From Curt: 28mm French Paratroopers in Indochina, 1954 (55 points)

Back when the earth was still cooling I wrote a large portion of my graduate thesis on the Vietnam War.  At that time my studies largely focused on the later American entanglement and I had only a rudimentary knowledge of France's earlier involvement in the region. Nonetheless, as I grew older and became a 'reluctant Francophile', I began to read more on the First Indochina War to see if I could gain a deeper understanding of it.

A French Legionnaire advancing along an elevated track with a M24 Chaffee in the background.

The Fist Indochina War lasted from 1946 through to 1954. In simple terms it was fought because of France's desire to reassert its colonial dominance in a region which it had ruled since the mid 19th century. For them to retake control, the French had to bring to heel a growing nationalist movement which was eager to secure independence from any foreign influence. So, political partition grew into insurgency and insurgency escalated to full-scale war with more and more French (and later American) resources being committed to the conflict. Ultimately over 190,000 French Union troops would be involved in Indochine with over 75,000 being killed over 8 years of fighting (a sobering statistic when compared to the 58,000 Americans killed during their 18 years in Vietnam). Not surprisingly, to the French, the war in Indochina (also known as 'the dirty war') is a very painful chapter in their country's history and it has only been in the past decade or so that they have been able to re-examine these events with some level of dispassionate introspection.

A tragedy in the making: French paratroop in reinforcements at Dien Bien Phu, 1954.

Though it has been largely overlooked by the anglophone wargaming community, the First Indochina War offers a rich selection of interesting uniforms, weapons, armour, aircraft and most importantly ferocious scenarios for gaming.  For example, the French conducted literally hundreds of paratroop drops during the war, from tiny squad-level deployments to full divisional drops. They made extensive use of WWII era armour in their heavily armed Mobile Groups, to which the Viet Mihn took particular relish in engaging with ambushes and pitched wave assaults. They conducted complex amphibious operations with armoured assault boats and specialized riverine craft. Also, 'The de Lattre Line', composed of scores of concrete pillboxes stretched across Indochina, was continually assaulted by Viet Mihn detachments, with many being over-run in savage night assaults. So as you can imagine there is much grist for the wargaming mill.

In terms of equipment, French paratroops used several unique weapons during the conflict. For example, both the MAT49 sub-machinegun and the MAS36 rifle could be folded-down to make them more compact for paradrop drops.

The efficient MAT49

The MAT SMG with collapsed foregrip and wire stock.

The MAS36/CR39 with its characteristic folding aluminum stock.

The French utilized a wide variety of WWII armour during their war in Indochina. M3 Stuarts, M3 Halftracks, M24 Chaffees, M8 Howitzers, M36 Jacksons were common, and even captured Japanese tanks from WWII were utilized. So, lots of interesting gear for the discerning Tread-head!

Chaffee in a flooded rice field

M8 Howitzer and M3 Halftracks.

M5A Stuarts and their Legionnaire crews.

So with all this in the back of my mind I was delighted to see Red Star Miniatures release the beginnings of a new range of miniatures focusing on this conflict. These are beautifully crisp 28mm castings sculpted by the very talented (and incredibly prolific) Paul Hicks. 

So here is my stab at painting this period. In this ten-man group there is a potpourri of troop types. Like my other figures used for skirmish games I've based these on various shaped bases to help identify their roles. (I decided to go a bit overboard on the greenery to reflect the verdant setting.) 

The two chaps on the square bases below are junior NCO's. These fellows would typically be armed with MAT SMGs or M1 Carbines.

Figures on round bases will be the core troops, the rankers, typically armed with the shortened MAS36/CR39 rifle with its distinctive aluminum stock. (I will have some of these ready for a future post.) The figure on the octagonal base denotes a ranker with a special weapon, this one is armed with a MAT49 SMG. 

The two man teams on the pill-shaped bases featured here are a LMG team firing their FM24/29 while on the move and a 60mm mortar team hustling to a new firing position.

The large circular unit is a 60mm mortar team deployed with a handheld radio operator who's receiving coordinates for a fire mission.

I have an officer base which is hexagonal in shape but it's not quite done yet - again, that will have to be for a later post.

So yet another period to delve into. Since I'm planning to use them for skirmish-level gaming (probably adapting 'Chain of Command') I'm not expecting to collect too many of these models. Right, famous last words...

These ten figures should give me a base of 50 points, nonetheless I hope nobody will begrudge me as I'm adding another 5 since the mortar was a complete swine to put together.

As my attention span is like a dog's in a squirrel-filled park I will move onto something COMPLETELY different for my next entry...

A wonderful photo by Robert Capa of a French Mobile Group driving past a young Vietnamese woman.