Word: langson
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...throw him back, but if the Chinese pour in, as they have in Korea, the slim French forces will have to pull out. Last week the foreign colony which gathers at Hanoi's Metropole Hotel rustled with rumors. Some said that the Chinese were already advancing from Langson, others that there was a deal on with the Viet Minh. The Metropole's atmosphere was one of anxious, noisy gaiety. Foreign newsmen met with free-lancing pilots who were making small fortunes flying people out of the threatened area...
Sixty-five years ago the fall of Langson to a Chinese army had brought about the fall of a French government. Then it was Premier Jules ("Le Tonkinois") Ferry under attack by fiery Georges Clémenceau. Last week no Clémenceaus were on hand to upset the cabinet of Premier René Pleven. Yet debate over Indo-China at Paris was bitter. Rightist Deputy Edmond Michelet assailed "successive governments" for "an incoherent policy ... As late as Oct. 7 we were told that the Viet Minh forces could not launch a general offensive." Radical Deputy Pierre Mend...
...retreat of French forces from their strongpoints along the Chinese border was still in full swing. Langson, a fortress often regarded as the key to Hanoi itself, was abandoned without a struggle. Communist Ho Chi Minh's Viet Minh troops, now no longer guerrillas but a regular army with mortars, heavy artillery and radio communications, pressed hard...
...China, with the base of the wedge resting in China, its edge pointing at Hanoi. The French still held important forts on the extreme flanks of the wedge: at Laokay on the upper Red River where the railway between Hanoi and Kunming cross into China; in the south at Langson where the railway between Hanoi and Ningming crosses the border. Laokay was cut off and dependent on supply by air. There were reports of Communist troops regrouping before Langson, from which civilians were being evacuated. Should either flank fold, the Communists would have uninterrupted rail transport to the rice-rich...
Take René Dupuis, the 25-year-old engineer who drove me from Langson to the fort of Dongdang, on Viet Nam's northeast frontier. "I like it out here," said Dupuis. "It's adventure, I feel I'm useful, and I like the Vietnamese." His rifle was propped against the seat beside him. Every mile along the road a French fortress of brick and bamboo dominated the countryside. Between them we passed patrols of bearded men, four or five in a group, wearing jungle-green uniforms and broad-brimmed, shapeless felt hats, snaking in single file...