French Combat with Nationalist Chinese in January 1946

[Stephen_Rynerson]

This question is technically about three weeks too late for this board, but I hope our hosts will indulge me, rather than exiling this to the "Other Eras" board. I'm reading Occupation and Revolution: China and the Vietnamese August Revolution of 1945 by Peter Worthing and he describes a series of clashes between troops of the Nationalist Chinese 93rd Division and French troops that took place between January 20 and 26, 1946 in Laos, "near Vientiane" on January 20, "near Nam Dinh" on January 22, and simply "in Laos" on January 26. Worthing relies primarily on Chinese sources, so his description of these engagements is from the Chinese perspective. Does anyone know what French units were likely to have been involved in each of these battles and approximately how many French troops participated? Thank you in advance.

[Loïc]

hello
as the 93rd Chinese Division occupied Laos until april 1946 when it was replaced by the French units only at this date

the explanation is that before, and still active in this aera, there were the last forgotten remnants of the Army of Indochina attacked and almost all destroyed in march 1945 and following months by Japanese,
so there were several nucleus or groups of French and Laotian Maquis and guerrillas resisting against Japanese then Viêt Minh and/or Lao-Issala and eventually Chinese who wanted to disarm them, Chinese soldiers controlling urban centers while irreducibles French-Laotian columns in the fields with local favorable support

[Stephen_Rynerson]

Loic, thank you for the response. Would it be accurate then to describe these forces as "Franco-Lao partisans" for shorthand or something like that?

[Loïc]

yes I could also use this, a mix of French military with Laotian volunteers reduced to a guerrilla warfare eventually supported and renforced by French Intelligence missions and commandos

[col kapa]

Hi Stephen

If you are interested in Vietnam Martin Windrows book "The last Valley" is a must. It covers from the Jap occupation and their relationship with the French during ww2 and closes on French withdrawal in 1954. It deals with Cambodia, Laos,Thailand and China who were all involved in Vietnam.
Cant recommend enough.