The National Salvation Cultural Association (Hiệp hội văn hóa cứu quốc) was formed in 1943 under the influence of Indochina Communist Party (ICP) cadres looking to recruit support for the Việt Minh among urban intellectuals. Cadres were tasked with insinuating anti-French and anti-Japanese propaganda into legally published newspapers and journals. In April 1945, military troops under the direction of the National Salvation Culturel Association merged with the Vietnam People’s Propaganda Unit for National Liberation to become the Liberation Army of Vietnam, the precursor to the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN).
(Keat Gin Ooi, Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, 2004, ABC-CLIO, California)