This painting entitled "Annamites dans un camp d’aviation à Pau", 1914/18” painted byFrench artist Achille-Émile Othon Friesz (1879-1949) prompted my research into the Annamite people and French aviation in Pau during the First World War.
After landing in Da Nang in 1858, the French founded the colony of Cochinchina in 1865 and established a protectorate over Tonkin in 1884. The Republic of Ferry intensified the colonial exploitation begun under the Second Empire, constituting an immense empire within which the Indochinese peninsula is a jewel. The fighting of the First World War had little impact on the Far East, with its riches coveted by all the colonial powers. But the traditional recruitment of auxiliaries, the need to replace the numerous soldiers who fell at the start of the conflict, and the desire to develop patriotism among the indigenous population, led the metropolises to draw on the colonial pool. In four years of war, France brought 43,430 Annamites from Indochina (center of present-day Vietnam) and Tonkinese (north) riflemen, mobilized mainly in stage battalions responsible for development and transport. 1,123 died on the field of honour. In addition, 48,981 Indochinese workers were sent to French factories to replace workers who had gone to the front.
Annam, or Trung Kỳ, was a French protectorate encompassing the territory of the Empire of Đại Nam in Central Vietnam. Before the protectorate's establishment, the name Annam was used in the West to refer to Vietnam as a whole; Vietnamese people were referred to as Annamites.
The first aviation school was founded in Pau in 1909, a Wright Bleriot School for aviators. Apparently one of the reasons for locating the flying school in Pau was because of the belief that the city and surround areas were almost wind free. When the First World War broke out, the numbers of its trainees and its capacity grew to such an extent that it became one of the largest flying schools in France.
From then on, aviation became a permanent fixture in Pau. Following the lead of the private schools, a military aviation school began to train pilots in Pau and, when the First World War broke out, the numbers of its trainees and its capacity grew to such an extent that it became one of the largest flying schools in France.
Pau is a commune overlooking the Pyrenees in the department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France
Sources:
Painting posted by Ognyan Hristov to the Artists of the First World War Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/385353788875799
https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php?topic=28645.0
https://histoire-image.org/etudes/annamites-grande-guerre
https://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24082
