Although it was a relatively small organization at the outset, the Viet Minh were led by a well-organized and highly disciplined core of Moscow-trained agit-props among whom were Ho Chi Minh and Tran Van Giau. They were the agents who had expertise in executing political maneuver in almost all instances. The Viet Minh fought with vigilance and all means to an end for their cause. In the fight for power, they usually played an upper hand over the Nationalists, and thus their success swept to victory in the August uprisings of 1945. Practically, they outfoxed their Nationalist opponents with well-defined objectives and well-thought strategies.
Communism was unknown to common people in the 1950’s; the Communist-led Viet Minh were therefore not popular. Nationalist leaders of revolutionary parties, however, had clear and thorough thought about communism, and Communist practices. The fact caused great disadvantage to the Viet Minh and thus construed the reason for which the Nationalists became the danger to the existence of the Viet Minh. As a matter of fact, they were targeted with elimination. Ideologically, communism and nationalism, are like water and fire. Thus, the Communist-Nationalist confrontation during the August uprisings and the years that followed had increasingly intensified with bitterness and complexity. Both sides had been ever since entangled in an incessant internal war of attrition with hatred and violence.
Tactically, to mask the true face of Viet Minh. Ho Chi Minh and his comrades had, at first, to disguise themselves as Nationalists. They kept their identity a secret. They often camouflaged their activities under a hidden scheme. They acted as patriots with nationalistic zeal and patriotic fervor. It is no wonder until the end of the Vietnam War (1955-1975), quite a few people still believed that Ho Chi Minh was truly a patriotic Nationalist-- Nguyen Ai Quoc, Nguyen, the Patriot. (A member of the Third International, Ho Chi Minh had used as many as 50 secret names!)
The Viet Minh were notorious in propaganda to win popular support. Low-level Viet Minh cadres usually repeated what their superior had said without thinking about what it meant to draw people to their side. They were commonly called by the nick name "V(E)M," an allusion to V(E)T, a parrot. Nevertheless, superior cadres were clever and cunning. To their political opponents, they temporarily backed off and make concessions when necessary to achieve their purpose some time later. Using tactics of this kind in their fight for power during the August uprisings of 1945, they carried out defined strategies, well-set programs, and well-thought methods. Best of all, they cleverly exploited all their advantages to eliminate opponents and swept away their opponents to win final victory.
Upon his abdication and transfer of power to the Ho Chi Minh government in August 30, 1945, Emperor Bao Dai declared that he himself and the royal family were ready for any sacrifice and their sacrifice should be useful to the people. He requested the new government to take care of the royal temples and tombs, to deal fraternally with all parties, to give them the opportunity to participate in the national reconstruction, and to demonstrate that the new regime would be built on the absolute union of the entire people. Contrary to his wishes, chaos ensued, and terror began to expand.
Even before the Nationalist-Communist conflict intensified, the Viet Minh felt perfectly justified in their role as the executioners for social justice; they considered themselves the liberators of the people. They practiced monopoly power and liquidated political opponents. In Saigon, the prominent intellectual Phan Van Hum was murdered at Thu Duc District, Gia Dinh Province. The leader of the Dang Lap Hien (Constitutional’ Party) Bui Quang Chieu was abducted and executed at Hon Da Bac, Rach Gia Province. In Hue, the Prime Minister of the Royal Cabinet Pham Quynh, the Governor Ngo Dinh Khoi and his son, Ngo Dinh Huan, being accused on ungrounded charges of treason, were executed clandestinely. In Hanoi, Truong Tu Anh, the leader of the Dai Viet, was assassinated. Ly Dong A, the First Secretary of the Duy Dan Dang (The Party for the People), escaped death but disappeared. The former Prime Minister Tran Trong Kim, targeted with suspicion, sought refuge overseas. Emperor Bao Dai imposed himself self-exile in Hong Kong, and Empress Nam Phuong and the royal family, under the patronage of the Redemptorists in Saigon, evaded Hue and took refuge in Paris.
THE VIET MINH ELIMINATION OF THE NATIONAL RESISTANCE FORCES IN THE SOUTH
After the coup d’etat of March 9, 1945, the Japanese authorities in the Indochina intended to transfer power to Cao Dai political leaders. However, being committed to their religious faith, they declined. His Excellency General Tran Quang Vinh, a prominent political and military leader, in a meeting at the Holy Site, explained to a group of Cao Dai youths that their role as patriots had been played, that political power should be transferred to Emperor Bao Dai, and that the emperor would then choose politicians to govern the country and the people of Vietnam would decide what political regime Vietnam would adopt. Cao Dai believers should perform their duties as citizens and attend to their faith (Van Chuong, September 1991)
Two atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. On August 14, spiritual and political leaders in the South among whom were Ho Van Nga, the Prophet of Hoa Hao Buddhism Huynh Phu So, Nguyen Van Sam, and Tran Van Thach formed the Mat Tran Quoc Gia Thong Nhat (United National Front). On August 15, Japan surrendered to the Allies. In Saigon, the Japanese authorities transferred power to the Hoi Dong Nam Ky (Council of Administration of Cochinchina) with Tran Van An as the chairman. Ho Van Nga was assigned as the Vice-viceroy of Cochinchina while awaiting the Viceroy Nguyen Van Sam who was on the way from Hue to Saigon.
Tran Van Giau’s Chicanery
Hanoi sent Tran Van Giau, a Viet Minh politics commissioner, and Nguyen Binh, a veteran member of Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang, to the South to seize power Aware of the overwhelming political and military strength that would destroy their control of power. Tran and Nguyen sought support beside the Nationalist spiritual and political leaders. At the Cao Dai Headquarters of Militiamen, Tran and Nguyen earnestly preached national unity and solidarity. With mere rhetoric, they were successful in convincing the Nationalists to cede power to them, dissolving their four military divisions under their command. Militiamen were to go back to their native villages and join local national resistance units. Only two companies were retained.
General Tran Quang Vinh of Cao Dai resigned from office. The command of the two military detachments was passed to His Excellency Nguyen Van Chu. On his way back to the Cao Dai Holy Site, the general was arrested at Cho Dem, Duc Hoa District, Long An Province, on the order of Huymh Van Tien, the then Director of Police in the South. He was abducted to the Viet Minh Headquarters in Dong Thap and then to Ca Mau guerrilla zone where he was to be executed. By miraculous chance, he was saved there by Nguyen Van No, an old militiaman under his command, who was a lead-serviceman of the local Viet Minh troops (Van Chuong, September, 1991).
The Viet Minh’s creation of the Uy Ban Hanh Chanh Lam Thoi (Privy Council of Administration) on their own initiatives aroused deep resentment among leaders of the political and revolutionary circles. The members in this council consisted only of Communists or pro-Communists, which fact presented an act of presumptuousness to spiritual leaders, much to the indignation of the Nationalist leaders and non-Communis figures. Worse still, they executed outright plans to eliminate the Nationalists, even the sympathizers with them. Ho Van Nga and many members of the Viet Nam Doc Lap Dang were among them. Faced with vile trick played on them by the Viet Minh, the Nationalists reacted with vehemence. In the conference of September 7, 1945, spiritual figures, leaders of national parties, and members of the Fourth International strongly blasted Tran Van Giau and the Viet Minh for their act of superiority and monopoly of power. The Viet Minh backed off but did not compromise.
As the conflict persisted, the tension built. On September 8. at Can Tho, the Hoa Hao organized a demonstration to protest against the Viet Minh in support for the United National Front. The following day, the Viet Minh reacted with violence. A huge meeting was proceeded with plan of actions at the Can Tho City Hall. The Hoa Hao were charged with carrying out the dark scheme to overthrow the people’s administration and take it by force.
The retaliation was brutal. The Viet Minh launched a string of search-through operations throughout Can Tho to arrest Hoa Hao leaders and cadres. The city prison was crammed full of Hoa Hao dignitaries and adepts. Within hours, the organizers of the demonstration among whom were Huynh Thanh Mau, the younger brother of the founder of Hoa Hao Buddhism, Tran Van Hoanh, the eldest son of General Tran Van Soai, and Nguyen Xuan Thiep, the Hoa Hao representative who was about to go to Hanoi for negotiation with the central government. They were all executed at the Can Tho soccer field a month later, on October 7, 1945.
