Vietnamese communist guerrilla movement. Founded in 1941 in south China by Ho Chi Minh and other exiled Vietnamese members of the Indo-Chinese Communist Party with the aim of expelling both the French and the Japanese from Vietnam, the Vietminh began operations, with assistance from the USA, against the Japanese (1943–45) under the military leadership of Vo Nguyen Giap. After the end of World War II, it resisted the returning French, building up its strength and organization through incessant guerrilla operations and finally winning a decisive set-piece engagement at Dienbienphu in 1954. This forced the French to end the war and grant independence to Vietnam, partitioned into two states, North and South.