The First Indochina War (generally referred to as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina on 19 December 1946 and lasted until 20 July 1954 as a conflict between the nationalist-communist People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN, led by Võ Nguyên Giáp) and the Việt Minh (led by Hồ Chí Minh) and the Far East Expeditionary Corps of the French colonial Empire supported by Emperor Bảo Đại’s Vietnamese National Army. However, fighting between the two sides in the south of Vietnam dated back to September 1945. Most of the fighting took place in Tonkin in northern Vietnam, although the conflict engulfed the entire country and also extended into the neighboring French Indochina protectorates of Laos and Cambodia.
