Britain’s Vietnam War - Operation Masterdom 1945 Join Chris Green (The History Chap) as he explores the story of Britain’s forgotten Vietnam War in 1945. Join my Membership Channel to get exclusive videos (& more) null Chapters 0:00 Operation Masterdom 4:23 Ho Chi Minh 8:00 Britain’s Vietnam War 10:12 Gate Force 12:30 Operation Masterdom ends 14:20 The History Chap #operationmasterdom1945 #militaryhistory #britishvietnamwar #vietnamwar Most of us have heard of the Vietnam War - the war that cost over 2 million lives, including 58,000 US servicemen. But one country, a traditional ally of the USA, was noticeable by its absence - the United Kingdom. Despite the urgings of President Johnson (who reportedly said that even “ a platoon of bagpipers would be sufficient”), the British, and in particular Prime Minister Harold Wilson, refused to budge. And so Britain avoided Vietnam…except that isn’t entirely true. In an often-forgotten footnote to the end of WW2 the British ended up in Vietnam fighting the Viet Minh and attempting to restore French imperial control. Even more bizarre, they were assisted by Japanese forces that had surrendered to them. At the end of World War 2, the British were given the task of disarming the Japanese in the French colony of Vietnam. Codenamed Operation Masterdom it had 3 objectives: To enforce the Japanese surrender and repatriate the 30,000+ Japanese military in Vietnam. To restore civil order until the French returned. To provide humanitarian assistance to allied Prisoners of War and internees. Operation Masterdom was led by Major-General Douglas Gracie who was in charge of 20,000 men from the British Indian army. Due to a diplomatic wrangle, the british were not allowed to enter Vietnam until US general, MacArthur had received the formal surrender of the Japanese Empire. This created a three-week power vacuum in Vietnam….and into that vacuum swept the Vietnamese nationalist forces, in particular the Communist Viet Minh, led by Ho Chi Minh. By the time Major-General Gracey arrived in Saigon the country was an administrative mess. Nominally a French colony but with no French troops or administration in place. A Japanese army that, following the surrender to MacArthur, didn’t formally exist but had yet to lay down their arms in this part of Asia And key positions and services in Saigon under the control of Ho Chi Minh’s communist Viet Minh, who regularly cut off the electricity supplies to the city. Within a month a full-scale war had erupted between the forces of the British Empire and the Vietnamese communists. Faced with this serious nationalist / communist insurrection, Gracey now enlisted the help of the Japanese soldiers, who were still stationed in Vietnam. The Viet Minh were in their infancy and up against highly disciplined and experienced British Indian soldiers - adept at jungle fighting - and well trained Japanese troops as well. By mid- October they had lost 307 of their number killed by the British and over 200 killed by the Japanese. Over the coming months the communists were pushed out of Saigon and into the surrounding jungles where they refused to engage with British troops. On the 28th January, Gracey felt that he could leave Vietnam safely in French hands, and by the end of March all British troops had left Vietnam. The British had deployed 26,000 men and 2,400 vehicles in Operation Masterdom. They had cleared Saigon and the surrounding areas of the Viet Minh killing 600 in the process for the loss of 40 British and Indians. Had they been given the resopurces or if there had been the political desire, maybe the British could have prevented the Vietnam War and history would have been very different. Follow me at: www.thehistorychap.com Instagram:https://bit.ly/3iySrAj Facebook:https://bit.ly/37IUfkH null Disclaimer: All opinions and comments expressed in the 'Comments' section do not reflect the opinions of Chris Green Communication Ltd t/a The History Chap. All opinions and comments should contribute to the dialogue. Chris Green Communication Ltd does not condone written attacks, insults, racism, sexism, extremism, violence or otherwise questionable comments or material in the 'Comments' section, and reserves the right to delete any comment violating this rule or to block any poster from the channel. Disclaimer: All opinions and comments expressed in the 'Comments' section do not reflect the opinions of Chris Green Communication Ltd t/a The History Chap. All opinions and comments should contribute to the dialogue. Chris Green Communication Ltd does not condone written attacks, insults, racism, sexism, extremism, violence or otherwise questionable comments or material in the 'Comments' section, and reserves the right to delete any comment violating this rule or to block any poster from the channel.