Topic summary
War in southern Vietnam (1945–1946)
Japanese Surrendered Personnels
Hòa Hảo
Cao Đài
Đại Việt Nationalist Party
Trotskyists
Douglas Gracey
Philippe Leclerc
Hồ Chí MinhVõ Nguyên Giáp
Trường ChinhNguyễn BìnhLê Duẩn
Dương Văn Dương†Lê Văn ViễnHuỳnh Phú SổPhạm Công TắcNguyễn Tôn HoànTạ Thu ThâuPhan Văn HùmUnknown number of Cao Đài and VNQDD forces
Some 2,500 Bình Xuyên forces
40 dead "Slightly higher than British casualties"(600 by British forces, the rest by French and Japanese)
The 1945–1946 War in Southern Vietnam, codenamed Operation Masterdom by the British, and also known as the Southern Resistance War (Vietnamese: Nam Bộ kháng chiến) by the Vietnamese, was an armed conflict in Vietnam south of the 16th parallel during which British-Indian and French forces fought to suppress Vietnamese independence movements, which included non-communistnationalists, Trotskyists, and the Stalinist-front Viet Minh, to take control of the southern half of the country. It began shortly after the end of World War II, specifically the unconditional surrender of Japan.
Starting in Saigon on 23 September, the British began facilitating the return of the French to the half of Indochina south of the 16th parallel. Almost all Vietnamese opposed the French return in August 1945, but the Viet Minh's killings of non-communist opponents eventually pushed some groups to join the French in fighting against the Viet Minh. By March 1946, British–French forces had defeated the Vietnamese resistance, allowing the French to reassert control over southern Vietnam. Later, failed negotiations and rising tensions in the north escalated into the full-scale First Indochina War.