THE ACTION DIVISION IN LAOS 1945 – Missions KAY 1 and KAY 2

But to hold out, they absolutely had to be reinforced. The only reinforcements that General Leclerc could send them consisted of a few dozen paratroopers from the Action Division of the DGER (Direction Générale des Études et Recherches) in Calcutta. Most of them had solid operational experience, having already been dropped into occupied France, but few knew this theatre of operations. In total, 120 paratroopers were airlifted in mid-October 1945, from Jessore in India to Savannakhet and Paksé in central Laos: these were missions Kay 1 and Kay 2. They would prove more difficult than the simple "armed diplomatic mission" initially envisaged. Kay 1 and Kay 2 gave rise, in early 1946, to the 1st and 2nd Franco-Laotian Commandos. The author Philippe Millour is the nephew of one of these paratroopers: following the Japanese coup de force of 9 March 1945, his uncle Maurice Millour, a student at the Albert Sarraut lycée in Hanoi, made his way on foot to the Chinese border from Tam Dao, then reached Kunming and finally Calcutta, where he enlisted in the DGER. For several years now, Philippe Millour has been trying to piece together the details of his uncle's military career; his uncle was killed during his third tour in Indochina, three weeks before the ceasefire of 27 July 1954.