man who would fly and command the "Vulture" missions. The Americans had arrived at Saigon's Tan Son Nhut Airport in a discreet B-17 Flying Fortress|B-17], so as not to alert hostile eyes to the unfamiliar configuration of the B-29 Superfortress. From the beginning, the Americans were appalled at the total lack of French preparedness for anything like the control of a major saturation bombardment operation. French Col. Brohon later said that this project involved the use of "several A-bombs" in the Dien Bien Phu area.
Caldara decided to judge the situation for himself. On April 4, 1954, in the dead of the night, he flew his B-17 with an American crew over the valley of Dien Bien Phu, repeated the mission later with a French C-47 Dakota; and then once more with the B-17. The overall plan was simple enough; the two wings of B-29s from Okinawa and the one from Clark Air Base would rendezvous east of the Laotian capital of Vientiane, head for their target; and exit from Indochina via the Gulf of Tonkin. The French at the highest levels seemed to have no idea of the power of the 98 Superfortresses. This bombing mission was never approved as Winston Churchill was against it. Late that month on 29 April 1954 C-124 Globemasters from the 322nd Air Division were in the process of air-lifting into Indochina the brand-new 7th BPC, en route from Europe to Vietnam via Colombo, Ceylon. Thus U. S. Air Force aircraft and personnel were actively involved in Vietnam in 1954.

Notable personnel