Charles Chanson (1902–1951) was the Commander of the French-Indo-Chinese forces in southern Vietnam during the

First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vi ...

. Born on 18 February 1902 in

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

, France, Charles Marie Ferreol Chanson was educated at Ecole Polytechnique (entrance: 1922). His father was General Henri Chanson and his great grandfather was General Achille Chanson. All were artillery officers. During World War II, Chanson served in France during the Battle of France (1939–1940), in North Africa from 1941, and later with the general staff of U.S. General

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

in Germany. He was posted to

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

in 1946 where he was commander of the French-Indo-Chinese forces in South Viet Nam. During his five years in Indochina, he was credited with the restoration of peace and security in southern Vietnam following the capitulation of the Japanese Forces in 1945 and the void left by the Allied forces. Between 1950 and 1951, he worked closely with General Jean Marie de Lattre de Tassigny who commanded French troops in

, providing troops to successfully defend northern

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

against the

Viet Minh The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Fro ...

. Chanson was killed on 31 July 1951 at Sadec (or

Sa Đéc Sa Đéc is a Provincial city in Đồng Tháp Province in the Mekong Delta of southern Vietnam. It is a river port and agricultural and industrial trading center. The Sa Đéc economic zone consists of Châu Thành, Lai Vung and Lấp Vò ...

) in southern Vietnam, when a

caodaist Caodaism ( vi, Đạo Cao Đài, Chữ Hán: ) is a monotheistic syncretic new religious movement officially established in the city of Tây Ninh in southern Vietnam in 1926. The full name of the religion is (The Great Faith or theThird Uni ...

suicide bomber exploded a device of several grenades. Governor Thai Lap Thanh and the bomber also died in the explosion. One of his faithful subordinates Colonel Leroy wrote that the success in South Vietnam of Chanson was the reason for his murder and that foreign western secret services had backed it.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chanson, Charles 1902 births 1951 deaths Governors of Cochinchina First Indochina War French Army