Mai Van Tiem was born in 1920 and joined the revolution as a member of the Viet Minh and youth association (thanh nien cuu quoc) in Ninh Binh in 1940. In 1944 he was exposed (bi lo) as the Viet Minh Secretary for his village and had to go on the run to avoid arrest. He then describes the raiding of rice storehouses and the stealing of weapons in 1945. This occurred in an area of Ninh Binh which he says was almost like a “liberated zone” (vung tu do), as the Japanese had taken power by then but many of the local French-backed administrators maintained their positions, though rendered powerless. He describes the development of the August Revolution in several areas of Ninh Binh, and also talks about skirmishes that happened with the Japanese before the actual uprising. He then relates some difficulties the Viet Minh had in dealing with the Quoc Dan Dang in Ninh Binh. For most of the period of the Indochina War, he gives rather general information concerning the difficult conditions, especially with regards to food. In 1954 he participated in the movement “against forced emigration” (chong cuong ep di cu), discouraging northern Vietnamese from emigrating to the South. Although he says he did not actively participate in the land reform, he nonetheless took part in the rectification of errors in 1956.