Viet Cong: Difference between revisions

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Latest revision as of 01:39, 1 May 2025

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{{Short description|Revolutionary organization active in South Vietnam and Cambodia from 1960 to 1977}}

[[Image:FNLflag.PNG|thumb|right|National Liberation Front (NLF) flag]]The '''National Front for the Liberation of Southern Vietnam''' ([[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]] Mặt Trận Dân Tộc Giải Phóng Miền Nam), also known as the '''National Liberation Front''' (NLF) and as ''Front National de Liberté'' (FNL), was the primary rebel organization fighting the [[colonialism|colonialist]] [[France|French]] regime and later the US-backed [[Republic of Vietnam]] during the [[Vietnam War]].

{{Redirect|Vietcong|other uses|Viet Cong (disambiguation)}}

{{About|the organization formally named National Liberation Front of South Vietnam|the government formed by this organization|Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam}}

{{pp|small=yes}}

{{Use American English|date=February 2023}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2021}}

{{Infobox militant organization

| name = National Liberation Front<br />of South Vietnam

| native_name = Mặt trận Dân tộc Giải phóng<br />miền Nam Việt Nam

| war = the [[Vietnam War]]

| image = FNL Flag.svg

| native_name_lang = vi

| caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the [[Flag of Vietnam|flag of North Vietnam]]. It later became the nominal state flag of the [[Republic of South Vietnam]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fotw.info/flags/vn-vcong.html|title=National Liberation Front (Viet Cong)|website=www.fotw.info|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230418033727/https://www.fotw.info/flags/vn-vcong.html|archive-date=April 18, 2023}}</ref> Sometimes the lower stripe was green.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R3D0DwAAQBAJ&dq=viet+cong+flag+green&pg=PA152|title=Discovering Kubrick's Symbolism: The Secrets of the Films|first=Nicole M.|last=Berg|date=July 29, 2020|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-1-4766-3992-5|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bu_NDwAAQBAJ&dq=viet+cong+flag+green&pg=PT11|title=The Vietnam War|first=Karen Bush|last=Gibson|date=February 4, 2020|publisher=Mitchell Lane|isbn=978-1-5457-4946-3|via=Google Books}}</ref>

| active = 1954–1959 ''(as southern [[Viet Minh]] cadres)''<br />{{start and end dates|1960|12|20|1977|2|4}}

| ideology = {{plainlist|

* [[Communism]]

* [[Marxism–Leninism]]

* [[Left-wing nationalism]]

* [[Anti-imperialism]]

* [[Revolutionary socialism]]

}}

| position = [[Far-left politics|Far-left]]

| other_name = '''Việt Cộng''' ('''VC''')<br />{{pronunciation|Vietcong.ogg}}<hr>'''the Front''' ({{lang|vi|Mặt trận}})

| leaders = {{flagicon|Republic of South Vietnam}} '''Liberation Front:'''<ref name="Burchett">Burchett, Wilfred (1963): "[http://www.marxists.org/archive/burchett/1963/the-furtive-war/ch05.htm Liberation Front: Formation of the NLF]", ''The Furtive War'', International Publishers, New York. ([https://web.archive.org/web/20221216144222/https://www.marxists.org/archive/burchett/1963/the-furtive-war/index.htm Archive])</ref> {{unbulleted list |[[Nguyễn Hữu Thọ]], chairman |[[Huỳnh Tấn Phát]], secretary-general and vice-chairman |Phung Van Cung, vice-chairman |[[Võ Chí Công]], vice-chairman }}{{flagicon image|Flag of the People's Liberation Armed Forces of South Viet Nam.svg}} '''[[Liberation Army of South Vietnam|Liberation Army]]:''' {{unbulleted list |Nguyễn Hữu Xuyến (1961–1963) |[[Trần Văn Trà]] (1963–1967, 1973–1975) |[[Hoàng Văn Thái]] (1967–1973)}}

{{flagicon image|Flag of the Communist Party of Vietnam.svg}} '''[[Central Office for South Vietnam|Central Office]]:''' {{unbulleted list |[[Nguyễn Văn Linh]] (1961–1964) |[[Nguyễn Chí Thanh]] (1964–1967) |[[Phạm Hùng]] (1967–1975)}}

{{flagicon|Republic of South Vietnam}} '''[[Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam|Governance]]:''' {{unbulleted list |Nguyễn Hữu Thọ, president |Huỳnh Tấn Phát, prime minister |[[Madam|Mme]] [[Nguyễn Thị Bình]], foreign minister |Trần Nam Trung,<ref name="Trung">Possibly a pseudonym for [[Trần Văn Trà]]. {{cite news |title=Man in the News: Lt.-Gen. Tran Van Tra |url=http://www.osaarchivum.org/files/holdings/300/8/3/text/38-1-104.shtml |date=February 2, 1973 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090823065247/http://www.osaarchivum.org/files/holdings/300/8/3/text/38-1-104.shtml |archive-date=August 23, 2009 }}</ref> defense minister |[[Trương Như Tảng]], justice minister<ref>{{cite web |first=Dr. Ernest |last=Bolt |publisher=[[University of Richmond]] |url=http://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~ebolt/history398/PRG(1969-1975)TVT.html |title=Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam (1969–1975) |access-date=June 28, 2008 |archive-date=October 26, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026085459/https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~ebolt/history398/PRG(1969-1975)TVT.html }}</ref> }}

| merged_into = {{flagicon|Vietnam}} [[Vietnam Fatherland Front]]

| allegiance = {{flagicon|North Vietnam}} [[Vietnamese Fatherland Front]]

