Unexpectedly, the French agreed last week to withdraw the combat troops of their 80,000-man expeditionary corps from the capital city of Saigon into embarkation zones on the coast. French Commissioner-General Paul Ely. who had underestimated the staying power of Premier Ngo Dinh Diem, asked to be relieved of his command. Eagerly, in Freedom Palace young Vietnamese Nationalist officers worked out the details of the takeover that would give the Vietnamese effective control of Saigon for the first time in 90 years. Just to show that individual Frenchmen would always be welcome in his country as friends, Premier Diem gave...
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