In Saigon, Tran Van Giau, on September 9, had his men surrounded the headquarters of Viet Nam Van Dong Hoi (Vietnam Alliance for Independence) on Miche Street where the Prophet Hyunh Phu So was in residence. On September 13, Viet Minh police led by Ly Hue Vinh hunted down prominent leaders of the Front, Vu Tam Anh, Ho Van Nga, Tran Quang Vinh, Luong Trong Tuong. Tran Van Giau gave Le Van Vien a black list comprising the names of hundreds of intellectuals to be executed. This Binh Xuyen leader nevertheless did not execute the order, convincing himself that if all these intellectuals got killed there would be no one left to reconstruct the nation. In this first wave of terrorism, the Viet Minh abducted and killed many prestigious Nationalists.
The Resistance
In addition to threats and violence from the Viet Minh, the Nationalists got entangled in a series of unforeseen events and problematic issues. On September 13, 1945, British General Douglas Gracey who executed the decision of the Allies at the Postdam Conference in September 1945 came to Saigon to disarm the defeated Japanese troops. On September 16, the French troops landed on Saigon. On September 18, Tran Van Giau was denied the recognizance as the legitimate representative of the Vietnamese administration by .the Allies. General Gracey agreed to create a Vietnamese Foreign Affairs Committee that served as a liaison team beside the Allies, instead. Tran Van Thach, Ho Van Phuong, and Nguyen Thi Suong were assigned to the task. All of them were not -Viet Minh.
In reality, beginning in mid-September, Saigon was in flames. The resistance war began. The Viet Minh’s potential human and material resources in Saigon were thin; they had almost nothing. The combined military forces under the command of spiritual and political leaders, by contrast, were imminently strong. The militia with the reinforcements from popular groups raised blockade in and around Saigon. Resistance fighters held key positions in the city. In the early morning of September 14, the militia prepared to fight. Everywhere, mostly in the poor residential quarters and suburban areas, Ban Co, Khanh Hoi, Cau Kho, Tan Dinh, and Thi Nghe trees were felled and furniture were thrown out on the street, raising a barrage to obstruct the advance of French troopers. The gas storage at Nha Be was set afire. The popular resistance fighters of national parties were in control of Cho Lon, Saigon China Town; the Binh Xuyen, along the Ben Nghe Canal to Saigon River; the Cao Dai Forces, on the routes to Tan Son Nhat Airport and Tay Ninh Province. the resistance force under the direction of To Ky; and the Viet Minh troops commanded by Hoang Quoc Viet, in the north of the city, Tan Dinh, and Thi Nghe.
On September 21, with General Gracey’s approval, Colonel Cedille, the France Commissioner, took command of the French troops. Vested with the military authority, the colonel declared, in a public notice, he would execute all troublemakers and banned the circulation of the local press. On September 22, General Gracey freed all French soldiers and nationals detained by the Japanese from prison and equipped them with arms, allegedly for self-defense. On September 23, the French Troops launched attacks on and seized Saigon City Hall and the main public administrative agencies, departments, services, and offices. French infantry troops conducted a thorough house search operation to look for weapons and ammunitions storage in the center of the city and the city port.
On September 23, 1945, facing the French infantry troops’ repression, the militia with coarse weapons valiantly stood up and pledged to fight. Tran Van Giau and the Communist members in the Privy Council of Administration of the South had already taken refuge in the secured zone of Cho Dem, Long An area, south of Saigon. Pham Van Bach and his colleagues of the new Viet Minh Administration, on their turn, retreated to the secure zone. The resistance leaders were put into a crisis situation. On September 27, they met and formed the National Government to reorganize the Resistance. On the other side, the French were also in a dilemma. They wanted a cease-fire. Upon agreement of spiritual and national party leaders, on September 30, negotiations for a truce between French Colonel Repito Preneuf and Pham Van Bach, chairman of the new Privy Council, took place. A cease-fire was taken into effect. The militia forces were reorganized and regained control at several key positions. Taking advantage of the situation, the Viet Minh secretly searched for and seized political opponents. Among the victims were also the lawyer Duong Van Giao, Ho Van Nga, Dr. Ho Vinh Ky and his wife, Dr. Nguyen Thi Suong, Le Kim Ty, Lam Ngoc Duong, Truong Lap Tao, and many members of the Fourth International in the South.
