The story of Gia Vuc during French Indochina
is directly linked to the story of the Hre Nation
and the GCMA
in the Central Highlands of Annam.
Through specialized French
reading/research,
help from the daughter of Capitaine Hentic
(GCMA)
and members of Gia Vuc USSF A-teams,
I will try to retrace some of the fascinating
but less-known
part of the French Indochina history.
I hope this will act as a living tribute to those who served
with the GCMA,
the Hre Nation and other
Montagnards of the Central Highlands in Vietnam.
As you know, Gia Vuc at some stage during its pre American
history had some involvement with the French. Many reports
stated that French mine fields
were around Gia Vuc A-camp and this used to be an
old French Fort.
The
stone/brick building in the camp
was a legacy from
the French. As far as I know the French mine fields
and the
building can only be explained by the assumption that
a French
outpost had been there in the late 1940 to early
1950's.
I can not think of any other logical explanation.
I have done some research via all the French Indochina
books that I have but unfortunately
Gia Vuc did not appear in any of them until
I came across a book titled
"Jungle Mission"
written by René Riesen
To be correct, the book was written in 1955 in French under the title of
"
Mission spéciale en forêt Moï " and was translated to English in 1957
with "JUNGLE MISSION" as it's new title.
The book is a poignant account of René Riesen life and mission amongst the Montagnards and his ever growing love for these people. To use modern terminology, he went totally native, learning their language, their traditions, their rituals, their way of life. He became so much one of them and was so admired by his partisans that they offered him a wife to seal his alliance with them. On orders from his superiors and in the fear of offending his Montagnards and damaging all his good work, he accepted. Later on he was offered a second wife to secure alliance with another tribe
as it was customary in the Montagnards way of life. He was loved so much that the Hre called him
"the Father with white hair".
Never did he try to impose the European
ways, every thing he did was brought down to Montagnards level, so they would understand and accept what had to be done. Few Europeans have had the humility or the sympathy to enter so fully into a primitive way of life and to describe native men and women with such intimacy and even tenderness
Unfortunately the books was not written as an
historical account but more as a human narration of an extraordinary adventure. So the couple of hand drawn maps
in the book are not very accurate and very little military information is given.
Ilouhi and René Riesen
RenéRiesen
was a Colonial Infantry Corporal
with the
"Bataillon de Marche d’Extrême Orient" (BMEO)
This short history of Rene Riesen life
has been compiled from information read in
"Jungle Mision",
"Les heros oublies"
and
"Les Bataillons des Reprouves".
In this, Raymond Muelle misspelled his name
as Rene
Rossen, but this is definably his story!
"Late
in WWII, Rene did work briefly for the Vichy government.
After the liberation, he received a twenty years
prison sentence as
his involvement was minor. During his sentence, he volunteer to serve in the
"BILOM" Bataillion Leger d’Infantrie
d’Outre Mer where the WWII political prisoners could
redeemed themselves.
R.
Riesen arrived in Saigon in Mai 1950 as a Colonial
Infantry " 2eme Classe" soldier affected to the BILOM
("Bataillon d'Infanterie Legere d'Outre-Mer"),
a unit no longer in existence.
Most of its
soldiers had been assigned to the BMEO ("Bataillon
de Marche Extreme Orient") which has been created in January
1950. The BMEO will also have a short
existence as they were
in turn converted into "Batallions Montagnard"
in December 1950.
In
fact Riesen was assigned to
the 1st Company, 4th BMEO
at
the outpost of Kon Plong, an outpost controlling access to the costal plains of
Son Ha and Ba To.
The outpost is about a day away traveling by jeep from
Kontum and is position on a 1800 meter high
peak were the rainy season lasted about 7
months
with thick fog present almost every day.
In
December 1950 the 4th BMEO was renamed as the 4th
Montagnard battalion, its HQ stayed at
Ban Mé Thuot and
its Battalions operated around Kontum.
I understand that René Riesen
served around 4 years in the Kontum area and joined the
GCMA after its creation , he served under Cpt Hentic, creator of "L'action Hre".
Corporal R Riesen received, the French Croix de Guerre,
the Croix des T.O.E (Théâtres d'opérations extérieures) and the Croix de la Vaillance
Vietnamienne, with palm for is actions in French
Indochina.
