Grumble of French Indochina about Vichy's decision
To prevent the military support to Chiang Kai-shek from the south of China, Japan wanted to deploy its troops in Vietam. However, Vietnam was the colony of France. The Government of France agreed that Japan can station its troops in French Indochina in 1940. This is the result of the occupation of France by German.
A French newspaper - La volonté indochinoise - in Hanoi took out their anger on the UK. The following article is a translatioin of Japanese text, which was translated from the original article on August 1, 1940 written in French.
We have played a role as a warden of the United Kingdom for too long. However, we have had enough of playing such a role. French people should not be sacrificed for London – the monster having a large mouse.
We, French people, have been manipulated by English people at their will for as long as 80 years. Those who think it is a lie must see the history. There is no need to take old examples. The World War is a good example. In front of the threat of German, the UK hesitated to form the joint forces with France. Due to this, Belgium was devastated in the early stage. It was too late when the UK entered the war. Remember that in the World War, the number of the war dead of France was 1.7 million and that of German was 2.4 million, but it was only 150,000 for the UK.
How was the Munich Agreement in 1938? In 1939, when Poland faced the crisis, English war merchants continued to cry that France should hurry up and hurry up otherwise the democracy would be in danger situation, slapping on the buttocks of France. What has the UK done in the end? The UK, which deployed 85 army divisions in the continent in 1918, sent only 10 army divisions in May 1940.
At Dunkirk, the UK barely escaped with their life with the sacrifices of the French Army. France, we were defeated. But German did not empty France. After the UK gave up using France, they began to use Yugoslavia, Greek, Iraq, Russia, and others. These countries were maneuvered by the English bouncing check and danced dangerous dances.
Regarding that Vichy France approved the offer of the Government of Japan this time, it is said that some French people regret that this offer was not from London. French people living in Indochina, do you regret that we did not follow the same destiny as Yugoslavia and Greek?
How do you think of the UK, which abandoned French children in starvation, be the author of the murder in Dakar and Syria, and always benefit them at someone else’s expense? The French, we should not lose our way. Let's clearly see the situation. Although France approved to provide the military conveniences in Indochina to Japan, all of them are just temporary. I will never violate sovereignty of France.
Under the circumstances above, do we have the right to sacrifice 23 million people of Indochina who entrusted their lives and happiness to us? Do were dare to say that we have the right to persist our individual and economic views? Presently, shaking hands with the UK means that we deny the recovery of the nation and return to the previous mistakes.
The French in Indochina, what will release France is our patience and efforts. The home government made a decision. All we can do is to obey the decision. We will be released only by following the home government under the complete order.