Nenuphar provided French forces with additional tactical successes in the Ba Trai forest, but Viet Minh forces remained firmly anchored in the area. The frank truth was that the Viet Minh strategy in the Black River was making the sector untenable. Convoys were finding it harder to break through to Hoa Binh, which was the raison d’?tre of the Black River garrisons in the first place.

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Salan could only hope that the casualties inflicted on the Viet Minh would give his forces a respite to retake and hold those areas once the enemy had withdrawn. He had been functioning as overall commander in chief since November 20, since de Lattre had returned to France for cancer surgery. Operation Violette was therefore phrased as an offensive. From January 7 to 9, French forces would seek to destroy Viet Minh forces dug in on the slopes of the Ba Vi, while the garrisons at Rocher Notre-Dame, Hill 30, Xom Bu and Ap Da Chong were withdrawn under cover of their attack. The Black River sector with its remaining bases would then be reorganized and placed under the control of the Son Tay sector.

On January 7, while the 1st and 2nd BEPs, 5th BPC, and 4/7th Algerian Tirailleurs secured the roads between the Ba Trai forest and Ba Vi Mountain, the 2/1st and 2/6th Moroccan Tirailleurs, 2/1st Algerian Tirailleurs and Major Rieu’s 1st BPVN attacked Viet Minh forces dug in at Ba Vi. By nightfall of January 7, the Rocher Notre-Dame and Hill 30 garrisons had regrouped at Yen Cu. On January 8, the Xom Bu and Ap Da Chong garrisons joined them. On January 9, the covering forces were withdrawn, and on January 10 the operation was declared a success.

Many of the lieutenants and captains who fought in the campaign, however, saw it differently. They had won each battle, but only because they had been able to withdraw or reposition in order to avoid heavier casualties. Now the Black River was no longer an option for reinforcing Hoa Binh. In essence, the French had abandoned all posts along the river running between Xom Pheo and Dan The. News of the death of General de Lattre de Tassigny at the Neuilly military hospital in France on January 11 only deepened their sense of gloom.

Following his victory along the lower reaches of the Black River, Giap turned his attention to Colonial Route 6 and predicted that Hoa Binh would fall prior to the Lunar New Year. Neither Hoa Binh nor Route 6 had been quiet during the Black River fighting, but Viet Minh action had been limited to spoiling attacks against isolated garrisons and ambushes of French convoys. That changed in January 1952, as the 312th Division redeployed to Colonial Route 6 and Giap ordered in fresh reinforcements to fill the ranks of the 304th and 308th Divisions.

Colonial Route 6 started in Hanoi and ran west, where travel was secure until it reached Xuan Mai. From Xuan Mai the road traversed a heavily forested plateau criss-crossed with numerous steep ravines cut by streams and rivers until just west of Mo Thon, where it cut through a limestone massif filled with irregular valleys and steep cliffs. From Dong Ben, Route 6 cut through narrow valleys dominated by steep sides covered with dense vegetation, until it emerged to run parallel to the Black River between Xom Pheo and Ben Ngoc. At Ben Ngoc, convoys were ferried across the Black River to Hoa Binh.

The Colonial Route 6 sector was headquartered at Ao Trach. Elements from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Moroccan Tirailleurs (3/1st RTM), the 3rd Battalion, 13th Foreign Legion Demi-Brigade (3/13th DBLE), the 1st Tabors, the 8th Colonial Parachute Battalion (8th BPC), and Commando 19 manned posts scattered throughout sector, while a mobile reserve consisting of the 1st Colonial Cavalry Regiment (1st RCC), the 8th Algerian Spahis Regiment (8th RSA), and a platoon of automatic weapons carriers from the Colonial Infantry Regiment of Morocco (RICM) moved between the posts.

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