Japanese coup d'état in French Indochina

Second Campaign of French Indochina
Part of the South-East Asian theatre of World War II
Date March 9 – May 2 1945 Location French Indochina Result Japanese victory Creation of the independent Empire of Vietnam
Belligerents
Empire of Japan	Vichy France French Indochina
Strength
unknown	55,000
Casualties and losses
unknown	2,129 Europeans killed (military & civil)

The Second French Indochina Campaign also known as the Japanese coup of March 1945, was a Japanese military operation in all Vietnam, then a French colony. It resulted in the creation of the Empire of Vietnam replacing the Vichy French administration.

The campaign

In early March, Japanese forces were redeployed around many of the main French garrison towns, and on March 9, 1945, the Japanese delivered without warning an ultimatum for the disarmament of French troops. Those that refused were immediately attacked and in most cases massacred. In Saigon the two senior Vichy officials, General Emile-René Lemonnier and Resident Auphalle, were executed by decapitation. The French upcountry garrisons fared better, however, and, under the leadership of Major-General Marcel-Jean-Marie Alessandri, a column of 5,700 French troops fought its way through to Nationalist China.

Vietnam was not a colony at this time. The area known as Cochinchina was a colony proper. However, the regions of Annam and Tonkin were French 'protectorates'.

See also

• First French Indochina Campaign

Media links

• Conflict in Indochina, French newsreels archives (Les Actualités Mondiales), January 15, 1941

External links

• The 9th March 1945 onslaught (3-part dossier)
• Template:Fr Japanese intervention of 1945, Dr. Jean-Philippe Liardet