| Operation Ceinture | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the First Indochina War | |||||||||
The region of Dong Bac, encompassing much of the Hanoi, Thai Nguyen and Tuyen Quang area. |
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| French Union |
Viet Minh | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| General Valluy[1] | Unknown | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 18 battalions[2] | Regiment 112 Doc Lap Brigade |
||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Unknown | 9,500[2] | ||||||||
|
|
|||||
Operation Ceinture was a late 1947 military endeavour by the French Far East Expeditionary Corps against the Viet-Minh during the First Indochina War. A month long effort that commenced on 20 November following the cessation of Operation Lea, Ceinture (French: belt) intended to rid the region between Hanoi, Thai Nguyen and Tuyen Quang of Viet-Minh infiltration.[1] The French utilised 18 paratroop battalions and naval landing craft to engage the Viet-Minh's 112 Regiment, however the latter were able to for the most part slip through French cordons, abandoning weapon caches. Dead and wounded totals given by Bernard Fall for the Viet-Minh reach 9,500, however he suggests that a portion were non-combatants.[2]
The French did succeed in securing the region, and they withdrew their forces on 22 December, leaving a scattering of jungle fortifications to hold the region.[2]
Printed