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"The "means of rescue" soon appeared. They were men. At Chungking, where Chiang Kai-shek had moved his government, while continuing to fight the Japanese, a small Free French mission had been set up, consisting of Dr Bechamp and the explorer Guibaut, who was soon to be relieved by Professor Escarra; at Calcutta, the French Governor kept up contact with the British authorities. A rubber manufacturer, Francois de Langlade, had made contact with two planters from Malaysia, Mario Bogret and William Baze, hostile to the Vichy government. In Chinese Yunnan, two information officers, Major Tuttenges and Captain Milon, set up one of the best networks in the region, while the diplomatic counsellor of the pro-Vichy Governor-General Decoux, Claude de Boisanger, sent an emissary called Franqois to de Gaulle. Thus, little by little, the foundations were laid for a concerted effort.
From summer 1943, then, de Gaulle was able to draw up an Indo-Chinese strategy. The principles of this strategy were expressed in a declaration to the peoples of Indo-China, delivered in Algiers on 8 December 1943, which, while reaffirming the principle of French sovereignty in the peninsula, opened up prospects of collective development, in the form of a "tree and close association between France and the Indo-Chinese peoples".
The military means were beginning to be brought together in India, under the direction of General Blaizot, head of the "expeditionary corps", whose task it now was to bring Indo-China back to the Free French side. Then, in August 1944, de Gaulle sent a close confidant to Indo-China, Francois de Langlade, whose mission was to contact Admiral Decoux, the High Commissioner appointed by Petain. But, when the Free French envoy proposed that Indo-China should be brought over to the side of the Allies, Decoux replied that if Indo-China were to be brought back into the French orbit it would be better employed improving their relations with Japan, which had no hostile intentions and hoped in the long term to use the French to negotiate with the Americans and British.
By trying to come to an agreement with Decoux, the General was in fact breaking with what had seemed to be an article of faith with him: the men of Vichy were all the same, they would pay any price to keep their jobs. For once, he tried to compromise and failed pitifully.
On 9 March 1945, in the late afternoon, an event occurred that de Gaulle had foreseen, but which nevertheless upset his military and political plans: the Japanese took over all forms of power in the Indo-Chinese peninsula, interning French civil servants and soldiers and massacring all those who tried to resist. The French presence in Indo-China being thus reduced to nothing, the Japanese set up in the various capitals (Hue, Phnom Penh, Luang Prabang) governments declared to be "independent" and which were, in fact, more so than has often been said.
Extract from “DE GAULLE The Ruler: 1945-1970”, Written by Jean Lacouture. Hartnolls Limited, Bodmin, Cornwall. Great Britain, 1991. "
www.franceattraction.com  Laurent Laloup le samedi 12 juillet 2008 - Demander un contact La page d'origine de cette contribution Recherche sur cette contribution | |