Worthy of noting is the case of Ho Van Nga, the chairman of the Viet Nam Quoc Gia Doc Lap Dang (Vietnam National Independence Party). A sympathizer with the Viet Minh, Ho Van Nga had many times praised Tran Van Giau as"the one who was ready to serve the country" He was nevertheless arrested along with the members of the Resistance Committee for the Blockade of Saigon, Kha Vang Can, Nguyen Van Sam, and Tran Van An. He and other leaders, Vu Tam Anh, Nguyen Thanh Phuong (Cao Dai), and Tran Quang Vinh (Cao Dai) were detained in the same prison. The latter inmates evaded the prison out of a plot meditated by Nguyen Thanh Phuong. Ho Van Nga stayed.
The Viet Minh security police came to arrest Ho Van Nga while he was on sleep. He was imprisoned without intervention from his best friend, Tran Van Giau. Nearly half a year later, in 1946, Ho Van Nga was transferred to Rach Gia for execution. He was stabbed to death at Kim Quy Hon Da Bac. And, his body was released into the river without leaving a trace. Until his death, Ho Van Nga still believed Tran Van Giau would never cause him harm.
Members of the Fourth International, Phan Van Chanh, Nguyen Van So, Phan Van Hoa, Tran Van Si, Nguyen Van Soai, and Nguyen Van Tien were abducted and killed. They were buried alive at the Long Tao River, Binh Thuan Province. Ta Thu Thau, the leader of the group, was arrested, jailed, and executed at Tu Nghia District, Quang Ngai Province when he was on his way home in the South from Hanoi. He was presumably executed on the order of Tran Van Giau. Ta Thu Thau had treated Tran like his student while Tran was in Saigon and took care of him during his stay in France.
Operations to Eradicate Traitors
Trinh Hung Ngau recounted in his memoirs "To the Present and Future Generations," July 13, 1946, that Tran Van Giau disclosed to him Tran had ordered his men to execute approximately 2,500 national party cadres in the several months the Viet Minh were in power in the South in 1945. To execute their plan, the Viet Minh security police spread the rumor that the operation was targeted at the traitors. The vile scheme was aimed to blind the people and deviate public opinion from the truth. The hunt for traitors was carried out with arrests, abductions, and executions on false charges. The victim was difficult to escape death. A notice published on the Viet Minh press on September 8, 1945, specified that the administration was in the process of instituting an investigating commission whose aims were to examine into and denounce the crimes of the gang of traitors. The traitors would be brought to the People’s Court. They would be punished. Their properties and lands would be expropriated and given to poor people.
A Clean Pair of Heels
While the militia were fighting hard against the invaders in Saigon and the surrounding areas, Tran Van Giau and members of the Privy Council fled without a word to Cambodia. A People’s Council of Administration was created and led by Pham Ngoc Thach. The new organ, on its turn, moved to the rear area in Cho Dem, Long An Province. The purpose of the move was destined not to prepare for the resistance but to negotiate with the French for the sake of convenience, to deal with the enemy under favorable conditions. However, the negotiations lasted only 10 days and came to no result. The war spread. The People’s Council chose not to confront the enemy. They quietly retreated to Hau Giang (Bassac River plain). Some members in it evaded to Thailand, and Pham Ngoc Thach and the others, to Hanoi. Nguyen Binh was in full command of the Viet Minh troops.
In Saigon and elsewhere in the adjoining areas, the militia, and not the Viet Minh, sacrificed themselves for national cause. They used all kinds of weapons they had in hand to fight against the invaders. Subdued in face of a mighty military force, they were fast disbanded. The French Expeditionary Corps seized Thu Dau Mot, Bien Hoa, and My Tho, on October 25, Vinh Long, October 2, Can Tho, October 30, and Ca Mau, February 2, 1946.
