Operation Lea

Operation Léa
Part of First Indochina War
Date 7 October - 8 November 1947 Location Viet Bac area, Vietnam Result Limited French tactical success
Belligerents
French Union French Indochina	Viet Minh
Commanders and leaders
Jean-Etienne Valluy	Vo Nguyen Giap Hoang Van Thai
Strength
15,000	40,000
Casualties and losses
6,000 killed and wounded (Viet Minh Claim)	9,000 killed and wounded (French Claim)

French Union

Operation Léa was French Union military operation between 7 October and 8 November 1947 during the First Indochina War. It was an attempt by the French General Valluy to crush the Viet Minh. An airborne force would capture the Viet Minh leadership and three French columns would strike into the Viet Minh heartland.

The parachute assault surprised the Viet Minh, nearly capturing Ho Chi Minh and General Giap, but it soon recovered and began ambushing the three French columns.

The operation was soon called off and the French forces withdrew to the lowlands. It was a tactical success, inflicting severe casualties on the Viet Minh, but strategically indecisive, because it failed to capture the Viet Minh leadership or seriously cripple its military forces.

After the outbreak hostilities on 19 December 1946, the French Union forces had made significant progress by capturing the major cities Haiphong, Hanoi, Lang Son, Cao Bang as well as nearly the complete western and southern region of Tonkin, which was the stronghold of the Viet Minh movement. The reasons for the fast advance were the superior firepower, naval and air support of the French forces. The major forces of the Viet Minh were nearly surrounded by the French in the eastern part of Tonkin. There remained only a greater gap between the towns Cao Bang in the north and Yên Bái in the south. During April 1947 Ho Chi Minh made a last attempt to achieve a ceasefire and to continue the negotiations with the French government about Vietnamese independence from 1946. But the French only demanded his surrender, because the position of the Vietnamese forces seemed to be desperate. But on 26 April, he refused the French, offering: "In the French Union is no place for cowards. I would be one, if I would accept." During the rest of the spring and the summer, the French made assaults to the bases of the Viet Minh troops in Tonkin but could not force them to a conventional battle. Instead the Viet Minh returned when the French moved on.

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Wikipedia