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Why
Indochina?
an explanation is in order
Don’t
worry, this isn’t a treatise on the historical and political reasons for
the Indochina War of 1945 to 1954 between the French and the Viet
Minh. Rather I’d just like to share with you why I am attracted to
the period for wargaming.
The first reason is simple. I
started wargaming with a friend at about 13 and he introduced me to the
wargames club in my hometown. On my first visit there I played a game
based on the war in
Indochina
,
a conflict about which I knew nothing. A column of Airfix soft plastic
GMC trucks, escorted by Rocco Minitanks Greyhound armoured cars was winding
its way through a pass in the jungle when it was ambushed by Viet
Minh. Converted Airfix US Marines and Japanese provided the figures, I
have no idea what rules were used and I can’t even recollect who won, but
by the end of the afternoon I was hooked to wargaming. As a result,
after 30 years of expenditure of great treasure and copious quantities of
blood, sweat and tears in pursuit of this “hobby”, I find myself back
where I started. Like Jeff says, I fondly remember a previous
childhood.
The second reason is the books,
specifically Bernard Fall’s books. Fall was a Frenchman who became
an American citizen and was an unusual combination of academic, man of
action, reporter and writer. Based on his knowledge and experiences of
the First Indochina War he was one of the few people who could talk sensibly
about the Second Indochina War. In some respects he was a cult figure
amongst those who were trying to understand what was really going on in
Vietnam
in the ‘60s. A status ironically enhanced by his death in February
1967 on a Viet Cong booby trap in his old stomping ground, Highway One:
“The Street Without Joy.” His last words were: “…it smells
bad-meaning it’s a little bit suspicious…Could be an amb…”
Fall’s book, “Street Without
Joy” was the result of his is visit to
Indochina
in 1953 to prepare his Ph.D. dissertation. It is a combination of
history, political analysis and reportage that was about 15 years ahead of
the “Gonzo Journalism” of the ‘60s and ‘70s and is still, in my
opinion, one of the best pieces of military history ever written. If
you want a “flavour” of the war this is where you start.
“Hell In A Very Small Place”,
Fall’s account of
Dien
Bien Phu
is now a little bit dated, because of
information that has come to light since it was written, but nevertheless is
a classic piece of analysis and writing. It has the amazing ability to keep
the reader in doubt about an outcome which is already known. I have
read it about 20 times and often when re-reading it I wonder if the French
will win!
Fall’s books were devoured when I
was a teenager and the obsession began. I have re-read them again and
again along with anything else I can find about the period, and as my
reading has widened the obsession has deepened. I’ve gone through
many of the English language sources and if I can bring my schoolboy French
up to scratch there are enough books in that language to keep me busy for
another couple of decades or so too!
The nature of the war itself is also
part of the “attraction”. Although Ho Chi Minh categorised the war
against the French as that of the tiger against the elephant, that phrase
was a piece of good propaganda, and perhaps more appropriate to the Second
Indochina War. Compared to, say,
Korea
or
Vietnam
at the time of the
US
involvement, the First Indochina War was fought by the French on a
shoestring. US aid after the beginning of the Korean War was, to a
large part, cancelled out by Chinese aid to the Viet Minh after the founding
of the People’s Republic. From 1950 onwards the Viet Minh main force
units were just as professional, and frequently better equipped than their
French opponents. The French retained sole possession of armour and
airpower, and, until they discovered too late at
Dien Bien Phu
,
superiority in artillery, but in other respects the sides were often equal
in ability, with the Viet Minh having the edge in strategic direction and
commitment. Both sides undertook dramatic offensives and hard fought
defensives. Terrain varied from marshy delta to sand dune, to paddy,
to rolling uplands to jungle covered highlands. The scope for games is
almost unlimited and, wherever and whenever a game is set, it cannot help
being “exotic.”
Another exotic element is the nature
of the armies involved. Viet Minh units would vary in ability and
equipment from village based self-defence militia, through regional troops
to the main force units. Add in sappers and death volunteers, flag
wielding Commissars, “Trinh Sat” reconnaissance units, the occasional
Japanese left over from the Second World War and you need never paint two
wargames units alike. The French are even more colourful for
“French” is just a useful catchall term for the North African,
Senegalese, Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian, Foreign Legion (who, contrary to
popular belief were not all ex-Nazis,) French regular army and colonial
troops that made up the forces engaged. If this is not diverse enough
for you then what about parachuting dogs, naval commandos and riverine
forces, religious militia composed of Catholics in the North and even more
exotic sects in the South, Montagnard groups, militarised gangsters in
Saigon, counter guerrilla deep penetration groups and commandos of turned
Viet Minh?
