View source for First Indochina War

{{Short description|1946–1954 French colonial war in Indochina}}
{{Redirect|Indochina War||Indochina wars}}
{{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = First Indochina War
| partof            = the [[Indochina wars]], the [[Cold War in Asia]], and the [[decolonisation of Asia]]
| image             = First Indochina War COLLAGE.jpg
| image_size        = 300
| caption           = '''Clockwise''' {{hlist
 | After the [[Battle of Dien Bien Phu|fall of Dien Bien Phu]], supporting Laotian troops fall back across the Mekong River into Laos
 | [[Troupes de marine|French Marine]] commandos wade ashore off the Annam coast in July 1950
 | [[M24 Chaffee]] American light tank used by the French in Vietnam
 | [[Geneva Conference (1954)|Geneva Conference]] on 21 July 1954
 | A [[Grumman F6F-5]] Hellcat from Escadrille 1F prepares to land on {{ship|French aircraft carrier|Arromanches||6}} operating in the [[Gulf of Tonkin]]
}}
| date              = 19 December 1946{{snd}}20 July 1954<br />({{Age in years, months, and days|month1=12|day1=19|year1=1946|month2=07|day2=20|year2=1954}})
| place             = [[French Indochina]]
| territory         = [[Partition of Vietnam]] into [[North Vietnam|North]] and [[South Vietnam]] in 1954
| result            = {{ublist|Việt Minh victory<ref name="Lee Lanning">{{cite book |last=Lee Lanning |first=Michael |title=Inside the VC and the NVA |year=2008 |publisher=[[Texas A&M University Press]] |isbn=978-1-60344-059-2 |page=119}}</ref><ref name=Crozier>{{cite book |last=Crozier |first=Brian |title=Political Victory: The Elusive Prize Of Military Wars |year=2005 |publisher=Transaction |isbn=978-0-7658-0290-3 |page=47}}</ref>{{sfn|Fall|1994|p=63}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Logevall |first=Fredrik |title=Embers of War: the fall of an empire and the making of America's Vietnam |year=2012 |publisher=[[Random House]] |isbn=978-0-375-75647-4 |pages=596–599}}</ref>}}
| combatant1        = {{flagicon|Vietnam|1945a}} [[Viet Minh]]
* {{flag|North Vietnam|1945|name=Democratic Republic of Vietnam}} 
{{flagicon|Laos}} [[Pathet Lao]]<br>{{flagicon|Cambodia|1979}} [[United Issarak Front]]
| combatant2        = {{flagdeco|French Fourth Republic}} [[French Union]]
* {{flagdeco|French Fourth Republic}} [[French Fourth Republic|France]]
* {{flagdeco|South Vietnam}} [[State of Vietnam]]
* {{flag|Kingdom of Laos}}
* {{flagdeco|Cambodia}} [[French protectorate of Cambodia|Kingdom of Cambodia]]
| commander1        = {{plainlist|
* {{flagdeco|North Vietnam|1945}} [[Hồ Chí Minh]]
* {{flagdeco|North Vietnam|1945}} [[Võ Nguyên Giáp]]
* {{flagdeco|North Vietnam|1945}} [[Phạm Văn Đồng]]
* {{flagdeco|North Vietnam|1945}} [[Trường Chinh]]
* {{flagdeco|North Vietnam|1945}} [[Hoàng Văn Thái]]
* ''...{{Nbsp}}[[Leaders of the First Indochina War#Resistance forces|and others]]''
}}
| commander2        = {{plainlist|
* {{flagdeco|French Fourth Republic}} [[Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu]]
* {{flagdeco|French Fourth Republic}} [[Jean Étienne Valluy]]
* {{flagdeco|French Fourth Republic}} [[Jean de Lattre de Tassigny|Jean de Tassigny]]{{Natural Causes}}
* {{flagdeco|French Fourth Republic}} [[Raoul Salan]]
* {{flagdeco|French Fourth Republic}} [[Henri Navarre]]
* {{flagdeco|South Vietnam}} [[Bảo Đại]]
* {{flagdeco|South Vietnam}} [[Nguyễn Văn Hinh]]
* ''...{{Nbsp}}[[Leaders of the First Indochina War#French Union|and others]]''
}}
| strength1         = '''Việt Minh''':
* 125,000 regulars
* 75,000 regional{{clarify|date=February 2025}}
* 250,000 irregulars{{sfn|Windrow|1998|p=23}}
* {{est.|lk=no}} 5,000 former [[Imperial Japanese Army]] volunteers{{citation needed|date=November 2024}}
| strength2         = '''France''' ([[French Far East Expeditionary Corps]]):
* 496,560 main troops (total), including 296,000 Europeans and 183,000 Africans<ref>Christina Firpo, "The Uprooted: Race, Children, and Imperialism in French Indochina, 1890–1980", University of Hawaii Press: January 31, 2016, {{ISBN|9780824858117}}. Page 108.</ref>
* 190,000 main troops (peak)
* 55,000 local auxiliary (peak)
'''State of Vietnam''' ([[Vietnamese National Army]]):
* 150,000 troops<ref name="windrow">{{harvnb|Windrow|1998|page=11}}</ref>
| casualties1       = '''Việt Minh''':
* 175,000–300,000 dead or missing (Western historians' estimate)<ref>Fall, Bernard, ''The Two Vietnams'' (1963)</ref><ref>Eckhardt, William, ''World Military and Social Expenditures 1987–88'' (12th ed., 1987) by Ruth Leger Sivard.</ref><ref name="Clodfelter, Micheal 1995"/><ref>Stanley Kutler, ''Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War'' (1996)</ref>
* 191,605 dead or missing (Vietnamese government's figure)<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://datafile.chinhsachquandoi.gov.vn/Qu%E1%BA%A3n%20l%C3%BD%20ch%E1%BB%89%20%C4%91%E1%BA%A1o/Chuy%C3%AAn%20%C4%91%E1%BB%81%204.doc |title=Chuyên đề 4 Công Tác Tìm Kiếm, Quy Tập Hài Cốt Liệt Sĩ Từ Nay Đến Năm 2020 Và Những Năm Tiếp Theo, datafile.chinhsachquandoi.gov.vn/Quản%20lý%20chỉ%20đạo/Chuyên%20đề%204.doc |access-date=4 April 2023 |language=vi}}</ref>
| casualties2       = '''France''':
* 74,220 dead (20,685 Frenchmen){{sfn|Clodfelter|2008|p=657}}
* 64,127 wounded
'''State of Vietnam''':
* 58,877 dead or missing<ref>Dommen, Arthur J. (2001), [https://books.google.com/books?id=MauWlUjuWNsC&dq=The+Indochinese+Experience+of+the+French+and+the+Americans+100%2C000+to+150%2C000&pg=PA252 ''The Indochinese Experience of the French and the Americans''], Indiana University Press, p. 252</ref>
| casualties3       = {{plainlist|
* 400,000–842,707 total killed<ref name="T. Lomperis, 1996">{{cite book |first=T. |last=Lomperis |title=From People's War to People's Rule |year=1996}}</ref><ref name="Clodfelter, Micheal 1995"/><ref>{{cite book |first=S. |last=Karnow |title=Vietnam: a History |date=1983}}</ref>
* 125,000–400,000 civilians killed<ref name="Clodfelter, Micheal 1995">{{cite book |last=Clodfelter |first=Micheal |title=Vietnam in Military Statistics |year=1995}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Smedberg |first=M. |date=2008 |title=Vietnamkrigen: 1880–1980 |language=da |trans-title=The Vietnam War: 1880–1980 |publisher=Historiska Media |page=88}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Eckhardt |first=William |title=World Military and Social Expenditures 1987–88 |edition=12th |year=1987 |publisher=[[Ruth Leger Sivard]]}}</ref><ref name="Ref-1">{{cite book |last=Dommen |first=Arthur J. |year=2001 |title=The Indochinese Experience of the French and the Americans |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |page=252}}</ref>}}
| campaignbox       = {{Campaignbox Indochina Wars}}
{{Campaignbox First Indochina War}}
}}

The '''First Indochina War''' (generally known as the '''Indochina War''' in France, and as the '''Anti-French Resistance War''' in [[Vietnam]], and alternatively internationally as the '''French-Indochina War''') was fought in [[French Indochina|Indochina]] between [[French Fourth Republic|France]] and the [[Việt Minh]], and their respective allies, from 19 December 1946 until 20 July 1954.{{Efn|The ceasefire took effect in Laos on 6 August 1954, in Cambodia on 7 August 1954, and all of Vietnam on 11 August 1954}}{{Efn|The Geneva Accords on the Indochinese countries were ''de facto'' signed on July 21, but nominally the 20th}}<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zeweA9cfoxEC&q=led+by+France+and+supported+by+B%E1%BA%A3o+%C4%90%E1%BA%A1i's+Vietnamese+National+Army&pg=PA119 |title=Saigon: A History |first=Nghia M. |last=Vo |date=August 31, 2011 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-8634-2 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Historical Documents - Office of the Historian |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v16/d1035 |access-date=2025-09-25 |website=history.state.gov}}</ref> The Việt Minh was led by [[Võ Nguyên Giáp]] and [[Hồ Chí Minh]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ho-Chi-Minh |title=Ho Chi Minh, President of North Vietnam |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica|date=15 May 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vo-Nguyen-Giap |title=Vo Nguyen Giap, Vietnamese general |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica|date=15 April 2024 }}</ref> The conflict mainly happened in Vietnam.

At the [[Potsdam Conference]] in July 1945, the Allied [[Combined Chiefs of Staff]] decided that Indochina south of [[16th parallel north|latitude 16° north]] was to be included in the Southeast Asia Command under British [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Admiral Mountbatten]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, The Conference of Berlin (The Potsdam Conference), 1945, 1945, Volume II |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945Berlinv02/d710a-95}}</ref> The French return to southern Indochina was also supported by the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]]. On [[V-J Day]], September 2, Hồ Chí Minh proclaimed in [[Hanoi]] the establishment of the [[Democratic Republic of Vietnam]] (DRV). Also in September 1945, [[Republic of China (1912-1949)|Chinese]] forces entered Hanoi, and Japanese forces to the north of that line surrendered to Generalissimo [[Chiang Kai-shek]]. At the same time, British forces landed in [[Saigon]], and Japanese forces in the south surrendered to the British. The Chinese acknowledged the DRV and the [[Communist Party of Vietnam|communist]]-led Việt Minh, then in power in Hanoi, even though they also supported pro-Chinese nationalist factions. The British refused to do that in Saigon, and deferred to the French. The DRV ruled as the only civil government in all of Vietnam for a period of about 20 days, after the abdication of Emperor [[Bảo Đại]], who had governed Vietnam since 1926.

On 23 September 1945, with the knowledge of the [[United Kingdom|British]] commander in Saigon, French forces [[War in Vietnam (1945-1946)|overthrew]] the local DRV government, and declared French authority restored in the south 16th parallel. [[Guerrilla warfare]] began around Saigon immediately.<ref>[[The Pentagon Papers]], [[s:Page:Pentagon-Papers-Part I.djvu/30|Part I]], via [[Wikisource]]</ref> After China allowed France to advance north, Hồ Chí Minh [[Ho–Sainteny Agreement|agreed]] to talk with France but negotiations failed. After one year of low-level conflict, all-out war broke out in December 1946 between French and Việt Minh forces as Hồ Chí Minh and his government went underground. As part of [[decolonization]], France talked with nationalists from 1947 and reorganized Indochina as a [[confederation]] of [[associated state]]s within the [[French Union]], based on a major reform declaration of 24 March 1945 and the [[French Constitution of 27 October 1946|1946 Constitution]]. In June 1949, they put former Emperor Bảo Đại back in power, as the ruler of the [[State of Vietnam]]. France also returned [[French Cochinchina|Cochinchina]] to Vietnam. However, the new state only slowly gained autonomy.<ref name="pent5">{{cite web|archive-date=2011-08-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806004651/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent5.htm |access-date=2011-07-23 |title=The Pentagon Papers, Chapter 2, "U.S. Involvement in the Franco-Viet Minh War, 1950-1954", U.S. Pokicy and the Bao Dai Regime |url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent5.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1950, the [[Soviet Union|USSR]] and a newly [[China|Communist China]] recognized the DRV while the [[United States|US]] recognized the State of Vietnam. The conflict to a considerable extent turned into a conventional war between two armies equipped with modern weapons. France was helped by the United States, and the Việt Minh by China.{{sfn|Fall|1994|p=17}}{{sfn|Goscha|2022|pp=74-80}} Guerrilla warfare continued to occur in large areas. French Union forces included colonial troops from the empire – North Africans; Laotian, Cambodian and [[List of ethnic groups in Vietnam|Vietnamese ethnic minorities]]; Sub-Saharan Africans – and professional French troops, European volunteers, and units of the [[French Foreign Legion|Foreign Legion]]. The use of French [[Metropolitan France|metropolitan]] recruits was forbidden by the government to prevent the war from becoming more unpopular at home. It was called the "dirty war" ({{lang|fr|la sale guerre}}) by French leftists.<ref>{{cite book |first=Edward |last=Rice-Maximin |title=Accommodation and Resistance: The French Left, Indochina, and the Cold War, 1944–1954 |publisher=Greenwood |date=1986}}</ref> In December 1950, France officially established [[Vietnamese National Army|an army]] for the State of Vietnam.<ref name="vietnam.ttu.edu">[http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/vietnamcenter/events/2006_Conference/presentations/sherman/RVNAF.pdf ''A Brief Overview of the Vietnam National Army and the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces''(1952-1975)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327061040/http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/vietnamcenter/events/2006_Conference/presentations/sherman/RVNAF.pdf |date=2009-03-27 }}, Stephen Sherman and Bill Laurie</ref><ref>{{cite web|archive-date=2010-07-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100711091007/http://www.danchimviet.com/archives/9788 |date=1 June 2010 |access-date=6 July 2010 |website=danchimviet.com |author=Trần Gia Phụng |title=Các lực lượng trong nước trong chiến tranh 1960-1975 |url=http://www.danchimviet.com/archives/9788 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In September 1951, the US began providing direct economic aid to the State of Vietnam.<ref>{{cite web | title=Historical Documents - Office of the Historian | url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v01/d17 }}</ref>

The French strategy of inducing the Việt Minh to attack well-defended bases in remote areas at the end of their logistical trails succeeded at the [[Battle of Nà Sản]]. French efforts were hampered by the limited usefulness of tanks in forest terrain, the lack of a strong air force, and reliance on soldiers from French colonies. The Việt Minh used novel and efficient tactics, including direct artillery fire, convoy ambushes, and anti-aircraft weaponry to impede land and air resupplies, while recruiting a sizable regular army facilitated by large popular support. They used guerrilla warfare doctrine and instruction from Mao's China, and used war [[materiel]] provided by the Soviet Union. This combination proved fatal for the French bases, culminating in a decisive French defeat at the [[Battle of Điện Biên Phủ]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Flitton |first1=Dave |title=Battlefield Vietnam – Dien Bien Phu, the legacy |date=7 September 2011 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQdFGr7NQ4o |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/eQdFGr7NQ4o |archive-date=2021-10-30 |publisher=[[Public Broadcasting System]] |access-date=29 July 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
An estimated 400,000 to 842,707 soldiers died during the war<ref name="T. Lomperis, 1996" /><ref name="Clodfelter, Micheal 1995" /> as well as between 125,000 and 400,000 civilians.<ref name="Clodfelter, Micheal 1995" /><ref name="Ref-1" /> Both sides committed [[#War crimes and re-education camps|war crimes]] including killings of civilians (such as the [[Mỹ Trạch massacre]] by French troops), rape and torture.<ref name="Christopher Goscha 2016 260">{{cite book |title=The Penguin History of Modern Vietnam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kTVUCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT260 |author-link=Christopher Goscha |first=Christopher |last=Goscha |year=2016a |page=260 |place=London |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |isbn=978-0-14-194665-8 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

The State of Vietnam gained full independence legally in June 1954 although the transfer of power was not yet complete.<ref>{{cite web | title=Vietnam, indépendance, Digithèque MJP | url=https://mjp.univ-perp.fr/constit/vn1954.htm }}</ref> Despite gaining a great military advantage and controlling most of the country's territory, the Việt Minh had to accept a separation at [[Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone|17th parallel]] under Chinese pressure.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hastings|first=Max|title=Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy 1945-1975|year=2018|isbn=978-0-06-240566-1|location=New York|language=English}}</ref> At the [[1954 Geneva Conference|Geneva Conference]] on July 20, the new French cabinet of [[Pierre Mendès France]] agreed to give the Việt Minh control of [[North Vietnam]], but the State of Vietnam did not sign the agreement.<ref>{{cite news|author=Trần Gia Phụng |title=Hiệp định Genève 20-7-1954 |url=https://vietbao.com/a136970/hiep-dinh-geneve-20-7-1954-phan-1 |work=[[Việt Báo (California)|Việt Báo Online]]}}</ref> A year later, in [[South Vietnam]], the [[Republic of Vietnam]] was formed as a successor of the State of Vietnam. After the division, The United States replaced France as the new patron of Vietnamese anti-communists, leading to the collapse of French influence. The [[Indochinese Federation]] was dissolved in December 1954, followed by the South Vietnamese withdrawal from the [[French Union]] Assembly in December 1955 and the withdrawal of French troops from the South in April 1956.<ref>{{Cite web |year=2011 |orig-year= |editor=United States Department of Defense |title=U.S. and France's Withdrawal from Vietnam, 1954–1956 |url=https://nara-media-001.s3.amazonaws.com/arcmedia/research/pentagon-papers/Pentagon-Papers-Part-IV-A-3.pdf |series=The Pentagon Papers |website=National Archives and Records Administration |pages= |access-date= |archive-date= |archive-url= }}</ref> An [[Viet Cong|insurgency]], ''de facto'' controlled by the communist North, developed against the South Vietnamese government. This [[Cold War]] conflict, known as the [[Vietnam War]], ended on 30 April 1975 with the [[Fall of Saigon|fall of South Vietnam]] and Vietnamese unification under communism.