Like many after his tour in Indochina, he was
send
to a much quieter operational Theatre:
Algeria.
In fact, this did not stay quiet for very long
as this escalated quickly into full warfare.
René
Riesen and his wife would meet their death
in an Arab ambush in December 1956.
Unfortunately,
I have not found any more information
on René Riesen and
do not know if his wife who died
at his side was Ilouhi, his Hre wife.
(If anybody has any
information on René
Riesen, please get in touch)
HIS
JUNGLE MISSION
René Riesen was send north and north east of Kontum to try to rally all the Indigenous population and specifically the southern Hre
of Mankra (Gia Vuc area) to fight the Viet Minh (VC).
All the high plateau of central Annam were habited by what was know to the French as the "Moi population" and the "Montagnards" to the American.
These people were a mixture of different tribes of Malayo-Polynesian origins, the ones mentioned in Riesen book are the Bahnars, the
Monoms, Djarais, Rhades, Sodangs and the Hres, they all shared a common factor:
a very strong mistrust and hatred of the low land people:
the Vietnamese.
In effect for centuries the Vietnamese have been pushing these tribes out of the fertile costal area, into the mountains and had
actually named them the "Moi", which meant in Vietnamese Barbarian.
The Vietnamese people regarded these primitive people as savages. During the French Indochina war, these mountains became vital to the fighting Viet-Minh as
the central highlands valleys became highways between Laos, Cambodia, North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The Viet-Minh which were low land Vietnamese had no respect for these hill tribes and decided to convert them to communism by force and terror.
The French soon realized that the hill tribes care very little for communism, the Viet-Minh or Vietnam in general.
But, what they cared for was the little lands they had left and their way of life.
The French also found that the Montagnards were prepared to fight against any invaders:
Viet-Minh or Vietnamese government forces.
Generally they did not fear the French as in the past, the few encounters with the white men were via missionaries which always brought them peace and
help.
The French decided to help these hill tribes to achieve a kind of Independence amongst the "French Indochina Union" in exchange for their fight against the
Viet-Minh.
French Special Forces soldiers were send to these remote tribes to try to gain their allegiances and
this where René Riesen adventure started.
Again the book does not give very specific dates but the Jungle Mission took place during the later part of 1950. The 1949 Hre uprising is mentioned in his book and his Jungle Mission was an unconventional operation thought of by Kon Plong outpost officers: Capitaine Pierre et Lieutenant Richard,
this was done before the creation of the GCMA.
I believe, this was
in 1950 that René Riesen was
presented with the mission of rallying the various
Montagnards, especially the Hres north east of Kontum.
As well as learning their language he was send on a
first-aid course as medical aid would play a key roll in
his success. He was briefed that his mission would not
only be of a military nature, but that he would
have to act as a map maker and missionary as he was
being sent deep into unexplored and contested Hre
territory to rally its population. Contrary to the
Viet-Minh who converted Montagnards by force and looted
villages, Renee and his partisan would pay their own way
by exchanging "French counters" for food. (French
counters could be exchanged at the nearest French
outpost for fix amount of rice, dry fish, cloth
etc". After a while, the
prestige of a white man going alone with indigenous
partisan deep into contested area spread rapidly to far
away villages.
René Riessen, became know
to the indigenous as
"BA TCHIAC GAHO TABOUAC",
father with white hair,
and then
"BA TAMOIM",
father of the Moi.
His fame grew so much that the Hre nation decided to give
him
a wife to strike an alliance with him.
Ilouhi
his first wife was a Hre from Vikli, a village a few
miles
away from Gia Vuc.
"According to R Riesen book, the Hre nation was divided into:
*
The Northern Hre who fomented the 1949 revolt and from which they were drawing their guerrillas and partisans. They came under the outposts of Mambuk, Vimouk and Dakto
*
The southern Hre of Gia Vuc and Mankra who did not take part in the rebellion. Their land had not yet been occupied by the Viet-Minh who were mainly fighting in the Binh-Dinh province. This obviously made them more open to French influence, but there alliance would only be achievable via the Northern Hre which were
already fighting on the French side.
