For the communist independence movement before the Geneva Accords, see, "Vietcong" redirects here. In an effort to discover information about the NLF, the peasants were sometimes tortured. As their strength grew and the enemy retreated, they began to take the smaller towns. Dương Quỳnh Hoa and Phùng Văn Cung, along with other dissidents, met with communists to form the National Liberation Front...", Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam, United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races, Viet Cong and PAVN logistics and equipment, Viet Cong and PAVN strategy, organization and structure, "Program of the National Liberation Front of South Viet-Nam", Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic, "Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam (1969–1975)", "Origins of the Insurgency in South Vietnam, 1954–1960", "The History Place — Vietnam War 1945–1960", "The effects of just one month spent in a Viet Cong prison camp show on 23-year-old Le Van Than, who had defected from the Communist forces and joined the Government side, was recaptured by the Viet Cong and deliberately starved", United States Army Center of Military History, "A Dark Glimpse From Eddie Adams's Camera", "Failure of the Viet Cong to establish liberation committees", "Victory in Vietnam: The Official History of the People's Army of Vietnam, 1954–1975 (book review)", "Vietnam: History of the Bulwark B2 Theatre", Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam, Tet Offensive 1968, US Embassy & Saigon fighting, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Viet_Cong&oldid=994820736, Defunct political party alliances in Asia, History of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Military units and formations of the Vietnam War, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages, Articles containing Vietnamese-language text, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-LCCN identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, National Liberation Front for Southern Vietnam, Alliance of National Democratic and Peace Forces, This page was last edited on 17 December 2020, at 18:33. I didn't know whether they were true because I wasn't there. I refused to make such a statement and so they stuck needles under the tips of my ten fingers saying that if I did not write down what they wanted and admit to being a member of the Vietcong, they would continue to torture me. It meant if I decided not to do my job anymore I would be sent to jail and court-martialed. He does not think he screamed when the Vietnamese twisted and bent his shattered leg. [24] French scholar Bernard Fall published an influential article in July 1958 which analyzed the pattern of rising violence and concluded that a new war had begun. [73] COSVN rejected this view as "lacking resolution and absolute determination. The NLF called for southern Vietnamese to "overthrow the camouflaged colonial regime of the American imperialists" and to make "efforts toward the peaceful unification". The Viet Cong used any available tactic to demoralize and intimidate the population, including the assassination of South Vietnamese commanders. It was conical shaped, three prongs jutting out of the soil. "It is a major irony of the Vietnam War that our propaganda transformed this debacle into a brilliant victory. No.". Immediate source of acquisition or transfer. Desiring "businesslike" relations, the Kremlin favored incumbent, Trà begins, "How did the B2 theater carry out the mission assigned it by the Military Commission of the Party Central Committee?" [17] President Hồ Chí Minh stressed that violence was still a last resort. [81] Between the beginning of 1974 and April 1975, with now-excellent roads and no fear of air interdiction, the communists delivered nearly 365,000 tons of war matériel to battlefields, 2.6 times the total for the previous 13 years. [6] Today's Vietnamese media most frequently refers to the group as the "Liberation Army of South Vietnam" (Quân Giải phóng Miền Nam Việt Nam) .[10]. So I decided to forget about it. Indochina, France, and the Viet Minh War, 1945-1954: Records of the U.S. State Department, Part 1: 1945-1949 Archives Unbound "Comprising records of the State Department’s Central Classified Files, this collection contains records relating to the internal affairs of Indochina, during the period 1945-49. Tet was a great loss for the NLF forces. A. In 1964, however, American political and military authorities believed their overwhelming firepower would be more than enough to subdue the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army. Nguyen Tuong Lai was a Viet Cong guerrilla. [48] Squads were assigned monthly assassination quotas. The aim of this exercise was to deny food to the NLF. - No. Primary Resources - free worksheets, lesson plans and teaching ideas for primary and elementary teachers. This was achieved in 938 AD. Primary. Sometimes a string of ears, decorates the wall of a government military installation. Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai negotiated the terms of the ceasefire with France and then imposed them on the Viet Minh. Ho Chi Minh agreed to supply the guerrilla units with aid. One thing was clear: these were local boys. Tales of sensational murder and mayhem soon crowded the headlines. A photo of a Viet Cong soldier crouching in a bunker with an SKS rifle, 1968. By the end of 1969, there was little communist-held territory, or "liberated zones", in South Vietnam, according to the official communist military history. The Vietnam War was the first conflict that saw wide scale tactical deployment of helicopters. At first the NLF used hand-made weapons such as spears, daggers and swords. To increase its advantage, the NLF relied heavily on night attacks. In 111 BC, Vietnam became part of the Chinese Empire. [27] The fiery declarations of 1959 were followed by a lull while Hanoi focused on events in Laos (1960–61). The NLF's solution to this problem was to take the property of the large landowners and distribute it amongst the peasants. In some cases, the peasants also agreed to take up arms with the NLF and help 'liberate' other villages. For sometime the governments of South Vietnam and the United States had been concerned about the influence of the