In February 1946, the Viet Minh administration in Hanoi vested Nguyen Binh with full authority to reorganize the resistance.. Following his predecessors’ political practices, Nguyen wooed the resistance leaders to join the Viet Minh. Having experienced the malicious tricks of the Viet Minh in the past, they declined. Many expressed worries about Nguyen’s scheme. Le Van Vien, the leader of the Binh Xuyen forces, who had worked under the command of Nguyen Binh in Guerrilla zone 7 --Saigon and the adjoining areas--, had doubts about Nguyen’s thought and act. Le Van Vien left the guerrilla zone, returned to Saigon, and cooperated with the French to fight against the Viet Minh. Cao Dai and Hoa Hao military commanders, being aware of the use of tricky language that was common to the Communist-led Viet Minh were on their guard against this opportunist and broke relations with him.
A Term for Reconciliation
On March 6, 1946, the Viet Minh administration in Hanoi and the French compromised on a momus vivendi. The Viet Minh regained the commanding position. The Viet Minh in the South, this time, tried to win support of free-floating elements of Cao Dai and Hoa Hao, and political parties. Nguyen Van Thanh of Cao Dai, as a case in point, was lured into the maze. Quite a few religious dignitaries and Nationalists resisted. The conduct of bad faith of the Viet Minh made them examine into the past experiences They could not cooperate with the Viet Minh again as a result of their dishonesty. Having had distrust of the Viet Minh’s conduct, the Nationalists worked hard towards winning back their commanding position, neutralizing the Viet Minh’s monopoly of power. However, for national cause, they expressed their spirit of reconciliation by creating a National Front in which members of the two camps, the Nationalist and Communists, could represent and work to settle dispute. Only in this way could they unite themselves in the resistance against the French.
On April 2, 1946, leaders of Hoa Hao, Cao Dai, Roman Catholicism, Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang, Viet Nam Doc Lap Quoc Gia Dang, Binh Xuyen, military commanders of the resistance forces and representatives of the Viet Minh met in a conference at Ba Queo, Cho Lon. On April 20, representatives of both sides elected leaders to the Supreme Commission for the Resistance. The Prophet Huynh Phu So of Hoa Hao was elected chairman; Vu Tam Anh (Resistance Militia), vice-chairman; Mai Tho Tran, (Communist) secretary; Le Trung Nghia (Resistance Forces), member in charge of propaganda; Huynh Van Tri (Binh Xuyen), member in charge of the military affairs. Elected as advisors were Pham Thieu (Communist), Pham Huu Duc (Communist), and Tran Van Lam (Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang).
The creation of the Front posed serious problems to the French. French neocolonialism was at stake. With millions of supporters and militiamen under its leadership, the Front could resist the French troops with force and reverse the situation. Being aware of this, the French changed their strategy, spearheading against the Front’s militia instead of focusing on eliminating the Viet Minh troops. In Saigon, French security police opened strings of search-through operations. Police checkpoints were posited at crossroads to arrest suspects. Liaison teams of the Front were fast disbanded. More than 150 members of the Front were arrested, among whom were the key leaders, Nguyen Trung Chanh and Nguyen Thanh Tan. French troops, at the same time, launched alternative attacks on the guerrilla bases at Ba Queo, Tho Dia, and Binh Hoa. Unable to resist, the Front militia were forced retreat to the Vietnamo-Cambodian borders. Those units that stayed had to operate their activities underground.
Seizing the opportunity, the Viet Minh, as always, accelerated their secret plan of actions, neutralizing the Front politically. They created the Hoi Lien Hiep Quoc Dan Viet Nam (The People’s Associations of Vienam) abbreviated as Lien Viet to replace the Front. Nguyen Binh and Pham Thieu, the key representatives of the Viet Minh in the Front, withdrew their representation. They broke relations with the Nationalists. Worse still, in the name of the Viet Minh administration in the South, they dissolved the Front. Successive political events with the expense of the Nationalists ensued. On February 26, 1946, France and China signed an agreement by which France returned to China Canton, the concession it had occupied in exchange of China’s agreement to let the French Expeditionary Corps land on the seaport of Haiphong, North Vietnam. In addition, on April 1, the French Expeditionary Corps replaced on agreement terms the Chinese Koumintang troops to assume the legitimate role of an Ally Army in North Vietnam.