== Background ==
{{Further|French Indochina in World War II}}
{{More citations needed section|date=December 2012}}
[[File:Indochine physique - dressée par Ary Imbert - btv1b53213364h (1 of 2).jpg|thumb|left|Indochine physique, 1930]]
Vietnam was absorbed into [[French Indochina]] in stages between 1858 and 1887. [[Vietnamese nationalism]] grew until World War II, which provided a break in French control. Early Vietnamese resistance centered on the intellectual [[Phan Bội Châu]]. Châu looked to Japan, which had modernized and was one of the few Asian nations to successfully resist European colonization. With Prince [[Cường Để]], Châu started the two organizations in Japan, the [[Duy Tân hội]] (Modernistic Association) and [[Vietnam Cong Hien Hoi]].

Due to French pressure, Japan deported Phan Bội Châu to China. Witnessing [[Sun Yat-sen]]'s [[Xinhai Revolution]], Châu was inspired to commence the Viet Nam Quang Phục Hội movement in [[Guangzhou]]. From 1914 to 1917, he was imprisoned by [[Yuan Shikai]]'s counterrevolutionary government. In 1925, he was captured by French agents in Shanghai and spirited to Vietnam. Due to his popularity, Châu was spared from execution and placed under house arrest until his death in 1940.

In September 1940, the [[Empire of Japan]] launched [[Japanese invasion of French Indochina|its invasion of French Indochina]], parallel with its [[Battle of France|ally Germany's conquest]] of [[metropolitan France]]. Keeping the French colonial administration, the Japanese ruled from behind the scenes, as did the Germans in [[Vichy France]]. For Vietnamese nationalists, this was a double-puppet government, with the [[Axis powers]] behind the French behind the Vietnamese local officials. Emperor [[Bảo Đại]] collaborated with the Japanese, just as he had with the French, ensuring his continued safety and comfort.

From October 1940 to May 1941, during the [[Franco-Thai War]], the Vichy French in Indochina defended their colony in a border conflict in which the forces of [[Thailand]] invaded while the Japanese sat on the sidelines. Thai military successes were limited to the Cambodian border area, and in January 1941 Vichy France's modern naval forces soundly defeated the inferior Thai naval forces in the [[Battle of Ko Chang]]. The war ended in May, with the French agreeing to minor territorial revisions which restored formerly Thai areas to Thailand.

In 1941, Hồ Chí Minh formed the [[Viet Minh]] (League for the Independence of Vietnam).<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Xiaobing |title=The Cold War in East Asia |date=2018 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-138-65179-1 |location=Abingdon, Oxon}}</ref>{{Rp|page=98}} He founded the Việt Minh as an [[umbrella organization]], seeking to appeal to a base beyond his own communist beliefs by emphasizing national liberation instead of class struggle.<ref>{{cite book |last=Modelski |first=George |title= Communism and RevolutionThe Strategic Uses of Political Violence |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=aQfWCgAAQBAJ |year=1964 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn= 978-1-4008-7472-9|pages= 189–190}}</ref><ref>[[The Pentagon Papers]], [[s:Page:Pentagon-Papers-Part I.djvu/106|Part I]], via [[Wikisource]]</ref> In 1941, Hồ and [[Indochina Communist Party]] founded a communist-led united front to oppose the Japanese.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=98}}

In March 1945, with the World War all but lost, Japan launched the [[Second French Indochina Campaign]] to oust the Vichy French, and formally installed Emperor Bảo Đại as head of a nominally independent [[Vietnam]]. The Japanese arrested and imprisoned most of the French officials and military remaining in the country.

In Hanoi on 15–20 April 1945, the Tonkin Revolutionary Military Conference of the Việt Minh issued a resolution (reprinted 25 August 1970 in the ''[[Nhân Dân]]'' journal) calling for a general uprising, resistance and guerrilla warfare against the Japanese. It also called on the French in Vietnam to recognize Vietnamese independence and on the DeGaulle French government (Allied French) to recognize Vietnam's independence and fight alongside them against Japan.<ref>{{cite book |last=Truong |first=Chinh |date= 19 May 1971 |others=Contributor United States. Joint Publications Research Service |title=Translations on North Vietnam, Volume 17 |series=JPRS (Series) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sTrcAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22establish+an+organization+of+Chinese+and+Vietnamese+Allied+against+Japan%22&pg=RA2-PA7 |location= |chapter=I. Documents From the August Revolution – Resolution of the Tonkin Revolutionary Military Conference, JPRS 53169 19 May 1971 Translations on North Vietnam – No. 940 – Documents on the August Revolution |publisher=U.S. Joint Publications Research Service. |pages=1–7 |isbn=}}</ref><ref>I. Documents From the August Revolution – Resolution of the Tonkin Revolutionary Military Conference [Excerpt  from the Resolution of the Tonkin Revolutionary Military Conference Held Between 15 and 20 April 1945; Hanoi, Nhan Dan, Vietnamese, 25 August 1970, pp 1.4]</ref>

In an article from August 1945, (republished 17 August 1970), the North Vietnamese National Assembly Chairman [[Truong Chinh]] denounced the Japanese [[Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere]] as a regime to plunder Asia and to replace the United States and British colonial rule with Japanese colonial rule. Truong Chinh also denounced the retreating Japanese's [[Three Alls]] policy: kill all, burn all, loot all. According to Truong the Japanese also tried to pit different ethnic and political groups within Indochina against each other and attempted to infiltrate the Viet Minh.<ref>{{cite book |last=Truong |first=Chinh |date= 19 May 1971 |others=Contributor United States. Joint Publications Research Service |title=Translations on North Vietnam, Volume 17 |series=JPRS (Series) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sTrcAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22Wherever+they+went%2C+the+Japanese+forces+burned+down+homes%2C+murdered+law-abiding+citizens%2C+raped+women%2C+and+stole+possessions.%22&pg=RA2-PA9 |location= |chapter=Policy of the Japanese Pirates Towards Our people, JPRS 53169 19 May 1971 Translations on North Vietnam – No. 940 – Documents on the August Revolution |publisher=U.S. Joint Publications Research Service. |pages=8–13 |isbn=}}</ref><ref>Article by Truong Chinh, chairman of the National Assembly: "Policy of the Japanese Pirates Towards Our people"; Hanoi, Nhan Dan, Vietnamese, 17 August 1970, pp 1, 3</ref>
[[File:Trung Bắc Chủ nhật số 250.jpg|thumb|June 1945 public ceremony in commemoration of the [[Yên Bái mutiny]]]]
[[File:Giap-Ho.jpg|thumb|[[Võ Nguyên Giáp]] and [[Ho Chi Minh]] (1945)]]

The Japanese inflicted two billion US dollars' worth (1945 values) of damage, including destruction of industrial plants, 90% of heavy vehicles, motorcycles, and cars, and 16 tons of [[junks]], railways, port installations, and one third of the bridges.<ref>{{cite book |last=Huff |first=Gregg |date=2020 |title=World War II and Southeast Asia: Economy and Society under Japanese Occupation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=waECEAAAQBAJ&dq=tanaka+comfort+vietnamese+burmese&pg=PA386 |location= |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=386 |isbn=978-1-108-91608-0 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> In the Japanese-imposed [[Vietnamese famine of 1944–1945|famine of 1944–1945]], one to two million Vietnamese starved to death in the Red river delta of northern Vietnam.<ref>{{cite book |last=Berger |first=Thomas U. |date=2012 |title= War, Guilt, and World Politics after World War II |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9EwgAwAAQBAJ&dq=tanaka+comfort+vietnamese+burmese&pg=PA126 |location= |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=126 |isbn=978-1-139-51087-5 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.endofempire.asia/0817-6-the-great-vietnam-famine-4/ |title=The great Vietnam famine |last=Gunn |first=Geoffrey |work=End of Empire |date=17 August 2015 |publisher= |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=25 March 2000 |title=Dân chủ: Vấn đề của dân tộc và thời đại |url=https://hung-viet.org/a5222/doi-thoai-nam-2000 |website=Hưng Việt: Trang Chánh - Trang 1 |publisher=2000 |quote=|last1= Việt|first1= Hưng}}</ref> The North Vietnamese government accused both France and Japan of the famine.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Gunn |first1=Geoffrey |date=January 24, 2011 |title=The Great Vietnamese Famine of 1944-45 Revisited 1944−45年ヴィエトナム大飢饉再訪 |url=https://apjjf.org/2011/9/5/Geoffrey-Gunn/3483/article.html |journal=The Asia-Pacific Journal |volume=9 |issue=5 Number 4}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dũng |first1=Bùi Minh |date=1995 |title=Japan's Role in the Vietnamese Starvation of 1944–45 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/modern-asian-studies/article/japans-role-in-the-vietnamese-starvation-of-194445/8A5205371AAECFB6D6CBE8AD7F70C41F |journal=Modern Asian Studies |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=573–618 |doi=10.1017/S0026749X00014001 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |s2cid=145374444 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hien |first1=Nina |date=Spring 2013 |title=The Good, the Bad, and the Not Beautiful: In the Street and on the Ground in Vietnam |url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/t/tap/7977573.0003.202/--good-the-bad-and-the-not-beautiful-in-the-street?rgn=main;view=fulltext |journal=Local Culture/Global Photography |volume=3 |issue= 2|pages= |doi= }}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media |people= |date= |title=Vietnam: Corpses in a mass grave following the 1944-45 famine during the Japanese occupation. Up to 2 million Vietnamese died of starvation. |trans-title= |type= |language= |url=https://www.akg-images.com/archive/-2UMEBM2Y85NV.html |time= |location= |publisher= |id= AKG3807269 |isbn= |oclc= |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://japanesevietnam.weebly.com/vietnamese-famine-of-1945.html |title=Vietnamese Famine of 1945 |last= |first= |date= |website=Japanese Occupation of Vietnam |publisher= |quote=}}</ref> By the time the Chinese came to disarm the Japanese, Vietnamese corpses littered the streets of Hanoi.<ref name="Bui 1999 39, 40">{{cite book |last1=Bui |first1=Diem |last2=Chanoff |first2=David |date=1999 |title=In the Jaws of History |series=Vietnam war era classics series |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Opb_14GLdXcC&pg=PA40 |location= |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |edition=illustrated, reprint |pages=39, 40 |isbn=0-253-33539-6 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

In the [[Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam]], Ho Chi Minh blamed "the double yoke of the French and the Japanese" for the deaths of "more than two million" Vietnamese.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Vietnamese_Declaration_of_Independence|title=Vietnamese Declaration of Independence |last= |first= |date=2 September 1945 |website=Wikisource |publisher= |quote=}}</ref>

American President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and General [[Joseph Stilwell]] privately opposed continued French rule in Indochina after the war. Roosevelt suggested that [[Chiang Kai-shek]] place Indochina under Chinese rule; Chiang Kai-shek supposedly replied: "Under no circumstances!"<ref>{{harvnb|Tuchman|1985|p=235}}</ref> Following Roosevelt's death in April 1945, U.S. resistance to French rule weakened.<ref>{{harvnb|Tuchman|1985|p=237}}</ref>

===After the surrender of Japan===
[[File:The Allied Occupation of French Indo-china SE5769.jpg|thumb|Japanese troops lay down their arms to British troops in a ceremony in Saigon after the [[Japanese Instrument of Surrender|surrender of Japan]].]]
{{Further|War in southern Vietnam (1945–1946)|Chinese occupation of northern Vietnam, 1945–1946}} {{Very long section|date=September 2025}}
Japanese forces in Vietnam surrendered on 15 August 1945, and an armistice was signed between Japan and the United States on 20 August. The [[Provisional Government of the French Republic]] wanted to restore its colonial rule in French Indochina as the final step of the [[Liberation of France]].
On 22 August, OSS agents [[Archimedes Patti]] and [[Carleton B. Swift Jr.]] arrived in Hanoi on a mercy mission to liberate Allied POWs, accompanied by French official [[Jean Sainteny]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Interview with Carleton Swift, 1981|url=http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/vietnam-9dc948-interview-with-carleton-swift|website=Open Vault|access-date=October 15, 2016|archive-date=March 5, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305210732/http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/vietnam-9dc948-interview-with-carleton-swift|url-status=dead}}</ref> As the only law enforcement, the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] remained in power, keeping French colonial troops and Sainteny detained, to the benefit of the developing Vietnamese nationalist forces.<ref name="taiwandocuments.org">{{cite book|last=Stuart-Fox|first=Martin|title=A History of Laos|publisher=Cambridge|location=Cambridge University Press|year=1997|url=http://www.taiwandocuments.org/japansurrender.htm}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=WGBH Open Vault – Interview with Archimedes L. A. Patti, 1981 |url=http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/vietnam-bf3262-interview-with-archimedes-l-a-patti-1981 |access-date=2015-08-19 |archive-date=2021-03-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301131857/https://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_3267C58E4C104A54A0AFDF230D618AE6 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The Viet Minh claimed that they, alongside Meo ([[Hmong people|Hmong]]) and [[Muong people|Muong]] tribesmen, subdued the Japanese in a nationwide rebellion from 9 March to 19 August 1945, taking control of 6 provinces,<ref>{{cite book |last=Truong |first=Chinh |title=Translations on North Vietnam, Volume 17 |date=1971 |publisher=U.S. Joint Publications Research Service. |others=Contributor United States. Joint Publications Research Service |isbn= |series=JPRS (Series) |location= |pages=14–16 |chapter=Revolution or Coup d'Etat, JPRS 53169 19 May 1971 Translations on North Vietnam – No. 940 – Documents on the August Revolution |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sTrcAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22The+Japanese+were+disarmed+in+many+places%22&pg=RA2-PA13}}</ref><ref>[Article by Truong Chinh, chairman of the National Assembly: "Revolution or Coup d'État"; Hanoi, Nhan Dan, Vietnamese, 16 August 1970, pp 1, 3] *Reprinted from Co Giai Phong [Liberation Banner], No 16, 12 September 1945.</ref> although some of these claims are contested.{{sfn|Marr|2013|p=275}}
Beginning with the [[August Revolution]], Japanese forces allowed the Việt Minh and other nationalist groups to take over public buildings and weapons. For the most part, the Japanese Army destroyed their equipment or surrendered it to Allied forces, but some of the weapons fell to the Việt Minh, including some French equipment.{{Sfn|Shrader|2015|pages=157-158}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Bartholomew-Feis |first=Dixee R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XBdnAAAAMAAJ&dq=viet+minh+japanese+weapons&pg=PA275 |title=The OSS and Ho Chi MinhUnexpected Allies in the War Against Japan |date=2006 |publisher=[[University Press of Kansas]] |isbn=978-0-7006-1431-8 |series= |location= |page=275 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> The Việt Minh also recruited more than 600 Japanese soldiers to train Vietnamese.<ref>{{cite web |date=October 2005 |title=ベトナム独立戦争参加日本人の事跡に基づく日越のあり方に関する研究 |url=http://nippon.zaidan.info/seikabutsu/2005/01036/pdf/0001.pdf |access-date=2010-06-10 |website=井川 一久 |publisher=Tokyo foundation}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=May 2006 |title=日越関係発展の方途を探る研究 ヴェトナム独立戦争参加日本人―その実態と日越両国にとっての歴史的意味― |url=http://nippon.zaidan.info/seikabutsu/2006/00197/pdf/0001.pdf |access-date=2010-06-10 |website=井川 一久 |publisher=Tokyo foundation}}</ref>

On 25 August, Ho Chi Minh persuaded Emperor Bảo Đại to abdicate and become "supreme advisor" to the new Việt Minh-led government in [[Hanoi]]. On September 2, aboard {{USS|Missouri|BB-63|6}} in Tokyo Bay, [[French Far East Expeditionary Corps|CEFEO Expeditionary Corps]] leader [[General Leclerc]] signed the armistice with Japan on behalf of France.<ref>{{cite web |last= |first= |date=2 September 1945 |title=Surrender of Japan (1945) |url=https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/surrender-of-japan#transcript |website=US National Archives |publisher= |quote=}}</ref> The same day, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France. Deliberately echoing the American Declaration of Independence, he proclaimed:
<blockquote>We hold the truth that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.<ref>Stanley Karnow, ''Vietnam: A History'', (New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1997), 146</ref></blockquote>
Ho Chi Minh denounced the reimposition of French rule, accusing the French of selling out the Vietnamese to the Japanese twice in four years.<ref>{{cite book |author=((Contributor United States. Joint Publications Research Service)) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sTrcAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22Our+newly+won+national+independence+is+threatened+by+foreign%22&pg=RA2-PA17 |title=Translations on North Vietnam, Volume 17 |date=1971 |publisher=U.S. Joint Publications Research Service. |isbn= |series=JPRS (Series) |location= |pages=17, 18 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>HO CHI MINH'S LETTER TO THE COCHIN-CHINA COMPATRIOTS [Letter written by President Ho after the war of resistance had broken out in Cochin China: "To the Nam Bo Compatriots"; Hanoi, THong Nhat, Vietnamese, 18 September 1970, p 1] 26 September 1945</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Ho |first=Chi Minh |url=https://archive.org/stream/hochiminhselectedwritings/hochiminhselectedwritings_djvu.txt |title=Selected Writings (1920-1969) |date= |publisher= |isbn= |location= |page=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Z-Library single sign on |url=https://ur.eu1lib.org/book/18433157/2965f6 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406163303/https://ur.eu1lib.org/book/18433157/2965f6 |archive-date=2023-04-06 |access-date=2022-07-13}}</ref>

