Time Slip Reiwa Japan

068 - The French Colonial Empire's Upheaval - 2

The weapons obtained by the Vietnamese independence movement were mainly smuggled surplus weapons from China, so aside from rifles, they mainly had explosive devices such as grenades and dynamite. As the relationship between China and France deteriorated, they were able to acquire machine guns and cannons, albeit outdated ones. Furthermore, due to the low level of training, the Indochinese Federation forces easily fell into disarray in combat, allowing the Vietnamese independence movement to obtain their equipment, including weapons, ammunition, and vehicles.

However, France was still one of the G4 powers that dominated the world, and its regular army, even in far-off French Indochina, was equipped with numerous tanks and armored trucks, *1 making them formidable opponents for the Vietnamese independence movement. Nevertheless, the French army and the Indochinese Federation forces had a reputation for excessive violence during the pacification operations, causing them to be avoided by the general population of French Indochina. In terms of information gathering to support their activities, they were at a significant disadvantage.

The Vietnamese independence movement could be said to have been able to fight against the better-equipped French forces due to their informational advantage, specifically the support of the general population in French Indochina.

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Vietnam

The Vietnamese independence movement was able to establish itself as a proper military force thanks to the efforts of righteous officers who came from North Japan. These officers, through their connections established during their service in the Imperial Japanese Army and the Kwantung Army, made contact with the Vietnamese independence movement. Initially, these officers were viewed with skepticism, but they gained trust by leading small Chinese units and dealing heavy blows to the Indochinese Federation forces with their operational command skills, which they had developed through their education in the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. As a result, they became involved in the establishment of the military. However, the vision of these loyal officers was not to replicate the JGSDF. They aimed to create an organization based on the structure of the Imperial Japanese Army, their spiritual homeland.

Under the training of these loyal officers, the Vietnamese independence movement's military rapidly acquired the skills of discipline and obedience to orders, becoming increasingly capable as a military force. At this point, the Vietnamese independence movement's military consisted of approximately 50.000 Vietnamese and Chinese personnel combined. While not all of them were combatants (riflemen), their total manpower of around 30.000 already exceeded the numerical strength of the French/Indochinese Federation forces, who had only about 30.000 personnel.

This numerical advantage had a significant impact, particularly against the poorly trained Indochinese Federation forces. By surrounding them with more than double their numbers and launching fierce attacks, the Vietnamese independence movement's military was able to easily defeat them. As a result, the Vietnamese independence movement's military began expanding its controlled territory gradually, starting from rural areas and moving northward in French Indochina.

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France

Recognizing that the temporary setback in northern Vietnam was due to the lack of well-trained and well-equipped units, the French government, through its embassy in Japan, obtained future information that led them to make a decision: the extraction of forces not only from the French African garrison but also from mainland France.

The background behind this decision was the Vietnam War (Second Indochina War). It was a historical fact that the war, which spread like wildfire, could not be decisively won even by the United States, despite pouring in vast numbers of personnel and resources. While the United States was undoubtedly constrained in its freedom to wage war, the fact that the colonial powers were being defeated in their colonies was unbelievable. France was terrified by this reality.