Battle of Cao Bằng (1949)

For the battle in the Sino-Vietnamese War, see Battle of Cao Bằng (1979).

Battle of Cao Bằng

A model of a typical Việt Minh ambush, using information from Bernard Fall’s Street Without Joy, 1961

Date	October 1947 – September 4, 1949
Location	French Indochina
Result	Việt Minh victory

Belligerents

French Union

Việt Minh

v t e First Indochina War
Prelude Masterdom Haiphong 1946-1950 Hanoi Cao Bằng Papillon Léa Ceinture Đông Khê RC4 1951-1952 Vĩnh Yên Mạo Khê Đáy River 1st Nghĩa Lộ Hòa Bình 2nd Nghĩa Lộ Lorraine Nà Sản Bretagne 1953 Adolphe Upper Laos campaign Muong Khoua Hirondelle Camargue Brochet Mouette Castor Pollux 1954 Atlante Đắk Đoa Điện Biên Phủ Vulture Condor Mang Yang Pass Chu Dreh Pass

First Indochina War

Prelude

1946-1950

1951-1952

1953

1954

Atlante
Đắk Đoa
Điện Biên Phủ
- Vulture
- Condor
Mang Yang Pass
Chu Dreh Pass

The Battle of Cao Bằng was an ongoing campaign in northern Indochina during the First Indochina War, between the French Far East Expeditionary Corps and the Việt Minh, which began in October 1947 and culminated on September 3, 1949. Since the start of the conflict, Việt Minh troops had ambushed French convoys along the Vietnam–China border from the Gulf of Tonkin on a 147-mile route to a French garrison at Cao Bằng, known as Route Colonial 4, or RC4. Repeated ambushes led to repeated French operations of increasing strength to reopen the road, including a costly mission by the Foreign Legion in February 1948. On July 25, 1948, the Cao Bằng encampment was itself attacked and held out for three days with two companies defending against two battalions of Việt Minh. A further 28 ambushes took place in 1948.

In February 1949, five Việt Minh battalions and mortar units took a French post at Lào Cai, and resumed ambushes through the monsoon season. On September 3, 1949, 100 vehicles left That Khe in a reinforced convoy which travelled a distance of 16 miles (26 km) through infantry screens. The French, reduced to one soldier per vehicle due to troop numbers, were ambushed by automatic fire. The first twenty trucks were halted, as were the final ten, and the middle of the convoy was cut down by shellfire. The following day, French troops reoccupied the surrounded mountaintops, however only four French wounded were found alive.

The campaign at Cao Bằng resulted in a change in convoy practices for the remainder of the war. Vehicles thereafter travelled from post to post in 10-12 vehicle convoys, through security screens of French troops and with aircraft observation. Through 1950, supply convoys to Cao Bằng were discontinued in favour of air supply.

References

^ Windrow, pp. 103–107.
2006 Page 166 ".. se laissaient facilement piéger et essuyaient revers sur revers, en particulier celui de Cao Bằng en septembre 1950 qui eut un effet retentissant en France."

Bibliography

Fall, Bernard B. (1966). Hell in a Very Small Place. The Siege of Dien Bien Phu. London: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-81157-9.
Fall, Bernard B. (1961). Street Without Joy. The French Debacle in Indochina. New York: Stackpole Military History. ISBN 978-0-8117-3236-9.
Fall, Bernard B. (1967). The Two Vietnams. A Political and Military Analysis (Second ed.). New York: Frederick A. Praeger, Inc.
Roy, Jules (1963). The Battle of Dien Bien Phu. New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7867-0958-8.
Windrow, Martin (2004). The Last Valley. Dien Bien Phu and the French Defeat in Vietnam. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 978-0-304-36692-7.

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