* {{flagicon image|Flag of the Communist Party of Vietnam.svg}} [[Workers' Party of Vietnam]] (via [[Central Office for South Vietnam]])

{{flag|Republic of South Vietnam}}

* {{flagicon image|Flag of the Communist Party of Vietnam.svg}} [[People's Revolutionary Party of Vietnam]]

| clans = {{plainlist|

*{{flagicon|Republic of South Vietnam}} National Liberation Front of South Vietnam

*{{flagicon|Republic of South Vietnam}} [[Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam]]

*{{flagicon image|Flag of the Communist Party of Vietnam.svg}} [[Central Office for South Vietnam]]

*{{flagicon image|Flag of the People's Liberation Armed Forces of South Viet Nam.svg}} [[Liberation Army of South Vietnam]]

*{{flagicon image|ANDPFV flag.svg}} [[Alliance of National, Democratic and Peace Forces]]

}}

| headquarters = {{unbulleted list|[[Tây Ninh]] (1960–1966) |[[Memot District|Memot]], [[Cambodia]] (1966–1972) |[[Lộc Ninh (township)|Lộc Ninh]], [[South Vietnam]] (1972–1975) |[[Saigon]] (1975–1977)}}

| area = [[Indochina]], with a focus on South Vietnam

| predecessor = {{flagicon|North Vietnam|1945}} [[Viet Minh]]

| successor = {{flagicon|Vietnam}} [[Vietnamese Fatherland Front|Fatherland Front]]

| allies = '''State allies:'''

*{{flag|North Vietnam}}

*{{flag|People's Republic of China}}

*{{flag|Soviet Union}}

*{{flagcountry|People's Socialist Republic of Albania}}

*{{flag|North Korea|1948}}

*{{flag|East Germany}}

*{{flag|Cuba}}

*{{flagcountry|Socialist Republic of Romania}}

*{{flag|Sweden}} (alleged)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Logevall |first=Fredrik |year=1993 |title=The Swedish-American Conflict over Vietnam |journal=Diplomatic History |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=421–445 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-7709.1993.tb00589.x |jstor=24912244}}</ref>

'''Non-state allies:'''

*{{flagdeco|Cambodia|1975}} [[Khmer Rouge]] (until 1975)

*{{flagdeco|Laos}} [[Pathet Lao]]

| opponents = '''State opponents:'''

*{{flag|South Vietnam}}

*{{flag|Khmer Republic}}

*{{flag|Kingdom of Laos}}

*{{flag|Australia}}

*{{flag|South Korea|1949}}

*{{flag|New Zealand}}

*{{flag|Philippines|1936}}

*{{flag|Republic of China (Taiwan)}}

*{{flag|Thailand}}

*{{flag|United States}}

'''Non-state opponents:'''

*{{flagicon image|Flag of FULRO.svg}} [[United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races|FULRO]]

| battles = [[Outline of the Vietnam War#Battles of the Vietnam War|See full list]]

}}

{{Contains special characters|Vietnamese}}

The '''Viet Cong'''{{refn|group=nb|{{langx|vi|Việt Cộng}}, {{IPA|vi|vîət kə̂wŋmˀ|pron|Vietcong.ogg}}; contraction of {{lang|vi|Việt Nam cộng sản}} (Vietnamese communist / Viet-communist)<ref name="Pentagon"/>}} ('''VC''') was an [[epithet]] and umbrella term to refer to the [[Communism|communist]]-driven armed movement and [[united front]] organization in [[South Vietnam]]. It was formally organized as and led by the '''National Liberation Front of South Vietnam''',{{refn|group=nb|Sometimes simply ''National Liberation Front'' (NLF)<br />

The NLF claimed that it was a national front of all elements opposed to the existing government, whether communist or not. Its military organization was known as the '''People's Liberation Armed Forces''' (PLA). U.S. soldiers came to refer to the NLF as "Viet Cong," (VC) from the Vietnamese term for Vietnamese Communist (''Viet Nam Cong San''). The term "Charlie" was [[NATO phonetic alphabet]] symbol for the letter "[[C]]," in reference to "communist."

{{langx|vi|Mặt trận Dân tộc Giải phóng miền Nam Việt Nam}}<br />

{{langx|fr|Front national de libération [du Sud Viêt Nam]}} (FNL)}} and conducted military operations under the name of the [[Liberation Army of South Vietnam]] (LASV). The movement fought under the direction of [[North Vietnam]] against the South Vietnamese and United States governments during the [[Vietnam War]]. The organization had both [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla]] and [[regular army]] units, as well as a network of [[Professional revolutionaries|cadres]] who organized and mobilized peasants in the territory the VC controlled. During the war, communist fighters and some [[Anti-war movement|anti-war activists]] claimed that the VC was an [[insurgency]] indigenous to the South that represented the legitimate rights of people in South Vietnam, while the U.S. and South Vietnamese governments portrayed the group as a tool of North Vietnam. It was later conceded by the [[Government of Vietnam|modern Vietnamese communist leadership]] that the movement was actually under the North Vietnamese political and military leadership, aiming to unify Vietnam under [[Vietnam|a single banner]].