In the South, the Viet Minh regained the commanding position, playing an upper hand over the Nationalists .In the North, Ho Chi Minh made volte face, eliminating the Nationalist leaders and destroying their organizations. Repression of the cadres and members of opposing parties was in full swing. In the South, the situation became exceedingly complicated. On March 26, the French authorities nominated Dr. Nguyen Van Thinh as the Prime Minister of the Nam Ky Tu Tri (Self-governed Administration of Cochinchina). Faced with the oppression of the French, on one side, and the repression of the Viet Minh, on the other, the leadership of the Front decided to withdraw its military forces from the guerrilla zones. They returned to Saigon where they believed they could confront the French, reactivating the resistance clandestinely.
The most active resistance force operating in Saigon composed largely of devout members of Cao Dai and Hoa Hao. although a number of it still served under the command of Nguyen Binh in accordance with the terms upon which the Front and the Viet Minh had agreed. Because of this, the resistance force fought in a difficult situation. Having had clear and thorough knowledge of the Nationalists’ new strategy, the French tightened control on the Front’s activities. Operations of terrorism were activated. Members of the Cao Dai, Hoa Hao, and other elements having ties with the resistance were arrested and jailed. To their disadvantage, the Front lacked a rear area where it could find human and material resources. Finally, the Front leaders had, again, to change strategy, to withdraw its forces to Tay Ninh in the west, where the Cao Dai enjoyed great popular support, and Hau Giang (Bassac River plains) where the Hoa Hao had a solid army of militiamen and a rear area abound in human resources and fertile lands.
In a concerted effort to prevent the French’s recrudescence of colonialism and the Viet Minh’s hostile practices against them, Nationalist personalities among whom were Nguyen Van Sam, Tran Van An, Nguyen Bao Toan, Le Van Thu, Lam Van Tet, and Dang Van Ky, called for the creation of a union. They urged on leaders and personalities who had disassociated themselves from the French to join in it to fight against both the French invaders and deal with the Viet Minh aggressors.
On February 27, 1947, the Mat Tran Quoc Gia Thong Nhat Toan Quoc (Pan-Vietnam National Union) was created in Nannin, China. In the South of Vietnam, the conflict between the Viet Minh and the Nationalists was at its height. In the western provinces, clashes between the military forces of the two sides happened anywhere and at anytime. At the beginning of April 1947, the military forces of Cao Dai, Hoa Hao, Dai Viet, Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang and Binh Xuyen occupied Dong Thap Muoi (Plains of Rush), transforming it into a guerrilla zone. On their move, the militia were caught under crossfire by roadside ambushes of the Viet Minh and under raid on inland waterways by French air-force.
To ease the tension that generated constant bloodshed, the Viet Minh and the Nationalists agreed to negotiate on a dialog of reconciliation. The Prophet Huynh Phu So was prearranged to meet with the representatives of the Viet Minh at Tan Phu, Dong Thap Muoi. On the night of April 16, 1947, when approaching the rendez-vous, the founder of Hoa Hao was all of a sudden entrapped in an ambush. He was abducted to unknown whereabouts and disappeared thereafter. Assassinations of key leaders of the Union by the Viet Minh resurfaced. Dr. Tran Van Tan was assassinated in Gia Dinh, in November 1947. Bloody clashes between the Viet Minh and the Nationalist resumed.
Thousands of Hoa Hao Buddhists were abducted and killed. Along the boundaries of the Phu Thuan and Long Thanh villages were found three collective graveyards at each of which more than 200 Hoa Hao Buddhists had been executed on vengeance by the Viet Minh. They were stabbed, hand-tied and eye-folded, then dumped into the ditches. Passers-by, two or three days later, still heard the groaning and moaning of the dying. They were only half-buried! The victims were portrayed as bloodthirsty bandits and killers. A temple was built in dedication to the martyrs. After the fall of South Vietnam in April 1975, the local Communist authorities destroyed the worship-place. Tran Kieu, who was the secretary of General Tran Van Soai of Hoa Hao, kept full documents of more than 11,000 martyrs who were killed before and after the Tay An Co Tu (Tay An Old Temple) massacre on April 16, 1947. (Interview with Hong Van Hoanh, April 1992)
The Cao Dai Church suffered similar tragedy. Following the days of the August uprisings in 1945, the Viet Minh in Quang Ngai massacred as many as 4,000 Cao Dai followers. Hundreds of them were buried alive in collective graves along the bank of Ve River and at the foot of Ve Bridge. Witnesses reported a total of about 6,000 Cao Dai followers being executed in the Cu Chi and Trang Bang areas, east of the Tay Ninh Township. Collective graves with thousands of remains of the victims killed by the Viet Minh were found in the Tra Cao area, Tay Ninh Province. (Vo Dinh Tan, December 1991).
