Marked Men

BATTLE OF INDOCHINA

A Frenchman named Charles Chanson and a Vietnamese named Thai Lap Thanh were among the men most hated by Indo-China's Communists. General Chanson, 49, Commander of the French-Indo-Chinese forces in South Viet Nam, was an able career officer who liked to plan his own operations and go up to the front to see them carried out. Working closely with Thai Lap Thanh, 54, Governor of South Viet Nam, General Chanson scored decisive victories last May and June against the Communist Viet Minh guerrillas. Last month, meeting somewhere in the broad green swamps of the Plaine des Jones (Plain of the Rushes), Viet Minh leaders, hard pressed by French offensives, decided to get Chanson and Thanh.

The Communists looked for a reliable assassin, picked one Trinh Van Minh, 25, a fanatical member of IndoChina's noisy, party-lining Patriotic Youth Society. Trinh Van Minh was in jail on charges of being a Viet Minh terrorist, but the Patriotic Youth Society put pressure on the Viet Nam government to set him free. French police warned that the Patriotic Youth Society was infiltrated by Communists, and dangerous. But the Viet Nam government, anxious to win the support of the Youth Society, released Trinh Van Minh.

Last week in the little town of Sadec, 60 miles southwest of Saigon, French and Vietnamese soldiers were drawn up for an official inspection by General Chanson and Governor Thai Lap Thanh. In the crowded town square, white-kepied Foreign Legionnaires and red-capped Spahis paraded to military music, while peasants, townsfolk and children waved Vietnamese paper flags. As Chanson and Thanh got out of their Nash in front of the governor's residence, the soldiers presented arms, trumpeters sounded the general's call. General Chanson stood at attention and saluted.

Four Seconds. At that moment a man in uniform broke from the crowd. Before anyone had time to stop him, the man ran to within a few feet of the official group. He fumbled wildly in his pockets; no one guessed that he was pulling the pin of a hand grenade. Exactly four seconds later, above the sound of the bugles, there was an explosion. Five men fell to the ground: General Chanson and Governor Thanh, mortally wounded, died within the hour. Two other French officers were seriously hurt. The fifth man, his abdomen ripped open, one hand and one leg completely torn away, was Trinh Van Minh, the assassin; he died within minutes.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.