I found this article interesting and thought to share these facts with you. It is also information that I never considered and if asked could not respond. So here are the facts about French losses during their war in Vietnam. The question above was asked on the website “Quora” and was answered by Gérard Briais, who used data from “Teachings of the Indochina War.” I found some additional data on the website, “UQAM” The French Faculty of Social Science and Humanity, and added it to the original.

French losses in Indochina from 1946 to 1954
  • Army:

Generals: 3 killed

Colonels: 8 killed

Lieutenant-Colonels: 18 killed; 1 disappeared or not returned from captivity

Commanders: 69 killed; 5 missing or not returned from captivity

Captains: 341 killed and 60 missing or not returned from captivity

Lieutenants and Sub-Lieutenants: 1,140 killed and 134 missing or not returned from captivity

NCOs: 2,683 killed

French soldiers: 16,008 killed

French Colonies of North African & Black African: 15,200 killed and 13,900 wounded

Foreign Legion: 11,600 killed and 7,200 wounded

Indigenous Officers and Soldiers (mainly ethnic Vietnamese) : 27,700 killed or not returned from captivity

Indigenous auxiliary troops (supplétifs) and the armies of the Associated States of Indochina together accounted for 17,600 deaths and 12,100 wounded

2,755 known French officers and soldiers are still missing in action – beyond those 16,118 POW’s returned by DRV.

  • Marine (Navy)

Officers: 27 killed and 53 missing or dead as a result of injury or illness

Petty Officer: 39 killed and 157 missing or dead as a result of injury or illness

Sailors: 235 killed and 615 missing or dead as a result of injury or illness

Total for the navy: 1126

  • Air Force

General: 1 killed

Officers: 60 killed and 85 missing or dead as a result of injury or illness

NCOs: 160 killed and 243 missing or dead as a result of injury or illness

Soldiers: 49 killed and 52 missing or dead as a result of injury or illness

Total for the Air Force: 650

In all, according to these 1955 official statistics, the armed forces of the French Union lost 92,800 individuals and 76,400 wounded.

Since the end of the Indochina War, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), nor its successor since 1976, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, have ever revealed publicly the total casualties suffered by their armed forces between 1945 and 1954. The French have advanced the rough figure of 500,000 Vietnamese killed during the Indochina War, apparently including civilians. More methodically sound estimations put the number at 300,000. No reliable figures exist for the number of wounded, missing in action, or deserters on the DRV side. Nor do we have statistics on gender, age, or the social origins of those killed.

To see the original  article in Quora follow this link: https://www.quora.com/What-was-the-French-death-toll-in-the-Vietnam-War

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