by Hall, Gerald
“You are probably right. But the French in Haiphong are not going to be happy at all when they find out.”
“They’ll just have to get over it, Theo. Otherwise, we will have to stop building aircraft for them. I think that they will like that even less.”
Chapter Twenty-Two:
Cavill Industries Warehouse Facilities
Haiphong, French Indochina
June 31, 1957
“Only thirty personnel? That is not nearly enough to properly secure your facilities from the insurgents.” Francois exclaimed after learning an early report on the number of Australians coming to Haiphong.
“The Australians say that thirty is all that is necessary. They are sending another group at the same time to do construction work to improve their security though.” Jean Acton, the harbormaster for Haiphong replied.
“Won’t they need additional security while they are working? Perhaps we could leverage that to convince the Cavill people to send more security personnel.”
“It seems that the Australians have already covered that as well, I’m afraid. The Australian government has authorized these engineers to carry their own weapons since they are members of the Derby militia.”
“Might this be the opportunity that we have been looking for to get Australia to send a real fighting force to help us against the Vietminh? If they were to be attacked by the insurgents and suffer significant casualties, those deaths could inflame the opinions of the Australian people.”
“I don’t think that is likely to be the case. Don’t you remember the reputation of the Derby militia? They held off an invasion by significant Japanese forces during the war without any significant support by the regular Australian military. These people are very competent and are very proud of that fact.”
“Won’t that benefit us, mon amie?”
“Probably not. I have learned that these engineers are going to leave and go back home just as soon as they complete their tasks. They will not stay a single day longer than necessary. It is being presented as a ‘training exercise’ for them, not a combat mission. But they will be carrying their full military kit with them, nonetheless.”
“We still have to try to convince the Cavill people that they need to send more personnel.”
“You are welcome to try. But I seriously doubt that you will change their minds. If you will please excuse me, I must attend to several new arrivals in the harbor, Monseur.” Jean insisted just before he turned and left his office.
Francois then left also, walking smartly towards the pier where the Cavill transport was scheduled to be docked at.
A large cargo ship flying the Cavill Shipping Lines pennant was docked at Haiphong harbor and was already beginning to offload personnel and equipment when Francois arrived at the pier. A tall, slender, dark-skinned man in what appeared to be a jungle uniform was standing at the stern vehicle ramp directing traffic as Francois approached.
“Excuse me, Monseur. I am looking for the man in charge of the Cavill personnel and equipment being delivered here. My name is Francois Menard. I am the liaison from the French government ministry of industry here.”
“G’Day, Sir. Then I’m the man that you are looking for. I’m Captain Benjamin. I’m in charge of the Derby engineer detachment here.” The aborigine replied with a bright smile. His white teeth were highlighted by the darkness of his skin.
The captain gave only his first name, since his last name was practically unpronounceable by anyone who wasn’t from the Western Territories. Francois was also shocked to see that the Cavills had placed an aborigine in charge of the operation. The Frenchman wasn’t quite sure how to proceed as a result, having had no experience at all in dealing with an Australian aborigine. Francois’ prejudices against non-Europeans, especially those as dark-skinned as Captain Benjamin, were certainly going to get in the way.
Francois took a deep breath and tried his best not to reveal his discomfort with the aborigine officer.
“We had asked for combat soldiers to help protect your facilities here. You have very large holdings here that we simply do not have the resources to protect adequately, Capitan.”
“I don’t know anything about that, Sir. My personnel are here to reinforce the security facilities around Cavill Industries here in French Indochina. Once we have completed our task, we will be returning home. I rather welcome having the opportunity for my men to conduct training outside of Derby for a few weeks.”
“There are no combat troops with you, Capitan?”
“We have some dedicated security men who have come with us. They will be staying after we leave. But there is less than a score of them.”
“But that far less than what is necessary to protect your property, much less your engineers, Capitan.” Francois insisted.
“To protect our facilities alone, that number will be adequate. Cavill Industries already has some security personnel here. I’m sure that you knew that, Sir. If we truly need more than that, then we can talk about additional security measures. But we are not going to put additional security personnel in harm’s way in any event. My personnel are armed and quite capable of protecting themselves, I assure you, Sir. ” Captain Benjamin insisted.
“I still say that will not be enough to ensure your security. I know this land and the Vietminh. You will need to have more men to send out patrols to keep the insurgents at a distance.”
“It is not our job to do anything far beyond our facilities, Sir. If you must have patrolling done, you need to have your own people do it. You have your Legionnaires to help protect the rest of the country. You do not need more of our people.” Captain Benjamin insisted, looking down upon Francois as he did so.
“The Foreign Legion can only be in a limited number of places at the same time, Monseur. Francois replied just as Gabriel Aubrois practically ran up and stopped next to the two men.
“Pardon moi, I had not realized that you would be here already, Capitan Benjamin. I see that you have already met Monseur Menard.”