North Vietnam established the NLF on December 20, 1960, at Tân Lập village in [[Tây Ninh|Tây Ninh Province]] to foment insurgency in the South. Many of the VC's core members were volunteer "regroupees", southern [[Viet Minh]] who had resettled in the North after the [[Geneva Conference (1954)|Geneva Accord]] (1954). Hanoi gave the regroupees military training and sent them back to the South along the [[Ho Chi Minh trail]] in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The VC called for the unification of Vietnam and the overthrow of the American-backed South Vietnamese government. The VC's best-known action was the [[Tet Offensive]], an assault on more than 100 South Vietnamese urban centers in 1968, including an attack on the [[Embassy of the United States, Saigon|U.S. embassy in Saigon]]. The offensive riveted the attention of the world's media for weeks, but also overextended the VC. Later communist offensives were conducted predominantly by the North Vietnamese. The organization officially merged with the [[Fatherland Front of Vietnam]] on February 4, 1977, after North and South Vietnam were officially [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam|unified]] under a communist government.

=== Organization ===

The NLF was nominally independent of the [[North Vietnam|North Vietnamese]] armed forces and not all NLF members were Communists. However, as the war with the Americans escalated North Vietnamese personnel increasingly formed the miltary [[Staff Officer|staff]] and [[officer corps]] of the NLF as well as directly deploying their own forces.

== Names ==

[[United States |American]] soldiers and the South Vietnam government typically referred to their [[guerrilla]] opponents as the "'''[[Viet Cong]]'''".

The term ''Việt Cộng'' appeared in [[Saigon]] newspapers beginning in 1956.<ref name="Pentagon">{{cite web |url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent14.htm |title=Origins of the Insurgency in South Vietnam, 1954–1960 |work=The Pentagon Papers |year=1971 |pages=242–314 |access-date=June 13, 2008 |archive-date=October 19, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019184424/https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent14.htm }}</ref> It is a contraction of {{lang|vi|Việt Nam cộng sản}} (Vietnamese communist).<ref name="Pentagon"/> The earliest citation for ''Viet Cong'' in English is from 1957.<ref>"Viet Cong", ''Oxford English Dictionary''</ref> American soldiers referred to the Viet Cong as Victor Charlie or VC. "Victor" and "Charlie" are both letters in the [[NATO phonetic alphabet]]. "Charlie" referred to communist forces in general, both VC and North Vietnamese [[People's Army of Vietnam]] (PAVN).

The official Vietnamese history gives the group's name as the Liberation Army of South Vietnam or the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (NLFSV; {{lang|vi|Mặt trận Dân tộc Giải phóng miền Nam Việt Nam}}).<ref name="Victory68">Military History Institute of Vietnam,(2002) ''Victory in Vietnam: The Official History of the People's Army of Vietnam, 1954–1975'', translated by Merle L. Pribbenow. University Press of Kansas. p. 68. {{ISBN|0-7006-1175-4}}.</ref><ref group="nb">Radio Hanoi called it the "National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam" in a January 1961 broadcast announcing the group's formation. In his memoirs, [[Võ Nguyên Giáp]] called the group the "South Vietnam National Liberation Front" ({{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9YbSAAAAIAAJ |title=The Military Art of People's War: Selected Writings of General Vo Nguyen Giap |year=1970 |pages=206, 208, 210 |author=Nguyên Giáp Võ, Russell Stetler |publisher=Monthly Review Press |isbn=978-0-85345-129-7 }}). See also the {{cite web |url=http://vietnam.vassar.edu/docnlf.html |title=Program of the National Liberation Front of South Viet-Nam |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100626065021/http://vietnam.vassar.edu/docnlf.html |archive-date=June 26, 2010 }} (1967).</ref> Many writers shorten this to National Liberation Front (NLF).<ref group="nb">The terminology "liberation front" is adapted from the earlier [[National Liberation Front (Greece)|Greek]] and [[National Liberation Front (Algeria)|Algerian]] National Liberation Fronts.</ref> In 1969, the NLF created the "[[Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam]]" (''Chính Phủ Cách Mạng Lâm Thời Cộng Hòa Miền Nam Việt Nam''), abbreviated PRG.<ref group="nb">This also follows terminology used earlier by leftists in Greece ([[Provisional Democratic Government]]) and Algeria ([[Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic]]).</ref> Although the NLF was not officially abolished until 1977, the NLF no longer used the name after the PRG was created. Members generally referred to the NLF as "the Front" (''Mặt trận'').<ref name="Pentagon"/> Today's Vietnamese media most frequently refers to the group as the "[[Liberation Army of South Vietnam]]" (''Quân Giải phóng Miền Nam Việt Nam'') .<ref>See, for example, [https://web.archive.org/web/20051104055722/http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01WAR100405 this story] in [http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn Viet Nam News], the official English-language newspaper.</ref>

In classic tactics of [[partisan]] warfare NLF aimed to create 'liberated zones' within South Vietnam, and the US/ARVN response - breaking up traditional villages and moving peasants to fortified hamlets - proved to be largely self-defeating, certainly in terms of public opinion in the United States itself.

==History==

In [[1969]], the NLF formed a provisional [[Republic of South Vietnam]] which took power briefly after the fall of [[Saigon]] in [[1975]] and before the reunification of the country under the leadership of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]] as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in [[1976]]. By this time non-Communist influence in the NLF had been eliminated.

