Demobilization post-Dien Bien Phu
From: Ky-Phong Tran <ky@frequentwind.com>
Reply-To: Ky-Phong Tran <ky@frequentwind.com>, Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: vsg@u.washington.edu
Date: Fri, Mar 7, 2008 at 3:28 PM
Dear All,
I am looking for resources about the post-Dien Bien Phu period concerning the de-mobilization/re-mobilization of troops (especially in the north). Were these fighters professional soldiers or volunteers? Also, was there a transition period to re-mobilization or no down period at all between the French and American conflicts?
I am working on a piece about Ninh Binh, Phat Diem Cathedral, and Operation Passage to Freedom.
Thank you much,
Ky-Phong Tran
Graduate Student
University of California, Riverside
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From: Balazs Szalontai <aoverl@yahoo.co.uk>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: Ky-Phong Tran <ky@frequentwind.com>, Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Date: Sat, Mar 8, 2008 at 12:58 AM
Dear Ky-Phong Tran,
the data I found in the reports of the Hungarian embassy to Hanoi say that approx. 50.000 soldiers were demobilized in the DRV in 1954-1955. Since unemployment was already a serious problem in the cities, it proved quite difficult to find employment for them. Some of them were settled down in border areas where the government considered the Thai ethnic minority "unreliable." I wrote a bit about this in an article, "Political and Economic Crisis in North Vietnam, 1955-56," published in "Cold War History" 5, No. 4, pp. 395-426. See pages 407, 410-411.
Let me wish good luck to your research!
Best regards,
Dr. Balazs Szalontai
Mongolia International University
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From: Maxner, Steve <steve.maxner@ttu.edu>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Date: Sat, Mar 8, 2008 at 6:29 AM
Dear Ky-Phong:
In case you have not already looked, you can find about 126 documents in
the Virtual Archive at Texas Tech that discuss demobilization following
Geneva. Simply conduct a search using those two words as separate
keywords - "Geneva" in one field and "demobilization" in a second.
Replacing the latter with "remobilization" only returns 4 documents.
Searching for "Dien Bien Phu" with "demobilization" returns 30
documents.
Some of these are copyrighted manuscripts that you can access here in
Lubbock or you can request Fair Use copies via our duplication service.
Good luck.
Steve
Stephen Maxner, Ph.D.
Director
The Vietnam Center
The Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University
Special Collections Library Room 108
15th and Detroit
Lubbock, TX 79409-1041
Phone: 806-742-9010
Fax: 806-742-0496
Email: steve.maxner@ttu.edu
Website: www.vietnam.ttu.edu
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