During the French colonial period Cao Lãnh found some supporters for the nationalist appeal of Trần Huy Liệu's Đông Pháp Thời Báo (Indochina Times) founded in May 1923. Later, in the initial resistance to the French in 1945, the Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng and others in the South merged to form the Third Division of the popular army. Cao Lãnh was where the troops were reorganized into 23 units each of 500-600 men.