<P> The war ended in 1954 with French withdrawal and a partition of Vietnam that was intended to be temporary until elections could be held . The Democratic Republic of Vietnam held the north while South Vietnam formed into a separate republic in control of Ngo Dinh Diem who was backed in his refusal to hold elections by the US . The communist party of the south eventually organized the common front NLF to fight to unite south and north under the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and thus began the Vietnam War, which ended with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam conquering the South in 1975 . </P> <P> Japan invaded and occupied Indonesia during the war and replaced much of the Dutch colonial state . Although the top positions were held by Japanese, the internment of all Dutch citizens meant that Indonesians filled many leadership and administrative positions . Following the Japanese surrender in August 1945, nationalist leaders Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta declared Indonesian independence . A four and a half - year struggle followed as the Dutch tried to re-establish their colony, using a significant portion of their Marshall Plan aid to this end . The Dutch were directly helped by UK forces who sought to re-establish the colonial dominions in Asia . The UK also kept 35,000 Japanese Surrendered Personnel under arms to fight the Indonesians . </P> <P> Although Dutch forces re-occupied most of Indonesia's territory, a guerrilla struggle ensued, and the majority of Indonesians, and ultimately international opinion, favoured Indonesian independence . In December 1949, the Netherlands formally recognised Indonesian sovereignty . </P> <P> British covert operations in the Baltic States, which began in 1944 against the Nazis, escalated after the war . In Operation Jungle, the Secret Intelligence Service (known as MI6) recruited and trained Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians for the clandestine work in the Baltic states between 1948 and 1955 . Leaders of the operation included Alfons Rebane, Stasys Žymantas, and Rūdolfs Silarājs . The agents were transported under the cover of the "British Baltic Fishery Protection Service". They launched from British - occupied Germany, using a converted World War II E-boat captained and crewed by former members of the wartime German navy . British intelligence also trained and infiltrated anti-communist agents into Russia from across the Finnish border, with orders to assassinate Soviet officials . In the end, counter-intelligence supplied to the KGB by Kim Philby allowed the KGB to penetrate and ultimately gain control of MI6's entire intelligence network in the Baltic states . </P>

What was the impact of second world war