After World War II, in 1945, he joined the Viet Minh, became a senior commander in the Vietnamese resistance movement, and insisted on fighting for Vietnam's independence, not for communism.

SuspectingN.bs of being betrayed by the Communist factionN.bs of the Viet Minh and apprehended by the French forces, he was saved from execution by a campaign for amnesty by his École polytechnique classmates based in Vietnam, mostly high-level officers of the French army,[5]: 299 and was subsequently exiled to France, where he founded with friends and managed the Vietnamese publishing house Minh Tan (in Paris), which published many important works for the Vietnamese literature.N.mbl In parallel, he studied medicine and became a medical doctor.

One goal: the destruction of colonialism and imperialist fascism".N.vmmIn 1942 August, Ho (named "Nguyen Ai Quoc" at that time) crossed the border into China with the intention of attracting the interest of the Allies in Chungking[10]:7 (now Chongqing) for the Vietnamese resistance movement, arrested by the Chinese on 1942 August 28 for being "French spy",[10]:525 but the real reason was Ho's political activities, viewed as "Communistic", instead of "nationalistic", by the Chinese (Chiang Kai-shek) and the Allies at Chungking (now Chongqing).

[10]:453 At that time, the name "Nguyen Ai Quoc" was very popular, while hardly any one heard of the new name "Ho Chi Minh".N.naq Ho Chi Minh returned to Vietnam in 1944 September, after obtaining the authorization from the Chinese authority, Zhang Fakui, who was under "severe pressure from the Japanese Ichigo offensive" to obtain intelligence in Indochina---and after submitting the "Outline of the Plan for the Activities of Entering Vietnam".

[13]:134N.hvn All three protagonists---the French Vichy colonialists, the Japanese occupiers, and the Viet Minh---were deceived by US war plan,N.uwp and expected a US invasion of Indochina.N.uii Such expectation was the main reason[13]:209 that, in 1945 February–March, during an "unusually cold month of February,"[10]:56N.cf45 Ho once again crossed back into China, and walked from the Pác Bó hamlet to Kunming to meetN.wtk(and to "make friends with"[13]:210) American OSS and OWI (Office of War Information) officers to exchange intelligence.N.hmo[13]:238 Ho's report to the OSS mentioned the Japanese coup de force on the evening of 1945 March 9.

[10]:58 Ho displayed the portrait of Chennault, along with those of Lenin and Mao, in his lodging at Tân Trào as "tangible evidence to convince skeptical Vietnamese nationalists that he had American support".

The resulting power vacuum[16]:64 following this coup de force changed the political situation, and provided a favorable setting for the Viet Minh takeover of the government.

[16]:73 In 1945 April, Ho walked a perilous journey from Pác Bó to Tân Trào, the Viet Minh headquarters in the Liberated Area.

After the August Revolution in 1945, the French began to negotiate their return to Tonkin with both the Viet Minh and the Chinese army coming to disarm the defeated Japanese north of the 16th parallel.

Ho Chi Minh was weary of the Chinese, who might stay in Vietnam permanently, signed the March 6 [1946] AccordsN.m6a1 N.m6a3 with Jean Sainteny to agree to let the French army under General Leclerc to enter Tonkin.

"[19] CBS reporter David Schoenbrun interviewed Ho Chi Minh on 1946 September 11, the same day that a telegram was dispatched from the High Commissioner d'Argenlieu to the French Indochina Committee on the arrest of Bich on 1946 August 25.N.bb After graduating in 1935 from the École nationale des ponts et chaussées, a civil engineering school, Nguyen Ngoc Bich returned home to work as a civil engineer for the colonial government at the Sóc Trăng Irrigation Department until the Japanese coup d'état in Viet Nam (1945 September 3).