The Unremembered  Part 1

We all know people starve.  We all know there is such a thing as famine.  We have at least a nodding knowledge of The Potato Famine, Hitler’s starvation of the Jews and Slavs, and the Holodomor.  The distended bellies of the babies of Ethiopia or whatever African country you choose, have become a totem.

The famine many westerners are not aware of has been screened behind the major theaters of WW II.

Welcome to Tonkin, Vietnam, 1943-1945.

Tonkin is in the north of Vietnam.  Since the late 1800s it was an item in the French colonial Asian empire.  There were three in what we now call Vietnam: Annam (central); Cochinchina (south); Tonkin (north)

NORTH means close to China.  And close to China means the Japanese already had their claws imbedded.

France, by all accounts I can find, was a benevolent colonial power (if such a term can be used these days) .  They did their best to understand the weather, the transport issues, the problems with crop monoculture.  As best they could, they kept meticulous statistics on all of it.  They were occupying an agrarian, mostly illiterate culture.  The WHY is beyond the scope here.

Enter the Japanese.  They had invaded China in no small part to secure food.  Vietnam was ruled by the surrendered French, i.e., the Vichy government.  Japan was talking to the conquered and the French were talking to their conquerers.

Japan wanted all of it.  They got it.  But it all went to hell anyway.

How?

Tonkin is the perfect storm of all the elements that lead to famine.  War.  Weather. Transport. Administrative ineptitude, if not actual malfeasance.  And really, really bad agricultural practices.

Let’s start with War.  It was the executioner’s axe after a long journey toward cultural suicide.

Japan compelled the sale of rice to the state.  There was a quota per region, regardless of whether that season’s crop was good or bad.  The quantity was set as a proportion of tilled acreage.  The state paid the farmers for it but often at below market prices.

Rice was converted to alcohol, used as a substitute for gasoline (no I don’t know how that works).

The French, who considered themselves, with cause, to be stewards, ordered stockpiling of rice.

Another factor I’m not sure about may be demographics.  One article mentions lower infant mortality (vaccinations), which drove up the population, which drove up demand.  I can’t confirm that, but it’s worth keeping in mind.

Shortages always bring in the speculators.  If someone knows of a case when that doesn’t drive prices up, I’m listening.

And finally, there was the air and naval war.  The United States  bomber squadrons out of India targeted the Saigon Naval Yard among other targets.  The U.S. subs were assigned to the shipping.  They were successful.

The ships were French.

So they do not remain completely unremembered, the victims of the Tonkin famine are counted at between 500,000 and 1,000,000.  Depending on who is doing the counting.

I don’t know any of their names.