One other factor that makes the
French army in
Indochina
interesting to model and wargame with is their blithe disregard for uniform
higher level military organisations that are a matter of faith for most
armies. For instance, Pirey recounts an operation during the battle of
Seven Pagodas in May 1951 where the order of battle consisted of his company
of Colonial Paratroops, reinforced by a platoon each of Foreign
Legionnaires, Vietnamese Paratroops (from his own battalion as by this time
each “white” unit had been “yellowed” by having Vietnamese
integrated at company and at platoon level), and Senegalese. Can you
imagine doing a WWII game and saying, “well you have a company of British
paras supported by a platoon each of the Black Watch,
US
101st Airborne and The King’s African Rifles”? Even the
most relaxed WWII gamer would find it difficult to swallow this, but in
Indochina
it would be par for the course.
Figures are not a problem if you
don’t mind a bit of converting, which I rather enjoy anyway. You can
have hours of fun loping bush hats of WWII Australian figures and sticking
them on US Marines. Many WWII and
Vietnam
figures can be used straight off. I have found lots of good stuff in the
Britannia Miniatures and SHQ ranges especially. To my surprise I
discovered that both Liberation Miniatures and Platoon 20 make figures
specially for the period, which leads me to believe that I’m not the only
Indochina
nut out there. The Platoon 20 are very nice, workmanlike figures, but
my personal favourites are the Lib Min figures which combine nice detail,
animation and a real feel for the period. I also like to use
Raventhorpe Miniatures as with a choice of heads you can have just the chap
you want in his “Kepi Blanc”, “Beret Rouge” or “Cowboy
Hat”. Raventhorpe also produce a lot of figures in shorts or bare
buff which are really useful as neither the French nor the Viets were long
on dress regulations.
Most vehicles, AFVs and aircraft are
easily available and even the most esoteric ones can be found with a bit of
digging. The digging is worth it as this gets us back to the exotic
nature of the period. Where else can you field M8 Howitzer Motor
Carriages used as main battle tanks, Weasel amphibians used for direct
assault and F8 Bearcat, (or “Beercat” as the French called them)
fighters?
Terrain pieces can be found in
ready-made
Vietnam
ranges. Scratch building is not hard and any good “colonial”
website will give you lots of ideas and advice. However my personal
favourite source remains tropical fish tank furniture… although I have to
admit that I still don’t know why tropical fish owners need really neat
models of Tonkinese “calcaires”, (limestone outcrops) I’m really
grateful to them anyway.
Only one thing was missing to make
the game I wanted: a decent set of rules. Then, on a visit to
Bruce’s one wet
Washington
afternoon a few years ago, he produced a set of rules called “Crossfire”
by Arty Conliffe, and a company each of WWII Japanese and British in Burma
to try them out. Neither of us had played with them before but by the
end of the afternoon I was sold! Here at last was a set of rules where
fire and movement were vital and games were decided not by knowing how many millimetres
of armour plate there are on the mantlet of a Tiger tank, but rather by
doing, or by avoiding doing, something stupid in the face of the enemy.
I got Jeff into them, Jeff got into a WWII kick and we introduced the
rules to the club. The result was electrifying with a whole bunch of people
who had never played before off and running with the rules from about move
two. Both the game scale and mechanics were ideal to replicate the war
in
Indochina
the way I felt it should be done. Time at last to get out the
unpainted Lib Min figures, boxes of plastics and unmade kits that had been
sitting under my wargames table and get to work…
Well that was over a year ago.
As these things tend to, the more I get into it the more my library and
store of unpainted stuff increases. Never mind, this is all part of
the joy of wargaming. With lots of borrowing from others I’ve produced a
set of house amendments for Crossfire to give a bit more of the
“flavour” of the war in Indochina; four A4 paper boxes have filled up
with troops, guns, boats and vehicles; terrain has mounted up, (no pun
intended); and, miracle of miracles, we have actually had two games!
In the first game the Viet Minh were
launching a night attack on a weakly held post whilst the French area
commander had to work out which of his many posts was actually being
attacked and which attacks he was being informed of were diversions.
As it happened the Viets overran the post whilst the French went off on the
wrong track but they worked out their mistake quick enough to get back and
cut off a retiring Viet Minh platoon. In the second game a Viet Minh
regional unit was tasked with slowing down a French mechanised column that
was driving hard to the relief of its ambushed main body. The initial
Viet ambush went well but the Viet platoons were too strung out to support
each other which enabled the French to launch a dismounted counterattack to
clear the road and break through to their beleaguered main body with only15
minutes to spare. Both games made the players think. They were also
very close, fast paced, saw the initiative change several times, looked good
and felt right… in short: they were fun. What more can you ask for?
For me it’s a bit like being 13
again…
On
Line Sources
If
I have whetted you appetite for more information about
Indochina
or Crossfire you might be interested in the following websites:
Indo 1945-1954
http://members.lycos.co.uk/indochine/index.html
Danny
O’Hara’s and Nowfel Leulliot’s site is the best out there about Indochina
in English with a mix of good historical and wargaming articles and even a
filmography (Although I beg to differ with the review of Pierre
Schoendoerffer’s “
Dien Bien Phu
” which I think is brilliant: albeit almost incomprehensible to the
general public who have not read everything about the battle, but who cares
about them!). Good links will take you to practically everything else
out there on the web.