“Yes, Sir. We were just talking about the number of security personnel that Cavill Industries has sent to supplement their existing force and the roles that they will be performing while here in French Indochina.” The aborigine officer calmly explained.
“Oui. It is unfortunate that so few security personnel were sent. It would be a shame if they were to be overwhelmed by the insurgents before our legionnaires could arrive to relieve them, Gabriel.” Francois openly said for both Gabriel and Captain Benjamin to hear.
“That would be unfortunate, but unlikely, I’m sure. I have considerable confidence in our people. Anyway, gentlemen. I have a lot of equipment and personnel to offload and move to their proper places. G’day.” Captain Benjamin replied before turning his attention back towards the vehicles being driven off of the transport’s vehicle ramp.
The two Frenchmen turned and walked away. After they got out of earshot, they began to discuss what had happened.
“That was very unfortunate. I had hoped that the Australians would send enough armed men to allow us to pull some of our troops out of Haiphong and put them on the front lines.” Francois said.
“The Cavill people are very determined to use as few personnel as possible here. We will just have to rely upon our legionnaires to deal with the Vietminh.
“Yes, but it is only a matter of time before the damned Boche in the ranks of the Legion will end up being exposed by some reporter. The French military hired quite a few former SS troops after the war who were not happy with the direction that the government in Berlin had been going. One thing that you can say about the Nazis, they are more than willing to fight just as dirty as the Marxists do.”
“Yes, the Boche have managed to significantly reduce the amount of terrorist activity in the areas that the Legionnaires operate in. I worry that the surviving Marxist terrorists will only be even more effective when the Legion leaves. There is certainly pressure to send more troops to Algeria to fight the insurgency that is deve
loping there. They could very well take them from here unless we can convince Paris that we are too important to be abandoned.”
“Our importance to the people in Paris is directly related to the amount of raw materials and net profit that we can produce to send back to France. If we are unable to do that, then the only reason why we would remain here is pure nationalist prestige. Otherwise, we will abandon Indochina and slink back to France with our tails between our legs once again.
I would prefer not to have to return to France that way.”
“Neither would I, mon amie.
“Is there any other way that we can we get any more assistance from the French military back home, Emile?”
“I honestly don’t know. The commanders in Paris and Toulon have actually pulled all of the major naval units out of Haiphong already. That ancient aircraft carrier Bearn has already been sent to the scrapyard. I understand that the battlecruiser Strasbourg will soon be joining her along with all of our prewar heavy cruisers except for Algerie. All of the naval presence that we will soon have here will only be a handful of destroyers and gunboats. That’s going to make it hard to intercept any boats smuggling in arms to these Vietminh bastards. We also won’t be able to call on naval gunfire support to any large extent either.”
“I know, mon amie. Virtually every military has been forced to significantly reduce spending after the war. The business at the Suez has forced our military to push even more of its strength back into the Mediterranean. All four of the capital ships that the Marine Nationale plans to retain are now based in French ports, mostly at Toulon. This has been made even more imperative because of the Italian decision to scrap one of their two battleships in order to afford to build more coastal patrol ships.”
“That business was bad for both ourselves and the English. But we in Indochina are getting all of the castoffs from our military, it seems. All of the old propeller-driven fighters and bombers were sent to us while the Armée de l'Air squadrons back home are getting the new jet warplanes.”
“Yes, but the old Dewoitine D.520 and Morane-Saulnier M.S. 406 fighters are worn out as are the English Hurricanes and Beaufighters that we purchased from English war surplus. The few aircraft that we have operational are only that way because we have cannibalized all of the others for parts. I do not know where we will get more.”
“Maybe we can arrange to purchase some aircraft from the Americans or even the Australians? We need to have some sort of air support to supplement our limited stores of artillery. We can make plenty of small arms, even produce a decent selection of mortars still. That is one of the benefits of having made manufacturing agreements with the Australians during the war. The factories in Hanoi, Saigon and Haiphong have kept our forces alive out here.”
“That is probably why they have been targeted so much. The factory that that Australian, Monseur Cavill, still operates here is the only one that has managed to avoid taking damage except for a few mortar attacks. They took great precautions to secure their facilities even before our request. Any new security fortifications will only make the Cavill factory even more resistant to Vietminh attack. Monseur Cavill’s children have apparently placed a premium on their facility’s security, though this refusal to send a larger contingent of security forces makes me wonder what their future plans are for here.”
“Well, Gabriel. Either the Cavill people have ferreted out what our actual intent was for the request of additional security personnel or they have an unnatural confidence in the capabilities of their men. Either way, we have to find other options to obtain additional forces to fight the Vietminh or to stop the flow of reinforcements and materiel that they are receiving.”
“That might require ‘unconventional’ tactics to achieve.”
“What sort of ‘unconventional’ tactics are you referring to? Surely, we cannot get any more brutal than what our legionnaires have been towards the supporters of the Vietminh.” Gabriel worried.