===Origin===

The [[U.S. military]] complained that the NLF often diguised themselves as civilians, and thus U.S. troops could not tell the difference between the NLF and civilians. During the Vietnam War, U.S. policy was to treat captured NLF and North Vietnamese regulars as Enemy Prisoners of War under the [[Geneva Convention]] of [[1949]].

[[File:HoChiMinhTrial001.jpg|thumb|left|Soldiers and civilians took supplies south on the [[Ho Chi Minh trail]] (1959)]]

By the terms of the [[Geneva Accord (1954)]], which ended the [[Indochina War]], France and the [[Viet Minh]] agreed to a truce and to a separation of forces. The Viet Minh had become the government of North Vietnam, and military forces of the communists regrouped there. Military forces of the non-communists regrouped in [[South Vietnam]], which became a separate state. Elections on reunification were scheduled for July 1956. A divided Vietnam angered Vietnamese nationalists, but it made the country less of a threat to China. Chinese Premier [[Zhou Enlai]] negotiated the terms of the ceasefire with France and then imposed them on the Viet Minh.

== "Viet Cong" ==

[[Image:Vietcong2.jpg|thumb|A Viet Cong soldier, heavily guarded, awaits [[interrogation]] following capture in the attacks on [[Ho Chi Minh City|Saigon]] during the festive Tet holiday period of 1968. (T&#7893;ng ti&#7871;n công T&#7871;t M&#7853;u Thân)]]

About 90,000 Viet Minh were evacuated to the North while 5,000 to 10,000 cadre remained in the South, most of them with orders to refocus on political activity and agitation.<ref name="Pentagon"/> The Saigon-Cholon Peace Committee, the first VC front, was founded in 1954 to provide leadership for this group.<ref name="Pentagon"/> Other front names used by the VC in the 1950s implied that members were fighting for religious causes, for example, "Executive Committee of the Fatherland Front", which suggested affiliation with the [[Hòa Hảo]] sect, or "Vietnam-Cambodia Buddhist Association".<ref name="Pentagon"/> Front groups were favored by the VC to such an extent that its real leadership remained shadowy until long after the war was over, prompting the expression "the faceless Viet Cong".<ref name="Pentagon"/>[[File:Enemy situation, early 1964.jpg|thumb|US Military map of Communist forces in South Vietnam in early 1964]]

'''Viet Cong''' (Vi&#7879;t C&#7897;ng) was the general name used by [[South Vietnam|South Vietnamese]] and allied soldiers in [[Vietnam]], as well as by much of the [[English language]] media to refer to the armed insurgents fighting against the [[Republic of Vietnam]] during the [[Vietnam War]]. The name was derived from a contraction for the [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]] phrase ''Vi&#7879;t Nam C&#7897;ng S&#7843;n'', or "Vietnamese Communist." The primary group covered by the term is the guerrilla army formally named the '''People's Liberation Armed Forces''' (PLAF), the military of the '''[[National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam|National Front for the Liberation of Southern Vietnam]]''' ([[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]] M&#7863;t Tr&#7853;n Gi&#7843;i Phóng Mi&#7873;n Nam Vi&#7879;t Nam) or '''National Liberation Front''' (NLF). In areas under its control the NLF also included many non-military cadres, including village chiefs, village clerks, and school teachers. Many consider the term Viet Cong fairly derogatory, although its widespread use in the United States and [[Europe]] since the Vietnam War has made the term better known than the proper name of the NLF.

Led by [[Ngô Đình Diệm]], South Vietnam refused to sign the Geneva Accord. Arguing that a free election was impossible under the conditions that existed in communist-held territory, Diệm announced in July 1955 that the scheduled election on reunification would not be held. After subduing the [[Bình Xuyên]] organized crime gang in the [[Battle for Saigon]] in 1955, and the Hòa Hảo and other militant religious sects in early 1956, Diệm turned his attention to the VC.<ref>Karnow, p. 238.</ref> Within a few months, the Viet Cong had been driven into remote swamps.<ref name="Karnow245">Karnow, p. 245.</ref> The success of this campaign inspired U.S. President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Dwight Eisenhower]] to dub Diệm the "miracle man" when he visited the U.S. in May 1957.<ref name="Karnow245"/> France withdrew its last soldiers from Vietnam in April 1956.<ref name="HistPlace">{{cite web |title= The History Place&nbsp;— Vietnam War 1945–1960 |url= http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1945.html |access-date = June 11, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312070611/http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1945.html|archive-date= March 12, 2023}}</ref>

This expression originated with and was used by the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) government of [[South Vietnam]] under President [[Ngo Dinh Diem]]. It was originally a general term used to describe his political opponents, many (but not all) of whom were [[Communism|Communist]]s. Its use became widespread in Vietnam after the [[1954]] partition of the country between the RVN in the south and the Communist [[North Vietnam|Democratic Republic of Vietnam]] (DRVN) in the north. The NLF and its [[guerrilla]] army, the [[People's Liberation Armed Forces]] (PLAF), never used the name "Viet Cong" to refer to themselves, and always asserted that they were a national front of all anti-RVN forces, Communist or not. They received support from the North Vietnamese government and military.

