In April 1945, during the famine in Vietnam, Vietnamese people who went out to gather food collapsed and starved to death. The bodies lying on the streets were collected.

　　During the famine in Vietnam in April 1945, Vietnamese people who went out to gather food collapsed and starved to death together. Corpses lying on the streets were collected. Cholera spread rapidly during the floods. The Japanese military forced Vietnamese farmers to abandon rice cultivation and grow jute instead. This severely impacted food production in northern Vietnam, leading to severe famine. 

　　The great famine in Vietnam in 1945 was also known as the At Dau Famine. It occurred in Tonkin and Annam under occupation by French and Japanese forces. Both forcibly confiscated food from farmers to feed their soldiers. This famine claimed 2 million lives in North Vietnam. International documents estimated the death toll at approximately 1 million, or about 8% of the population. Clearing more land to address food shortages became a key element of the propaganda efforts of the Vietnam Independence League (Viet Minh). Preventing famine again became central to the legitimacy of the communist regime. The over two million victims who perished in the great famine did not fit the narrative of the Vietnamese Communist Party's national salvation. 

　　In September 1940, Japanese forces occupied northern and central Vietnam based on an agreement with French colonial authorities. The Japanese military remained stationed there until the end of World War II, placing the Vietnamese people under dual colonial rule. While famines were frequent under French colonial rule, none were as catastrophic as the 1945 famine under Japanese occupation. Although no deaths from starvation occurred in the capital, food shortages were severe. The famine that struck 32 provinces from 1944 to 1945 worsened dramatically under Japanese occupation.