Japanese invasion of French Indochina
| Invasion of French Indochina | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II | |||||||||
 Japanese troops entering Saigon. |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Japan
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Akihito Nakamura Takuma Nishimura |
Maurice Martin | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 36,000 men | 3,000 men | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 1,000 killed and wounded | 824 killed | ||||||||
In September 1940, the Japanese invaded Vichy French Indochina (仏印進駐 Futsu-in shinchū?) to prevent the Republic of China from importing arms and fuel through French Indochina along the Sino-Vietnamese Railway, from the port of Haiphong through Hanoi to Kunming in Yunnan. The fighting, which lasted several days before the French authorities reached an agreement with the Japanese, took place in the context of the ongoing Sino-Japanese War and World War II. Japan was able to occupy Tonkin in northern Indochina, tightening the blockade of China and making a continuation of the drawn-out Battle of South Guangxi unnecessary.
In early 1940, troops of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) moved to seize Longzhou in south Guangxi, where the eastern branch of the railroad from Hanoi reaches the border, and also tried to move west to cut the rail line to Kunming. Chinese resistance, supplied from Indochina, was tough.
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