Jean de Lattre de Tassigny
Jean Joseph Marie Gabriel de Lattre de Tassigny was a French général d'armée during World War II and the First Indochina War. He was posthumously elevated to the dignity of Marshal of France in 1952.
General de Lattre in 1946
De Lattre as a student, c. 1903
De Lattre as a lieutenant in the 12th Dragoon Regiment, 1914
De Lattre (center) as a battalion commander in the 5th Infantry Regiment at Coulommiers, 1928
The First Indochina War was fought between France and Việt Minh, and their respective allies, from 19 December 1946 until 20 July 1954. Việt Minh was led by Võ Nguyên Giáp and Hồ Chí Minh. Most of the fighting took place in Tonkin in Northern Vietnam, although the conflict engulfed the entire country and also extended into the neighboring French Indochina protectorates of Laos and Cambodia.
Clockwise from the top: After the fall of Dien Bien Phu, supporting Laotian troops fall back across the Mekong River into Laos; French Marine commandos wade ashore off the Annam coast in July 1950; M24 Chaffee American light tank used by the French in Vietnam; Geneva Conference on 21 July 1954; A Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat from Escadrille 1F prepares to land on French aircraft carrier Arromanches operating in the Gulf of Tonkin.
French Indochina (1913)
Võ Nguyên Giáp and Hồ Chí Minh (1945)
Japanese troops lay down their arms to British troops in a ceremony in Saigon after the surrender of Japan.