Anything by Messers O’Hara and Leulluiot is good, and both have
several other sites that I commend to you, especially their works on the
little known Franco-Thai War of 1941.
Air War over French
Indochina
http://www.hedgehoghollow.com/awoic/index.html
If
you want details on modelling any aircraft used in French Indochina William
Alcot’s site is the one for you.
Dien
Bien Phu
http://www.dienbienphu.org/english/frame1_1.html
A
rather eclectic site centred on the battle. Check out the Para
’s Prayer. Again good links will take you to a lot of useful French
sites.
Grunt!
http://www.gruntonline.com/
Mike
Ruffle’s site is for the “Second Indochina War” but it includes much
that is useful for the first conflict. It has excellent history,
technical details, first hand accounts and modelling and wargaming content.
The latter includes Barrie Lovell’s “Incoming” adaptations for
Crossfire, (which I have borrowed extensively from in “Contre Les
Viets”.) I think this is the best Vietnam site out there. It has just become a members’ site but you get a CD
with your subscription so it is well worth it. It is obviously well thought
of by the Veterans out there as evidenced by its extensive links
13th Bomb Squadron Association
http://www.13thbombsquadron.org/index1.html
Actually
this is about a USAF B-26 Invader squadron that fought in Korea but the
combination of living history, (not without a bit of understated humour,)
and technical detail makes it very rewarding for the wargamer and rather
compulsive viewing for everyone else. I daresay French Invader
squadrons operated in much the same way. I largely re-wrote my
aircraft rules based on the information here.
The French Foreign Legion
http://www.geocities.com/legionsite/
If
you would like to hear “Contre Les Viets” sung go to Collin Smith’s
site, hit the music menu and kick back… talk about soaking up the
atmosphere! He has lots of other
Legion songs and information too. A fine site and you can almost taste
the blood sausage.
Crossfire Official Site
http://www.geocities.com/ww2crossfire/001.htm
Just
as the name implies this is the place for discussion groups, links, Q and As
and all kinds of good stuff.
Lloydian Aspects
http://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/nikolas.lloyd/
Lloyd
Nikolas has a truly creative personal site that must have something for
everybody, (although the “Children’s Television Quiz” will be lost on
anyone unfortunate enough not to have been a kid in England
in the ‘60s and ‘70s!). The modelling
and wargaming bits are especially good and his thoughts on Crossfire are
very sound. In Hong Kong
we use his base marking system which is a lot nicer than having printed unit
designations on the toys, and many of his house rules. In particular
you will find his ideas on suppression effects, reactive fire and smoke in
“Contre Les Viets.” And when all the little warriors have been
safely returned to their boxes wargamers who appreciate the finer things in
life can change mood and check out his tribute to Dame Celia Johnson.
Historical Wargaming in
St. John’s
http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~tmarshal/index.html
Tim
Marshal’s fine personal site with a complete set of Crossfire house rules
amongst lots of other good wargaming stuff. The artillery and aircraft rules
in “Contre Les Viets” owe much to Tim. I haven’t been able to
ask his permission because mail keeps bouncing back but his site has the
feel of a chap who doesn’t get snitty over this sort of thing.
And
Finally: Why the French would have used Crossfire
According
to their own post war analysis, a lack of experienced platoon leaders often
led the French to break down their “triangular” companies of three
platoons of three sections each into four platoons of two sections each.
(See: Croizat V.J. “A Translation From The French. Lessons of the War in Indochina
Volume II”, RAND, California, 1967, pp224-225. This book is, incidentally, 411 pages of everything that
you wanted to know about this war and is still available from RAND
for only $25).
Now
think about this in wargames terms. In Crossfire a unit with good command
and control can manoeuvre its sections whether or not they can see their
platoon commander. A unit with average command and control can move
its sections if they start in sight of their platoon commander although they
can end in a position that is out of sight of him. A unit with poor
command and control can only move sections if they stay in sight of the
platoon commander throughout the manoeuvre. Fire and movement is the
basis of infantry combat and this is usually typified in a platoon attack by
a fire group pinning the opponent whilst an assault group moves in at right
angles to the base of fire to take him out. Thus, in Crossfire terms,
in dense cover, (i.e. most of Indochina,) the good platoon could move all its sections independently and quickly in
their fire and assault roles. The average platoon could set up its
base of fire relatively independently of the platoon commander who could
then concentrate on moving the assault sections. But the poor unit
must have all its sections moved by the platoon commander who can only
realistically handle two sections (one on each side) at any one time.
By the time he had personally set up his base of fire the opponents could
well have decamped or have done something unpleasant to him whilst he was
trying to get his assault section moving.
Thus,
when faced by a deterioration in quality, it makes sense in Crossfire, just
as it made sense to the French in reality, to use more, but smaller
platoons, which would then have only one role: fire or manoeuvre.
Having two small platoons that could do one thing each quickly was better
than having a triangular platoon that would do both things slowly.
Don’t
you just love it when you find a set of rules that models real life problems
simply and elegantly?
Peter
Hunt - January 2002
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