Battle of Vĩnh Yên

Battle of Vĩnh Yên
Part of the First Indochina War
Date January 13–17, 1951 Location Vĩnh Yên, Vĩnh Phúc, Vietnam Result French Union victory
Belligerents
French Union	Việt Minh
Commanders and leaders
Jean de Lattre de Tassigny	Võ Nguyên Giáp Hoàng Văn Thái
Strength
9,000 French Union troops	20,000 Viet Minh troops
Casualties and losses
43 killed 545 missing/captured 160 wounded	Viet Minh figures: 675 killed 1,730 wounded 80 missing According to de Lattre: 1600 killed 480 prisoners 6000 wounded

The Battle of Vĩnh Yên (Vietnamese: Trận Vĩnh Yên), also called Tran Hung Dao Campaign by Vietminh, which occurred from 13 to 17 January 1951, was a major engagement in the First Indochina War between the French Union and the Việt Minh. The French Union forces, led by World War II hero Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, inflicted a decisive defeat on the Việt Minh forces, which were commanded by Võ Nguyên Giáp. The victory marked a turn in the tide of the war, which was previously characterized by a number of Việt Minh victories.

By October 1950, the Việt Minh had seized the initiative from the French. Operating from bases in the People’s Republic of China, Việt Minh troops under Giáp constantly raided French outposts along Route Coloniale 4. At the end of the attacks on October 17, the French had lost 6,000 troops, stunning the French government into action: the high commissioner for Indochina, Leon Pignon, and the commander-in-chief of the French Expeditionary Corps, General Georges Carpentier, were both recalled. Paris replaced them with General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, widely considered one of the greatest French commanders after his spectacular leadership of the French First Army in World War II.

De Lattre came to Hanoi, Vietnam, on 17 December and assumed both military and political control of French Indochina. The French Far East Expeditionary Corps numbered some 190,000, including 10,000 serving in the French Air Force and 5,000 in the French Navy. The French occupied most of the country, but the Việt Minh held considerable portions of the countryside that allowed quick and easy access to various crucial points should the need arise. Giáp had five divisions, all armed and equipped by the Chinese, composed of about 10,000 troops each. Four of the five Vietnamese divisions were roughly 150 miles north of Hanoi, stationed around the Việt Bắc region near the Chinese border. The 320th Division was located southwest of the Red River Delta, which was controlled by the French.

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