[[File:Gcma commando french indochina japanese.jpg|thumb|6° Commando of the C.L.I. ([[Corps Léger d'Intervention]]) in Indochina.]]
On 13 September 1945, a [[French Fourth Republic|Franco]]-British [[task force]] landed in [[Java]], main island of the [[Dutch East Indies]] (for which independence was being sought by [[Sukarno]]), and Saigon, capital of Cochinchina (southern part of French Indochina), both being [[Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies|occupied by the Japanese]] under [[Marshal (Japan)|Field Marshal]] [[Hisaichi Terauchi]], Commander-in-Chief of Japan's [[Southern Expeditionary Army Group]] based in Saigon.<ref>[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1z4ft_les-allies-a-saigon-et-a-java-01011_news ''Allies Reinforce Java and Saigon''], British Paramount News rushes, 1945</ref> [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] troops in Saigon were an airborne detachment, two British companies of the [[Indian 20th Infantry Division]] and the French 5th Colonial Infantry Regiment, with British General Sir [[Douglas Gracey]] as supreme commander. The latter proclaimed [[martial law]] on September 21, and Franco-British troops took control of Saigon.<ref name="Hauteloque 1947">''Philipe Leclerc de Hauteloque (1902–1947), La légende d'un héro'', Christine Levisse-Touzé, Tallandier/Paris Musées, 2002</ref>
[[File:HoChiMinhTelegramToTruman1946.png|thumb|upright=0.9|Telegram from Ho Chi Minh to U.S. President [[Harry S. Truman]] requesting support for independence (Hanoi, February 28, 1946)]]

As agreed at the [[Potsdam Conference]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://taiwandocuments.org/surrender05.htm|title=SCAP General Order no. 1|date=October 14, 2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021014090104/http://taiwandocuments.org/surrender05.htm|archive-date=2002-10-14}}</ref><ref name="Walker2012">{{cite book|author=Hugh Dyson Walker|title=East Asia: A New History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Z3a0NU4RHMC&pg=PA621|date=November 2012|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=978-1-4772-6516-1|pages=621–}}</ref> 200,000 troops of the Chinese 1st Army occupied northern Indochina to the 16th parallel, while the British under the South-East Asia Command of Lord Mountbatten occupied the south.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Roy |first1=Kaushik |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dwLeCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA84 |title=Armed Forces and Insurgents in Modern Asia |last2=Saha |first2=Sourish |date=2016 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-317-23193-6 |edition=illustrated |series= |location= |page=84 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Miller |first=Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MzpcCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA40 |title=The Vietnam War: A Documentary Reader |date=2016 |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |isbn=978-1-4051-9678-9 |edition=illustrated |series=Uncovering the Past: Documentary Readers in American History |location= |page=40 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> The Chinese troops had been sent by Chiang Kai-shek under [[Lu Han (general)|General Lu Han]] to accept the surrender of Japanese forces occupying that area, then to supervise the disarming and repatriation of the Japanese Army. In the North, the Chinese permitted the DRV government to remain in charge of local administration and food supply.{{sfn|Marr|2013|pp=269-271}} Initially, the Chinese kept the French Colonial soldiers interned, with the acquiescence of the Americans.<ref name="taiwandocuments.org"/> The Chinese used the [[VNQDĐ]], the Vietnamese branch of the Chinese [[Kuomintang]], to increase their influence in Indochina and put pressure on their opponents.<ref>{{cite book| author = Peter Neville| title = Britain in Vietnam: prelude to disaster, 1945-6| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=U2Is6wfZQ70C| access-date = 2010-11-28| year = 2007| publisher = Psychology Press| isbn = 978-0-415-35848-4| page = 119 }}</ref>
Chiang Kai-shek deliberately withheld his best soldiers from Vietnam, holding them in reserve for the fight against the Communists inside China, and instead sent undisciplined warlord troops from Yunnan under Lu Han to occupy Vietnam north of the 16th parallel and accept the Japanese surrender.<ref>{{cite book |last=Neville |first=Peter |date=2007 |series=Military History and Policy |title=Britain in Vietnam: Prelude to Disaster, 1945–46 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u5DzbRINYkIC&pg=PA66 |location= |publisher=[[Routledge]] |page=66 |isbn=978-1-134-24476-8 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Duiker |first= William J |date= 2012 |series= |title= Ho Chi Minh: A Life |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uRKZAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT371 |location= |publisher=Hachette Books |page= |isbn=978-1-4013-0561-1 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>
In total, 200,000 of General Lu Han's Chinese soldiers occupied north Vietnam starting August 1945. 90,000 arrived by October, the 62nd army came on 26 September to [[Nam Dinh]] and [[Haiphong]], later arriving at [[Lang Son]] and [[Cao Bang]] and the Red River region and Lai Cai were occupied by a column from Yunnan. Vietnamese VNQDD fighters accompanied the Chinese soldiers. Lu Han occupied the French governor general's palace after ejecting the French staff under Sainteny.<ref name="Gunn 2014 224">{{cite book |last=Gunn |first=Geoffrey C. |date=2014 |series= |title=Rice Wars in Colonial Vietnam: The Great Famine and the Viet Minh Road to Power |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4T7oAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA224 |location= |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |page=224 |isbn=978-1-4422-2303-5 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

On 9 October 1945, General Leclerc arrived in Saigon, accompanied by French Colonel [[Jacques Massu|Massu]]'s ''Groupement de marche'' unit. Leclerc's primary objectives were to restore public order in south Vietnam and to militarize Tonkin (northern Vietnam). Secondary objectives were to explore taking back Chinese-occupied Hanoi, and to negotiate with Việt Minh officials.<ref name="Hauteloque 1947"/>

While the Chinese soldiers occupied northern Indochina, Ho Chi Minh's Viet Minh tried to appease the Chinese soldiers with welcome parades in Hanoi and Haiphong, while reassuring the Vietnamese people that China supported Vietnam's independence.<ref>{{cite book |last=Duiker |first=William J |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QVJPDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT119 |title=The Communist Road To Power In Vietnam: Second Edition |date=2018 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-97254-6 |edition=2 |series= |location= |page=}}</ref> Viet Minh newspapers emphasized the common ancestry (huyết thống) and culture shared by Vietnamese and Chinese, and their common struggle against western imperialists, and expressed admiration for the 1911 revolution and anti-Japanese war which had made it "not the same as feudal China".{{sfn|Marr|2013|pp=270-271}}

In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh called on the people to contribute gold to purchase weapons for the Viet Minh and also gifts for the Chinese, presenting a golden opium pipe to the Chinese general Lu Han.<ref name="CIA-OSS-role-in-the-August-Revolution-2018">{{cite web |author=Bob Bergin |date=June 2018 |title=Studies in Intelligence Vol. 62, No. 2 (Extracts, June 2018) - Old Man Ho - The OSS Role in Ho Chi Minh's Rise to Political Power. |url=https://www.cia.gov/static/a0c34085dfe487b73cc90c8a92bb077d/oss-ho-chi-minh.pdf |access-date=7 September 2022 |publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) - [[Government of the United States]] |language=en |archive-date=28 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230528194222/https://www.cia.gov/static/a0c34085dfe487b73cc90c8a92bb077d/oss-ho-chi-minh.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Bui, Diem (1999) 39, 40">{{cite book |author=Bui, Diem |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Opb_14GLdXcC&pg=PA40 |title=In the Jaws of History (1999) |date=1999 |publisher=[[Indiana University]] |isbn=0-253-33539-6 |language=en |access-date=1 July 2023}}</ref> Lu Han pressured Ho Chi Minh for rice to feed the Chinese occupation force.<ref name="Gunn 2014 224" /> Rice sent to Cochinchina by the French in October 1945 was divided by Ho Chi Minh, with only one third to the northern Vietnamese and two thirds to the Chinese. After 18 December 1945, elections were postponed for 15 days in response to a demand by Chinese general Chen Xiuhe to allow the Dong Minh Hoi and VNQDD to prepare.<ref>{{cite book |date=2007 |series= |title=Ho Chi Minh: A Biography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fJtqjYiVbUAC&pg=PA108 |translator=Claire Duiker |location= |edition=illustrated, reprint |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=108 |isbn=978-0-521-85062-9 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

Beyond their food quota, the occupiers seized several rice stockpiles and other private and public goods, and were accused of rapes, beatings, occupying private dwellings, and burning down others, resulting only in apologies or partial compensation. By contrast, Vietnamese crimes against the Chinese were fully investigated, to the extent of executions for some Vietnamese who attacked Chinese soldiers.{{sfn|Marr|2013|pp=270–275}}

While Chiang Kai-shek, Xiao Wen (Hsiao Wen) and the Kuomintang Chinese government were uninterested in occupying Vietnam beyond the allotted time period and involving itself in the war between the Viet Minh and the French, the Yunnan warlord Lu Han wanted to establish a Chinese trusteeship of Vietnam under the principles of the [[Atlantic Charter]] with the aim of eventually preparing Vietnam for independence.<ref>{{cite book |last=Patti |first=Archimedes L. A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xbFx8OhYSjcC&pg=PA336 |title=Why Viet Nam?: Prelude to America's Albatross |date=1980 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |isbn=0-520-04156-9 |edition=illustrated |series= |location= |page=336 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>
Ho Chi Minh sent a cable on 17 October 1945 to American President [[Harry S. Truman]] calling on him, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, Premier [[Joseph Stalin]] and Prime Minister [[Clement Attlee]] to go to the United Nations against France and demand that they not be allowed to return to occupy Vietnam, accusing France of having sold out and cheated the Allies by surrendering Indochina to Japan.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ho |first=Chi Minh |author-link=Ho Chi Minh |title=Vietnam and America: A Documented History |date=1995 |publisher=[[Grove Press]] |isbn=0-8021-3362-2 |editor1-last=Gettleman |editor1-first=Marvin E. |edition=illustrated, revised |series= |location= |page=47 |chapter=9. Vietnam's Second Appeal to the United States: Cable to President Harry S Truman (October 17, 1945)* |editor2-last=Franklin |editor2-first=Jane |editor3-last=Young |editor3-first=Marilyn Blatt |editor4-last=Franklin |editor4-first=Howard Bruce |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SVtNalqmYgAC&pg=PA47 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Ho Chi Minh blamed Dong Minh Hoi and VNDQQ for signing the agreement with France which allowed its soldiers to return to Vietnam.<ref>{{cite book |last=SarDesai |first=D.R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yJZNDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT65 |title=Vietnam: Past and Present |date=2018 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-429-97519-6 |edition=4, reprint |series= |location= |page= |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Hearden |first=Patrick J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yg03DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA67 |title=Tragedy of Vietnam |date=2016 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-315-51084-2 |edition=4, revised |series= |location= |page=67 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

Chinese communist guerrilla leader [[Chu Chia-pi]] visited northern Vietnam multiple times in 1945 and helped the Viet Minh fight against the French from Yunnan.<ref>{{cite book |last=Calkins |first=Laura M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G9Ppu-zcqTIC&pg=PA12 |title=China and the First Vietnam War, 1947-54 |date=2013 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-134-07847-9 |edition=reprint |series=Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia |location= |page=12 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

Chiang Kai-shek forced the contentious French and Việt Minh to come to terms in the [[Ho–Sainteny agreement]]. In February 1946, he also forced the French to surrender all of their concessions and ports in China, including Shanghai, in exchange for Chinese troops withdrawing from northern Indochina and allowing French troops to reoccupy the region starting in March 1946.<ref>{{cite book |author=Van Nguyen Duong |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pVNaoUu7veUC |title=The tragedy of the Vietnam War: a South Vietnamese officer's analysis |publisher=McFarland |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-7864-3285-1 |page=21 |access-date=2010-11-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Stein Tønnesson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1I4HOcmE4XQC |title=Vietnam 1946: how the war began |publisher=University of California Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-520-25602-6 |page=41 |access-date=2010-11-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Elizabeth Jane Errington |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yQGqQ3LmExwC |title=The Vietnam War as history |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-275-93560-3 |editor=Elizabeth Jane Errington |page=63 |access-date=2010-11-28 |editor2=B. J. C. McKercher}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |year=1999 |title=The Vietnam War Seeds of Conflict 1945–1960 |url=http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1945.html |access-date=2010-12-28 |publisher=The History Place}}</ref>

This left the VNQDĐ without support, and they were suppressed by Việt Minh and French troops. The Việt Minh massacred thousands of VNQDĐ members and other nationalists in a large-scale purge.<ref>Tucker, Spencer C. (2000). ''Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social and Military History''. Santa Barbara, Californiap. p 443.</ref><ref>Currey, Cecil B. (1999). ''Victory at Any Cost: the genius of Viet Nam's Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap''. Washington, D.C.: Brassey. p 120.</ref>

=== Intra-Vietnamese conflicts ===
{{Further|Civil conflicts in Vietnam (1945–1949)}}
In 1945, the Vietnamese were locked in a struggle over the destiny of their post-colonial state after the [[Japanese coup d'état in French Indochina|ousting of the French]] and the [[surrender of Japan]].{{sfn|Reilly|2016|page=116}} [[Viet Minh]] forces seized control from the collapsing [[Empire of Vietnam]], while the [[Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng|Vietnam Nationalist Party]] and [[Việt Cách]] advanced in Tonkin with the support of the [[Chinese occupation of northern Vietnam, 1945–1946|Chinese Allied mission]], and the [[Đại Việt Nationalist Party]] already posed serious competition to the Viet Minh.{{sfn|Asselin|2023|page=18}} The South fractured between the Stalinist front Viet Minh and rival groups including the [[Trotskyism in Vietnam|Trotskyists]], [[Hòa Hảo]], [[Caodaism|Cao Đài]], and [[Bình Xuyên]].{{sfn|Reilly|2016|pages=116–117}}

The [[Indochinese Communist Party]] was primarily responsible for starting widespread Vietnamese-on-Vietnamese violence.{{sfn|Thomas|Asselin|2022|page=515}} Its Viet Minh front aimed to consolidate power through the terrorization and purging of the rival Vietnamese groups.<ref name="Guillemot 2004">{{cite book |last=Guillemot |first=François |chapter=Au coeur de la fracture vietnamienne : l'élimination de l'opposition nationaliste et anticolonialiste dans le Nord du Vietnam (1945–1946) |pages=175–216 |editor-last1=Goscha |editor-first1=Christopher E. |editor-last2=de Tréglodé |editor-first2=Benoît |title=Naissance d'un État-Parti: Le Viêt Nam depuis 1945 |date=2004 |publisher=Les Indes savantes |location= Paris |url=https://www.lesindessavantes.com/ouvrage/naissance-dun-etat-parti/ |isbn=9782846540643}}</ref>{{sfn|Marr|2013|pages=383–441}}{{sfn|Kort|2017|pages=62–63, 81–85}}{{sfn|Tran|2022|pages=24–30}} In 1946, the Franco-Chinese and [[Ho–Sainteny Agreement]]s enabled French forces to replace the Chinese north of the 16th parallel and facilitated a coexistence between the [[North Vietnam|DRV]] and the French that strengthened the Viet Minh while undermining the nationalists.{{sfn|Goscha|2016|pages=204–208}}{{sfn|Holcombe |2020|pages=35, 38–44}} That summer, the Viet Minh colluded with French forces to eliminate nationalists, targeted for their ardent anti-colonialism.{{sfn|Kort|2017|pages=83–84}}<ref name="Guillemot 2004"/>{{Rp|205–207}}<ref name="Reilly 2018">{{cite thesis |last1=Reilly |first1=Brett |title=The Origins of the Vietnamese Civil War and the State of Vietnam |type=PhD |year=2018 |publisher=University of Wisconsin–Madison |url=https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/9913275159802121}}</ref>{{Rp|175–177}}<ref name="Tran 2023">{{cite journal |last1=Tran |first1=Nu-Anh |title=Denouncing the 'Việt Cộng': Tales of revolution and betrayal in the Republic of Vietnam |journal=Journal of Southeast Asian Studies |year=2023 |volume=53 |issue=4 |pages=686–708 |doi=10.1017/S0022463422000790 <!-- Deny Citation Bot--> }}</ref>{{Rp|699–700}} By eliminating the nationalist parties, the Viet Minh had undermined Vietnam's broader ability to resist French reconquest.<ref name="Vu 1966">{{cite journal |author=Vu Van Thai |author-link=Vũ Văn Thái |title=Vietnam: Nationalism under Challenge |journal=Vietnam Perspectives |year=1966 |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=8–9 |jstor=30182492 <!-- Deny Citation Bot--> }}</ref>{{sfn|Kort|2017|page=85}}

The [[Bình Xuyên]] organized crime group also sought power in the country and although they initially fought alongside the Việt Minh, they would later support Bảo Đại.<ref>[[The Pentagon Papers]], [[s:Page:Pentagon-Papers-Part I.djvu/150|Part I]], via [[Wikisource]]</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Lucien |last=Bodard |title=La guerre d'Indochine |publisher=Hachette |year=1977 |isbn=2-246-55291-5 |pages=354–372 |language=French |trans-title=The Indochina War}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=((AFRVN Military History Section J-5, Strategic Planning and Policy)) |title=Quân Sử 4: Quân lực Việt Nam Cộng Hòa trong giai-đoạn hình-thành: 1946-1955 |date=1977 |publisher=DaiNam Publishing |location=Taiwan |pages=409–411 |language=Vietnamese |trans-title=Military History Volume 4:AFRVN, the formation period, 1946-1955 |orig-date=1966}}</ref>
Militias from the [[Cao Đài]] sect, which had initially joined the Viet Minh in their struggle against the return of the French, made a truce with France when their leader was captured on 6 June 1946. The Viet Minh later attacked the Cao Đài after open conflict had erupted with France, which led them to join the French side.<ref>{{harvnb|Fall|1955|p=239}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=Vietnam Timeline 1955 |url=http://www.vietnamgear.com/Indochina1955.aspx |publisher=VietnamGear.com |ref=CITEREFVietnam Timeline 1955 |access-date=18 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=30 June 2005 |title=Vietnam: International Religious Freedom Report 2005 |url=http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2005/51535.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528085345/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2005/51535.htm |archive-date=2010-05-28 |access-date=19 May 2010 |website=[[U.S. Department of State]] |ref={{sfnref|U.S. Department of State|2005}}}}</ref> The Viet Minh assassinated the Hòa Hảo leader [[Huỳnh Phú Sổ]] in April 1947.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Fall |first=Bernarnd |title= The Political-Religious Sects of Viet-Nam |journal=Pacific Affairs |year=1955 |volume=28 |issue=3 |publisher=[[Pacific Affairs]] |pages= 246–248|doi=10.2307/3035404 |jstor=3035404 }}</ref> Vietnamese society also polarized along ethnic lines: the [[Nùng people|Nùng]] and [[Chinese Nùng]] minority assisted the French, while the [[Tày people|Tày]] assisted the Việt Minh.<ref name="HowardHoward2002">{{cite book |first1=Michael C. |last1=Howard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oIbWAAAAMAAJ&q=Later,+during+the+war+between+the+Viet+Minh+and+French+in+the+late+1+940s+and+early+1950s,+the+Tay+area+was+the+scene+of+considerable+fighting+(with+the+Tay+tending+to+support+the+Viet+Minh+and+the+Nung+the+French).+From+a+relatively+early+... |title=Textiles of the Daic Peoples of Vietnam |first2=Kim Be |last2=Howard |publisher=[[White Lotus Press]] |year=2002 |isbn=978-974-7534-97-9 |page=46 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> The [[Khmer Krom]] also sided with France.{{sfn|Asselin|2023|page=41}}