NLF on the peasants. The NLF was told not to go into combat unless it outnumbered the enemy and was certain of winning. Primary Source: Statement by John Kerry of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (1971) ... We saw Vietnam ravaged equally by American bombs and search and destroy missions, as well as by Viet Cong terrorism – and yet we listened while this country tried to blame all of the havoc on the Viet Cong. I'm not normal by any means. If evidence was found of the NLF being in the village, the people were punished. Viet Cong, the guerrilla force that, with the support of the North Vietnamese Army, fought against South Vietnam (late 1950s–1975) and the United States (early 1960s–1973). released from captivity after the cease-fire agreement in 1973. The Viet Cong arose after the defeat of the French colonial forces at Dien Bien Phu, which prompted the United States to become gradually more and more involved in Vietnam. [57] General William Westmoreland, the U.S. commander, received reports of heavy troop movements and understood that an offensive was being planned, but his attention was focused on Khe Sanh, a remote U.S. base near the DMZ. Therefore, when a guerrilla was captured and tortured, his confessions did not do too much damage to the NLF. The next major battle, at Buôn Ma Thuột in March, was a communist walkover. [6] It is a contraction of Việt Nam Cộng-sản (Vietnamese communist),[6] or alternatively Việt gian cộng sản ("Communist Traitor to Vietnam"). Gale Primary Sources is a universal research experience that combines Gale's acclaimed digital archives in a single cross-search interface. These took the form of sharpened bamboo staves and fragmentation mines. The tactics they employed have been described by Robert Taber, who fought with the guerrillas in Cuba, as the war of the flea: "The flea bites, hops, and bites again, nimbly avoiding the foot that would crush him. [38] The USS Core arrived in Saigon with 35 helicopters in December 1961. Many of the Viet Cong's core members were volunteer "regroupees", southern Viet Minh who had resettled in the North after the Geneva Accord (1954). A US army survey of weapons in 1964 discovered that 90% of weapons taken from the NLF had previously belonged to the ARVN and the US army. This guide will be a brief summary of the primary contributors to propaganda during the Vietnam War. On July 8, the Viet Cong killed two U.S. military advisors at Biên Hòa, the first American dead of the Vietnam War. [31][32], By 1960, the Sino-Soviet split was a public rivalry, making China more supportive of Hanoi's war effort. (1) Not to do what is likely to damage the land and crops or spoil the houses and belongings of the people. They were kneeling and crying and praying, and various soldiers... walked by and executed these women and children by shooting them in the head with their rifles. [82] Without consulting the PRG, North Vietnamese leaders decided to rapidly dissolve the PRG at a party meeting in August 1975. The term Việt Cộng appeared in Saigon newspapers beginning in 1956. I was extremely outraged and would never come out with any information. I was extremely angry at the enemy and I loved my country so much. Elections on reunification were scheduled for July 1956. He would tell them nothing except his name, rank, serial number, date of birth. For the video game, see, The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the. The most feared mine was the 'Bouncing Betty'. Notes - Title from news agency caption. The LASV had both guerrilla and regular army units, as well as a network of cadres who organized peasants in the territory the Viet Cong controlled. [13] COSVN was initially located in Tây Ninh Province near the Cambodian border. ... A 2007 journal article about the Viet Cong with a formal writing style, bibliography at the end, and lots of analysis and interpretation. Late in January 1968, Viet Cong guerrillas and North Vietnamese soldiers had launched attacks on urban areas across South Vietnam. National Archives Identifier: 542328. I found I could not be tortured to death. Viet Cong guerrillas in small boats patrol the Saigon River in South Vietnam Created / Published 1966. [12] France withdrew its last soldiers from Vietnam in April 1956.[13]. They all dressed alike." Source: Wikimedia Commons. 'Agent Orange', the chemical used in this defoliation programme not only destroyed trees but caused chromosomal damage in people. The earliest citation for "Vietcong" in English is from 1957. [70] There were no predominantly southern units left and 70 percent of communist troops in the South were northerners. [40] The Soviets cut aid in 1964 as an expression of annoyance with Hanoi's ties to China. [13] In May 1959, Group 559 was established to maintain and upgrade the Ho Chi Minh trail, at this time a six-month mountain trek through Laos. Disappointed with the results of the 1964 U.S. presidential election, the Kremlin did not try to influence the election of 1968. In January 1966, Australian troops uncovered a tunnel complex which had been used by COSVN. Type in your name to start the game. The term Việt Cộng appeared in Saigon newspapers beginning in 1956. After the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, the PRG moved into government offices there. President Eisenhower's letter to South Vietnamese leader Ngo Dinh Diem promising aid against the North, October 1954. See more ideas about vietnam war, vietnam, war. B. The Viet Minh had become the government of Democratic Republic of Vietnam since the Vietnamese 1946 general election, and military forces of the communists regrouped there. This was a secondary source but I cited it as a primary source because the only thing I used from the website was the primary source picture. About 75,000 communist soldiers were killed or wounded, according to Trần Văn Trà, commander of the "B-2" district, which consisted of southern South Vietnam. After 17 months observing pacification efforts in Vietnam as a state department official, I laid eyes upon an unmistakable enemy for the first time on New Year's Day in 1967. Primary Source Accounts of the Vietnam War. It made sense then... You don't take a person's life and not have guilt feelings about it. 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