“The Vietminh are getting many of their weapons from supporters in China. There are still many people in China who believe in the vision of Mao and his fellow Marxists. There is a civil war already raging within China with the major combatants being the Cantonese of the south and the Mandarin of the North. The northern Chinese forces are already receiving assistance from the Russians in the form of limited weapons sales. If we were to curry favor within the southern faction with our own offer to sell weapons to them on favorable terms, perhaps they will stop the flow of weapons to the Vietminh on our behalf.” Francois offered.
What Francois did not say to his friend was that he had contacts within the German government who wanted a proxy to test advanced weapons for them. Francois also did not mention that a secondary goal was to get Britain and Australia involved in a military conflict in Asia. The Germans wanted this in order to drain the two major members of the Commonwealth of critical financial resources. This would make them weaker economically and militarily while German continued their quiet reconstitution of their own nation’s capabilities.
“Are there any other complications to this plan of yours, Francois?”
“Well, there is the issue of the Japanese. They are trying to rebuild their nation as well. Part of their tactic involves meddling in the Chinese civil war to keep China divided and weak. So the Japanese are using Korea as a conduit for the sale of weapons that were salvaged from during the Pacific war.”
“This is all a very complicated affair, mon amie. Are you sure that we should get involved in it? I fear that there is so much potential for this to backfire upon us.”
“Do not fear, Gabriel. I will be very careful. No one will know our role in this. The end result will be beautiful too.”
“I certainly hope so. They still have a guillotine in storage somewhere in Paris, I understand. I would like very much to keep my head.” Gabriel nervously replied.
“The authorities in Paris are also worried about other issues here in Southeast Asia. The monarchy in Siam along with their military has been reported to be interested in expanding into Cambodia and even here.”
“The Siamese aren’t so big of a threat. Their military equipment is ancient, even more so than ours. Most of it was constructed well before the Second World War.”
“That may be changing, Gabriel. They are in the market for new weapons, just like everyone else. It may be a seller’s market now. But if you have the cash or something else of value, you can get just about anything. The new government in Indonesia is certainly taking full advantage of the situation, especially with all that oil that they have on Sumatra.”
“The Indonesians certainly aren’t happy about Australia annexing all of New Guinea. I suppose that they are preparing to perhaps take it back someday.” Gabriel replied.
“That will take a considerable amount of courage, mon amie. The Australians have a small, but very, very capable military.”
“This is true. But there are a lot of Indonesians available to fight them, if sufficiently motivated. It won’t matter how good the Australian weapons are if you throw enough fanatical warriors at them. I’m afraid that is one lesson that the Vietminh have taught us all too well.” Gabriel bitterly noted.
Chapter Twenty-Three:
Portsmouth Royal Navy Yards
Portsmouth, United Kingdom
July 20, 1957
The First Sea Lord stood by the dock as the newly modernized guided-missile battleship Duke of York prepared to make its shakedown cruise. Her sister ship, King George V was docked two berths down, making her final preparations for her own recommissioning after a similar modernization program.
While Lord Mountbatten stood there, a man in his early forties with slightly greying hair, wearing a nondescript trench coat and a weather beaten fedora walked towards him, waving his hand. The First Sea Lord quickly recognized the man and gave him a friendly wave in return.
“G’day, Sir. I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to come earlier. The trouble with being a technical liaison is that everyone
with a last second problem comes to you to get it resolved. I have only been here in England for a couple of weeks. Yet, I already have my desk covered in paperwork” Explained Tom Franklin, one of the newest engineers from Cavill Industries to make the long trip from Derby to Portsmouth for a three month temporary assignment.
“I’m still very glad to see you though, Mister Franklin. Your people have been a tremendous help for us. I’m just sorry that we weren’t able to able to get the funding for more than two of our battleships to undergo the upgrade program, Mister Franklin. We might be able to get a third one authorized, if we can demonstrate the success of the program. I know that you have been eager to get your people working on her.
Still, it is absolutely amazing to see how these warships have been so radically transformed by your Cavill Industries workers. ”
Lord Mountbatten pointed towards the pair of twin-rail antiaircraft missile launchers now mounted aft of the battleship’s second funnel. The superfiring launchers were located on a newly enlarged armored superstructure that replaced the aft fifteen-inch triple gun turret. Just forward of the launchers were a pair of tall, pedestal-mounted missile fire control radars. Amidships on each side, the battleship had an eight-cell traversing box launcher for short-range antiaircraft missiles. On the battleship’s stern, there was a marked helicopter landing pad. Most of the seaplane facilities that had previously occupied the spaced between the battleship’s two funnels had been removed. But the space still lay empty as were the spaces within the old seaplane hangars.
On the other hand, the new superstructure was literally festooned with a variety of radar antenna and other objects of less obvious capabilities.
“Thank you, Sir. We have sought to not only increase the capabilities of your warships but also to allow for additional growth as needed. You can see that we left a lot of the midships area unoccupied. Eric explained.