(UNTITLED)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-01617A006100020065-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 26, 2003
• Sequence Number: 65
• Publication Date: October 13, 1950
• Content Type: SUMMARY

1$. OCT 1950
Approved For Release 20Q 1/14: CIA-RDP78-01617AO06100020065-8
4Rn. 4 g E C R E T 1419
QE NERAL
I. `Britishoppose .S_C handli of Ambon dispute--According
to, US Embassy London, the decision of the UN Commission
for Indonesia to refer the current Ambon dispute to the
Security Council is causing considerable misgiving in the
British Foreign Office; UK diplomatic officials fear that
the Western Powers may have to assume a neutral position
in the dispute and that the USSR will then be able'to seize the
opportunity to pose as an enemy of colonialism and a cham-
pion of the Asiatic nations, a stand which India would doubtless
support. The Foreign Office is tentatively taking the position
that the UK delegation should attempt to prevent 'UN considera-;
tion of the Ambon problem, in anticipation of the possibility that
the military action will be concluded in Indonesia shortly, -thereby
presenting the Security Council with an accomplished fact.,
Meanwhile, the Department of State has instructed US
Ambassador Cochran at Jakarta to impress upon the Indonesian
Government the desirability of accepting the good offices of the
UN Commission for Indonesia in settling the Ambon dispute.
Cochran is to point out that a Security Council discussion of the
subject is likely to raise questions concerning the degree to
which Indonesia has fulfilled the conditions of the 1949 Hague
Round Table Conference settlement.
FAR EAST
2. INDOCHINA: French admit grave defeat--US Legation Saigon
reports that General Carpentier, commander of French Forces
in the Far East, recently acknowledged the gravity of the French
defeat near Caobang. Stating that the five trapped battalions
represented the "very bestyy of French forces in Indochina,
Auth: DDA REG. 77
Document No.
No CHANGE in Class.
^ DECLASSIFIED
Class. C:iA:T:'D TO:
DDA Memo, 4
r,,a , P, 9 AR 1978
TS S
Apr 77
1763
State Departmen $A%cFPVR1WAe 2004/01/14: CIA-RDP78-01617AO06100020065-8
 Approved For Release 2004/01/14: CIA-RDP78-01617AO06100020065-8
TOP SECRET
Carpentier admitted that the only remaining reserve unit
capable of immediate action in North Vietnam was a single
paratroop battalion in Hanoi. Estimating French.losses at
"around 2,500 men," Carpentier declared that the guerrilla
type of war has now ended in the north, hd indicated the French
force had been "'demolished" by 10,000 Viet Minh troops op-
er^ating with modern efficiency, having good artillery support,
and fighting "on orthodox lines." Carpentier expressed the
opinion that under these circumstances further "determined"
Viet Minh attacks could force the French to abandon the re-
maining eastern frontier posts from. Langson down to Moncay.
25X1
Approved For Release 2D09/ 14 A ,*) +8-01617A006100020065-8