#5
Post
by major grubert » 03 Dec 2004, 14:48
PapageiStaffel,
You made it sound like Thailand didn't win the war!
Apart from the disaster at Koh Chang, the Thai forces more or less overran most of the French ground forces. Although the conflict bogged down and turned into a stalemate, it would be easy to presume that the Thais would have eventually won.
Most opinions agree that the French performance was abysmal---especially when it could've been better (that said, the FFL did put up a more than good fight).
Even the book "La présence militaire française en Indochine" comes up with this very conclusion; "During this French - Thai war, disappointing from every point of view, the Indochinese army loses more than 300 men (23). The feeling of giving up and ignorance, which seems to exist in the home country, and the awareness of a inevitable and complete powerlessness in face of problems, which are taking a world magnitude, are more important than those losses."