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"Decoux's police forces and a paramilitary organization he created, the French Legion of War Veterans and Volunteers of the National Revolution, imposed Vichy's dictatorial policies on Vietnam and vigorously persecuted opponents of Decoux's regime. The victims were mainly Freemasons, soldiers and civil servants suspected of being pro-British or sympathetic to General Charles de Gaulle's Free French movement that had repudiated Vichy as well as socialists, communists, Jews, and anyone suspected of "resistance" activities. For example, French aviation war heroes, Lt. Eugene Robert and Sgt. William Labussiere (a member of the underground who flew for General Chennault's first international air force in China), attempted to escape to join the Free French but were captured and sentenced to years of forced labor. They were joined in prison by a world-famous medical doctor and Free French representative in China, Dr. Eugene Bechamp, who died later due to a lack of proper medical treatment. The trio was soon joined by the future author of the Bridge over the River Kwai, Lt. Pierre Boulle, who attempted to penetrate Vietnam to set up a Free French underground network. Decoux's suppression consequently greatly hindered the growth of any French underground movement in Vietnam, though individuals and small groups did what they could to further the Allied cause."
A mission of vengeance: vichy French in Indochina in World War
findarticles.com  laurent le mercredi 02 septembre 2009 Contribution au livre ouvert de Georges Béchamp | |
