- Source: 1st Vietnamese Parachute Battalion
- 1st Vietnamese Parachute Battalion
- 6th Vietnamese Parachute Battalion
- List of French paratrooper units
- 5th Vietnamese Parachute Battalion
- 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment
- 1st Laotian Parachute Battalion
- 502nd Infantry Regiment (United States)
- 1st Foreign Parachute Heavy Mortar Company
- Viet Xuan Luong
- 503rd Infantry Regiment (United States)
The 1st Vietnamese Parachute Battalion (Fr: 1er bataillon de parachutistes vietnamiens) was a French-Vietnamese paratroop battalion formed in Saigon, French Indochina on May 1, 1951.
Operational history
The 1st Vietnamese Parachute Battalion (1 BPVN) was one of five battalions of Vietnamese paratroopers raised by the French Army between 1951 and 1957 as part of General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny's policy to establish a Vietnamese Army. Its cadre was drawn from two existing Vietnamese parachute companies, including 1st Indochina Parachute Company and 1st Company of the South Vietnamese Defense (1st Escadron Parachutiste Garde du Việt Nam Sud under Lieutenant Haynin) and volunteer soldiers from 1st Guards Company and from 1st Colonial Commando Parachute Battalion (1 BCCP).
The battalion participated in:
Operation Pirate - August/September 1951
Operation Bretagne - December 1951
Operation Chaumière - April 1952
Operation Éole - May 1952
Operation Cabestan - June 1952
Operation Quadrille - July 1952
Battle of Nà Sản - end of 1952 / beginning of 1953
Operation Atlas : April 1953
Operation Quercy : November 1953
References
General references
Histoire des parachutistes français: De la Seconde Guerre mondiale à la guerre d'Indochine. Société de production littéraire. 1975.
See also
3rd Vietnamese Parachute Battalion
5th Vietnamese Parachute Battalion
6th Vietnamese Parachute Battalion
7th Vietnamese Parachute Battalion
1st Cambodian Parachute Regiment
1st Laotian Parachute Battalion