Title:HO CHI MINH IN HANOI AND THE RETURN OF GENERAL LECLERC [Allocated Title]
Film Number:JFU 544
Other titles:BRITISH ARMY OPERATIONS IN SOUTH EAST ASIA DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Series Title]
Summary:Two-part film showing (1) a parade by the Viet Minh in Hanoi, then in French Indo-China (now Vietnam) with Ho Chi Minh in attendance and (2) the return of French troops, led by General Leclerc, to Hanoi.
Description:Part 1, shot on 14 March 1946: Three members of a Viet Minh band singing 'a fighting march' into a microphone with the band behind. A Chinese officer, named on the dopesheet as General Lu-Han, commander of 1st Area Command at his Hanoi headquarters. Ho Chi Minh, the President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, standing in front of a Viet Minh banner. Ho Chi Minh in conversation with Lieutenant-Commander Simpson-Jones, a British mission liaison officer in Hanoi. They shake hands. A Viet Minh flag flying. A man on a podium addresses a large crowd, he is possibly Hoang Tung of the Vietnamese government's Ministry of Propaganda. View looking out over a large crowd with banners and flags; tilt up to show the crowd stretching into the distance. Second crowd shot. Another man speaking, possibly a Mr Luu, a 'Representative for the People [of] Tonkin'. Crowd with podium and flag. Hanoi town hall with a large poster of Ho Chi Minh on display. Closer shot. A Viet Minh police station. Two murals with local people taking an interest in them; one shows a nurse, another a number of people including an armed man.
Part 2, shot on 18 March 1946: High shot looking down on a jeep carrying General Leclerc, commander of the French Far East Expeditionary Corps; the jeep is fitted with a Browning .30-calibre machine gun. He is hailed by the crowd. He is followed by more jeeps, fitted with armoured screens and machine guns, and armoured cars. An armed half-track follows. Looking up at people waving from the Hotel et Cafe de Paix. French Legionnaires, recently freed from Japanese captivity, marching through the streets; one of their number is African. More French troops arriving in trucks and shaking hands with the crowd; there is a civilian woman riding in the cab. Trucks through the crowd; a French tricolore is waved. Looking up at people on the Brasserie du Coq d'Or. Lorry of troops passing. Women crowd a jeep; it is marked with a cross and a Cross of Lorraine (the emblem of Leclerc's 2nd Armoured Division) and there are two young civilian girls in the back. Young Vietnamese children wave to a passing jeep with civilians aboard. European (presumably French) children wave.
Alternative Title:BRITISH ARMY OPERATIONS IN SOUTH EAST ASIA DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Series Title]
Colour:B&W
Digitised:Yes
Object_Number:JFU 544
Sound:Silent
Access Conditions:IWM
Film: IWM
Featured Period:1939-1945
Production Date:1946-03-14-1946-03-14
Production Country:GB
Production Details:War Office Directorate of Public Relations (Production sponsor)
SEAC Film Unit (Production company)
Povey, Philip W. (Production individual)
