Cuong De, the Vietnamese monarchy, and Japanese support in Vietnam.

After the lengthy discussions I've been having in my "Photos From Indochina" thread, I thought I just might make a topic describing in more detail the life and times of the exiled Vietnamese monarch Cuong De, and his army of royalist supporters who took a pro-Axis stance during WW2.

Cuong De was born as Nguyễn Phúc Đan in 1882, and grew up during the period of French colonial rule. His family was descended from the age old Nguyễn Dynasty, and it was rumored that he himself was a fourth generation relative of the Emperor Gia Long (the founder of the Nguyễn Dynasty) with the blood line being passed down through Long's eldest son. Because of this, he was given the title of "Prince" and declared to be the sole heir to the throne of a free Vietnam.

As a young man, Cuong De was visited by the renowned anti-French nationalist Phan Boi Chau, who was a pioneer of Vietnamese freedom fighting during the 1920s and '30s. Chau is said to have made a pact with Cuong De and the monarchy to fight against French rule, and the two became deeply involved in the political struggle against European colonial domination.

Unfortunately for the group, the French regime had outlawed the Vietnamese royalty, and was brutally hunting down its supporters, who they deemed as "dangerous revolutionaries". Despite this fact, as the last living descendent of the once independent Vietnamese Empire, Cuong De became a huge rallying point for local revolutionaries, and all those who wished to establish a new monarchy within Vietnam (as opposed to a Communist system, which is what Ho Chi Minh and his followers wanted) pledged their allegiance to the Prince.

Because of his prominence among the Vietnamese nationalist cause, Cuong De was forced to flee Vietnam in order to avoid capture by the French. Moving to Japan during the first decade of the 20th century, he became involved in the Đông Du, or "Go-East" movement, which encouraged young Vietnamese to travel abroad to study in Japan. He also gave his blessing to Phan Boi Chau's Modernization Society, which was a movement that looked to expand the industrial and political scope of Vietnam to become a modern Asian power, like Japan.

After several years spent organizing funding among wealthy ex-patriots in Japan for revolutionary movements, the Prince traveled to Hong Kong, China, and Thailand, looking to expand his knowledge of nationalist movements in these countries and find support among Việt Kiều (overseas Vietnamese).
In 1913 he returned to southern Vietnam to deliver monetary support for a Vietnamese partisan group. Unfortunately, he was arrested by the French and once again exiled.
Returning to Japan, he began to seek support among prominent military and political figures in the Japanese high command, and began to establish stronger ties with the Imperial Army. Cuong De was given promises of assistance from the Japanese as early as 1920, and as a result delivered onto his supporters back in Vietnam a strong belief that they should establish brotherly ties with Japan in order to stand a better chance of gaining freedom.

When the Japanese Military invaded Indochina in 1940, Cuong De used the opportunity to send orders to monarchists in Vietnam to support by every possible means the takeover from the Vichy colonists. Small groups of locals offered their services as path finders and scouts for the Japanese, and still larger numbers began preparing themselves for the moment when they would be able to begin a popular uprising, supported by Japan, and win their independence.

Unfortunately, after only a few days of fighting the Japanese signed an accord with the French that allowed them to keep control of domestic affairs in Indochina. Vietnam remained an Axis colony, and because of the disappointment at having been given false promises by the Japanese Military, new nationalist forces began to establish themselves to combat both French and Japanese rule. Among the most prominent of these was the Viet Minh, which received weapons and other support from the American OSS.

Despite the initial let down at having been left under French control, Cuong De and his supporters still retained hopes of winning independence, and relied on their strong ties with Japan to see that this occurred. The Prince declared himself a formal supporter of the Axis cause in Asia and the Pacific, and was given the blessing and allegiance of Huyn Phu So, a respected prophet and member of the Hoa Hao religious sect.

The Hao Hao had for decades been a marginalized group, with strong nationalist sentiment and a force of more than forty thousand followers. When Huyn Phu So declared himself a subject of Cuong De and the Vietnamese monarchy, he was followed by tens out thousands of nationalists. Because Cuong De also supported Japan, these partisan fighters received a tremendous degree of support from the Japanese Kempeitai between 1941-43, who were looking to win over pro-Japanese groups in Vietnam in order to one day establish a puppet government under Imperial control.
Nationalists in the Hao Hao were supplied with Japanese weapons and a small degree of military training, and conducted guerilla activities against the French for the duration of the Second World War. Because the French colonists and the Japanese Empire were supposedly allied, this led to huge complaints from the Vichy asking the Japanese to help curb revolutionary activity against them. These requests were largely ignored until mid-1943, when the Japanese Empire completely resturctured its command chain in Indochina, replacing the former officers with new ones who were certain not to donate any further help to anti-French partisans. Despite this change, the Hao Hao and other monarchist supporters continued to wage their secret war against the colonists, and recieved a certain degree of assistance from the Japanese, including the stationing of Kempeitai guards around the dwellings of prominent nationalist figures in order to protect them from French arrest.

