Viet Mihn, 1954 - 6th Submission to AHPC VII

As promised, here is an update to my long-neglected French Indochina project.

From 1945 to 1954 the French fought a long, bitter campaign to regain control of their colonial possessions in Indochina. During the struggle, the French and their allies lost over 134,000 in dead or missing in battles across Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. This sacrifice was all for nought as the Vietnamese people had tasted independence and would not be assuaged from it. 

The climatic battle of the war was fought in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu, a small mountain valley hamlet. Here, a large, well-equipped French force was encircled and destroyed by the Viet Mihn over a two-month siege. The Vietnamese victory shocked the world and allowed Ho Chi Mihn to negotiate from a position of strength at the Geneva Conference later that year. 

Unfortunately, even though the French were compelled to withdraw from the region, their ally, the United States, refused to allow the Vietnamese their self-determination. American interference escalated to police action and then to undeclared war, plunging Vietnam into another 10 years of conflict which cost billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives. In the end, America withdrew, Vietnam was united and the Vietnamese achieved what they had set out to do: gain their independence from foreign control.

These 28mm figures were sculpted by Paul Hicks and are excellent models. They are armed in a variety of weapons, reflecting the ad hoc supply structure of the Viet Mihn at that time. Some are armed with Mosin Nagant rifles while others have variants of PPSh and PPS submachine guns

The different shaped bases denote, officers/NCOs, infantrymen and specialists. I do this to help spot them on the tabletop.

This range is available from FNG Miniatures and Empress Miniatures.

Flag from Empress.

Thanks for dropping by folks! To shake things up a bit, next week will be something from 'Star Wars.'