When Ho Chi Minh was fighting in Greece

Ho Chi Minh

The ambassador of Vietnam in Greece stated that this great historical personality served in the French army during the world war 1 and he was part of the French expeditionary force in Macedonia. To find some evidence about this allegation, he visited along with the mayor of a local town in Macedonia an old Greek villager(107 years old) who confirmed that Ho Chi Minh was there(area between Skydra and Edessa) during the WW1, mentioning facts that give little doubt about the clarity of this historical detail in the life of Ho Chi Minh.

soldiers of the Macedonian front during WW1 

source : protothema.gr

Background info

What were the French doing in Macedonia during the WW1? Greece was in the side of the Entente during the WW1 as did France. France and Britain sent reinforcements to prevent the Ottoman empire,Bulgaria and Austria-Hungary from dominating  the Balkan peninsula. The Austro-Hungarians had already occupied Yugoslavia and Greece remained the only Balkan bulwark of the Entente.

The French army in the Macedonian front was called Armee d'orient and was consisted of persons of different nationalities, mainly coming from the French colonies.One of the French colonies was indochina which comprised the countries of Cambodia Laos and Vietnam.Under the orders of the commander of the army were all the allied forces in Macedonia. Therefore Armee d'orient ended up to be called the whole entente army in Balkans.

Ho Chi Minh was a well travelled man. He worked in the USA as a cook and he lived in UK for some time. In France(ironically) his political ideas were shaped. These political ideas would later make him seek the Vietnamese independence from France through armed struggle.