Surviving Vietnamese nationalist partisans and politico-religious groups rallied behind the exiled [[Bảo Đại]] to reopen negotiations with France in opposition to communist domination.{{sfn|Goscha|2016|pages= 238–241}}<ref name="Reilly 2018"/>{{Rp|187–188}} The [[State of Vietnam]] (SVN), with Bảo Đại as Chief of State, was established and positioned within the anticommunist [[Western Bloc]].{{sfn|Goscha|2016|pages= 245–248}} With the recognition of the DRV by [[China]] and the Soviet Union, and the recognition of the SVN by the United States in 1950, the civil war and the colonial war in Vietnam became internationalized and intertwined with the global [[Cold War]].{{sfn|Asselin|2024|page=90–95 }}

== Course of the war ==
=== War breaks out (1946) ===
[[File:Vietnam France modus vivendi.JPG|thumb|Ho Chi Minh and [[Marius Moutet]] shaking hands after signing modus vivendi 1946 after [[Fontainebleau Agreements]]]]
In March 1946, a preliminary accord signed between the French and Ho Chi Minh which acknowledged the DRV as a free state within an Indochinese Federation in a "[[French Union]]" and allowed a limited number of French troops within its borders to replace the Chinese forces which started gradually returning to China. In further negotiations, the French would seek to ratify Vietnam's position within the Union and the Vietnamese main priorities were preserving their independence and the reunification with the [[Republic of Cochinchina]], which had been created by [[List of governors-general of French Indochina|High Commissioner]] [[Georges d'Argenlieu]] in June.{{sfn|Marr|2013|pp=213; 229}} In September, once main negotiations had broken down in Paris over these two key issues, Ho Chi Minh and [[Marius Moutet]], the French [[Minister of the Overseas (France)|Minister of the Colonies]], signed a temporary [[modus vivendi]] which reaffirmed the March Accord, although no specifications were made on the issue of a [[Nam Bộ]] (Cochinchina) reunification referendum and negotiations for a definitive treaty were set to begin no later than January 1947.<ref name="Vietnam1946:Howthewarbegan">{{cite book |last=Tonnesson |first=Stein |title= Vietnam 1946: How the war began |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=K6kwDwAAQBAJ |url-access=registration |year=2011 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |isbn=978-0-520-26993-4|page= 83}}</ref>

In the north, an uneasy peace had been maintained during the negotiations, in November however, fighting broke out in Haiphong between the Việt Minh government and the French over a conflict of interest in import duty at the port.{{sfn|Windrow|2011|p=90}} On November 23, 1946, the French fleet bombarded the Vietnamese sections of the city killing 6,000 Vietnamese civilians in one afternoon.<ref name="inerventionandrevolution">{{cite book |last=Barnet |first=Richard J. |title=Intervention and Revolution: The United States in the Third World |url=https://archive.org/details/interventionrevo00barnrich |url-access=registration |year=1968 |publisher=World Publishing |isbn=978-0-529-02014-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/interventionrevo00barnrich/page/185 185]}}</ref><ref name=Sheehan>{{cite book |last1=Sheehan |first1=Neil |title=A Bright Shining Lie |url=https://archive.org/details/brightshininglie01shee |url-access=registration |date=1988 |publisher=[[Random House]] |location=New York |isbn=978-0-394-48447-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/brightshininglie01shee/page/155 155]}}<!--|access-date=17 September 2015--></ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Shape of Battles to Come |last=Cirillo |first=Roger |publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]] |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-8131-6575-2 |location=Louisville |page=187}}</ref> The Việt Minh quickly agreed to a cease-fire and left the cities. This is known as the [[Haiphong incident]].
There was never any intention among the Vietnamese to give up, as General [[Võ Nguyên Giáp]] soon brought up 30,000 men to attack the city. Although the French were outnumbered, their superior weaponry and naval support made any Việt Minh attack unsuccessful. In 19 December, hostilities between the Việt Minh and the French [[Battle of Hanoi|broke out in Hanoi]], and Ho Chi Minh, along with his government, was forced to evacuate the capital in favor of remote forested and mountainous areas. Guerrilla warfare ensued, with the French controlling most of the country except far-flung areas. By January the following year, most provincial capitals had fallen to the French, while Hue fell in February after a six-week siege.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cima |first=R. J. |date=1987 |title=Vietnam: A Country Study |publisher=Federal Research Division, [[Library of Congress]] |page=54}}</ref>

=== French offensives, creation of the State of Vietnam (1947–1949) ===
[[File:1947-01-16 New Head Of Church Installed.ogv|thumb|"''Envoys probe Indo-China rebellion''" (January 16, 1947), [[Universal Newsreel]]]]
In 1947, Ho Chi Minh and General Võ Nguyên Giáp retreated with his command into the [[Việt Bắc]], the mountainous forests of northern Vietnam. By March, France had taken control of the main population centers in the country. The French chose not to pursue the Việt Minh before the beginning of the [[East Asian Monsoon|seasonal rains]] in May, and military operations were postponed until their conclusion.{{sfn|Davidson|1988|page= 46}}

Come October, the French launched [[Operation Léa]] with the objective of swiftly putting an end to the resistance movement by taking out the Vietnamese main battle units and the Việt Minh leadership at their base in [[Bắc Kạn]]. Léa was followed by [[Operation Ceinture]] in November, with similar aims. As a result of the French offensive, the Việt Minh would end up losing valuable resources and suffering heavy losses, 7,200–9,500 [[killed in action|KIA]]. Nevertheless, both operations failed to capture Ho Chi Minh and his key lieutenants as intended, and the main Vietnamese battle units managed to survive.{{sfn|Tucker|1999|page= 54}}{{sfn|Fall|1994|page=28}}

In 1948, France started looking for means of opposing the Việt Minh politically, with an alternative government led by former emperor Bảo Đại to lead an "autonomous" government within the French Union of nations. This [[Provisional Central Government of Vietnam|new state]] ruled over northern and central Vietnam, excluding the colony of Cochinchina, and had limited autonomy. This initial accord with the French was decried by non-Communist nationalists and Bảo Đại withdrew from the agreement. It would not be until [[Elysee Accords|March 1949]] that the French would concede on the issue of unification and a final agreement would be reached.{{sfn|Spector|1983|pages=91-93}}<ref>[[The Pentagon Papers]], [[s:Page: Page:Pentagon-Papers-Part II.djvu/12|Part II pp. 12 –]] [[s:Page: Page:Pentagon-Papers-Part II.djvu/13|13]], via [[Wikisource]]</ref>

Two years prior, the French had refused Ho's proposal of a similar status within the French Union, albeit with some restrictions on French power and the latter's eventual withdrawal from Vietnam.{{sfn|Spector|1983|page=78}} However, they were willing to deal with Bảo Đại as he represented a non-radical option who could rally behind him the non-Communist nationalist movement.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hammer |first=Ellen J. |date=March 1950 |title=The Bao Dai Experiment |journal=[[Pacific Affairs]] |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=51–52 |doi=10.2307/2753754 |jstor=2753754}}</ref>
In January 1950, France officially recognized the nominal "independence" of the unified [[State of Vietnam]], led by Bảo Đại, as an [[associated state]] within the French Union. However, France still controlled all foreign policy, every defense issue and would have a French Union army stationed in the country with complete freedom of movement.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hammer |first=Ellen J. |date=March 1950 |title=The Bao Dai Experiment |journal=[[Pacific Affairs]] |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=57–58 |doi=10.2307/2753754 |jstor=2753754}}</ref> Within the framework of the French Union, France also granted independence to the other nations in Indochina, the Kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Laos|Laos]] and [[Cambodia]].

In January 1949, the [[Vietnamese National Army]] was created to go along the formation of the new Vietnamese associated state. This was meant to bolster French numbers as their army found itself outnumbered by the [[People's Army of Vietnam]] at this point in the war. To this end, the [[CEFEO]] provided some of its officers to lead these new divisions.{{sfn|Cadeau|2015|pages=274-278}}

=== Việt Minh reorganization (1949–1950) ===
[[File:Dissident Activities in Indochina.svg|thumb|A map of dissident activities in Indochina in 1950]]
Throughout 1948 and 1949, the Việt Minh engaged in ambushes and sabotage of French convoys and infrastructure. Meanwhile, the French government was still looking for a political solution and major military operations stalled for a lack of manpower.{{sfn|Windrow|2011|pages= 98-104}}{{sfn|Cadeau|2015|pages=180-181}}
With the triumph of the communists in [[China's civil war]] in October 1949, the Vietnamese communists gained a major political ally on their northern border, who supported them with advisers, weapons and supplies along with camps where new recruits were trained. Between 1950 and 1951, Giap re-organized his local forces into five full conventional [[infantry]] divisions, the [[304th Division (Vietnam)|304th]], [[308th Infantry Division (Vietnam)|308th]], [[316th Division (Vietnam)|312th]], [[316th Division (Vietnam)|316th]] and the [[320th Division (Vietnam)|320th]].{{sfn|Windrow|2011|pages=148-150}}

In January 1950, Ho's government gained recognition from China and the Soviet Union. Shortly after in February, the government of Bảo Đại gained recognition by the United States and the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite web |title=Remembering Vietnam: Online Exhibit, Episodes 1-4 |url=https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/remembering-vietnam-online-exhibit-episodes-1-4 |website=National Archives |date=11 July 2017 |access-date=14 August 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Phạm Văn Sơn |title=Việt Nam tranh đấu sử |date=1951 |edition=2nd |publisher=Vũ Hùng |location=Hanoi |url= |pages=269 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Vietnam - Countries - Office of the Historian | url=https://history.state.gov/countries/vietnam }}</ref><ref>[https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950v06/d480#:~:text=The%20Governments%20of%20Vietnam%2C%20Laos,France%2C%20similarly%20announced%20its%20recognition Report to the National Security Council by the Department of State]</ref> Along with [[Mao Zedong]]'s victory in China, this gesture by the main Communist powers, played a part in shifting the US view of the war, which began to be seen as part of the global struggle against Communism.<ref name="replacingfrance">{{Cite book |first=Kathryn C. |last=Statler| title=Replacing France: The Origins of American Intervention in Vietnam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S-vIsVmkbK8C|publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]] |date=July 2007 |isbn=978-0-8131-2440-7 |pages=15–25}}</ref> Starting in May, the United States began to provide military aid to France in the form of weaponry and military observers.<ref>[[The Pentagon Papers]],[[s:Page:Pentagon-Papers-Part IV. A. 2.djvu/22|Part IV, p. 22]] via [[Wikisource]]</ref>

In June 1950, the [[Korean War]] broke out between communist [[North Korea]] (DPRK) supported by China and the Soviet Union, and South Korea (ROK) supported by the United States and its allies in the UN. The Cold War was turning 'hot' in East Asia, and the American government feared communist domination of the entire region would have deep implications for American interests. The US became strongly opposed to the government of Ho Chi Minh, in part, because it was supported and supplied by China.
Throughout 1950, the DRV would seek to secure its control over the Chinese border, which would allow for a greater flow of supplies. In February, Giáp launched "Operation Lê Hong Phong I", taking control of the border town of [[Lào Cai]], in the high valley of the Red River{{sfn|Fall|1963|pp=108-109}} and by April, most of the northeastern border was under Viet-Minh control, save for a string of posts along the eastern Tonkinese frontier; [[Cao Bằng]], [[Đông Khê, Cao Bằng|Đông Khê]], [[Thất Khê]] and [[Lạng Sơn]], from North to South, connected by the Colonial Route 4 (RC 4).

On September 16 the Viet Minh launched a new offensive, "[[Battle of Route Coloniale 4|Operation Lê Hong Phong II]]", along this route under the command of General [[Hoàng Văn Thái]]. The Viet Minh attacked Đông Khê, which fell two days later.<ref>{{cite web |title=Trận then chốt Đông Khê |url=https://www.qdnd.vn/quoc-phong-an-ninh/xay-dung-quan-doi/tran-then-chot-dong-khe-440782 |website=Quân đội nhân dân |access-date=September 3, 2023|language=Vietnamese}}</ref> In response, the French decided to evacuate Cao Bằng, which had become isolated. Soldiers and civilians were to march south and join a group marching north from Thất Khê tasked with recapturing the lost position. However, despite having been ordered to destroy all equipment, the commander of the Cao Bằng force decided to bring along its artillery when they left on October 3, causing delays and making them vulnerable to ambushes. The two forces approached Đông Khê four days later but by were eventually encircled and defeated.{{sfn|Fall|1963|pp=109-110}} This operation would cost the French around 6,000 soldiers.{{sfn|Cadeau|2015|page= 244}}
On October 17, faced with the PAVN's demonstrated ability to fight a conventional battle, the French command decided to abandon Lạng Sơn before it could come under attack, leaving behind considerable amounts of military supplies. The Viet-Minh now controlled most of the northern half of Tonkin.{{sfn|Fall|1963|pp=110-111}}

=== Renewed French success (January–June 1951) ===
[[File:Trình Minh Thế.jpg|thumb|upright|General [[Trình Minh Thế]]]]
A new French commander in chief and high commissioner, [[Army general (France)|General]] [[Jean de Lattre de Tassigny|Jean Marie de Lattre de Tassigny]], was appointed in December 1950.{{sfn|Davidson|1988|page= 101}} With him began the construction of a defensive line of fortifications from Hanoi to the [[Gulf of Tonkin]], around the [[Red River Delta]], to protect Tonkin against a possible Chinese invasion and prevent Việt Minh infiltration. It became known as the [[De Lattre Line]].{{sfn|Windrow|2011|page= 116}} In 1950 and 1951, de Lattre implemented [[scorched earth]] tactics in an effort to limit Việt Minh access to food and other supplies.<ref name=":02"/>{{Rp|page=101}} French forces burned crops in areas of Việt Minh activity.<ref name=":02"/>{{Rp|page=101}} These tactics increased the anger of the Vietnamese people against the French and were a strategic failure.<ref name=":02"/>{{Rp|page=101}}

In late 1950 Giáp decided to go on a "general counteroffensive", seeking the final defeat of the French.{{sfn|Fall|1994|p=34}} On January 13, 1951, he moved the 308th and 312th Divisions, with more than 20,000 men, to [[Battle of Vinh Yen|attack Vĩnh Yên]], 30 miles (48&nbsp;km) northwest of Hanoi, which was manned by 6,000 French troops. Considered the first [[set-piece battle]] of the war, the Vietnamese saw initial success, although as the battle progressed, French [[aerial supremacy]] proved decisive as reinforcements flew in from the rest of Indochina and all available aircraft capable of dropping bombs was utilized to carry out what would be the largest aerial bombardment of the war. By noon of January 17, Giáp's troops withdrew in defeat. The Vietnamese had suffered 5,000–6,000 deaths and 500 combatants were captured.{{sfn|Windrow|2011|p=79}}{{sfn|Fall|1994|pages=34-38}}{{sfn|Shrader|2015|p=218}}

Giáp tried again to break the French defensive line, this time {{convert|20|mi|km}} north-east of Haiphong in an attempt to cut the French access to the port city. On March 23, the Việt Minh's 316th Division, composed of 11,000 men, with the partly rebuilt 308th and 312th Divisions in reserve, launched an [[Battle of Mao Khe|attack on Mạo Khê]]. With instances of hand-to-hand combat, the French, supported by paratroopers and naval artillery, repelled the attack and the Vietnamese were beaten by the morning of March 28.{{sfn|Shrader|2015|p=220}}{{sfn|Fall|1994|pages=41-42}} About 1,500 – 3,000 Việt Minh soldiers were killed.{{sfn|Windrow|2011|p=80}}{{sfn|Shrader|2015|p=220}}{{sfn|Tucker|2011|p=497}}

Giáp launched yet another attack, the [[Battle of the Day River]], on May 29 with the 304th Division at [[Phủ Lý]], the 308th Division at [[Ninh Bình]], and the main attack delivered by the 320th Division at [[Phát Diệm]] south of Hanoi. The attacks fared no better and the three divisions lost heavily. Taking advantage of this, de Lattre mounted his counteroffensive against the demoralized Việt Minh, driving them back into the forests and eliminating the enemy pockets in the Red River Delta by June 18, costing the Việt Minh over 10,000 killed.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gras|first=Yves|title=Histoire de la Guerre d'Indochine|location=Paris |publisher=Plon |date=1979|isbn=978-2-259-00478-7|page=408}}</ref>

Every effort by Võ Nguyên Giáp to break the De Lattre Line failed, and every attack he made was answered by a French counter-attack that destroyed his forces. Việt Minh casualties rose alarmingly during this period, leading some to question the leadership of the Communist government, even within the party. However, any benefit this may have reaped for France was negated by the increasing domestic opposition to the war in France.

