The Twenty-five Year Century: A South Vietnamese General Remembers the Indochina War to the Fall of Saigon

Laos and Hauts Plateaux

60 4 laos and hauts plateaux AFTER A FEW DAYS OF relaxation in Bac Lieu, I headed back to Can Tho and reported to the headquarters of the 1st Artillery Battalion located in Binh Thuy, five kilometers west of the city. Things were looking up. I finally was able to serve in my native Mekong River Delta. Can Tho had changed very much since the days I was a student at College Phan Thanh Gian. New construction had sprung up downtown, businesses were booming, and the people appeared more prosperous. Can Tho Sector had been transferred to the Vietnamese authorities and the Sector Commandant was Lt. Col. Nguyen Khanh, a young and energetic officer. The military situation was relatively quiet with occasional skirmishes with small Viet Minh units. The 1st Artillery Battalion Headquarters and the Headquarters Battery were housed in three villas located on the western bank of the Binh Thuy River. The biggest villa was used as the office for the battalion commander, a French major, and also as Officers Quarters. I was temporarily assigned as Operations Officer for the battalion . In that capacity, I accompanied the battalion commander during his field inspections. One week after I reported for duty, I accompanied a DLO team attached to a Hoa Hao auxiliary unit operating in its area of responsibility north of the Bassac River. In contrast to operations in North Viet Nam where the DLO teams had to march with the infantry units they were supporting, in the Mekong Delta, we rode comfortably in a sampan along the multiple rivers and canals which crisscrossed the countryside while the infantry LAOS AND HAUTS PLATEAUX 61 progressed on both sides of the canal. If contact with the enemy was made, we would stop our sampan, disembark and, most difficult at all, try to determine the enemy location hidden behind thick coconut trees in front of us. Unlike a village in North Viet Nam, which was typically well delineated by a surrounding line of uninterrupted bamboo hedges, the village in the Mekong Delta could stretch for many miles along a main canal with no readily identifiable borders. I believed that the difference in physical settings between the Northern village and its Southern counterpart showed the differences in mentality and social attitudes; the villages in the North constituted close-knit social structures with their own rules and traditions,5 while the Southern villages were more open, more flexible, and less structured. I loved every minute of my stay at the 1st Artillery Battalion. As an Operation Officer, I had no command responsibilities. My duties consisted of revising training materials for the batteries, accompanying the battalion commander in field inspections, preparing reports , and updating tactical maps of the military operations in progress. My happiness was short-lived, however. In early December 1953, the battalion received orders to move to Laos to support military operations around the strategic area of Seno-Savannakhet in Central Laos. The Viet Minh had taken the city of Thakhek, north of Savannakhet, and the French had moved their reserve units to reinforce the defense of the important Seno Airport. The Viet Minh offensive in Central Laos helped divert French troops from Dien Bien Phu, its main objective. As our battalion was making preparations for the long trip to Laos, it received a new commander. Major Goussault was a reserve officer with no combat experience. A Vietnamese officer, Maj. Bui Huu Nhon, was also assigned to the battalion . Major Nhon graduated from the first Officers Class organized by the French in Dalat and had attended the French Artillery School. However, Major Nhon had no official function in the battalion because the French were not ready to transfer the battalion to Vietnamese officers. In any event, soon after Major Goussault arrived, he ordered me to report to the 3rd Battery in Vinh Long and to be prepared to 62UUU THE TWENTY-FIVE YEAR CENTURY take over the unit that was still under the command of a French officer. I sometimes asked myself whether I would be better off staying in North Viet Nam and fighting my familiar war in the Red River Delta or to participate in a foreign adventure and fight in a strange and far-away land. Just before Christmas 1953, the entire battalion moved to Laos via Cambodia. The trip took about five days. Surprisingly, we were neither harassed nor attacked by the Viet Minh during our movement...