Tokyo’s capitulation in mid-August 1945 did not mean that Japanese troops did not take part in the Indochina War. They did. Indeed, vanquished Japanese soldiers helped both the Vietnamese and the French sides. This was particularly the case in southern Vietnam at the outset of the conflict, when Franco-Vietnamese tensions and disorder led the British under General Douglas Gracey to maintain Japanese troops in place to ensure order instead of concentrating and disarming them right away. Japanese officers agreed to help the British maintain order, especially following the chaotic situation created by the outbreak of war below the 16th parallel between the French and the Vietnamese on 23 September 1945. The French inability to maintain order after launching their coup that day only reinforced Franco-British reliance on the Japanese troops to restore French colonial order. For example, the French used Japanese soldiers to fight Vietnamese forces in battle in Nha Trang. As Peter Dunn wrote: “The important part played by the Japanese troops at this stage [late 1945] cannot be over-emphasized. They were doing most of the dirty work in clearing roadblocks, patrolling and investigating, and rounding up wanted Vietnamese. After a slow start they were now taking a more active role in anti-Viet Minh operations, but their distaste for this activity remained undiminished.” On 3 March 1946, the British Combined Chiefs of Staff authorized Louis Mountbatten to transfer responsibilities for the Japanese in southern Indochina to the French. According to French archival records, approximately 30,500 Japanese located in northern Indochina were repatriated to Japan through the port of Haiphong from 29 April 1946. By 8H00 on 14 May 1946, the remaining 68,084 Japanese in Indochina below the 16th parallel had been shipped off. The British turned over 1,596 Japanese prisoners to the French, including 427 wanted for war crimes. Of the 2,700 Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) troops killed during the British occupation, only some 600 were killed by combined British Indian Troops. The remaining 2,000 lives were taken by combined Japanese and French forces battling the Vietnamese for control of southern Vietnam. Japanese historian Masaya Shiraishi has concluded that the Japanese lost 109 men in battles against the DRV’s forces during this period, and had 132 wounded and 72 missing in action. The DRV also relied upon hundreds of Japanese soldiers who crossed over to help the Vietnamese fight the French. See also CROSSOVERS; DESERTION; REPATRIATION, JAPANESE TROOPS.