In the Post-Cold War Era, the possibility of large-scale military conflict between the superpowers has been replaced by the probability of a series of minor—and perhaps not so minor—regional ones. Many, if not most of those, will take place within reach of seaborne expeditionary forces. France organized such an expedition at the close of World War II, in 1945-1946, to return to Indochina. This account of that expedition provides a good case study of what such expeditions involve and, moreover, illustrates many politico-military lessons—and warnings—for those like the U.S., who would project power from the sea east of the Suez today.

CHARLES W. KOBURGER, JR., is a consultant on maritime affairs. He has published widely on naval and maritime subjects, including Sea Power in the Twenty-First Century: Projecting a Naval Revolution (forthcoming, 1997), Pacific Turning Point: The Solomons Campaign, 1942-1943 (1995), Naval Warfare in the Baltic, 1939-1945: War in a Narrow Sea (1994), Franco-American Naval Relations, 1940-1945 (1993), Naval Warfare in the Eastern Mediterranean: 1940-1945 (1993), and The French Navy in Indochina: Riverine and Coastal Forces, 1945-54 (1991), all from Praeger.