The Spy Who Loved Us_ The Vietnam War and Pham Xuan An's Dangerous Game ( PDFDrive )

The Spy Who Loved Us 39
At the end of World War II in the fall of 1945, Vietnam was
overtaken by the short-lived euphoria of what was known as the
August Revolution. In Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, quoting America’s
Declaration of Independence, declared the country free and
united before a cheering crowd of a million people. Ho ruled
the Democratic Republic of Vietnam for a handful of days,
until the Chinese moved in from the north and the British
landed troops in the south. The British rearmed the French,
who stormed Saigon’s government buildings and soon gained
the upper hand in splitting off Cochin China from the rest
of Vietnam. In November 1946 the French navy bombarded
Haiphong, killing as many as six thousand Vietnamese civilians.
The French resumed control of Hanoi and forced Ho
Chi Minh to flee into the countryside. It would be another
decade before he returned to power in the north and another
thirty years before Ho’s revolutionary forces regained
control of the south.
“We were bitterly disappointed in the British,” An says.
“We were even more bitterly disappointed when the French returned
to power. After the August Revolution, almost all the students
in the high schools and universities joined the struggle.
Even the children of landowners and the French métis joined,
like my friend whose father was my physics teacher. He was a
Vietnamese who had graduated from university in France. His
wife was French. Their son, who was half Vietnamese, half
French, joined the revolution.”
An tells me another story about a métis who joined the fight
against the French. His father was a major in the Expeditionary
Corps. His mother was Vietnamese. Their son, who looked
more French than Vietnamese, tried to fool the enemy by donning
a French uniform and leading an attack on the southern city
of My Tho. He was captured and faced a death sentence.
“‘I have captured your son,’ said the French major to his
Vietnamese wife. ‘Do you want me to release him or send him
to the military court?’