=== Stalemate (July 1951–1953) ===
On July 31, French General [[Charles Chanson]] was assassinated during a [[propaganda of the deed|propaganda]] [[suicide attack]] at [[Sa Đéc]] in South Vietnam that was blamed on the Việt Minh although it was argued in some quarters that Cao Đài nationalist [[Trình Minh Thế]] could have been involved in its planning.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=McFall Waddell III |first=William |title=In the Year of the Tiger: the War for Cochinchina, 1945-1951 |type=PhD |url=https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/send?accession=osu1408940430&disposition=inline |publisher=[[Ohio State University]] |year=2014 |pages=338–339 |access-date=2023-07-29 |archive-date=2023-07-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230729005214/https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/send?accession=osu1408940430&disposition=inline |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=Time>{{cite magazine|title=Battle of Indo-China: Marked Men|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,889172,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123153904/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,889172,00.html|archive-date=November 23, 2010|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|access-date=28 July 2023 |date=13 August 1951}}</ref>
[[File:French indochina 1953 12 1.png|thumb|left|French foreign airborne 1st BEP firing with an [[FM 24/29 light machine gun]] during an ambush (1952)]]

Following the Viet Minh's defeats on the Hanoi perimeter, De Lattre decided to [[Battle of Hòa Bình|seize the city of Hòa Bình]], 20 miles (32&nbsp;km) west of the De Lattre Line, in an attempt to hinder the flow of supplies between Tonkin, which received direct Chinese support, and central and southern Vietnam. It also aimed to maintain the allegiance of the Muong troops. The city was captured by a parachute drop on November 14.{{sfn|Fall|1994|pages=47-48}}{{sfn|Davidson|1988|page=129}}

The ensuing battle became increasingly costly to the French and after De Lattre fell ill from cancer and returned to Paris for treatment where he would die shortly thereafter in January 1952, his replacement as the overall commander of French forces in Indochina, General [[Raoul Salan]], decided to pull back from the [[Hòa Bình province|Hòa Bình]] salient.{{sfn|Davidson|1988|page=133}}{{sfn|Fall|1994|p=59}} The French lost nearly 5,000 men and the Viet Minh "at least that number" according to historian [[Phillip P. Davidson]], while [[Spencer C. Tucker]] claims 894 French killed and missing and 9,000 Viet Minh casualties.{{sfn|Davidson|1988|page=133}}<ref>{{cite book |last= Tucker |first= Spencer C.|title= Vietnam Warfare and History |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=hvyNAgAAQBAJ&q=Tucker+Vietnam&pg=PR2 |year=2002 |publisher= [[Routledge]] |isbn= 978-1-135-35779-5 |page= 65}}</ref> This campaign showed that the war was far from over.

Throughout the war theater, the Việt Minh cut French supply lines and wore down the resolve of the French forces. There were continued raids, skirmishes and guerrilla attacks, but through most of the rest of the year each side withdrew to prepare for larger operations. In the [[Battle of Nà Sản]], starting on October 2, French commanders began using "[[hedgehog defense|hedgehog]]" tactics, consisting in setting up well-defended outposts to get the Việt Minh out of the forests and force them to fight conventional battles instead of using guerrilla tactics.

On October 17, 1952, Giáp launched attacks against the French garrisons along [[Nghĩa Lộ]], northwest of Hanoi, and overran much of the Black River valley, except for the airfield of Nà Sản where a strong French garrison entrenched. Giáp by now had control over most of Tonkin beyond the De Lattre Line. Raoul Salan, seeing the situation as critical, launched [[Operation Lorraine]] along the Clear River to force Giáp to relieve pressure on the Nghĩa Lộ outposts.
On October 29, 1952, in the largest operation in Indochina to date, 30,000 French Union soldiers moved out from the De Lattre Line to attack the Việt Minh supply dumps at [[Phú Yên]]. Salan took [[Phú Thọ Province|Phú Thọ]] on November 5, and [[Phu Doan]] on November 9 by a [[parachute]] drop, and finally Phú Yên on November 13. Giáp at first did not react to the French offensive. He planned to wait until their supply lines were overextended and then cut them off from the Red River Delta.

Salan correctly guessed what the Việt Minh were up to and cancelled the operation on November 14, beginning to withdraw back to the De Lattre Line. The only major fighting during the operation came during the withdrawal, when the Việt Minh ambushed the French column at [[Chan Muong]] on November 17. The road was cleared after a bayonet charge by the Indochinese March Battalion, and the withdrawal could continue. The French lost around 1,200 men during the whole operation, most of them during the Chan Muong ambush. The operation was partially successful, proving that the French could strike out at targets outside the De Lattre Line. However, it failed to divert the Việt Minh offensive or seriously damage its logistical network.
[[File:French indochina napalm 1953-12 1.png|thumb|A [[F8F Bearcat|Bearcat]] naval fighter aircraft of the [[Aéronavale]] drops [[napalm]] on Việt Minh Division 320th's artillery during ''[[Operation Mouette]]'' (November 1953)]]

On April 9, 1953, Giáp, after having failed repeatedly in direct attacks on French positions in Vietnam, changed strategy and began to pressure the French by invading Laos, surrounding and defeating several French outposts such as [[Battle of Muong Khoua|Muong Khoua]]. In May, General [[Henri Navarre]] replaced Salan as supreme commander of French forces in Indochina. He reported to the French government "...&nbsp;that there was no possibility of winning the war in Indo-China", saying that the best the French could hope for was a stalemate.

Through the Navarre Plan, French forces and the Vietnamese National Army sought to use their advantage in technology and arms to hold cities and key roads, thereby hoping to force the Việt Minh into an impasse and negotiation.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=103}} Per this strategy, French forces fortified the town of [[Điện Biên Phủ]] in an effort to block the Việt Minh's connections with Laos and Việt Minh bases there.<ref name=":02"/>{{Rp|page=103}} The town was located along a main route between Hanoi and [[Vientiane]] and was ringed by mountains.<ref name=":02"/>{{Rp|page=103}}

[[Operation Castor]] was launched on November 20, 1953, with 1,800 men of the French 1st and 2nd Airborne Battalions dropping into the valley of Điện Biên Phủ and sweeping aside the local Việt Minh garrison. The paratroopers gained control of a heart-shaped valley {{convert|12|mi|km}} long and {{convert|8|mi|km}} wide surrounded by heavily wooded mountains. Encountering little opposition, the French and Tai units operating from [[Lai Châu Province|Lai Châu]] to the north patrolled the mountains.

The operation was a tactical success for the French. However, Giáp, seeing the weakness of the French position, started moving most of his forces from the De Lattre Line to Điện Biên Phủ. From December 1953 to March 1954, the Việt Minh concentrated more than 40,000 troops to encircle the 15,000 French troops at Điện Biên Phủ.<ref name=":02"/>{{Rp|page=103}}

The fight for control of Điện Biên Phủ was the longest and hardest battle for the French Far East Expeditionary Corps and its veterans described the battle as "57 Days of Hell".

=== French defeat at Dien Bien Phu (1954) ===
[[File:First Indochina War map 1954 en.svg|thumb|Map of the war in 1954: Orange = Areas under Việt Minh control. Purple = Areas under French control. White-dotted hatch = Areas of Việt Minh guerrilla encampment and fighting.]]
The [[Battle of Dien Bien Phu]] took place in 1954 between Việt Minh forces under Võ Nguyên Giáp, supported by China and the Soviet Union, and the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps, supported by US financing<ref name="ForeignRelationsoftheunitedstates">{{cite book |last= [[US Department of State]] |title= Foreign Relations of the United States 1952-1954 |url= https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v13p1/d412 |url-access=registration |year=1982 |publisher= [[US Government Printing Office]] |isbn= |pages= 814–817}}</ref> and Indochinese allies. The battle was fought near the village of Điện Biên Phủ in northern Vietnam and became the last major battle between the French and the Vietnamese in the First Indochina War.

The battle began on March 13 when the Việt Minh began attacks to isolate French strong points at Điện Biên Phủ .<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=103}} Việt Minh artillery damaged both the main and secondary airfields that the French were using to fly in supplies. With French supply lines interrupted, the French position became untenable, particularly when the advent of the [[monsoon]] season made dropping supplies and reinforcements by parachute difficult. By late April, French forces held only three strong points.<ref name=":02"/>{{Rp|page=103}} With defeat imminent, the French sought to hold on until the opening of the [[Geneva Conference (1954)|Geneva peace meeting]] on April 26. The last French offensive took place on May 4, but it was ineffective. The Việt Minh then began to hammer the outpost with newly supplied Soviet [[Katyusha rocket launcher|Katyusha]] rockets.{{sfn|Davidson|1988|pages=223-224}}

On May 6, the Việt Minh began their final attack.<ref name=":02"/>{{Rp|page=103}} French forces were eventually overrun by a huge frontal assault. General Cogny, based in Hanoi, ordered General de Castries, who was commanding the outpost, to cease fire at 5:30&nbsp;pm and to destroy all matériel (weapons, transmissions, etc.) to deny their use to the enemy. A formal order was given to not use the [[white flag]] so that the action would be considered a ceasefire instead of a surrender. Much of the fighting ended on May 7; however, the ceasefire was not respected on Isabelle, the isolated southern position, where the battle lasted until May 8, 1:00&nbsp;am.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dienbienphu.org/ |title=dienbienphu.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031024004709/http://dienbienphu.org/ |archive-date=October 24, 2003 |df=mdy }}</ref>
At least 2,200 members of the 20,000-strong French forces died, and another 1,729 were reported missing after the battle, and 11,721 were captured. The Viet Minh suffered approximately 25,000 casualties over the course of the battle, with as many as 10,000 Viet Minh personnel having been killed in the battle. The French prisoners taken at Điện Biên Phủ were the greatest number the Việt Minh had ever captured: one-third of the total captured during the entire war.

Dien Bien Phu was a serious defeat for the French and was the decisive battle of the Indochina war. The battle would thus heavily influence the outcome of the 1954 Geneva accords.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Battle of Dien Bien Phu {{!}} History, Outcome, & Legacy {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Dien-Bien-Phu |access-date=2023-07-18 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

===Geneva Conference===
{{Further|Geneva Conference (1954)}}
Negotiations between France and the Việt Minh started in Geneva in April 1954 at the Geneva Conference, during which time the French Union and the Việt Minh were fighting a battle at Điện Biên Phủ. In France, [[Pierre Mendès France]], opponent of the war since 1950, had been invested as Prime Minister on June 17, 1954, on a promise to put an end to the war, reaching a [[ceasefire]] in four months:
<blockquote>Today it seems we can be reunited in a will for peace that may express the aspirations of our country&nbsp;... Since already several years, a compromise peace, a peace negotiated with the opponent seemed to me commanded by the facts, while it commanded, in return, to put back in order our finances, the recovery of our economy and its expansion. Because this war placed on our country an unbearable burden. And here appears today a new and formidable threat: if the Indochina conflict is not resolved—and settled very fast—it is the risk of war, of international war and maybe [[Nuclear warfare|atomic]], that we must foresee. It is because I wanted a better peace that I wanted it earlier, when we had more assets. But even now there is some renouncings or abandons that the situation does not comprise. France does not have to accept and will not accept settlement which would be incompatible with its more vital interests [applauding on certain seats of the [[National Assembly of France|Assembly]] on the left and at the extreme right]. France will remain present in Far-Orient. Neither our allies, nor our opponents must conserve the least doubt on the signification of our determination. A negotiation has been engaged in Geneva&nbsp;... I have longly studied the report&nbsp;... consulted the most qualified military and diplomatic experts. My conviction that a pacific settlement of the conflict is possible has been confirmed. A "cease-fire" must henceforth intervene quickly. The government which I will form will fix itself—and will fix to its opponents—a delay of 4 weeks to reach it. We are today on 17th of June. I will present myself before you before the 20th of July&nbsp;... If no satisfying solution has been reached at this date, you will be freed from the contract which would have tied us together, and my government will give its dismissal to the President of the Republic.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.assembleenationale.fr/histoire/pierre-mendes_france/mendes_france-7.asp|title=Le Gouvernement provisoire et la Quatrième République (1944–1958)|author=Assemblée Nationale|access-date=2007-02-15|archive-date=2007-09-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926220917/http://www.assembleenationale.fr/histoire/pierre-mendes_france/mendes_france-7.asp}}</ref> </blockquote><!-- Translation can certainly be improved! -->

===End of the war===
One month after Điện Biên Phủ, the composite Groupe Mobile 100 (GM100) of the French Union forces evacuated the [[An Khê]] outpost. They were ambushed by a larger Việt Minh force at the [[Battle of Mang Yang Pass]] on June 24, and again at the [[Battle of Chu Dreh Pass]] which took place on July 17 suffering heavy losses; this being the last battle of the war, as three days later the Geneva accords took place.

==Aftermath==
===Partition===
{{Further|Partition of Vietnam}}
[[File:Gen-commons.jpg|thumb|[[Geneva Conference (1954)|The 1954 Geneva Conference]]]]
[[File:Charles DeGaulle and Ho Chi Minh are hanged in effigy during the National Shame Day celebration in Saigon, July 1964.jpg|thumb|Student demonstration in Saigon, July 1964, observing the tenth anniversary of the July 1954 Geneva Agreements]]
The Geneva Conference on July 21, 1954, recognized the [[17th parallel north]] as a "[[Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone|provisional military demarcation line]]", temporarily dividing the country into two zones, communist [[North Vietnam]] and pro-Western [[South Vietnam]].

In August [[Operation Passage to Freedom]] began, consisting of the evacuation of Catholic and other Vietnamese civilians from communist North Vietnamese persecution.

The Geneva Accords promised elections in 1956 to determine a national government for a united Vietnam. Neither the United States government nor Ngô Đình Diệm's State of Vietnam signed anything at the 1954 Geneva Conference. With respect to the question of reunification, the non-communist Vietnamese delegation objected strenuously to any division of Vietnam, but lost out when the French accepted the proposal of Việt Minh delegate [[Phạm Văn Đồng]],<ref>''The Pentagon Papers'' (1971), Beacon Press, vol. 3, p. 134.</ref> who proposed that Vietnam eventually be united by elections under the supervision of "local commissions".<ref>''The Pentagon Papers'' (1971), Beacon Press, vol. 3, p. 119.</ref> The United States countered with what became known as the "American Plan", with the support of South Vietnam and the United Kingdom.<ref name="The Pentagon Papers 1971 p. 140">''The Pentagon Papers'' (1971), Beacon Press, vol. 3, p. 140.</ref> It provided for unification elections under the supervision of the [[United Nations]], but was rejected by the Soviet delegation.<ref name="The Pentagon Papers 1971 p. 140"/> From his home in France, Bảo Đại appointed [[Ngô Đình Diệm]] as [[Prime Minister of South Vietnam]]. With American support, in 1955 Diem used [[1955 State of Vietnam referendum|a referendum to remove the former Emperor]] and declare himself the president of the Republic of Vietnam.

When the elections failed to occur, Việt Minh cadres who stayed behind in South Vietnam were activated and started to fight the government. North Vietnam also invaded and occupied portions of Laos to assist in supplying the [[National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam|National Liberation Front]] guerrillas fighting in South Vietnam. The war gradually escalated into the Second Indochina War, more commonly known as the [[Vietnam War]].

===Effect on French colonies===
The Viet Minh victory in the war had an inspirational effect to independence movements in various French colonies worldwide, most notably the FLN in Algeria. The [[Algerian War]] broke out on 1 November 1954, only six months after the Geneva Conference. [[Benyoucef Benkhedda]], later became the head of the [[Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic]], praised the Viet Minh feat at Dien Bien Phu as "a powerful incentive to all who thought immediate insurrection the only possible strategy".<ref>{{cite news|author=Alain Ruscio|title=Dien Bien Phu, Symbol for All Time|work=Le Monde diplomatique|date=July 2004|url=https://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/155/25981.html#author}}</ref> The French Communist Party played an even stronger role by supplying the [[National Liberation Front (Algeria)|National Liberation Front]] (FLN) rebels with intelligence documents and financial aid. They were called "[[Jeanson network|the suitcase carriers]]" (''{{Lang|fr|les porteurs de valises}}'').

In the French news, the Indochina War was presented as a direct continuation of the Korean War, where France had fought: a UN French battalion, incorporated in a U.S. unit in Korea, was later involved in the Battle of Mang Yang Pass of June and July 1954.<ref name="guerreindochinenewsreel">{{cite web |date=October 26, 1950 |title=La Guerre En Indochine |url=http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1z4co_la-guerre-en-indochine-26101950 |access-date=May 20, 2007 |website=newsreel |format=video}}</ref> In an interview taped in May 2004, General [[Marcel Bigeard]] (6th BPC) argues that "one of the deepest mistakes done by the French during the war was the propaganda telling you are fighting for Freedom, you are fighting against Communism",<ref name="bigeardetdienbienphu">{{cite web |date=May 3, 2004 |title=Bigeard et Dien Bien Phu |url=http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2059h_bigeard-et-dien-bien-phu |access-date=May 20, 2007 |website=TV news |publisher=Channel 2 (France) |format=video}}</ref> hence the sacrifice of volunteers during the climactic battle of Dien Bien Phu. In the latest days of the siege, 652 non-paratrooper soldiers from all army corps from cavalry to infantry to artillery dropped for the first and last time of their life to support their comrades. The Cold War excuse was later used by General [[Maurice Challe]] through his famous "Do you want [[Mers El Kébir]] and [[Algiers]] to become Soviet bases as soon as tomorrow?", during the [[Generals' putsch]] ([[Algerian War]]) of 1961, with limited effect though.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://home.nordnet.fr/jcpillon/piedgris/photovisiteur/appel-challe.jpg |title=General Challe's appeal (April 22, 1961) |access-date=May 19, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614163354/http://home.nordnet.fr/jcpillon/piedgris/photovisiteur/appel-challe.jpg |archive-date=June 14, 2007 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

== Atrocities ==
{{Cleanup section|reason=This section should not be converted to prose from point form.|date=January 2023}}
Atrocities occurred in the conflict long before France ratified the 1949 [[Geneva Conventions]] on June 28, 1951, in which such acts committed afterwards in violation of the Conventions' provisions in force became [[war crime]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/research/ratification-france.html|title=Ratification of International Human Rights Treaties - France|publisher=University of Minnesota Human Rights Library}}</ref> [[Geneva Conventions#Common Article 3 relating to non-international armed conflict (NIAC)|Common Article 3]] of the 1949 Geneva Conventions contains a minimum protection that only applies to humane treatment in a non-international conflict (i.e., war by a state against [[non-state armed groups]] or between non-state armed groups themselves). For the purpose of this section, however, atrocities committed before or after France's ratification of the 1949 Geneva Conventions are included.

===French===
During the war, there were many instances of [[war rape]]s against Vietnamese civilians by French soldiers. This occurred in Saigon, alongside robberies and killings, following the return of the French in August 1945.<ref>{{cite book |last=Donaldson |first=Gary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jOHR0neab58C&pg=PA75 |title=America at War Since 1945: Politics and Diplomacy in Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf War |date=1996 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=0-275-95660-1 |edition=illustrated |series=Religious Studies; 39 |location= |page=75 }}</ref> Vietnamese women were also raped by French soldiers in northern Vietnam in 1948, following the defeat of the Viet Minh, including in Bảo Hà, [[Bảo Yên District]], [[Lào Cai province]] and Phu Lu. This led to 400 French-trained Vietnamese defecting to the Viet Minh June 1948.<ref>{{cite book |last=Chen |first=King C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TQrWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA195 |title=Vietnam and China, 1938-1954 |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-7490-3 |edition=reprint |volume=2134 of Princeton Legacy Library |location= |page=195 }}</ref> French killings of Vietnamese civilians were reported, many of them were caused by the tendency of Viet Minh troops to hide among civilian settlements.<ref name="WorldPeaceIndochina 2015">{{Cite web |last=Foundation |first=World Peace |title=Indochina: First Indochina War {{!}} Mass Atrocity Endings |url=https://sites.tufts.edu/atrocityendings/2015/08/07/indochina-1st-indochina-war/ |access-date=2023-08-02 |language=en-US}}</ref> One of the largest massacres by French troops was the [[Mỹ Trạch massacre]] of November 29, 1947, in which French soldiers killed over 200 women and children. Regarding this massacre and other atrocities during the conflict, [[Christopher Goscha]] wrote in ''The Penguin History of Modern Vietnam'':{{blockquote|[[Wartime sexual violence|Rape]] became a disturbing weapon used by the Expeditionary Corps, as did summary executions. Young Vietnamese women who could not escape approaching enemy patrols smeared themselves with any stinking thing they could find, including human excrement. Decapitated{{sic}} heads were raised on sticks, bodies were gruesomely [[disemboweled]], and body parts were taken as 'souvenirs'; Vietnamese soldiers of all political color also committed such acts. The non-communist nationalist singer, [[Phạm Duy]], wrote a bone-chilling ballad about the mothers of Gio Linh village in central Vietnam, each of whom had lost a son to a French Army massacre in 1948. Troops decapitated their bodies and displayed their heads along a public road to strike fear into those tempted to accept the Democratic Republic of Vietnam's sovereignty. Massacres did not start with the Americans in [[My Lai]], or the Vietnamese communists in [[Massacre at Huế|Hue]] in 1968. And yet, the French Union's massacre of over two hundred Vietnamese women and children in My Tratch in 1948 remains virtually unknown in France to this day.<ref name="Christopher Goscha 2016 260"/>}}
The French Army also utilized [[torture]] against Việt Minh prisoners.<ref>{{cite web |title=UQAM &#124; Guerre d'Indochine &#124; Torture, French |url=http://indochine.uqam.ca/en/historical-dictionary/1420-torture-french.html}}</ref> Benjamin Valentino estimates that the French were responsible for 60,000 to 250,000 civilian deaths.<ref name="Valentino2">{{cite book |last=Valentino |first=Benjamin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LQfeXVU_EvgC&q=vietnam |title=Final Solutions: Mass Killing and Genocide in the 20th Century |publisher=[[Cornell University Press]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-8014-7273-2 |page=83}}</ref>

=== Viet Minh ===
According to Arthur J. Dommen, the Việt Minh assassinated 100,000–150,000 civilians during the war out of a total civilian death toll of 400,000.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Dommen |first1=Arthur J |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MauWlUjuWNsC&q=The+Indochinese+Experience+of+the+French+and+the+Americans+100,000+to+150,000&pg=PA252 |title=The Indochinese Experience of the French and the Americans: Nationalism and Communism in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam |date=2002-02-20 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-10925-5}}</ref>

Viet Minh militants employed terrorist attacks throughout the conflict as a systematic practice, often targeting European and Eurasian civilians.<ref name="WorldPeaceIndochina 2015" /> One of the worst attacks on Europeans was on 21 July 1952, when Viet Minh militants, using grenades, Sten guns, and machetes, massacred twenty unarmed people at a [[military hospital]] in [[Vũng Tàu|Cap St. Jacques]]—eight officers on [[sick leave]], six children, four Vietnamese servants, and two women.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=1952-08-04 |title=Indo-China: Massacre at Cap |language=en-US |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,822397,00.html |access-date=2023-01-30 |issn=0040-781X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1952-07-24 |title=Le Vietminh effectue un coup de main" Sur La Station de Repos du Cap Saint-Jacques considérée comme centre hospitalier Vingt et une personnes tuées et vingt-trois blessées |language=fr |work=Le Monde.fr |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1952/07/24/le-vietminh-effectue-un-coup-de-main-sur-la-station-de-repos-du-cap-saint-jacques-consideree-comme-centre-hospitalier-vingt-et-une-personnes-tuees-et-vingt-trois-blessees_3030693_1819218.html |access-date=2023-02-03}}</ref>

Many French Union and Vietnamese National Army prisoners died in the Việt Minh POW camps as a result of torture. In the [[Boudarel Affair]], French Communist militant [[Georges Boudarel]] was discovered to have used brainwashing and torture against French Union POWs in Việt Minh reeducation camps.<ref>{{cite web |title=Accueil |url=http://www.anapi.asso.fr/index.php?langue=en |access-date=August 19, 2015 |archive-date=October 29, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029185252/http://www.anapi.asso.fr/index.php?langue=en }}</ref> The French national association of POWs brought Boudarel to court for a war crime charge.

== French domestic situation ==
The [[French Constitution of 1946|1946 Constitution]] creating the Fourth Republic (1946–1958) made France a [[parliamentary republic]]. Because of the political context, it could find stability only by an alliance between the three dominant parties: the Christian Democratic [[Popular Republican Movement]] (MRP), the [[French Communist Party]] (PCF) and the socialist [[French Section of the Workers' International]] (SFIO). Known as ''[[tripartisme]]'', this alliance briefly lasted until the May 1947 crisis, with the expulsion from [[Paul Ramadier]]'s SFIO government of the PCF ministers, marking the official start of the Cold War in France. This had the effect of weakening the regime, with the two most significant movements of this period, Communism and [[Gaullism]], in opposition.

A strong [[anti-war]] movement came into existence in France driven mostly by the powerful French Communist Party (outpowering the socialists) and its young militant associations, major trade unions such as the [[General Confederation of Labour (France)|General Confederation of Labour]], and notable leftist intellectuals.<ref name="ruscio">{{cite news |last=Ruscio |first=Alain |date=August 2, 2003 |title=Guerre d'Indochine: Libérez Henri Martin |url=https://www.humanite.fr/journal/2003-08-02/2003-08-02-376623 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030804173942/http://www.humanite.fr/journal/2003-08-02/2003-08-02-376623 |archive-date=August 4, 2003 |access-date=May 20, 2007 |publisher=l'Humanité |language=fr |df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name="memoir">{{cite news |last=Nhu Tang |first=Truong |date=March 12, 1986 |title=A Vietcong Memoir: An Inside Account of the Vietnam War and Its Aftermath |publisher=Vintage |isbn=0-394-74309-1}}</ref> The first occurrence was probably at the National Assembly on March 21, 1947, when the communist deputies refused to back the military credits for Indochina. The following year a pacifist event was organized, the "[[World Peace Council|1st Worldwide Congress of Peace Partisans]]" ({{Lang|fr|1er Congrès Mondial des Partisans de la Paix}}, the World Peace Council's predecessor), which took place March 25–28, 1948, in Paris, with the French communist Nobel laureate atomic physicist [[Frédéric Joliot-Curie]] as president. Later, on April 28, 1950, Joliot-Curie would be dismissed from the military and civilian [[Commissariat à l'énergie atomique|Atomic Energy Commission]] for political reasons.<ref name="quidencyclopedia">{{cite web |title=France History, IV Republic (1946–1958) |url=http://www.quid.fr/2007/Histoire_De_France/Ive_Republique_1946_1958/1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070830150329/http://www.quid.fr/2007/Histoire_De_France/Ive_Republique_1946_1958/1 |archive-date=August 30, 2007 |access-date=May 20, 2007 |publisher=Quid Encyclopedia |language=fr |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Young communist militants (UJRF) were also accused of sabotage actions like the famous [[Henri Martin affair]] and the case of [[Raymonde Dien]], who was jailed one year for having blocked an ammunition train, with the help of other militants, in order to prevent the supply of French forces in Indochina in February 1950.<ref name="hercombedoc">{{cite web |last=Hercombe |first=Peter |year=2004 |title=Dien Bien Phu, Chronicles of a Forgotten Battle |url=http://contrecourant.france2.fr/article.php3?id_article=175 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070321224045/http://contrecourant.france2.fr/article.php3?id_article=175 |archive-date=March 21, 2007 |website=documentary |publisher=Transparences Productions/Channel 2 (France) |df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name="ruscio"/>

Similar actions against trains occurred in [[Roanne]], [[Charleville-Mézières|Charleville]], [[Marseille]], and Paris. Even ammunition sabotage by PCF agents has been reported, such as grenades exploding in the hands of legionaries.<ref name="hercombedoc"/> These actions became such a cause for concern by 1950 that the French Assembly voted a law against sabotage between March 2–8. At this session tension was so high between politicians that fighting ensued in the assembly following communist deputies' speeches against the Indochinese policy.<ref name="quidencyclopedia" /> This month saw the French navy mariner and communist militant [[Henri Martin (French politician)|Henri Martin]] arrested by military police and jailed for five years for sabotage and propaganda operations in [[Toulon]]'s arsenal. On May 5 communist Ministers were dismissed from the government, marking the end of [[Tripartism]].<ref name="quidencyclopedia" /> A few months later on November 11, 1950, the French Communist Party leader [[Maurice Thorez]] went to Moscow.

Some military officers involved in the [[Generals' affair|Revers Report scandal]] (''{{Lang|fr|Rapport Revers}}'') such as Salan were pessimistic about the way the war was being conducted,<ref>Patrick Pesnot, [http://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/em/rendezvousavecx/index.php?id=28843 Rendez-vous Avec X – Dien Bien Phu] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014123145/http://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/em/rendezvousavecx/index.php?id=28843|date=October 14, 2007}}, France Inter, December 4, 2004 (Rendez-vous With X broadcast on public station France Inter)</ref> with multiple political-military scandals all happening during the war, starting with the Generals' Affair (''{{Lang|fr|Affaire des Généraux}}'') from September 1949 to November 1950. As a result, General [[Georges Revers]] was dismissed in December 1949 and socialist Defense Ministry [[Jules Moch]] (SFIO) was brought on court by the National Assembly on November 28, 1950. The scandal started the commercial success of the first French news magazine, ''[[L'Express]]'', created in 1953.<ref>{{Cite web |title="We wanted a newspaper to tell what we wanted" interview by Denis Jeambar & Roland Mihail |url=http://www.lexpress.fr/info/france/dossier/giroud/dossier.asp?ida=372262 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001030214/http://www.lexpress.fr/info/france/dossier/giroud/dossier.asp?ida=372262 |archive-date=1 October 2007 |access-date=4 April 2023}}</ref> The third scandal was financial-political, concerning military corruption, money and arms trading involving both the French Union army and the Việt Minh, known as the [[Piastres affair]].

By 1954, despite official propaganda presenting the war as a "''crusade against communism''",<ref name="guerreindochinenewsreel"/><ref name="bigeardetdienbienphu"/> the war in Indochina was still growing unpopular with the French public. The political stagnation in the Fourth Republic meant that France was unable to extract itself from the conflict.

Unlikely alliances had to be made between left- and right-wing parties in order to form a government invested by the National Assembly, resulting in [[parliamentary instability]], with 14 prime ministers in succession between 1947 and 1954. The rapid turnover of governments (there were 17 different governments during the war) left France unable to prosecute the war with any consistent policy, according to veteran General René de Biré (who was a lieutenant at Dien Bien Phu).<ref name="hercombedoc"/> France was increasingly unable to afford the costly conflict in Indochina and, by 1954, the United States was paying 80% of France's war effort, which was $3,000,000 per day in 1952.<ref name="newsreelmay52">{{cite web |date=May 1952 |title=France's war against Communists rages on |url=http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1ziii_frances-war-against-communists-rage |access-date=May 20, 2007 |website=newsreel |publisher=News Magazine of the Screen/Warner Bros. |format=video}}</ref><ref>[https://www.mises.org/journals/lar/pdfs/3_3/3_3_8.pdf A Bernard Fall Retrospective], presentation of [[Bernard B. Fall]], ''Vietnam Witness 1953–56'', New York, Praeger, 1966, by the [[Ludwig von Mises Institute]]</ref>

==French Union involvement==
{{Further|French Union}}
By 1946, France headed the French Union. As successive governments had forbidden the sending of metropolitan troops, the French Far East Expeditionary Corps (CEFEO) was created in March 1945. The Union gathered combatants from almost all French territories made of colonies, protectorates and associated states ([[Algeria]], [[Morocco]], [[Madagascar]], Senegal, [[Tunisia]], etc.) to fight in French Indochina, which was then occupied by the Japanese. About 325,000 of the 500,000 French troops were Indochinese, almost all of whom were used in [[conventional warfare|conventional units]].<ref>[[Alf Andrew Heggoy]] and ''Insurgency and Counterinsurgency in Algeria'', Bloomington, Indiana, Indiana University Press, 1972, p.175</ref>
[[French West Africa]] (''{{Lang|fr|Afrique Occidentale Française}}'', AOF) was a federation of African colonies. Senegalese and other African troops were sent to fight in Indochina. Some African alumni were trained in the Infantry Instruction Center no.2 (''{{Lang|fr|Centre d'Instruction de l'Infanterie no.2}}'') located in southern Vietnam. Senegalese of the Colonial Artillery fought at the siege of Dien Bien Phu. As a French colony (later a full province), French Algeria sent local troops to Indochina including several RTA (''{{Lang|fr|Régiment de Tirailleurs Algériens}}'') [[light infantry]] battalions. Morocco was a French protectorate and sent troops to support the French effort in Indochina. Moroccan troops were part of light infantry RTMs (''{{Lang|fr|Régiment de Tirailleurs Marocains}}'') for the "Moroccan [[Marksman|Sharpshooters]] Regiment".
[[File:The French Foreign Legion is playing the major combat role in the war against the Vietminh. Here a red-suspect has been - NARA - 541969.tif|thumb|[[French Foreign Legion]] patrol question a suspected member of the Việt Minh.]]

As a French protectorate, [[Bizerte]], Tunisia, was a major French base. Tunisian troops, mostly RTT (''{{Lang|fr|Régiment de Tirailleurs Tunisiens}}''), were sent to Indochina. Part of French Indochina, then part of the French Union and later an associated state, Laos fought the communists along with French forces. The role played by Laotian troops in the conflict was depicted by veteran Pierre Schoendoerffer's famous ''317th Platoon'' released in 1964.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.net4war.com/e-revue/dossiers/indochine/317-section.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614163354/http://www.net4war.com/e-revue/dossiers/indochine/317-section.pdf|title=''The 317th Platoon''s script|archive-date=June 14, 2007}}</ref> The French Indochina state of Cambodia also played a role during the Indochina War through the [[Khmer Royal Army]], which had been formed in 1946 in an agreement signed with the French.<ref>{{cite book |first=Kenneth |last=Conboy |title= The War in Cambodia 1970–75 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=XnaICwAAQBAJ&q=20+november+1946|publisher= Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2011 |isbn= 978-1-78096-138-5}}</ref>

While Bảo Đại's State of Vietnam (formerly Annam, Tonkin, Cochinchina) had the Vietnamese National Army supporting the French forces, some minorities were trained and organized as regular battalions (mostly infantry ''[[tirailleur]]s'') that fought with French forces against the Việt Minh. The Tai Battalion 2 (BT2, ''2e Bataillon Thai'') is infamous for its desertion during the siege of Dien Bien Phu. Propaganda leaflets written in Tai and French sent by the Việt Minh were found in the deserted positions and trenches. Such deserters were called the ''[[Nam Yum rats]]'' by Bigeard during the siege, as they hid close to the Nam Yum river during the day and searched at night for supply drops.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ena.lu?lang=2&doc=14652 |title=Original audio recordings of General de Castries (Dien Bien Phu) and General Cogny (Hanoi) transmissions on May 7, 1954, during the battle of Dien Bien Phu (from the European Navigator based in Luxembourg) |publisher=Ena.lu?lang=2&doc=14652 |date= |access-date=2021-02-12}}</ref> Another allied minority was the Muong people (''Mường''). The 1st Muong Battalion (''{{Lang|fr|1er Bataillon Muong}}'') was awarded the ''[[Croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieures]]'' after the victorious Battle of Vĩnh Yên in 1951.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ecpad.fr/ecpa/PagesDyn/notfot.asp?id=573&page=1&dossierid=496&photo=1&Npage=1&collectionid=4|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070914065738/http://www.ecpad.fr/ecpa/PagesDyn/notfot.asp?id=573&page=1&dossierid=496&photo=1&Npage=1&collectionid=4|title=French Defense Ministry archives, ECPAD|archive-date=September 14, 2007}}</ref>