In March 1956, southern communist leader [[Lê Duẩn]] presented a plan to revive the insurgency entitled "The Road to the South" to the other members of the [[Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam|Politburo]] in Hanoi.<ref name="Ang16">{{cite book |first=Cheng Guan |last=Ang |title=The Vietnam War from the Other Side |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4OgLBUXHikIC |year=2002 |publisher=RoutledgeCurzon |isbn=0-7007-1615-7 |page= 16}}</ref> He argued adamantly that war with the United States was necessary to achieve unification.<ref name="Ang21">Ang, p. 21</ref> But as China and the Soviets both opposed confrontation at this time, Lê Duẩn's plan was rejected and communists in the South were ordered to limit themselves to economic struggle.<ref name="Ang16"/> Leadership divided into a "North first", or pro-Beijing, faction led by [[Trường Chinh]], and a "South first" faction led by Lê Duẩn.

Due to the very close ties between the National Liberation Front and the North Vietnamese government, some have alleged that the NLF was a puppet of the North Vietnamese. Indeed, by the end of the war only 25% of Communist forces were part of the Viet Cong, and 75% were North Vietnamese. The NLF, for its part, never denied its ties to Hanoi, but always affirmed that it was an independent organization.

As the [[Sino-Soviet split]] widened in the following months, Hanoi began to play the two communist giants off against each other. The North Vietnamese leadership approved tentative measures to revive the southern insurgency in December 1956.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Olson |first=James |author2=Randy Roberts |title= Where the Domino Fell: America and Vietnam, 1945–1990| page= 67 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |___location=New York |year= 1991}} This decision was made at the 11th Plenary Session of the Lao Động Central Committee.</ref> Lê Duẩn's blueprint for revolution in the South was approved in principle, but implementation was conditional on winning international support and on modernizing the army, which was expected to take at least until 1959.<ref>Ang, p. 19</ref> President [[Hồ Chí Minh]] stressed that violence was still a last resort.<ref>{{cite book |author= Võ Nguyên Giáp |author-link= Võ Nguyên Giáp |chapter=The Political and Military Line of Our Party |title=The Military Art of People's War: Selected Writings of General Vo Nguyen Giap |pages= 179–80}}</ref> Nguyễn Hữu Xuyên was assigned military command in the South,<ref>Ang, p. 20.</ref> replacing Lê Duẩn, who was appointed North Vietnam's acting party boss. This represented a loss of power for Hồ, who preferred the more moderate [[Võ Nguyên Giáp]], who was defense minister.<ref name="Ang21"/>

In U.S. military usage ''Viet Cong'' was the successor term to [[Viet Minh]], which described the forces led by [[Ho Chi Minh]] against the [[France|French]] for the independence of [[Viet Nam]] in the [[First Indochina War]], from [[1945]] to [[1954]]; however, unlike the term ''Viet Minh'', which described all of the forces fighting France, ''Viet Cong'' specifically referred only to the insurgent forces in [[South Vietnam]]. [[North Vietnam]]'s regular army forces were described as ''PAVN'' ([[People's Army of Vietnam]]) or simply ''North Vietnamese Army'' (Quân &#273;&#7897;i B&#7855;c Vi&#7879;t).

[[File:Starved Vietnamese man, 1966.JPEG|thumb|left|upright|A photo from the U.S. Information Agency allegedly showing a 23-year-old Le Van Than, who had defected from the Communist forces and joined the South Vietnam Government side and was later recaptured by the Viet Cong and spent a month in a Viet Cong internment camp.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/541979|title=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 |website=US National Archives Catalog|year=1966|access-date= August 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230504024629/https://catalog.archives.gov/id/541979|archive-date= May 4, 2023}}</ref>]]

In [[1969]], the National Front formed a provisional [[Republic of South Vietnam]] which took power briefly after the fall of [[Saigon]] in [[1975]] and before the reunification of the country under the leadership of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]] as the [[Vietnam|Socialist Republic of Vietnam]] in [[1976]].

An assassination campaign, referred to as "extermination of traitors" <ref name="McNamera35">{{cite book |last1= McNamera |first1= Robert S.|last2= Blight |first2= James G.|last3= Brigham |first3= Robert K. |title= Argument Without End |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O0sBl9BuPYYC |year=1999 |isbn=1-891620-22-3 |page= 35|publisher= PublicAffairs}}</ref> or "armed propaganda" in communist literature, began in April 1957. Tales of sensational murder and mayhem soon crowded the headlines.<ref name="Pentagon"/> Seventeen civilians were killed by machine gun fire at a bar in [[Châu Đốc]] in July and in September a district chief was killed with his entire family on a main highway in broad daylight.<ref name="Pentagon"/> In October 1957, a series of bombs exploded in Saigon and left 13 Americans wounded.<ref name="Pentagon"/>

The U.S. military complained that the Viet Cong often appeared to be part of the civilian population, and thus U.S. troops could not tell the difference between the Viet Cong insurgents and peaceful civilians. During the Vietnam War, U.S. stated policy was to treat captured Viet Cong and North Vietnamese regulars as Enemy Prisoners of War under the Geneva Convention of 1949.

In a speech given on September 2, 1957, Hồ reiterated the "North first" line of economic struggle.<ref>Ang, p. 23.</ref> The launch of [[Sputnik]] in October boosted Soviet confidence and led to a reassessment of policy regarding [[Indochina]], long treated as a Chinese sphere of influence. In November, Hồ traveled to Moscow with Lê Duẩn and gained approval for a more militant line.<ref name="Ang24">Ang, pp. 24–25.</ref> In early 1958, Lê Duẩn met with the leaders of "Inter-zone V" (northern South Vietnam) and ordered the establishment of patrols and safe areas to provide logistical support for activity in the Mekong Delta and in urban areas.<ref name="Ang24"/> In June 1958, the VC created a command structure for the eastern Mekong Delta.<ref name="Karnow693">Karnow, p. 693.</ref> 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.<ref name="Pentagon"/>

The U.S. military term "[[Charlie]]" was slang for Viet Cong. VC (Viet Cong) in the [[radio alphabet]] is Victor Charlie, which was then shortened to just Charlie.

===Launches armed struggle===

==See also==

The Communist Party of Vietnam approved a "people's war" on the South at a session in January 1959 and this decision was confirmed by the [[Politburo]] in March.<ref name="HistPlace"/> 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. About 500 of the "regroupees" of 1954 were sent south on the trail during its first year of operation.<ref name="Victory-xi">''Victory in Vietnam'', p. xi.</ref> The first arms delivery via the trail, a few dozen rifles, was completed in August 1959.<ref name="Prados">Prados, John, (2006) "The Road South: The Ho Chi Minh Trail", ''Rolling Thunder in a Gentle Land'', editor By Andrew A. Wiest, Osprey Publishing, {{ISBN|1-84603-020-X}}.</ref>

*[[Phoenix Program]]

Two regional command centers were merged to create the [[Central Office for South Vietnam]] (''Trung ương Cục miền Nam''), a unified communist party headquarters for the South.<ref name="HistPlace"/> COSVN was initially located in [[Tây Ninh]] Province near the Cambodian border. On July 8, the VC killed two U.S. military advisors at [[Biên Hòa]], the first American dead of the Vietnam War.<ref group=nb>Major [[Dale R. Buis]] and Master Sergeant [[Charles Ovnand]], the first names to appear on the [[Vietnam Veterans Memorial]].</ref> The "2d Liberation Battalion" ambushed two companies of South Vietnamese soldiers in September 1959, the first large unit military action of the war.<ref name="Pentagon"/> This was considered the beginning of the "armed struggle" in communist accounts.<ref name="Pentagon"/> A series of uprisings beginning in the [[Mekong Delta]] province of [[Bến Tre]] in January 1960 created "liberated zones", models of VC-style government. Propagandists celebrated their creation of battalions of "long-hair troops" (women).<ref name="Gettleman187">{{cite book |last= Gettleman |first= Marvin E. |author2=Jane Franklin |author3=Marilyn Young |title= Vietnam and America |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=SVtNalqmYgAC |publisher= Grove Press |year=1995 |isbn= 0-8021-3362-2 |page= 187}}</ref> The fiery declarations of 1959 were followed by a lull while Hanoi focused on events in [[Laos]] (1960–61).<ref>Ang, p. 7.</ref> Moscow favored reducing international tensions in 1960, as it was election year for the U.S. presidency.<ref group=nb>This is sometimes referred to as the "Genoa Policy" and later inspired Khrushchev to take credit for Kennedy's election.({{cite book |last= Lynn-Jones |first= Sean M. |author2=Steven E. Miller |author3=Stephen Van Evera |title= Soviet Military Policy: An International Security Reader |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Zb_q4i9faI4C |year= 1989 |page= 28 |publisher= MIT Press |isbn= 0-262-62066-9}})</ref> Despite this, 1960 was a year of unrest in South Vietnam, with pro-democracy demonstrations inspired by the [[South Korea]]n student uprising that year and a failed military coup in November.<ref name="Pentagon"/>

== Games ==

* [[Vietcong (Game)|Vietcong]]

[[File:1964 Brinks Hotel bombing.JPG|thumb|right|[[1964 Brinks Hotel bombing|Brinks Hotel]], Saigon, following a Viet Cong bombing on December 24, 1964. Two American officers were killed.]]

To counter the accusation that North Vietnam was violating the Geneva Accord, the independence of the VC was stressed in communist propaganda. The VC created the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam in December 1960 at Tân Lập village in Tây Ninh as a "[[united front]]", or political branch intended to encourage the participation of non-communists.<ref name="Ang58">Ang, p. 58.</ref> The group's formation was announced by Radio Hanoi and its ten-point manifesto called for, "overthrow the disguised colonial regime of the imperialists and the dictatorial administration, and to form a national and democratic coalition administration."<ref name="Pentagon" /> Thọ, a lawyer and the VC's "neutralist" chairman, was an isolated figure among cadres and soldiers. South Vietnam's Law 10/59, approved in May 1959, authorized the death penalty for crimes "against the security of the state" and featured prominently in VC propaganda.<ref>Gettleman, p. 156.</ref> Violence between the VC and government forces soon increased drastically from 180 clashes in January 1960 to 545 clashes in September.<ref name= cmh>{{cite book

|url = http://www.history.army.mil/BOOKS/Vietnam/90-23/90-23C.htm

|title = History of Special Forces in Vietnam, 1961–1971

|publisher = [[United States Army Center of Military History]]

|first = Francis John

|last = Kelly

|orig-date = 1973

|year = 1989

|___location = Washington, D.C.

|id = CMH Pub 90-23

|page = 4

|access-date = August 5, 2010

|archive-date = February 12, 2014

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140212151656/http://www.history.army.mil/books/Vietnam/90-23/90-23C.htm

}}</ref><ref name= Vo>Nghia M. Vo Saigon: A History 2011 – Page 140 "... on December 19 to 20, 1960, Nguyễn Hữu Thọ, a Saigon lawyer, Trương Như Tảng, chief comptroller of a bank, Drs. Dương Quỳnh Hoa and Phùng Văn Cung, along with other dissidents, met with communists to form the National Liberation Front..."</ref>

By 1960, the Sino-Soviet split was a public rivalry, making China more supportive of Hanoi's war effort.<ref>{{cite book |last=Zhai |first= Qiang |title= China and the Vietnam Wars, 1950–1975 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=A3RGSQlasIUC |page= 83 |year=2000 |publisher= Univ of North Carolina Press |isbn= 0-8078-4842-5}}</ref> For Chinese leader [[Mao Zedong]], aid to North Vietnam was a way to enhance his "anti-imperialist" credentials for both domestic and international audiences.<ref>Zhai, p. 5.</ref> About 40,000 communist soldiers infiltrated the South in 1961–63.<ref>Ang, p. 76.</ref> The VC grew rapidly; an estimated 300,000 members were enrolled in "liberation associations" (affiliated groups) by early 1962.<ref name="Pentagon"/> The ratio of VC to government soldiers jumped from 1:10 in 1961 to 1:5 a year later.<ref name="Victory-xii">''Victory in Vietnam'', p. xii.</ref>

[[File:Vietconginterrogation1967.jpg|thumb|left|A Viet Cong prisoner captured in 1967 by the U.S. Army awaits interrogation.]]

The level of violence in the South jumped dramatically in the fall of 1961, from 50 guerrilla attacks in September to 150 in October.<ref>Ang, p. 113.</ref> U.S. President [[John F. Kennedy]] decided in November 1961 to substantially increase American military aid to South Vietnam.<ref name="historynet">{{cite web |last=Pribbenow |first= Merle |title=North Vietnam's Master Plan |url=http://www.historynet.com/north-vietnams-master-plan.htm |work= Vietnam |date= August 1999|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409052605/https://www.historynet.com/north-vietnams-master-plan/?f|archive-date=April 9, 2023}}</ref> The {{USS|Core|CVE-13|6}} arrived in Saigon with 35 helicopters in December 1961. By mid-1962, there were 12,000 U.S. military advisors in Vietnam.<ref>Karnow, p.694</ref> The "special war" and "strategic hamlets" policies allowed Saigon to push back in 1962, but in 1963 the VC regained the military initiative.<ref name="Victory-xii"/> The VC won its first military victory against South Vietnamese forces at [[Battle of Ap Bac|Ấp Bắc]] in January 1963.

A landmark party meeting was held in December 1963, shortly after a military coup in Saigon in which Diệm was assassinated. North Vietnamese leaders debated the issue of "quick victory" vs "protracted war" (guerrilla warfare).<ref name="Ang74">Ang, p. 74–75.</ref> After this meeting, the communist side geared up for a maximum military effort and the troop strength of the PAVN increased from 174,000 at the end of 1963 to 300,000 in 1964.<ref name="Ang74"/> The Soviets cut aid in 1964 as an expression of annoyance with Hanoi's ties to China.<ref name="Zhai128">Zhai, p. 128.</ref><ref group=nb>There was also a U.S. presidential election in 1964.</ref> Even as Hanoi embraced China's international line, it continued to follow the Soviet model of reliance on technical specialists and bureaucratic management, as opposed to mass mobilization.<ref name="Zhai128"/> The winter of 1964–1965 was a high-water mark for the VC, with the Saigon government on the verge of collapse.<ref name="Victory-xiii">''Victory in Vietnam'', p. xiii.</ref> Soviet aid soared following a visit to Hanoi by Soviet Premier [[Alexei Kosygin]] in February 1965.<ref name="Karnow427">Karnow, p. 427.</ref> Hanoi was soon receiving up-to-date surface-to-air missiles.<ref name="Karnow427"/> The U.S. would have 200,000 soldiers in South Vietnam by the end of the year.<ref name="libcom">{{cite web |title=1957–1975: The Vietnam War |url=http://libcom.org/history/1957-1975-the-vietnam-war |work=libcom|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517200320/https://libcom.org/article/1957-1975-vietnam-war|archive-date=May 17, 2022}}</ref>

[[File:A-1E drops white phosphorus bomb 1966.jpg|thumb|A U.S. Air Force [[Douglas A-1 Skyraider|Douglas Skyraider]] drops a [[White phosphorus munitions|white phosphorus bomb]] on a Viet Cong position in South Vietnam in 1966.]]

