Satisfaction of declaring Vietnam's independence. Army officers stood at Ho's side in August 1945 as he basked in the short-lived Army's first encounters with Ho Chi Minh were brief and sympathetic.ĭuring World War II, Ho's anti-Japanese resistance fighters helped to rescueĭowned American pilots and furnished information on Japanese forces in Indochina. That frustrated the efforts of the French and resulted ultimately in their ouster Viet Minh-waged a political and military struggle for Vietnamese independence Led by Ho Chi Minh, a Communist-dominated revolutionary movement-the The Vietnam War was the legacy of France's failure to suppress nationalistįorces in Indochina as it struggled to restore its colonial dominion after World ARMY IN VIETNAM Extracted from Revised Edition of AMERICAN MILITARY HISTORY ARMY HISTORICAL SERIES UNITED STATES ARMY CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY