Charles Chanson (1902–1951) was the Commander of the French-Indo-Chinese forces in southern Vietnam during the First Indochina War.
[1] Born on 18 February 1902 in Grenoble, France, Charles Marie Ferreol Chanson was educated at Ecole Polytechnique (entrance: 1922).
[2] Between 1950 and 1951, he worked closely with General Jean Marie de Lattre de Tassigny who commanded French troops in Indochina, providing troops to successfully defend northern Vietnam against the Viet Minh.
[2] Chanson was killed on 31 July 1951 at Sadec (or Sa Đéc) in southern Vietnam, when a caodaist suicide bomber exploded a device of several grenades.
One of his faithful subordinates Colonel Leroy wrote that the success in South Vietnam of Chanson was the reason for his murder and that foreign western secret services had backed it.