Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The Indochina Expeditionary Army was an amphibious army corps of the Imperial Japanese Army formed on September 7, 1940 to coordinate the invasion and occupation of French Indochina during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It was supported by a contingent from the Imperial Japanese Navy's IJN 5th Fleet and naval aircraft from the aircraft carrier Hiry and air bases on Hainan Island. Imperial General Headquarters deemed that control of Vichy-controlled French Indochina would make the Japanese blockade of China much more effective and would hasten the collapse of the Kuomintang government of China.