Battle of Route Coloniale 4

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Battle of Route Coloniale 4
Part of First Indochina War
Date 30 September-18 October 1950 Location Northern Vietnam Result Việt Minh victory
Belligerents
French Union State of Vietnam	Việt Minh
Commanders and leaders
Marcel Carpentier	Võ Nguyên Giáp Hoàng Văn Thái Đặng Văn Việt
Strength
6,000 regulars 2,000 regulars	30,000 regulars
Casualties and losses
4,800 killed and missing[1][2][3]	Western estimated: 9,000 killed[4][5] Việt Minh’s report: 1,000 killed and 1,550 wounded[6]

The Battle of Route Coloniale 4, also called the Autumn-Winter Border Campaign (Chiến Dịch Biên Giới Thu Đông) by the Viet Minh, was a battle of the First Indochina War. It took place along Route Coloniale 4 (RC4, also known as Highway 4), a road used to supply the French military base at Cao Bằng. French military traffic along the road had previously been subject to an ongoing series of ambushes during 1947–1949.

The aim of Việt Minh in the 1950 Border Campaign was clearing the way to the Vietnam-China border for the supply flow from the newly formed People's Republic of China. In this campaign the Việt Minh also tried to test new tactics and gain new experiences in a large scale battle which the Việt Minh had not previously used.

The battle lasted from 30 September to 18 October 1950 and resulted in a French defeat. Several units of the French army, including some battalions of the French Foreign Legion, were devastated by the Việt Minh and essentially ceased to exist as fighting units.