Chapter 778: The Reversal of a Rake

But now, the Viet Cong had come to the judgment that the French were trying to completely destroy North Vietnam before they left. It was even an uncertainty that Hanoi, the first major city in North Vietnam, could be taken over in its entirety.

From the VC’s point of view, this was, of course, unacceptable, and no one wanted to receive a piece of wreckage. If the French wreaked havoc and then patted themselves on the back, it would also be a huge blow to the VC, who were about to take power.

The commanders, led by Vu Won Kha Van Chin Dung, suggested to the VC central government that it could consider preempting a forced takeover if necessary.

“In fact, if France dares to do so, it must have made military preparations, and it is supported by many countries, and the news coming from the sea defense, there is Britain appearing in the outer sea, looks like it is going to receive France.”

Now the VC is in the middle of a dilemma, the movements of Britain and France are too coincidental to be thought of much.

Hanoi Electricity Supply Station, there was a deafening bang, with the bang, the whole building rolled up in a cloud of dust, blown rubble flying around, the evacuated French army has begun to start the destruction of the city’s electricity system, this is just the beginning, within a few minutes, the water supply institutions were blown up, Hanoi’s water and electricity system has been completely paralyzed.

Finally, after a few months, the French and the Viet Cong were once again at war in Hanoi, the largest city in North Vietnam. The French had stockpiled a large amount of weapons and ammunition in the center of North Vietnam, and this time, they tilted them out without reservation, with French Air Force bombers in the air, and mines laid on the ground on an ad hoc basis.

In Hanoi’s harbor, a steady stream of ships went farther and farther downriver to take the evacuees away.

Outside Haiphong Harbor, in the command cabin of the heavy cruiser Devonshire, Rear Admiral George Ball examined the telegram in his hand; although he could not see the firefight in Hanoi, he had been made aware of the current situation by telegrams from the French command in Hanoi.

“Shell Hai Phong Harbor, frigates rush into the mouth of the Red River!” Rear Admiral George Bauer gave the combat order, the London class heavy cruiser was built during the treaty era, but it had been successful in many battles in the middle of World War II.

With Rear Admiral George Bower’s order, the two hundred and three millimeter turret, which had not been used for a long time and was almost dusty, once again revealed its fierce side. In the nineteenth century there was an unwritten rule that no battleship, no matter how powerful its firepower, should not engage a well-defended fortress.

This was the experience gained by the British and French allies during the Crimean War, but with the exaggerated turnover rate of warships in the late nineteenth century, going from ex-dreadnoughts to super-dreadnoughts in a matter of years, this unwritten rule had been gradually forgotten.

The flurry of fire from the London class heavy cruisers was the first time since World War II that Britain had solved a problem by force. At the same time, two frigates accelerated and joined the barrage.

In the city of Hanoi, a section of VC soldiers trying to forcibly take over Hanoi were exchanging fire with alert French soldiers.

A shell from the French artillery position smashed into the location of the VC soldiers, the VC soldiers who broke into the city, also from time to time fired towards the opposite side, shrapnel in the grass, shrapnel flying across the grass, blowing up a piece of turf. A few soldiers, under the cover of Hanoi’s citizens, ran lightly toward the buildings with their interpreters.

Just as they rushed into the doorway of a building, a mortar shell struck the building’s facade, shattering all the glass in the first floor windows, sending smoke billowing out, and several soldiers falling in a pool of blood.

“Well done, a drumroll to wipe out the monkeys in one fell swoop!” The French artilleryman was overjoyed and shouted happily.

There was another loud bang and a shell. Shrapnel and glass flew horizontally, and the Presidential Guard suffered heavy casualties, with cries for help, screams, and wails. A couple of French soldiers, under cover of the artillery, pulled the bolt of their guns, and there was a pleasing click of the gun’s mechanism as a golden-colored cartridge was pumped and thrown from the chamber, and the shiny metalwork tumbled down onto the sidewalk, which was pieced together with granite blocks, and rolled into the drainage canal beside the road after bouncing twice.

The battle took place suddenly, neither side had expected the first meeting to be in such a manner, the VC soldiers were less than 500 meters into the city, and the lead squad had just turned a corner when they came face to face with the French, who had been prepared for this.

A determined counterattack was still quite evident, and this small force of infiltrating VC ended the ineffective infiltration.

The encounter here is just the tip of the iceberg, in fact, the soldiers of the French army, after all, is down in the European theater of war, urban combat is not unfamiliar, the key is that the original Vietnamese never give them the opportunity to make the walk always feel that there are Vietnamese inside the bushes to talk to, and now this mode of combat the French is not unfamiliar.

And on another street, a similar but different course of fighting was taking place, an encounter in which the French alert soldiers and the Viet Cong soldiers who had felt their way in spotted each other almost simultaneously. But orders had been given by the French command in Hanoi before the evacuation operation, and the French were prepared for possible surprises.

The two sides were simply too close to do much aiming, and the battle was short and bloody, with several soldiers on both sides being shot within seconds, closer to executions than battles, and the French firepower was after all ferocious enough to stop the infiltration of these VC soldiers.

The infantrymen who had been hiding in the buildings to keep watch immediately rushed out from their respective hiding places. Lining up in horizontal rows to shoot at the fleeing enemy troops with their backs turned, as if they were playing a shooting game in a playground, the French soldiers gleefully knocked these defenseless targets to the ground one by one.

Allen Wilson didn’t know what was going on in Hanoi, he knew that France was indeed at war again with the Viet Cong as well, but he didn’t realize that the French were back in fighting form, and honestly was this any different than the Battle of Dien Bien Phu? Maybe the difference is that is that the Battle of Dien Bien Phu didn’t have a city like Hanoi for the French to destroy.

He was British not French and the Hanoi engagement was ultimately irrelevant to him, more relevant was the shelling of Haiphong harbor.

Heaven forbid Allen Wilson envisioned this scene at all, how long ago was gunboat diplomacy? So long ago that Alan Wilson had forgotten that Britain had the nickname of the Sunset Empire.

Allen Wilson came to the British Advisory Group to inquire about the situation, heard the news of the Royal Navy gunboat diplomacy, frowning slightly frowned and thought hard to say, “to the Far East Joint Command of the telegram so written, the Vietminh Alliance in violation of the treaty preempted the forced takeover of Hanoi and intercepted the evacuation of the families of the French soldiers, Haiphong port is in a state of readiness for this Hanoi, the French command of the French army to the cruise fleet to express the desire to help, but the Haiphong port is in a state of readiness, for this reason, the French command of Hanoi to express the desire for help. desire for help, but the Viet Minh soldiers in Haiphong Harbor first opened fire and provoked it, and the Royal Navy had no choice but to counterattack.”

“That’s right!” Lt. Commander Klein immediately recognized this fact and spoke, “So Rear Admiral George’s side?”

“Of course we have to unify our voices, the responsibility does not lie with Britain.” Alan Wilson said categorically, Major General George Bauer was his father-in-law’s subordinate, even if it was once, but this time the other party helped, there was no reason to pat his butt and leave the other party behind.

As for the so-called Far East Joint Warfare Command, in fact, is the British Forces Command in Malaysia, is Mountbatten suggested reform after the replacement of the name, is considered to be the superior unit of the British forces in the Far East.

After months of calm the two sides were at war again, and there was sure to be a war of words over who had violated the treaty. Alan Wilson’s rhetoric is also basically consistent with the fact that the withdrawal of the French troops was not yet complete, and it was the Viet Minh’s attempt to forcefully take over Hanoi that caused the conflict.

As for the destruction of the area under French control prior to the withdrawal, that was not an issue, the French had the right to do that, and it was only the VC that violated the treaty, it was a matter of right and wrong.

After taking a little time to telegraph to Whitehall, Alan Wilson rushed to the American Embassy to seek American solidarity and met with Ambassador McLean to inform him of the current situation.

In fact the United States got the news no later than he did, and McLean, also in the midst of consideration, inquired, “Mr. Wilson, was it the treaty violated by the Viet Minh in the first place that caused the conflict?”

“Certainly! At this critical moment, we’re going to take the French word for it.” Alan Wilson said without even thinking, “Now that France is about to withdraw, we should let the French leave gracefully, in case there is a slight twist, it may allow the Soviets to find an excuse, which would be very unfavorable to us.”

It doesn’t matter what the truth of the matter boils down to, the most important thing is that it must be the other side that is in the wrong, and that is important.

The world would not have broken out into so many wars if it were a reasonable place, and defending themselves from defaming others was Allen Wilson’s and MacLean’s part at this time.

“Okay!” McLean thought for a moment, he came to South Vietnam is also an important mission, for the United States to intervene in South Vietnam to expand their influence to do the work, and now the French are about to leave, the United States really should wait and see what happens, out of the maintenance of friendship with the British and the French this consideration, but also believe in the other side of the rhetoric.

But McLean made it clear that his reason for doing so was to preserve the unity of the free world.

The subtext was unity under the leadership of the U.S. Allen Wilson, of course, understood, but answered rather vaguely, “It is obvious, we can see the leadership shown by the U.S. after the war.”

The two men harmonized, with identically worded Dane declarations that shifted the blame for this conflict to the Viet Cong’s breach of contract, which soon reached London and Washington, respectively.

The Vietnamese civilians who died in vain in Haiphong harbor might not agree with this, but what did it matter? Who cared about their lives?

Almost immediately, a war of words had erupted, with the entire free world expressing outrage at the Soviet bloc’s perfidy and telling the Soviet Union to find a way to stop the North Vietnamese breach of contract immediately, or else make sure the North Vietnamese paid the price.

The whole process was seamless, reflecting the overwhelming dominance of the free world in public opinion. Although it was a backhanded attack, Alan Wilson had a clear conscience, it was all for the sake of the unity of the free world, and sometimes he had to make a trade-off between what was right and what was conscientious, and this was not a difficult choice to make.