At 5 pm, tens of thousands of armed masses followed the revolutionary force into the provincial governor’s residence and key administrative offices. Provincial Governor Vu Thien Khoai came out carrying a red flag with a yellow star to invite the delegation into the residence, accepting surrender and handing over the seal to the Viet Minh. Outside, the red flag with a yellow star was raised to the top of the flagpole.
Nguyen Quoc Hong declared the dissolution of the puppet government and the establishment of the revolutionary government. The confiscation of weapons from security guards proceeded smoothly. The uprising to seize power in Son Tay Town was successful. That evening, the Revolutionary Committee was established.
In Bac Kan, liberation army units, self-defence forces and people in the liberated areas advanced into the town, removing the Japanese puppet government.
In Tuyen Quang, the liberation army, the guerrilla militia and self-defence forces coordinated closely with the revolutionary masses in the uprising, successively capturing Japanese military posts occupying districts before advancing to liberate the town. The uprising to seize power in Tuyen Quang Town on August 21 was successful.
In Nghe An, tens of thousands of workers and peasants carried weapons to demonstrate their strength in the morning. Subsequently, representatives of the Viet Minh Front met with the Japanese military command.
Faced with the revolutionary masses’ momentum, the Japanese had to accept conditions put forward by our forces. At the same time, worker and youth self-defence teams, along with some security guards who had joined the revolution, moved in to occupy public offices.
By midday, the revolutionary forces surrounded the Nghe An provincial governor’s residence, forcing Governor Dang Van Hua to resign and hand over power to the revolutionary government. On behalf of the Nghe An Provisional Revolutionary Committee, Le Viet Luong declared the abolition of the colonial and feudal government and the establishment of the revolutionary government.
In Hue, the Party organisation and Viet Minh of Thua Thien-Hue conducted numerous rallies throughout the city from the afternoon. From all directions, self-defence teams and national salvation organisations, though equipped with only rudimentary weapons, held high their banners and flags, marching boldly through the streets. Japanese troops were bewildered and took no action.
At 2pm, the trigram flag was lowered and the red flag with the yellow star was raised. The same afternoon, the Mang Ca Post was surrounded and captured by the Phu Binh neighbourhood self-defence team. The revolutionary storm was approaching. By that evening, the Uprising Committee in Hue had disseminated the plan and assigned tasks to districts and each cadre to carry out the uprising.
In the southern region, the expanded conference of the Southern Regional Committee (Tien Phong) was reconvened at Cho Dem to set the date and time for issuing the uprising order and designate the Southern Provisional Administrative Committee with Tran Van Giau as its chairman.
Since the policy and plan had not yet achieved broad consensus, the conference met for the third time in seven days before reaching a final decision to assign the Tan An Party Committee to conduct a trial uprising on the night of August 22 and early morning of August 23 to test the attitude of the Japanese troops.
That night, the Tan An Provincial Party Committee urgently convened and issued a “Red Resolution”, organised the making of hammer-and-sickle flags and red flags with yellow stars, and assembled red guard units from localities to the town.
Also on that day, at the headquarters of the Vanguard Youth at 14 Charner Boulevard, the Viet Minh organised a conference with the participation of representatives from many parties and factions in Saigon and the southern region. Faced with the overwhelming momentum of the Viet Minh, all agreed unanimously to support the Viet Minh’s uprising to seize power.