Witnesses in Tay Ninh related that on the eve of the Lunar New Year’s Day of Dinh Hoi (1947), the Viet Minh burned down all the houses and killed an uncounted number of innocent Cao Dai followers of the 50 hamlets in the Long Thanh area. The tragedy took place when the Viet Minh troops were on their way of retreat to San Cu Bau De Mountains after they failed to make attack on the Tay Ninh Holy See. The massacre still imprints on the memory of the survivors with the slaughter of Nguyen Van Dien, Thi Van Loc, Do Hoang Gian, and his wife and their two children. After they had executed Nguyen Van Dien, the murderers searched through his body. They found only some pieces of precious metal. Angrily, they threw the body into a ditch nearby. With a machete, they cut off Do’s and his wife’s head. Angered by loud cries, they threw Do’s 4- and 2-years children into the burning flames. Thi van Loc was found lying disemboweled in a forest nearby several days later (Vo Ha Quyen, 1985:11-12)
"The love for life and faith in Goodness," the Reverend Le Van Mang of Cao Dai contended, "are manifest in the Cao Dai Writ and the Holy Messages from the Supreme Cao Dai. Cao Dai followers are brothers and sisters to themselves and members of the same family to others. We preach peace for everyone, for the Viet Minh. During the Idochina War (1946-1954), His Holiness Pham Cong Tac and Cao Dai dignitaries saved hundreds of thousand Communist cadres and followers from persecution by the French. By that time, there was no clear indication as to whether the Viet Minh were the believers of bad faith. Atheism pervaded, and the devils were victorious. Only Ho Chi Minh himself knew he was a Communist. His goal was to transform Vietnam into a Communist country. Anyone who disagreed with him was anti-Viet Minh. As a consequence, he was reactionary and put to death. Cao Dai believers were a target for elimination. No one really knows how many brothers and sisters of ours were abducted and killed. In the archives on file prepared for the canonization of Cao Dai believers who died for their faith during the first years of the resistance war, we have a list of 1,271 martyrs.
Millions of Cao Dai followers lived under threat. To protect the lives of Cao Dai adepts and fellow countrymen who only had their bare hands to resist the atrocious Viet Minh, his Excellency Tran Quang Vinh, with the approval from His Holiness Pham Cong Tac, signed an agreement with the French authorities in the South. The terms served a twofold purpose. One, they would help the innocent from being arrested without a reason during a French military operation. Two, they gave ordinary people an instrument for self-defense by means of which they could fight against both the Viet Minh aggressors and the French invaders. It was not an easy task to do, however. The French authorities had doubts as to whether Cao Dai believers were loyal to them because they themselves were patriotic and revolutionary. Because of this, for twenty militiamen, only one was equipped with a rifle. In Long An Province, several thousand men had only one rifle. However, with determination, Cao Dai followers stood firm. (Van Chuong, September, 1991)
Having suffered tragic losses inflicted on them by the French troops’ attacks and the Viet Minh’s repression, the two largest Nationalist military forces, Cao Dai and Hoa Hao, were forced to fight on the defensive and guerrilla warfare tactics. The groups of militiamen under the command of Trinh Minh. the military groups under the leadership of Le Quang Vinh, and the militiamen under the direction of Nguyen Giac Ngo retreated to their guerrilla zones. Trinh Minh The and his fellow fighters occupied the That Son Mountains, Le Quang Vinh and his warriors operated their military activities in the swampy U Minh areas, and Nguyen Giac Ngo and his fighters, to marshy areas in the Bassac River plains. These leaders pledged to fight against the French invaders and the Communist Viet Minh aggressors. Other groups returned to the French-occupied zones and risked their lives to operate their clandestine activities.
