PPS files, lot 65 D 101, “Gullion”
Memorandum by Edmund A. Gullion1 to the Director of the Policy Planning Staff (Bowie)
Subject:
- Further French Defeat in Vietnam2
At Ankhe, far down the coast of Annam, the French have just suffered their third greatest defeat in Indochina—after Dien Bien Phu, and Cao Bong-Langson (1950/51).
They have lost over a thousand men, including their two Korea battalions, over a hundred trucks, some guns and munitions. This is by far the biggest reverse they have ever known in the South.
It does not augur well for building a strong South Vietnam. It [Page 1770] shows Viet Minh regulars in strength and an irregular strength greater than supposed and still growing.
It may enable the Viet Minh to demand an enclave in the South, here or at Hui, or Can Tho, in exchange for Haiphong. This can only mean that the Communists will eventually dominate in the South as in the North.