The Liberation of Paris in 1944 ended the Vichy regime. The new Provisional Government of the French Republic joined the Allies, and its administration in Indochina began to give covert support to Allied operations in the Pacific. Therefore, on 9 March 1945, Japan launched a coup d'état to oust the French administration. Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos became nominally independent members of Japan's Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere: the Empire of Vietnam, Kingdom of Kampuchea, and Kingdom of Laos. In reality, the Japanese were in control of Indochina until the news of their government's surrender came in August. The general disorganization of Indochina, coupled with several natural disasters, led to the Vietnamese Famine of 1945. The Việt Minh staged the August Revolution and issued a proclamation of independence at the war's end. The French took back control of the country in 1945–1946, but the First Indochina War that began that December would bring an end to French rule.