1945 - 604 FSS, Saigon

He assumed command of 604 FS section, attached to the 20th Indian Division on 16 August.  On 18 August, he took over from Captain R. W. R. Ogden.  The strength of the Section was nine British, and nine Indians - 2 Muslim and 2 Hindu.  By 21 August, the Section had moved to Tharawaddi where they were briefed on their next operation - in French Indochina.

On 3 September, 7 Division under General Evans flew from Hmawbi airfield in Burma to Don Muang airfield near Bangkok to set up a staging post for 20 Division and the Allied Control Commission on their way to Saigon.  604 FS were attached to HQ 20 Indian Division.
The first British soldiers arrived in Saigon on 8 September and thereafter troop-strength was built up over a period of weeks.  The advance party comprised an engineer, a medical reconnaissance team and No 3 RAPWI with pay office.  The full Division was not in place until the end of October.  

Captain Frost and nine 604 Section members flew with 80 Indian Brigade Group from Hmawbi airfield in Burma to Tan Son Nhut airfield, Saigon, arriving on 12 September.  The Section's vehicle party was less fortunate and travelled by sea.  

The Section set up Head Quarters at 12/14 Rue Colombert, a few hundred yards from the French Governor-General’s Palace in the heart of Saigon.  Back in Rangoon, the rest of 20 Indian Division was getting ready to travel by sea.

A day later, Major General Gracey and the Allied Control Commission, who were only 533 strong, arrived to take control on September 13.  As his Dakota approached Tan Son Nhut airfield, armed Japanese troops stood on either side of the runway, a yard apart and to attention.  As the plane touched down, they raised their rifles in salute.  As a final gesture following the surrender ceremony, each Japanese soldier marched to the end of the runway and laid down his rifle in front of the newsreel cameras.  The unarmed soldiers were then marched back to their quarters as Allied prisoners.
The communist Committee of the South immediately approached Gracey, but he refused to have any dealings with them.  It soon became apparent that Gracey was interested only in dealing with the Japanese military authorities and the French.  His political masters, the British Labour Government, had set him the task of managing the surrender of the Japanese Army in Indochina and setting in motion the transition from war to peace.  This was to be a major task for what was initially a very small British force.  Allied intelligence had estimated there to be 71,000 Japanese troops in Indo China, including 9000 Air Force, 5000 Naval and 17000 administrators.
In early 1945, the Americans, through the OSS, had set in motion plans designed began to prepare the ground for a Japanese, and eventually a French free, Indochina.  They sought an ally to help them in this task and found a nationalist leader in the North of the country who had enough popular support to warrant US government support.  The Viet Minh troops were funded, armed and trained by the OSS, in return for guarantees that downed American airmen would be given safe passage.
Ho Chi Minh took the American gifts and began preparing for the long march to Saigon.  His forces were soon in a position to mount attacks in Saigon.  The Allies found themselves in a difficult situation, as they had neither the manpower nor the resources to protect either themselves or their prisoners.  They took a decision to rearm their prisoners and employ them to help maintain security under the command of the British.
On 17 September, the communist Committee attempted to compel Gracey to recognise them by imposing a boycott of the French, calling a series of strikes and ordering the closing of the Saigon market, cutting off food supplies to the city.  Rather than negotiating with the Committee, Gracey decided to crush it.  On September 19 he closed down the Vietnamese press and took control of Saigon Radio.  This was followed by more drastic measures that amounted to martial law: all demonstrations and meetings were banned, carrying weapons was prohibited, the death penalty was introduced for a range of public order offences, and the oppressive Japanese curfew regulations were re-imposed.

The communists' determination to work with the British was such that they purged some nationalists who called for armed struggle, particularly Trotskyists, many of whom were arrested and killed.  The British refusal to recognise the existence of the Committee of the South completely undermined its conciliatory position, forced the communists into confrontation, and strengthened the position of those who advocated armed resistance.

Gracey proceeded to arm the French prisoners of war so they could reinforce the small French military presence in the city.  The French commissioner, Colonel Cedile, could muster some 1,500 armed men.  According to one account, Gracey ordered Cedile to overthrow the Committee of the South. 

On 11 October, the Section set up a detachment at Gia-Dihn to the East of Saigon, with an FIC, comprising a prisoner-of-war cage and interrogation centre. 

The Vietminh made fierce attacks on British positions throughout the city, but were beaten off.  On 12 October, they attempted to overrun the airfield at Tan Son Nhut.  They reached "the doors of the radio station and were within 3000 yards of the control tower when they were stopped; the fight for the airfield turned into a grim struggle as its loss would have cut Saigon off from the rest of the world."   
At 0800 hours on 14 October, three ton lorries with an escort of six men reported to Field Security at their HQ in Rue Colombert.  The vehicles and their escort then proceeded to Tan Son Hoa.  They had been tasked with picking up a family of ten people and six cows.
On 22 October, a detachment was set up at HQ 80 Indian Brigade.

Locations