Who were the Viet Minh?
1 Answer
The Viet Minh were the armed group of Viet Nationalists and communists that was founded by Ho Chi Minh in 1941.
Explanation:
The Viet Minh did well in the World War 2 years as the situation French Indochina was truly weird. When Germany over ran France in 1941 the French government was retained in Vichy, an inland puppet state overseen by the German Occupation. Vichy retained control of the French colonies like French Indochina.
Japan had an Alliance with Germany and wanted the ports and airfields in French Indochina for their planned conquest of South East Asia. The Japanese retained the French Colonial Administration until 1944 when the Germans ended the Vichy Government. Japan interned the French Colonial troops in 1944 and established a Vietnamese puppet government under Bao Dai.
The Viet Minh successfully fought the French and the Japanese and were the most successful of the Vietnamese Nationalist movements during the War. They received US support late in the war and by War's end in 1945 they were present, armed and active throughout Vietnam.
British troops liberated French Indochina and, as the French in Indochina were in no shape to fight anyone, the British began the process of re-colonizing the area by pushing the Viet Minh out of the Saigon area. The British also used Japanese troops to defend some areas as they were short handed.
The Viet Minh defeated the French in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu. When the American War started in 1955 the Viet Minh in the south became the Viet Cong.
