Commemoration of the Thakhek massacre
Following the signing of the Franco-Chinese Accords of 28 February 1946 directing Chinese troops to withdraw from Indochina above the 16th parallel, French strategists decided to retake all of northern Laos immediately. Chinese officers on the ground did not object. As a result, a major urban battle shaped up, when Vietnamese and Lao leaders, led by Prince Suphānuvong, decided to defend the city of Thakhek against French forces. On 21 March 1946, under the command of Jean Boucher de Crèvecoeur, European and Lao troops in the Forces du Laos, supported with artillery and airpower, attacked their adversaries in what was a short-lived but intense urban battle. British-supplied Spitfires wreaked havoc on the Vietnamese–Lao troops as they tried to withdraw from the city under heavy fire and across the Mekong to safety in Thailand. The French opened fire from the banks and sent Spitfires to machine-gun from the air hundreds of boats and pirogues trying to transport troops and civilians to safety across the river in Thailand. Suphānuvong himself was injured while trying to escape, saved by a young Vietnamese man who died when he threw himself on top of the Lao prince. In all, the French Forces du Laos contingent lost 19 men, including 12 Europeans and thirty wounded. The adversary lost 400 men, mostly Vietnamese. De Crevecoeur later wrote that the French counted 250 dead within the city of Thakhek itself, suggesting that perhaps as many as 100 perished in the Mekong. In their propaganda, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam accused the French of a massacre. Vietnamese strategists also learned from Thakhek that the defense of Hanoi would need to be thought out very carefully. The battle of Thakhek also made it clear that the city would be an integral part of this violent war of decolonization
Commemoration of the Thakhek massacre
Following the signing of the Franco-Chinese Accords of 28 February 1946 directing Chinese troops to withdraw from Indochina above the 16th parallel, French strategists decided to retake all of northern Laos immediately. Chinese officers on the ground did not object. As a result, a major urban battle shaped up, when Vietnamese and Lao leaders, led by Prince Suphānuvong, decided to defend the city of Thakhek against French forces. On 21 March 1946, under the command of Jean Boucher de Crèvecoeur, European and Lao troops in the Forces du Laos, supported with artillery and airpower, attacked their adversaries in what was a short-lived but intense urban battle. British-supplied Spitfires wreaked havoc on the Vietnamese–Lao troops as they tried to withdraw from the city under heavy fire and across the Mekong to safety in Thailand. The French opened fire from the banks and sent Spitfires to machine-gun from the air hundreds of boats and pirogues trying to transport troops and civilians to safety across the river in Thailand. Suphānuvong himself was injured while trying to escape, saved by a young Vietnamese man who died when he threw himself on top of the Lao prince. In all, the French Forces du Laos contingent lost 19 men, including 12 Europeans and thirty wounded. The adversary lost 400 men, mostly Vietnamese. De Crevecoeur later wrote that the French counted 250 dead within the city of Thakhek itself, suggesting that perhaps as many as 100 perished in the Mekong. In their propaganda, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam accused the French of a massacre. Vietnamese strategists also learned from Thakhek that the defense of Hanoi would need to be thought out very carefully. The battle of Thakhek also made it clear that the city would be an integral part of this violent war of decolonization