This is a sort of weird story where a puppet government tries to hold on to an Empire when the homeland is lost. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
The stamp today is a French Indo China issue from the period when it was being administered by the region of France that had some autonomy after German occupation. This government was centered in Vichy rather than Paris. They did hold sway in some French colonies including French Indo China. The admiral on the stamp was central to the French formalizing control of several areas of Vietnam and in honoring him they are making it pretty clear they intend to stay.
Todays issue is A45, a 5 cent stamp issued by French Indo China in 1945. The stamp features French Admiral Pierre de la Grandiere. It was part of a two stamp issue. According to the Scott Catalog, it is worth 35 cents in its much more common mint version.
When French Indo China was brought under the Vichy government, there was an effort to retain French control. France had gradually firmed up control over Indo China in the 19th century. The pretext of their arrival was to protect French Catholic missionaries. The missionaries were considered a threat to the feudal system still in place there. The Catholic concepts of monogamy were quite threatening to the courtesans and the Catholic church did make some inroads in the area. The missionaries were of course a pretext to get the nose under the tent and Admiral Grandiere had his fleet and 300 Filipino troops loaned by the Spanish to bully and coerce ever more land concessions from the local royals. It continually amazes me how much the European powers were able to do with so few resources. By the dawn of the 20th century, the territorial expansion had reached Siam.
Hoping to take advantage of the chaos of the Vichy takeover, Siam launched a war to retake earlier French seized territory. Their troops did well on the ground but Vichy sent the fleet to defeat the Siamese Navy and force Siam to give up there retaken land. Vichy had come to terms with Japan allowing port access but the French were still in charge in Indo China.
It is this perspective with which to view todays stamp. By the time it was issued the Vichy government was over in France but out in the colonies they are still reminding of their presence, staking their claim and reminding of past conquerors like the Admiral. It seems the stamp is talking to everyone, Siam, stay out, to Japan, we can still run things whatever happens in Europe, to the Free French, on this don’t we agree, and to the Americans, forget stripping the French of their colonies post war. Japan was first to not listen to Vichy. They arraigned Laos to declare independence and then took the opportunity to take control in March 1945. In August, Chang Kai-sheck forces crossed the border to accept Japanese surrender. By now the Communist Viet Minh controlled much of the countryside and the new French government had to work hard to overcome American objections and now North Vietnamese and Cambodian independence.
Well my drink is empty. The Americans at the end of World War II tried to make the French see that they did not have the right to stay as they had not made the place better during their rule. I wish the USA later had remembered their own advice to a friend. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting