French Indochina: In March 1945, Japanese oust Vichy authorities in favor of Japanese administration. By war’s end, President Roosevelt, Secretary of State Hull, and General Stilwell warn Free French not to try to reassert French authority in light of the enfeebled French forces; the Viet Minh uprising that had begun in the late 1930s, and continuing friction with the Chinese Nationalist government. American advice was ignored.

In the above example, the front is shown. The reverse is at right. Mailed from Haiphong in the North to Saigon in the South on July 3, 1948. The Vichy Governor General stamp of 1944, printed in French Indochina, is shown together with a Third Republic issue of the 1930s.

Practically from the firm re-establishment of French rule in late September 1945, the French were faced with an increasingly widespread Viet Minh rebellion until the crushing defeat of French arms at Diem Bien Phu in 1954.

Cold War considerations, in the meantime, had shifted U.S. policy towards support of the French.

D. Use of VICHY, FREE FRENCH, THIRD REPUBLIC Issues after joining Free French