The Battle of Saigon was a week-long battle between the Vietnamese National Army of the State of Vietnam and the private army of the Bình Xuyên organised crime syndicate. At the time, the Bình Xuyên was licensed with controlling the national police by Emperor Bảo Đại and Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm issued an ultimatum for them to surrender and come under state control. The battle started on April 28, 1955, and the VNA had largely crushed the Bình Xuyên within a week. Fighting was mostly concentrated in the inner city Chinese business district of Chợ Lớn. The densely crowded area saw some 500 to 1000 deaths and up to 20,000 civilians made homeless in the cross-fire. In the end, the Bình Xuyên were decisively defeated, their army disbanded and their vice operations collapsed.

The Vietnamese National Army was the State of Vietnam's military force created shortly after the Élysée Accords, where the State of Vietnam was recognized by France as an independent country ruled by Vietnamese Emperor Bảo Đại. It was commanded by Vietnamese General Hinh and was loyal to Bảo Đại. The VNA fought in joint operations with the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps (CEFEO) against the communist Việt Minh forces led by Ho Chi Minh. Different units within the VNA fought in a wide range of campaigns including the Battle of Nà Sản (1952), Operation Hautes Alpes (1953), Operation Atlas (1953) and the Battle of Dien Bien Phu (1954).