In the 1950s, the French established secret commando groups based on loyal [[Degar|Montagnard]] ethnic minorities referred to as "[[Partisan (military)|partisans]]" or "[[maquisard]]s", called the ''[[Groupement de Commandos Mixtes Aéroportés]]'' (Composite Airborne Commando Group or GCMA), later renamed ''Groupement Mixte d'Intervention'' (GMI, or Mixed Intervention Group), directed by the [[SDECE]] counter-intelligence service. The SDECE's "Service Action" GCMA used both commando and guerrilla techniques and operated in intelligence and secret missions from 1950 to 1955.<ref>{{cite book| author = Raymond Muelle|author2=Éric Deroo| title = Services spéciaux, armes, techniques, missions: GCMA, Indochine, 1950–1954&nbsp;... | year = 1992| publisher = Editions Crépin-Leblond| isbn = 978-2-7030-0100-3 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book| author = Michel David| title = Guerre secrète en Indochine: Les maquis autochtones face au Viêt-Minh (1950–1955)| year = 2002| publisher = Lavauzelle| isbn = 978-2-7025-0636-3 }}</ref> Declassified information about the GCMA includes the name of its commander, famous Colonel [[Roger Trinquier]], and a mission on April 30, 1954, when [[Operation Jedburgh|Jedburgh]] veteran [[Jean Sassi|Captain Sassi]] led the Meo partisans of the GCMA Malo-Servan in [[Operation Condor (1954)|Operation Condor]] during the siege of Dien Bien Phu.<ref>''[https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0007UMEV6 Dien Bien Phu – Le Rapport Secret]'', Patrick Jeudy, TF1 Video, 2005</ref>

In 1951, Adjutant-Chief Vandenberghe from the 6th Colonial Infantry Regiment (6e RIC) created the "Commando Vanden" (aka "Black Tigers", aka "North Vietnam Commando #24") based in [[Nam Định]]. Recruits were volunteers from the [[Thổ people]], Nùng people and [[Miao people]]. This commando unit wore Việt Minh black uniforms to confuse the enemy and used techniques of the experienced [[Bo doi]] (''Bộ đội'', regular army) and [[Du Kich]] (guerrilla unit). Việt Minh prisoners were recruited in POW camps. The commando was awarded the ''Croix de Guerre des TOE'' with palm in July 1951; however, Vandenberghe was betrayed by a Việt Minh recruit, commander Nguien Tinh Khoi (308th Division's 56th Regiment), who assassinated him (and his Vietnamese fiancée) with external help on the night of January 5, 1952.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ecpad.fr/ecpa/PagesDyn/result.asp?dossierid=486&photo=1&Npage=2&collectionid=4|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070915022432/http://www.ecpad.fr/ecpa/PagesDyn/result.asp?dossierid=486&photo=1&Npage=2&collectionid=4|title=French Defense Ministry archives|archive-date=September 15, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ecpad.fr/ecpa/PagesDyn/result.asp?dossierid=486&photo=1&Npage=3&collectionid=4|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070914050956/http://www.ecpad.fr/ecpa/PagesDyn/result.asp?dossierid=486&photo=1&Npage=3&collectionid=4|title=French Defense Ministry archives|archive-date=September 14, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ecpad.fr/ecpa/PagesDyn/result.asp?dossierid=486&photo=1&Npage=4&collectionid=4|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070916204607/http://www.ecpad.fr/ecpa/PagesDyn/result.asp?dossierid=486&photo=1&Npage=4&collectionid=4|title=French Defense Ministry archives|archive-date=September 16, 2007}}</ref> [[Coolie]]s and [[POWs]] known as ''PIM'' (''{{Lang|fr|Prisonniers Internés Militaires}}'', which is basically the same as POW) were civilians used by the army as logistical support personnel. During the battle of Dien Bien Phu, coolies were in charge of burying the corpses—during the first days only, after they were abandoned, hence giving off a terrible smell, according to veterans—and they had the dangerous job of gathering supply packets delivered in drop zones while the Việt Minh artillery was firing hard to destroy the crates. The Việt Minh also used thousands of coolies to carry the Chu-Luc (regional units) supplies and ammunition during assaults. The PIM were civilian males old enough to join Bảo Đại's army. They were captured in enemy-controlled villages, and those who refused to join the State of Vietnam's army were considered prisoners or used as coolies to support a given regiment.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://echo.levillage.org/207/3639.cbb |title=Dr. Jacques Cheneau in ''In Vietnam, 1954''. Eight episode |access-date=May 19, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014060136/http://echo.levillage.org/207/3639.cbb |archive-date=October 14, 2007 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

==Foreign involvement==
===Japanese volunteers===
Many former Imperial Japanese Army soldiers fought alongside the Việt Minh—perhaps as many as 5,000 volunteered their services throughout the war.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} These Japanese soldiers had stayed behind in Indochina after World War II concluded in 1945. The occupying British authorities then repatriated most of the rest of the 50,000 Japanese troops back to Japan.<ref name="Goscha46">{{harvnb|Goscha|2008|pp=46–49}}</ref> For those that stayed behind, supporting the Việt Minh became a more attractive idea than returning to a defeated and occupied homeland. In addition the Việt Minh had minimal experience in warfare or government so the advice of the Japanese was welcome. Some of the Japanese were ex-[[Kenpeitai]] who were wanted for questioning by Allied authorities. Giap arranged for them all to receive Vietnamese citizenship and false identification papers.<ref name="Goscha46"/> Some Japanese were captured by the Việt Minh during the last months of World War II and were recruited into their ranks.

Most of the Japanese officers who stayed served as military instructors for the Việt Minh forces, most notably at the [[Quảng Ngãi]] Army Academy.<ref name="Goscha49">{{harvnb|Goscha|2008|pp=50–55}}</ref> They imparted necessary conventional military knowledge – such as how to conduct assaults, night attacks, company/battalion level exercises, commanding, tactics, navigation, communications and movements. A few, however, actively led Vietnamese forces into combat.<ref name="Goscha49" /> The French also identified eleven Japanese nurses and two doctors working for the Việt Minh in northern Vietnam in 1951. The [[Yasukuni Shrine]] commemorates a number of Japanese involved in the First Indochina War.<ref name="igawa">{{cite web |url=http://nippon.zaidan.info/seikabutsu/2005/01036/pdf/0001.pdf |title=Japan-Vietnam relations, were based on the performance of Japanese volunteers in Vietnam Independence War |access-date=2009-09-06 |date=2005-10-10 |website=Tokyo Foundation |author= Igawa, Sei |language=ja}}</ref>

Notable Japanese officers serving in Việt Minh included:
* Colonel Mukaiyama – reportedly a staff officer in the [[Thirty-Eighth Army (Japan)|38th Army]], who became a technical advisor to the Vietnamese. Credited as the leader of Japanese forces in Vietnam; killed in combat in 1946.
* [[Masanobu Tsuji|Colonel Masanobu Tsuji]] – Operations Staff Officer.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}
* {{ill|Major Ishii Takuo|ja|石井卓雄}} – a staff officer in the [[55th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)|55th Division]] who had commanded a squadron of its cavalry regiment. Supposedly the youngest major in the Imperial Army at the time, he led a number of volunteers to the Vietnamese cause, becoming a colonel and military advisor to [[Nguyễn Sơn|General Nguyễn Sơn]]. He headed the Quảng Ngãi Military Academy for a while before founding the Tuy Hòa Military Academy, and was killed by a land mine in 1950.
* Major Kanetoshi Toshihide – served with Major Igari in the 2nd Division and followed him to join the Việt Minh; he became Chief of Staff for General Nguyễn Giác Ngộ.
* {{ill|Major Igawa Sei|ja|井川省}} – a staff officer in the 34th Independent Mixed Brigade; he joined the Viet Minh forces, and was killed in action against the French in 1946. He allegedly conceived the idea of establishing the Quảng Ngãi Military Academy.
* Lieutenant Igari Kazumasa – the commander of an infantry company in the [[2nd Division (Imperial Japanese Army)|2nd Division's]] 29th Infantry Regiment; he became an instructor at the Quảng Ngãi Military Academy.
* Lieutenant Kamo Tokuji – a platoon leader under Lieutenant Igari; he also became an instructor at the Quảng Ngãi Military Academy.
* {{ill|2nd Lieutenant Tanimoto Kikuo|ja|谷本喜久男}} an intelligence officer who was originally supposed to remain behind in Indonesia, but linked up with the 34th Brigade to try to get home, only to end up as an instructor at the Quảng Ngãi Military Academy until 1954.
* [[Mitsunobu Nakahara|2nd Lieutenant Nakahara Mitsunobu]] – an intelligence officer of the 34th Independent Mixed Brigade; became a decorated soldier in the Việt Minh forces, and later an instructor at the Quảng Ngãi Military Academy.<ref>{{cite book |last=Goscha |first=Christopher E. |chapter=Belated Asian Allies: The Technical and Military Contributions of Japanese Deserters, (1945–50) |pages=37–64 |publisher=[[Blackwell Publishing]] Company |isbn=978-0-470-99717-8 |doi=10.1002/9780470997178.ch3 |title=A Companion to the Vietnam War |year=2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/5881/which-japanese-military-officers-helped-ho-chi-minh |title=20th century - Which Japanese military officers helped Ho Chi Minh? |website=History Stack Exchange |access-date=2018-12-15}}</ref>

=== China ===
[[File:Samochod (GAZ) Lublin-51.jpg|thumb|China supplied the Việt Minh with hundreds of Soviet-built [[GAZ-51]] trucks during the 1950s.]]
The victory of the Chinese communists in December 1949 proved decisive in the course of the war as during the early 1950s guerrilla troops used the southern areas of China as a sanctuary where new troops could be trained and fitted beyond the reach of the French.{{sfn|Fall|1994|p=17}} The Việt Minh successfully carried out several hit-and-run ambushes against French Union military convoys along the Route Coloniale 4 (RC 4) roadway, which ran along the Chinese border, and was a major supply passage in Tonkin (northern Vietnam) for a series of frontier forts.{{sfn|Windrow|2011|p=73}} One of the most famous attacks of this nature was the [[Battle of Cao Bằng (1949)|Battle of Cao Bằng of 1947–1949]].

China supplied and provided the Việt Minh guerrilla forces with almost every kind of crucial and important supplies and material required, such as food (including thousands of tonnes of rice), money, medics and medical aid and supplies, arms and weapons (ranging from artillery guns (24 of which were used at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu) to rifles and machine-guns), ammunition and explosives and other types of military equipment, including a large part of war-material captured from the then-recently defeated [[National Revolutionary Army]] (NRA) of Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Chinese government following the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. Evidence of the [[People's Republic of China]]'s secret aid and supplies were found hidden in caves during the French military's [[Operation Hirondelle]] in July 1953.<ref name="French Defense Ministry archives">{{cite web|url=http://www.ecpad.fr/ecpa/PagesDyn/notfot.asp?id=5374&page=1&dossierid=483&photo=1&Npage=1&collectionid=4|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070927211120/http://www.ecpad.fr/ecpa/PagesDyn/notfot.asp?id=5374&page=1&dossierid=483&photo=1&Npage=1&collectionid=4|title=French Defense Ministry archives|archive-date=September 27, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.ecpad.fr/ecpa/PagesDyn/notfot.asp?id=1628&page=4&dossierid=483&photo=1&Npage=4&collectionid=4 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070930155504/http://www.ecpad.fr/ecpa/PagesDyn/notfot.asp?id=1628&page=4&dossierid=483&photo=1&Npage=4&collectionid=4|title=French Defense Ministry archives|archive-date=September 30, 2007}}</ref> 2,000 military advisors from the PRC and the Soviet Union trained the Việt Minh guerrilla force with the aim of turning it into a full-fledged armed force to fight off their French colonial masters and gain national independence.<ref name="hercombedoc"/> On top of this, the PRC sent two People's Liberation Army (PLA) artillery battalions to fight at the siege of Dien Bien Phu on May 6, 1954, with one battalion operating the Soviet Katyusha multiple-rocket launcher systems (MRLS) against French forces besieged at Dien Bien Phu's valley.<ref>Chinese General Hoang Minh Thao and Colonel Hoang Minh Phuong, quoted by Pierre Journoud (researcher at the Defense History Studies (CHED), Paris University Pantheon-Sorbonne), in ''Paris Hanoi Beijing'' published in ''Communisme'' magazine and the Pierre Renouvin Institute of Paris, July 20, 2004.</ref>

From 1950 to 1954 the Chinese government shipped goods, materials, and medicine worth ${{Inflation|US|43|2019}} billion (in {{inflation-year|US}} dollars) to Vietnam. From 1950 to 1956 the Chinese government shipped 155,000 small arms, 58&nbsp;million rounds of ammunition, 4,630 artillery pieces, 1,080,000 artillery shells, 840,000 hand grenades, 1,400,000 uniforms, 1,200 vehicles, 14,000 tons of food, and 26,000 tons of fuel to Vietnam. Mao Zedong considered it necessary to buttress the Viet Minh to secure his country's southern flank against potential interference by westerners, while the bulk of the PRC's regular military forces participated in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. After the end of the Korean War and the resolution of the [[First Taiwan Strait Crisis]], China stepped up involvement in the Indochina Wars, viewing the presence of potentially hostile forces in Indochina as the main threat.<ref>Xiaobing, Li. "Building Ho's Army: Chinese Military Assistance to North Vietnam." Kentucky University Press, August 2019. Pages 61-62.</ref><ref>Xiaobing, p. 60.</ref>

===Soviet Union===
The Soviet Union was the other major ally of the Việt Minh, alongside the PRC. Moscow supplied [[GAZ]]-built trucks, truck engines and motor-parts, fuel, tyres, many different kinds of arms and weapons (including thousands of [[Škoda Works|Škoda]]-manufactured light machine-guns of Czech origin), all kinds of ammunition (ranging from rifle to machine-gun ammunition), various types of anti-aircraft guns (such as the 37mm air-defense gun) and even cigarettes and tobacco products. During Operation Hirondelle, French Union paratroopers captured and destroyed many tonnes of Soviet-supplied material destined for Việt Minh use in the area of Ky Lua.<ref name="French Defense Ministry archives"/><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.ecpad.fr/ecpa/PagesDyn/notfot.asp?id=5373&page=1&dossierid=483&photo=1&Npage=1&collectionid=4|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070914094855/http://www.ecpad.fr/ecpa/PagesDyn/notfot.asp?id=5373&page=1&dossierid=483&photo=1&Npage=1&collectionid=4|title=French Defense Ministry archives|archive-date=September 14, 2007}}</ref> According to General Giap, the chief military leader of all Việt Minh forces, the Việt Minh used about 400 Soviet-produced [[GAZ-51]] trucks at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. Because the trucks were concealed and hidden with the use of highly effective camouflage (consisting predominantly of thick vegetation), French Union reconnaissance aircraft were not able to notice them and take note of the effective Việt Minh supply-train. On May 6, 1954, during the siege against French forces at the valley of Dien Bien Phu, Soviet-supplied Katyusha MLRS were successfully fielded against French Union military outposts, destroying enemy troop formations and bases and lowering their morale levels. Together with the PRC, the Soviet Union sent up to 2,000 military advisors to provide training to the Việt Minh guerrilla troops and to turn it into a conventional army.<ref name="hercombedoc"/>

===United States===
====Mutual Defense Assistance Act (1950–1954)====
[[File:HD-SN-99-02045.JPEG|thumb|upright|[[Anti-communism|Anti-communist]] Vietnamese refugees moving from a French [[Landing Ship Medium|LSM]] landing ship to the {{USS|Montague|AKA-98|6}} during [[Operation Passage to Freedom]] in 1954]]
At the beginning of the war, the U.S. was neutral in the conflict because of its opposition to European colonialism, because the Việt Minh had recently been U.S. allies, and because, in the context of the [[Cold War]], most of its attention was focused on Europe where [[Winston Churchill]] argued an "[[Iron Curtain]]" had fallen.

The 1949 victory of Mao Zedong's [[Chinese Communist Party]] in the Chinese Civil War, the recognition of the DRV by the USSR and the newly formed People's Republic of China in January 1950, which prompted the US and the UK to recognize the State of Vietnam in response, and the signing of the [[Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship]] shortly after in February, shifted the US stance on the matter, and the war came to be viewed as another front in the anticommunist struggle.<ref name="replacingfrance"/>

Indochina, and Southeast Asia more broadly, was declared vital by the U.S. government, and the containment of communism at the southern Chinese border, and, later, [[Korea]], became one of the priorities of American foreign policy as it was believed that the fall of Indochina to communist hands would lead to the loss of other nations in the region.{{sfn|Spector|1983|pp=106-107}} At this time, communism was seen as a uniform bloc, dominated by the Soviet Union. It was feared in Washington that if Ho were to win the war, he would establish a state politically aligned with Moscow, with the Soviets ultimately controlling Vietnamese affairs.<ref>[[The Pentagon Papers]], [[s:Page:Pentagon-Papers-Part IV.djvu/14|Part IV, p. 14]], via [[Wikisource]]</ref> This prospect spurred the U.S. to support France in their war effort, primarily through the [[Mutual Defense Assistance Act]]. In May 1950, after Chinese communist forces occupied [[Hainan]] island, U.S. President Harry S. Truman began covertly authorizing direct financial assistance to the French, and on June 27, 1950, after the outbreak of the Korean War, announced publicly that the U.S. was doing so.<ref>[[The Pentagon Papers]], [[s:Page:Pentagon-Papers-Part IV. A. 2.djvu/23|Part IV, p. 23]] - [[s:Page:Pentagon-Papers-Part IV. A. 2.djvu/24|p. 24]], via [[Wikisource]]</ref>

On June 30, 1950, the first U.S. supplies for Indochina were delivered.{{sfn|Spector|1983|pp=123}} In September, Truman sent the [[Military Assistance Advisory Group]] (MAAG) to Indochina to assist the French.{{sfn|Spector|1983|pp=115-116}} Later, in 1954, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower explained the escalation risk, introducing what he referred to as the "domino principle", which eventually became the concept of [[domino theory]].<ref>{{cite web |website=[[Office of the Historian]] |title= Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Indochina, Volume XIII, Document 716 |access-date= August 12, 2023 |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v13p1/d716}}</ref>
After the Moch–[[George Marshall|Marshall]] meeting of September 23, 1950, in Washington, United States, started to support the French Union effort politically, logistically and financially. Officially, US involvement did not include use of armed force.

