Operation Lea - Aftermath

Aftermath

After the failure of Operation Léa, the French supreme command changed tactics again. Because of financial and economic reasons, France was not able to send more troops to Indochina. The foreign legion began to establish outposts on every important road (Route Coloniale 4, Route Coloniale 3) to hold up the surrounding of the Viet Minh in the eastern part of Tonkin. But the Vietnamese forces could easily slip through these lines and reinforce themselves from supplies which came from the Chinese border or from their own manufacturing. This led to the turnaround of the war from the now established stalemate into the first Vietnamese victories in 1949/1950.