The Opening Rounds: 1945

By 1945 the war was over.  In the Far East lay that great stronghold of British military might, India. It had formed the buffer zone against which the Japanese advance had at last collapsed and the springboard from which Burma had been rewon. It had also dispatched the expedition that had regained Malaya, without a fight as it turned out, and enabled Admiral Mountbatten, to accept the surrender of the Japanese at Singapore on September the 12th 1945. Meanwhile, the Royal Navy had reclaimed Hong Kong with the aid of RM Commandos and an Australian force reclaimed North Borneo. The final act was the occupation of Japan, for which a Commonwealth Division was created consisting of a British, Indian, and Australian Brigade that was formed in March 1946.

The British representative was the 5th Infantry Brigade, made up of the 2nd Royal Welsh Fusiliers, the 2nd Dorsets, and the 1st Queens Own Cameron Highlanders. There were problems enough in the reoccupation of British territories after all the humiliations and tribulations inflicted by the Japanese. Even thornier problems, (providing a foretaste of the fever with which a whole generation of British Soldiers would have to cope), were en-countered in the tasks of reoccupation that Britain undertook for other countries. Only in Siam did the troops receive a warm welcome and restore a regime without violence.

In Indochina on the 2nd of September 1945 Ho Chi Minh, the leader of the Viet Minh, marched into the northern city of Hanoi and declared the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. He used some of America’s declaration of independence in part of his speech. Ho Chi Minh's guerrillas had been fighting the Japanese in Indochina for the last two years. They had been trained and armed by the American OSS.

Indochina had been a French colony since 1893 and now that the war was over, France was in a hurry to reclaim her former colony. Because no large numbers of French troops were available in the Far East, it had been decided at the July Potsdam conference to reoccupy Indochina China with Nationalist Chinese in the North and British troops South of the 16th parallel. Nationalist Chinese soldiers soon marched in Hanoi, but seemed in no hurry to break up Ho Chi Minh’s new government. This led most Vietnamese to presume the French would not be returning.

The first British troops landed by air in Saigon on the 8th of September 1945. These troops were the spearhead of Major General DD Gracey's 20th Indian Division. By October all three brigades of the Division had arrived in South Vietnam. The Divisions main job was to disarm the 70,000 Japanese troops in Indochina and maintain law and order until the French arrived in large numbers. Gracey's troops faced a very tense situation as the Vietnamese made it very clear that they had no wish to return to colonial rule. In many areas South of the 16th parallel attacks took place on individuals, troop convoys and military installations. General Gracey quickly realized that he could not control all of South Vietnam with just one brigade (the other two brigades of the 20th Indian Division did not arrive until October) He there for concentrated all his forces in and around the Saigon area.
 

Gracey made it clear that he would not stand for any trouble. He issued directives prohibiting demonstrations, meetings and the carrying of weapons as well as imposing a rigorous curfew. Any one disobeying these orders was to be shot. Although these harsh measures where put into place, trouble still continued throughout September with attacks on radio stations, power plants and water supplies. Because he only had one brigade of troops to control such a large area, Gracey had no alliterative but rearm some Japanese units to help put a end to the violence.

During the first half of October the French forces started to arrive under the command of General Leclerc, the liberator of Paris. Not until December were the French established in sufficient strength to assume some control. By February 1946, the French had arrived in enough force to allow the 20th Indian Division to depart Indochina.  In April 1946 the rearguard of the British Force withdrew, having had a total of 50 casualties. Only Indian Troops were engaged here, partly for admin purposes, and partly because all the British battalions were emaciated by repatriation scheme that removed the seasoned elements in a single swoop.

James Robinson