Bernard B. Fall

Bernard B. Fall (November 19, 1926 – February 21, 1967) was a prominent war correspondent, historian, political scientist, and expert on Indochina during the 1950s and 1960s. Born in Austria, he moved with his family to France as a child after Germany's annexation, where he started fighting for the French Resistance at the age of sixteen, and later the French Army during World War II.

In 1950 he first came to the United States for graduate studies at Syracuse University and Johns Hopkins University, returning and making his residence there. He taught at Howard University for most of his career and made regular trips to Southeast Asia to learn about changes and the societies. He predicted the failures of France and the United States in the wars in Vietnam because of their tactics and lack of understanding of the societies.

Born in Vienna, Austria, to Jewish parents Leo Fall and Anna Seligman, Bernard Fall and his family migrated in 1938 when he was a child to live in France, when Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany. After France fell to Germany in 1940, his father Leo Fall aided the French Resistance. Leo Fall was captured, tortured and killed by the Gestapo. His mother was also captured and deported to Auschwitz, where she died.

In 1942 at the age of sixteen, Bernard Fall followed in his father's footsteps and joined the French Resistance, after which time he fought the Germans in the Alps. As France was being liberated in 1944, Fall joined the French Army, in which he served until 1946. For his service, he was awarded the French Liberation Medal. Following World War II, Fall worked as an analyst for the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal, in which capacity he investigated Krupp Industries.

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