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.
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.1 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.2
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'.