As the situation at Dien Bien Phu deteriorated in 1954, France requested more support from the United States, including equipment and direct intervention. For instance, on April 4 French Prime Minister [[Joseph Laniel]] and Foreign Minister [[Georges Bidault]] conveyed to U.S. Ambassador [[C. Douglas Dillon]] that "immediate armed intervention of US [[Aircraft carrier|carrier]] aircraft at DienBien Phu is now necessary to save the situation". The United States discussed with allies multiple options, including the use of [[nuclear weapon]]s. A key concern in the planning was the response of China. While the planning continued, the United States moved an [[Carrier battle group|aircraft-carrier task-force]], which included the carriers [[USS Boxer (CV-21)|''Boxer'']] and [[USS Essex (CV-9)|''Essex'']], into the [[South China Sea]] between the [[Philippines]] and Indochina. However, the [[leadership]] of the United States eventually decided that there was not sufficient international or domestic support for the United States to become directly involved in the conflict.<ref>{{Cite book|url= https://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/Documents/History/Vietnam/Vietnam_1947-1954.pdf |title= History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the first Indochina War, 1947-1954 |publisher= U.S. Government Printing Office|year=2004|isbn=0-16-072430-9|location=Washington, DC|pages=151–167 |access-date=April 16, 2021}}</ref>

Following the end of the war [[United States Secretary of State]] [[John Foster Dulles]] denounced Chinese aid to the Việt Minh, and explained that the United States could not act openly because of international pressure, and concluded with the call to "all concerned nations" concerning the necessity of "a collective defense" against "the communist aggression".<ref name="henrisalvador">{{cite web |url=http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2082a_john-foster-dulles-on-the-fall-of-d_events |title=John Foster Dulles on the fall of Dien Bien Phu |author=henrisalvador |website=[[Dailymotion]] |date=17 May 2007 |access-date=August 19, 2015}}</ref>

====US Navy assistance (1951–1954)====
[[File:USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24) underway on 22 December 1943 (NH 97269).jpg|thumb|''Bois Belleau'' (aka {{USS|Belleau Wood|CVL-24|6}}) transferred to France in 1953]]
{{USS|Windham Bay|CVE-92|6}} delivered [[Grumman F8F Bearcat]] fighter aircraft to Saigon on January 26, 1951.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ecpad.fr/ecpa/PagesDyn/notfot.asp?id=2953&page=1&dossierid=497&photo=1&Npage=1&collectionid=4|title=Médiathèque de la Défense|date=November 23, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061123133022/http://www.ecpad.fr/ecpa/PagesDyn/notfot.asp?id=2953&page=1&dossierid=497&photo=1&Npage=1&collectionid=4|archive-date=2006-11-23}}</ref>

On March 2, 1951, the United States Navy transferred {{USS|Agenor|ARL-3|6}} (LST 490) to the French Navy in Indochina in accordance with the MAAG-led MAP. Renamed RFS ''Vulcain'' (A-656), she was used in Operation Hirondelle in 1953. {{USS|Sitkoh Bay|CVE-86|6}} carrier delivered Grumman F8F Bearcat aircraft to Saigon on March 26, 1951. During September 1953, {{USS|Belleau Wood|CVL-24|6}} (renamed ''Bois Belleau'') was lent to France and sent to French Indochina to replace the {{ship|French aircraft carrier|Arromanches||2}}. She was used to support delta defenders in the [[Hạ Long Bay]] operation in May 1954. In August she joined the Franco-American evacuation operation called "Passage to Freedom".
The same month, the United States delivered additional aircraft, again using USS ''Windham Bay''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ina.fr/archivespourtous/index.php?vue=corpus&code=C0524208764#|title=Indochina War: The "good offices" of the Americans|publisher= National Audiovisual Institute}}</ref> On April 18, 1954, during the siege of Dien Bien Phu, {{USS|Saipan|CVL-48|6}} delivered 25 Korean War [[AU-1 Corsair]] aircraft for use by the French Aeronavale in supporting the besieged garrison.

====US Air Force assistance (1952–1954)====
[[File:F4U-Corsair.JPG|thumb|A 1952 [[F4U Corsair|F4U-7 Corsair]] of the 14.F flotilla which fought at Dien Bien Phu]]
A total of 94 F4U-7s were built for the [[Aéronavale]] in 1952, with the last of the batch, the final Corsair built, rolled out in December 1952. The F4U-7s were actually purchased by the U.S. Navy and passed on to the Aéronavale through the U.S. Military Assistance Program (MAP). They were supplemented by 25 ex-U.S.MC AU-1s (previously used in the Korean War) and moved from Yokosuka, Japan, to [[Tourane]] Air Base (Da Nang), Vietnam, in April 1952. US Air Force assistance followed in November 1953 when the French commander in Indochina, General Henri Navarre, asked General [[Chester E. McCarty]], commander of the Combat Cargo Division, for 12 [[C-119 Flying Boxcar|Fairchild C-119s]] for Operation Castor at Dien Bien Phu. The USAF also provided [[C-124 Globemaster II|C-124 Globemasters]] to transport French paratroop reinforcements to Indochina.
Under the codename Project Swivel Chair,<ref>Conboy, Morrison, p. 6.</ref> on March 3, 1954, 12 C-119s of the 483rd Troop Carrier Wing ("Packet Rats") based at [[Ashiya, Fukuoka|Ashiya]], Japan, were painted with France's insignia and loaned to France with 24 CIA pilots for short-term use. Maintenance was carried out by the US Air Force and airlift operations were commanded by McCarty.<ref name="embassyoffrance">{{cite web |title=U.S. Pilots Honored For Indochina Service |publisher=Embassy of France in the U.S. |date=February 24, 2005 |url=http://ambafrance-us.org/IMG/pdf/nff/NFF0502.pdf |access-date=March 30, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811102754/http://ambafrance-us.org/IMG/pdf/nff/NFF0502.pdf |archive-date=August 11, 2011 }}</ref>

==== Central Intelligence Agency covert operations (1953–1954) ====
[[File:Dien bien phu castor or siege deinterlaced.png|thumb|French-marked [[United States Air Force|USAF]] [[C-119]] flown by CIA pilots over Dien Bien Phu in 1954]]
At the request of the French, the US government tasked the [[CIA]] to carry out covert airlift operations to support the French troops in Laos. To that end, during [[CIA activities in Laos#1953|Operation SQUAW]], from 5 May to 16 July 1953, the CIA used 12 pilots, officially employed by the (CIA owned) [[Civil Air Transport]] airline, to fly equipment on 6 [[C-119]]s supplied by the [[USAF]], bearing French colours.<ref>{{cite book |last= Leary |first= William R. |title= CIA Air Operations in Laos, 1955-1974 |url= https://www.cia.gov/static/CIA-Air-Ops-Laos.pdf |publisher= [[Central Intelligence Agency]] |year= 2007 |page= 4 |archive-date= 2023-07-26 |access-date= 2023-07-26 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230726075011/https://www.cia.gov/static/CIA-Air-Ops-Laos.pdf |url-status= dead }}</ref>
Twenty four Civil Air Transport pilots supplied the French Union garrison during the siege of Dien Bien Phu – airlifting paratroopers, ammunition, artillery pieces, tons of barbed wire, medics and other military materiel. With the reducing [[Drop zone]] areas, night operations and anti-aircraft artillery assaults, many of the "packets" fell into Việt Minh hands. The CIA pilots completed 682 airdrops under anti-aircraft fire between March 13 and May 6, 1954. Two CAT pilots, Wallace Bufford and [[James B. McGovern Jr.]] were killed in action when their [[Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar]] was shot down on May 6, 1954.<ref name="embassyoffrance"/> On February 25, 2005, the French ambassador to the United States, [[Jean-David Levitte]], awarded the seven remaining CIA pilots the Légion d'honneur.<ref name="embassyoffrance"/><ref>{{cite book |last= Leary |first= William R. |title= CIA Air Operations in Laos, 1955-1974 |url= https://www.cia.gov/static/CIA-Air-Ops-Laos.pdf |publisher= [[Central Intelligence Agency]] |year= 2007 |page= 5 |archive-date= 2023-07-26 |access-date= 2023-07-26 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230726075011/https://www.cia.gov/static/CIA-Air-Ops-Laos.pdf |url-status= dead }}</ref>

==== Operation Passage to Freedom (1954) ====
{{Main|Operation Passage to Freedom}}
In August 1954, in support of the French navy and the merchant navy, the U.S. Navy launched Operation Passage to Freedom and sent hundreds of ships, including {{USS|Montague|AKA-98|6}}, in order to evacuate non-communist—especially Catholic—Vietnamese refugees from North Vietnam following the July 20, 1954, armistice and [[partition of Vietnam]]. Up to 1&nbsp;million Vietnamese civilians were transported from North to South during this period,<ref>{{cite book |last=Lindholm |first=Richard |date=1959 |title=Viet-nam, the first five years: an international symposium |publisher=[[Michigan State University Press]]}}</ref> with around one-tenth of that number moving in the opposite direction.

== Popular culture ==
{{Main|List of the First Indochina War films}}
[[File:Poster celebrating the 60th anniversary of the French recognition of North-Vietnamese independence.jpg|thumb|A poster celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Liberation of the Capital, Hanoi]]
[[File:French Indochina medal law of 1 August 1953.jpg|thumb|120px|[[French Indochina medal]], law of August 1, 1953]]
Although the war was largely treated with indifference in metropolitan France,<ref>{{cite web |title=Ifop Collectors n°29 - 1945-1954: La Guerre d'Indochine |trans-title= |website=ifop.com |date= 16 May 2014|url=https://www.ifop.com/publication/ifop-collectors-n29-1945-1954-la-guerre-dindochine/ |access-date=4 April 2023 |language=fr}}</ref> "the dirty war" has been featured in various films, books and songs. Since its declassification in the 2000s, television documentaries have been released using new perspectives about the U.S. covert involvement and open critics about the French propaganda used during wartime.

The famous Communist propagandist [[Roman Karmen]] was in charge of the media exploitation of the battle of Dien Bien Phu. In his documentary, ''Vietnam'' (Вьетнам, 1955), he staged the famous scene with the raising of the Việt Minh flag over de Castries' bunker which is similar to the one he staged over the [[Reichstag building|Berlin Reichstag]] roof during World War II (''Берлин'', 1945) and the S-shaped POW column marching after the battle, where he used the same optical technique he experimented with before when he staged the German prisoners after the [[Siege of Leningrad]] (''Ленинград в борьбе'', 1942) and the [[Battle of Moscow]] (''Разгром немецких войск под Москвой'', 1942).<ref>[http://www.dien-bien-phu.info/articles.php?lng=fr&pg=29 Pierre Schoendoerffer interview with Jean Guisnel in ''Some edited pictures''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928135001/http://www.dien-bien-phu.info/articles.php?lng=fr&pg=29 |date=September 28, 2007 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.artepro.com/programmes/58707/presentation.htm ''Roman Karmen, un cinéaste au service de la révolution''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070914175605/http://www.artepro.com/programmes/58707/presentation.htm |date=September 14, 2007 }}, Dominique Chapuis & Patrick Barbéris, Kuiv Productions / Arte France, 2001</ref>

Hollywood made a film about Dien Bien Phu in 1955, ''[[Jump into Hell]]'', directed by [[David Butler (director)|David Butler]] and scripted by [[Irving Wallace]], before his fame as a bestselling novelist. Hollywood also made several films about the war, [[Robert Florey]]'s ''[[Rogues' Regiment]]'' (1948). [[Samuel Fuller]]'s ''[[China Gate (1957 film)|China Gate]]'' (1957). and [[James Clavell]]'s ''[[Five Gates to Hell]]'' (1959).

The first French movie about the war, ''[[Patrouille de choc|Shock Patrol]]'' (''Patrouille de Choc'') aka ''Patrol Without Hope'' (''Patrouille Sans Espoir'') by Claude Bernard-Aubert, came out in 1956. The French censor cut some violent scenes and made the director change the end of his movie which was seen as "''too pessimistic"''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lacinemathequedetoulouse.com/films/index.php?m=f&id=1952|title=La Cinémathèque de Toulouse|website=www.lacinemathequedetoulouse.com}}</ref> [[Léo Joannon]]'s film ''[[Fort du Fou]]'' (Fort of the Mad) /''Outpost in Indochina'' was released in 1963. Another film was ''[[The 317th Platoon]]'' (''La 317ème Section'') was released in 1964, it was directed by Indochina War (and siege of Dien Bien Phu) veteran [[Pierre Schoendoerffer]]. Schoendoerffer has since become a media specialist about the Indochina War and has focused his production on realistic war movies. He was cameraman for the army ("Cinematographic Service of the Armies", SCA) during his duty time; moreover, as he had covered the Vietnam War he released ''[[The Anderson Platoon]]'', which won the [[Academy Award for Documentary Feature]].
[[Graham Greene]]'s novel ''[[The Quiet American]]'' takes place during this war.

In 2011, Vietnamese software developer Emobi Games released a [[First-person shooter|first-person-shooter]] called ''[[7554]]''. Named after the date [[Calendar date#Gregorian, day–month–year (DMY)|07-05-54]] (7 May 1954) which marks the end of the decisive Battle of Dien Bien Phu, it commemorates the First Indochina War from the Vietnamese point of view.

The 2017 film by Olivier Lorelle, ''[[Ciel Rouge]]'', starring [[Cyril Descours]] and [[Audrey Giacomini]], is set during the early part of the First Indochina War.<ref name="dossier">Ciel Rouge - dossier de presse. Mille et une productions and Jour2Fête, 2017.</ref>

==See also==
{{div col}}
* [[Leaders of the First Indochina War]]
* [[Algerian War]]
* [[Vietnam War]]
* [[Mémorial des guerres en Indochine]]
{{div col end}}

== Notes ==
<references group="lower-alpha" />

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

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* {{Cite book |last=Tuchman |first=Barbara W. |author-link=Barbara W. Tuchman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hmdcGlG2mtwC |title=The march of folly: from Troy to Vietnam |publisher=[[Random House]] |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-345-30823-8 |access-date=2010-11-28 |via=Google Books}}
* {{Cite book |last=Tucker |first=Spencer C. |url=https://archive.org/details/vietnam00tuck/page/54/mode/2up |title=Vietnam |publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]] |year=1999 |isbn=0-8131-2121-3 |via=the Internet Archive}}
* {{Cite book |last=Tucker |first=Spencer C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qh5lffww-KsC |title=The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-85109-961-0 |author-mask=3 |via=Google Books}}
* {{Cite book |title=L'Armée française dans la guerre d'Indochine (1946–1954) |publisher=Editions Complexe |year=2000 |isbn=978-2-87027-810-9 |editor-last=Vaïsse |editor-first=Maurice |location=Paris |language=fr |trans-title=The French Army in the Indochina War (1946–1954)}}
* {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/rollingthunderin00wies |title=Rolling Thunder in a Gentle Land |publisher=Osprey |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-84603-020-8 |editor-last=Wiest |editor-first=Andrew |location=Oxford |url-access=registration |via=the Internet Archive}}
* {{Cite book |last=Windrow |first=Martin |author-link=Martin Windrow |title=The French Indochina War, 1946–1954 |publisher=Osprey |year=1998 |isbn=978-1-85532-789-4}}
* {{Cite book |last=Windrow |first=Martin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X8uMkhwysQQC |title=The Last Valley: A Political, Social, and Military History |publisher=Orion |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-85109-961-0 |author-mask=3 |via=Google Books}}
{{Refend}}

== Further reading ==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite journal |last=Goscha |first=Christopher |date=2012 |title=A 'Total War' of Decolonization? Social Mobilization and State-Building in Communist Vietnam (1949–54) |journal=War & Society |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=136–162 |doi=10.1179/0729247312Z.0000000007 |s2cid=154895681 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Guillemot |first=François |date=2012 |title='Be men!': Fighting and Dying for the State of Vietnam (1951–54) |journal=War & Society |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=184–210 |doi=10.1179/0729247312Z.0000000009 |s2cid=161301490}}
* {{Cite journal <!-- Deny Citation Bot-->|last=Vu |first=Tuong |date=2019 |title=In the Service of World Revolution: Vietnamese Communists' Radical Ambitions through the Three Indochina Wars |journal=Journal of Cold War Studies |volume=21|issue=4 |pages=4–30 |doi=10.1162/jcws_a_00905 }}
* {{cite book |editor-last1=Lawrence |editor-first1=Mark Atwood |editor-last2=Logevall |editor-first2=Fredrik |title=The First Vietnam War: Colonial Conflict and Cold War Crisis |date=2007 |publisher=Harvard University Press |url=https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674023925 |isbn=978-0-674-02392-5}}
* {{cite book |last1=McHale |first1=Shawn F. |title=The First Vietnam War: Violence, Sovereignty, and the Fracture of the South, 1945–1956 |date=2021 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/first-vietnam-war/DCA5AE26932900D327E977BFCC5374BA |isbn=978-1-108-93600-2}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent5.htm Pentagon Papers, Chapter 2] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806004651/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent5.htm |date=2011-08-06 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041214085949/http://home.att.net/~r.hodgeman/history1.html ''Vietnam: The Impossible War'']
* [[Bernard B. Fall|Fall, Bernard B]]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=GkHH8OoCTtAC&dq=%22Street+Without+Joy:+The+French+Debacle+In+Indochina%22&pg=PA1 ''Street Without Joy: The French Debacle In Indochina'']
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928021314/http://www.anapi.asso.fr/en_Historical-context_56.htm ANAPI's official website] (National Association of Former POWs in Indochina)
* [http://vietnam.vnagency.com.vn/VNP-Website/NewsEvent/Default.asp?ID=55&Event_ID=353&language=EN Hanoi upon the army's return in victory (bicycles demystified)] Viet Nam Portal
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20181011133420/http://www.ecpad.fr/tag/fonds-guerre-dindochine/ Photos about the First War of Indochina (French Defense Archives)] (ECPAD) {{in lang|fr}}
{{Clear}}
{{World War II}}
{{French Indochina}}
{{French colonial campaigns}}
{{Vietnamese independence movement}}
{{Vietnam in the 20th century}}
{{Cold War}}
{{Authority control}}

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