France was now prepared to offer what they had refused to Ho Chi Minh: full autonomy within the French Union. They turned to the recently exiled Emperor Bao Dai, who had a legitimate claim to power as the former Emperor of Vietnam, and who they could rely on as he was raised and educated in France, and though he often voiced discontent with colonial rule, he was at least a self-professed friend of the French. In April of 1948 Bao Dai was finally persuaded to return to Vietnam to establish an anti-Communist government, though there were many problems from the outset. His position was ambiguous, he was not a president but he had also not formally been restored as emperor. The French were also less than clear over what full autonomy meant and when exactly it would come. This naturally did little to inspire popular support among the Vietnamese people. The following year, on March 8, 1949 the French recognized formally the independence of the "State of Viet Nam" under the former Emperor Bao Dai, within the French Union. However, France still retained control of the key ministries of defense and foreign relations. Recognized by the US and UK, the Communists denounced it as a French puppet state and announced that they wanted "real independence" not "Bao Dai independence".
As the war continued, manpower continued to be the biggest advantage for the VietMinh and the biggest problem for the French. The succession of governments in Paris refused to allow conscription, so the French army in Indochina was an all-volunteer force consisting of colonial regiments, airborne soldiers and the famous French Foreign Legion, which included at this time a large number of World War II German army veterans, a fact the VietMinh propagandists had a field day with. In response to this crisis, with the pressing of the French commander, General Jean-Marie de Lattre, it was decided to form Vietnamese units to act in a supporting role to the French. The soldiers began referring to this policy as "jaunissement" or the "yellowing" of the French army. Units were formed and expanded into the Armee Nationale Vietnamienne under the leadership of the French army veteran, General Nguyen Van Hinh. However, due to the political situation, even with conscription, it was difficult to induce Vietnamese men to serve in this army. They were also often given sub-standard equipment and were often poorly trained. The French also turned to auxillary units such as the private armies led by the religious sects of the Cao Dai, Hoa Hao, some of the Catholic regions and the Binh Xuyen gang of Saigon. All of these forces served the primary purpose of holding areas against the VietMinh in order to free up more French units for offensive operations.
In October of 1949 however, things took a turn for the worse when Chairman Mao Tse-tung defeated President Chiang Kai-shek and proclaimed the People's Republic of China from the main gate of the Forbidden City in Beijing. The Chinese could now devote more attention and material to helping the VietMinh take control of Indochina. The French gave further assurances to the Bao Dai regime and also recognized the independence of the Kingdoms of Laos and Cambodia, whoese monarchies had remained popular and intact. Soon, there were Communist insurgencies spreading into these countries as well, all of them direct descendants of Ho Chi Minh's original Indochinese Communist Party. These events emboldened General Giap who decided that the time had come to stop raiding villages and ambushing small patrols and take on the French in conventional warfare. By 1950 his forces included five light and one heavy infantry divisions. Throughout early to mid 1950 Giap began hitting French outposts along the Chinese border. The United States, although primarilly occupied with the Communist invasion of Korea, began sending France millions of dollars to support the war in Indochina.
French commander, General Marcel Carpentier developed a strategy aimed at destroying Giap's base of supply in the Mekong and Red River deltas, but the results were mixed. As soon as the French withdrew into the fortified towns at night, the VietMinh would return, and as more French positions were destroyed along the Chinese border, the greater the flow of supplies Ho Chi Minh could recieve. From September to October the French lost 6,000 men to these attacks, heavy losses for an army always so heavily outnumbered, as well as thousands of rifles, mortars, machine guns, trucks and material of every kind, which was taken by the VietMinh. In December though, a breath of fresh air came with the arrival of a new High Commissioner and Commander in Chief in Indochina: General Jean-Marie de Lattre de Tassigny. General de Lattre immediately called for a more offensive spirit, and devised a strategy to use air support and fast-moving assault teams to attack VietMinh concentrations as they appeared. As a historical note, this also marked the first use of napalm in Vietnam when the French used it in an attack on Communist forces in Tien Yen.
The French commander decided to try to fence-in the VietMinh and destroy them in their northern strongholds. To accomplish this, he built a series of fortified towers around the Red River delta region from the Gulf of Tonkin to Hanoi. This series of fortifications, known as the "De Lattre Line" was defended by Vietnamese troops, while French forces were deployed to strike at VietMinh targets within this enclosed zone. It was a strategy that seems to have had some effect as Ho Chi Minh soon declared the formation of the Lao Dong Party, preaching an almost religious fanaticism for Communism. When Giap attacked Vinh Yen in January, 1951 General de Lattre hit back hard, this time smashing the Communist forces, inflicting heavy losses and forcing them to retreat. Estimates of VietMinh troops killed or wounded reached as high as 17,000.
