751G.00/8–2553: Telegram
The Ambassador at Saigon (Heath) to the Department of State
334. No distribution outside Department. Personal for Philip Bonsal from Heath. Trapnell tells me that according available intelligence French command thinks it unlikely that Viet Minh will try another invasion in Laos present time and the fact that all Viet Minh divisions are close around Tonkin Delta leads it to believe that there might be an early offensive against Delta. To meet such an offensive, the French have in addition to their static units, a mobile reserve of 18 battalions plus 10 parachute battalions.
Trapnell does not believe French have any plan to undertake any sizeable offensive operation beyond the five limited operations of which Langson (very successful) and Phan Thiet and North Annam (not very successful) were the first three items.
This telegram marked “No distribution” since understood Trapnell reporting direct JCS.