At the same time, Prince Cuong De had himself raised a small private army of devoted royalists, which he contributed to the Imperial Japanese military for use in campaigns across Southeast Asia. These men, who numbered about 300 in total, were given instruction by the Japanese, who "first taught the agitators to speak Japanese, if they had not known it before, then (they gave them) military training, then uniforms of Japanese soldiers (and sent them) to Tonkin."
Cuong De himself is said to have had a mix-raced son, who was the offspring of his marriage with a Japanese woman and was serving as an officer in the Japanese military.
Cuong De's private army, although small in numbers, helped show the Japanese that there were still people in Vietnam willing to support the Empire in exchange for their own nation's sovereignty. Again, the Japanese government is said to have made promises to re-instate Cuong De as monarch of Vietnam once the Axis had won the war, although these promises were never fulfilled.

For the remainder of the war, the exiled Prince continued to have a huge following of patriots at home in Vietnam, who contributed to the Japanese war effort by fighting the French and the communist Viet Minh in the hopes of seeing their beloved leader return. In March of 1945, knowing they stood little chance of winning the war, the Japanese overthrew the French colonists and delcared Vietnam and independent nation. Although it had been assumed by many that Cuong De would be the one to be put in power, Japan instead put the Royalist contender Bao Dai on the throne, with the new "Empire of Vietnam" being headed up by a renowned scholar named Tran Trong Kim, who took the office of prime minister. The "Empire of Vietnam" was short lived puppet state that lasted only until late August, 1945, after which the surrender of the Japanese Government resulted in the return to power of the French colonists and the large numbers of Axis supporters going into hiding.

Despite having gained nothing after decades of trying to win over Japan to the Vietnamese cause, Prince Cuong De continued to live in Tokyo, and died in 1951. The men who had supported him either went on to join the Viet Minh during the first Indochina War, or (more commonly) the Hoa Hao and Cao Dai forces, which were the second largest nationalist groups in the country during the 1950s struggle against the French.

*Phew*
Well, that's about it. As you can see, Vietnam was split several ways during WW2. There were those who supported Ho Chi Minh and the Allies, but an equally sized number sided with the Japanese, with some even serving under the Imeperial banner. The Vietnamese supporters of the monarchy fought bitterly for the return of their exiled leader, Cuong De, but in the end never received anything, due to a combination of false promises, conflicts among nationalists, and the return of the French regime after the Axis defeat in WW2.

I hope this account has given those of you who were curious a bit of an insight into the events surrounding Japan's Vietnamese allies during World War II. Again, none of these men pledged their loyalty to the IJA because of some perverted Axis ideology; they simply wanted to see their nation given their freedom, and the man who they believed to be the rightful leader returned to his throne.

If anyone has any further questions, I would be happy to give more details. Just let me know

Here are two pictures of Cuong De, one when he was younger, the other taken in his later years.

View attachment 15609

 

Correct me if I am wrong but I would be madder at the Japanese for stabbing me in the back than the French who atleast were honest in wanting to control Veitnam.

KTK

 

Another fine post Thanks for the information.

 

i have got admit that's a very interesting post on a underreported area of the war

 

There is nothing honest about wanting to subjugate another nation.

 

Fascinating stuff - it has caused me to dig into Karnow book "Vietnam" again.

Did Bao Dai, the japanese\french puppet emperor have a better claim to the "Throne" than Cuong?

Picked up this bit - in 1945 the japanese pressurised by the Allied Blockade forced the Red River peasants to plant industrial crops, peanuts and jute in place of rice.


As a result 2 million out of 10 milllion population starved to death.

 

That's really a matter of personal interpretation of the events. Bao Dai was the descendent of King Khai Dinh in Annam (central Vietnam) as so did have some right to royal status. However, as a direct descendent of the Nguyen Dynasty, Cuong De would have, under the old laws, had more power over Bao Dai because he belonged to the family of an actual emperor, not just a regional king.

However, since the Vietnamese monarchy had been without power since the French takeover during the late 1800s, it really was a bit of a free for all between the two members of hundred year old royal families fighting for power. Bao Dai just got lucky because he sided with both the French and the Japanese, while Cuong De was associated with extreme anti-European nationalists. As a result, both sides of the Axis occupiers of Vietnam (France and Japan) supported Bao Dai's position on the throne, and after the Japanese did away with French rule and created a puppet state, they put him in power since he was still living in Vietnam, while Cuong De had been away for years in Tokyo.

In my opinion, it should have been Cuong De who was given the title of Emperor, not just because of his lineage but also because he had much stronger ties with Japan, and also because, unlike Bao Dai, he did not support the continuation of French rule over the country. However, some might argue that since no monarch had reigned in Vietnam for over a hundred years, it was first come first serve in terms of the throne, and Bao Dai got there first.

 

As an aside to this string, I am looking for info on the re-arming of Japanese POWs at the end of the war, to put down Vietnamese nationalist or anti-French activists. Comments or direction to the proper forum?

I have a photo I clipped off a movie, that seems to show Japanese saluting a French officer, which only made me look for more info. Sigh, but I can't post it.

 

Sounds like the French and the English...The Poms eventually won that against the french too...