Human nature would usually organize and sort events to help bring order and clarity to your
life. This also applies to analysis and studies of war, therefore the aim of this thesis is to
determine to what extent the French use maneuver warfare or attritional warfare during
operations in Indo-China (today known as Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos). The author’s intent
is also to contribute to existing research on the subject of analyzing military operations
through maneuver warfare and attritional warfare. The research has been conducted with
qualitative literature studies of the war in French Indo-China (1946-1954).
The thesis begins with a concept analysis of maneuver warfare and attritional warfare, which
renders into an analytical tool. Through the lens of the analytical tool an analysis of four
operations during the Indo-China war is conducted. The conclusions of each operation are
presented using three levels of warfare (strategic, operational and tactical).
The analysis shows that both theories of warfare are present during each operation but on
different levels and sometimes both are present at the same level. Therefore the author found
that it is not possible to classify French operations in Indo-China as operations based solely
upon maneuver warfare or attritional warfare.
2015. , p. 71