In 1949 the Hre serving under Viet-Minhmutinied and using their weaponsmassacred 5000 Viets including settlers. In fear of heavy reprisal to
follow, the mutineersconvergedto Kon Plong, Mambuk and Dakto asking the French for armed support. The Vietminh were quick in their reprisal and reoccupied momentary lost grounds while massacring the Hrepopulation
left behind. The Rebel Hre either went into maquis with French help or enlisted intoFrench partisans forces to free their country of the Viet Minh in a movement called the "DOC LAP HRE" , the "Hre independence movement" for which the Kon Plong officers wheredevoted to."
Before his death René
managed to write a second book
"Le silence du ciel" - "The silence of the sky"
This book retrace his adventure with the French Colonial paratroopers & the GCMA and was published in 1956 but was never translated to English.
Jungle Mission Author: René Riesen Publisher: Crowell (1957) Language: English ASIN: B0007ED6N2
More information about the
"Jungle Mission":
KON-PLONG outpost, is about 60 miles north east of Kontum and was by 1946 the most advance French post in the plateau of Kontum. It was build at theintersection of theKontum valleys andmountain
leading to Son Ha and BaTo, highways to Laos, Cambodia, North Vietnam and coastal areas.
In 1946 the post was manned by a Company of Hill riflemen, from 1946-1948 the outpost started to harden while the Viet-Minh tried to over run it, as it was an obstacle totheir military andpolitical activities.
By 1948 the French militaryoutlook changed from defensive tooffensive tactics, with raids deep into Viet controlled areas. The garrison by 1948 had3 officer, 15 NCO/European troops, 150 indigenous partisan commandos and 120 men regular native rifle
company.Liaisonwith Kontum wasmade
once a month by a trucks convoy. Cpt Pierre, the outpost Co, initiated civic actions andset up a market and a trading post where distant tribes from
East and West met to exchange goods and food.
This became a good source of intelligence for the outpost.
From his map you can see that René Riesen did go to Mankra (Mangia), which is a few mile south of Gia Vuc, and went up north following the Song Re valley, so he must have passed through Gia Vuc. It is also interesting to note that a few of the names on his map are spelt a different way to the names used in the
US 1960 maps. The only reasons I can think of, is as mentioned in his book: no maps existed of that area, he actually was
recording and mapping places he was going through.
He more than likely did spell the names as he was hearing them from a language different to his.
I have also acquired a French Indochina silk map, again the names of some of the villages are spelt different from the
1960's maps!
Names from the
"Jungle Mission" book
Names identified on
US 1960's map
Location
Plaine de Gravuc
Plain of Gia Vuc
15° 43' N - 108° 05'E
Camp
Mankra
Mangia
Vikli
Vicli
Viklun
Vic Klum
Tama
Tamao
Vi-Pe
Vipee
Kon Plong
Kon Plong
Mang Buk
Mang Buk
BaTo
BaTo
Map Room
R Riesen Jungle
Mission hand drawn map (1950's)
With map study by
Robert M Hensler ,
Cpt MAT 1-27, Duc Pho District,
Quang Ngai Province, 1970
This map is huge so be patient, worth the wait
PART OF JOINT OPERATIONS GRAPHIC
(GROUND) MAP
SCALE 1:250 000, KONTUM, VIETNAM,
SERIES 1501, ND49-5, EDITION 2,
COMPILED IN 1967
Visit our other pages for more information on
the Hre and the French and the GCMA
I am working on a new pages regarding
the involvement of the Montagnards with the French Army.
If you have any information, please get in touch
Jean-Luc
This
page has been written by J-L Delauve (Gia Vuc webmaster) after reading the following
books,
this is a work in progress and the webpage can and will
be updated if new information come to light.
Reference Materials:
Uniforms of the Indo-China War and Vietnam War,Leroy
Tomphson; Les 170 Jours de Dien Bien
Phu, Erwan Bergot;
French Foreign Legion Paratroops and The French Indochina War 1946-54 Martin Windrow;
Une Guerre sans Fin, Indochine 1945-54, Pierre Ferrari et Jaques M.Vernet;
The Last Valley, Martin windrow; Commando et Forces Speciales en Indochine, Raymond Muelle;
Services Speciaux, GCMA-Iindochine, Raymond Muelle - Eric Deroo;
Jungle Mission, R Riesen; Le Silence du Ciel, R Riesen; Les Heros Oublies, Erwan Bergo.