In January 1966, Australian troops uncovered a tunnel complex that had been used by COSVN.<ref name="Digger">{{Cite web |title=VC Tunnels |url=http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-conflicts-periods/vietnam/tunnels.htm |work=Digger History}}</ref> Six thousand documents were captured, revealing the inner workings of the VC. COSVN retreated to [[Mimot]] in [[Cambodia]]. As a result of an agreement with the Cambodian government made in 1966, weapons for the Viet Cong were shipped to the Cambodian port of [[Sihanoukville (city)|Sihanoukville]] and then trucked to VC bases near the border along the "[[Sihanouk Trail]]", which replaced the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Many VC units operated at night,<ref>{{Cite book |last= Zumbro |first= Ralph |title=Tank Sergeant |publisher=Presidio Press |year=1986 |isbn= 978-0-517-07201-1 |pages= 27–28, 115}} The VC were commonly referred to by the Vietnamese rural population as "night bandits" or the "night government".</ref> and employed terror as a standard tactic.<ref>Zumbro, pp. 25, 33</ref> Rice procured at gunpoint sustained the Viet Cong.<ref>Zumbro, p. 32.</ref> Squads were assigned monthly assassination quotas.<ref name="human">U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, ''[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112041209948 The Human Cost of Communism in Vietnam]'' (1972), p. 8-49.</ref> Government employees, especially village and district heads, were the most common targets. But there were a wide variety of targets, including clinics and medical personnel.<ref name="human"/> Notable VC atrocities include the massacre of [[Massacre at Huế|over 3,000 unarmed civilians]] at [[Huế]], 48 killed in the bombing of My Canh floating restaurant in Saigon in June 1965<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://phulam.com/mycanh.htm|title=The My Canh Restaurant bombing|access-date=July 30, 2008|archive-date=November 25, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125043130/http://phulam.com/mycanh.htm}}</ref> and a massacre of 252 [[Montagnard (Vietnam)|Montagnard]]s in the village of [[Đắk Sơn]] in December 1967 using flamethrowers.<ref name="Dakson">Krohn, Charles, A., ''The Last Battalion: Controversies and Casualties of the Battle of Hue''. pg. 30. Westport 1993.<br />Jones, C. Don, ''[http://www.deathinthehighlands.com/images/Dak_Son_Massacre.pdf Massacre at Dak Son] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129175530/http://www.deathinthehighlands.com/images/Dak_Son_Massacre.pdf |date=November 29, 2014 }}'', United States Information Service, 1967

<br />{{cite news |title= On the Other Side: Terror as Policy |url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901626,00.html?promoid=googlep |magazine= Time |date= December 5, 1969 |access-date= July 17, 2008 |archive-date= May 22, 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130522205231/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901626,00.html?promoid=googlep }}<br />{{cite news |title=The Massacre of Dak Son |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,837586,00.html |magazine=Time |date=December 15, 1967 |access-date=June 15, 2008 |archive-date=July 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130721101649/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,837586,00.html }} Pictures of Dak Son can be viewed {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20200219153831/http://vnafmamn.com/VNWar_atrocities.html here]}}.</ref> VC death squads assassinated at least 37,000 civilians in South Vietnam; the real figure was far higher since the data mostly cover 1967–72. They also waged a mass murder campaign against civilian hamlets and refugee camps; in the peak war years, nearly a third of all civilian deaths were the result of VC atrocities.<ref>[[Guenter Lewy]], ''America in Vietnam'', (Oxford University Press, 1978), pp272-3, 448–9.</ref> Ami Pedahzur has written that "the overall volume and lethality of Vietcong terrorism rivals or exceeds all but a handful of terrorist campaigns waged over the last third of the twentieth century".<ref>Pedahzur, Ami (2006), ''Root Causes of Suicide Terrorism: The Globalization of Martyrdom'', Taylor & Francis, p.116.</ref>

[[File:Viet Cong Captives Dong Ha, RVN 1968.jpg|thumb|Viet Cong soldiers captured by US Marines outside of Dong Ha, RVN 1968]]

===Logistics and equipment===

{{Main|Viet Cong and PAVN logistics and equipment}}

[[File:Viet Cong soldier DD-ST-99-04298.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Viet Cong soldier stands beneath a Viet Cong flag with an [[AK-47]] rifle.|alt=Looking from the waist up, a man wearing a hat and holding an assault rifle with one hand holding the magazine and the other on the pistol grip]]

===Tet Offensive===

Major reversals in 1966 and 1967, as well as the growing American presence in Vietnam, inspired Hanoi to consult its allies and reassess strategy in April 1967. While Beijing urged a fight to the finish, Moscow suggested a negotiated settlement.<ref>Ang, p. 115.</ref> Convinced that 1968 could be the last chance for decisive victory, General [[Nguyễn Chí Thanh]], suggested an all-out offensive against urban centers.<ref name="Ang116-7">Ang, pp. 116–117.</ref><ref group=nb>Disappointed with the results of the 1964 U.S. presidential election, the Kremlin did not try to influence the election of 1968. Desiring "businesslike" relations, the Kremlin favored incumbent [[Richard Nixon]] against left-wing challenger [[George McGovern]] in 1972. (Lynn-Jones, p. 29).</ref> He submitted a plan to Hanoi in May 1967.<ref name="Ang116-7"/> After Thanh's death in July, Giáp was assigned to implement this plan, now known as the [[Tet Offensive]]. The [[Parrot's Beak, Cambodia|Parrot's Beak]], an area in Cambodia only {{convert|30|mi}} from Saigon, was prepared as a base of operations.<ref name="Westmoreland345">{{Cite journal |last= Westmoreland |first= William |title= The Year of Decision—1968}} {{cite book |editor1= Marvin E. Gettleman |editor2=Jane Franklin |editor3=Marilyn Young |title= Vietnam and America |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SVtNalqmYgAC |isbn= 0-8021-3362-2 |page= 345 |author1= Gettleman, Marvin E |year= 1995|publisher=Grove Press }}</ref> Funeral processions were used to smuggle weapons into Saigon.<ref name="Westmoreland345"/> VC entered the cities concealed among civilians returning home for [[Tết]].<ref name="Westmoreland345"/> The U.S. and South Vietnamese expected that an announced seven-day truce would be observed during Vietnam's main holiday.

[[Image:Vietnampropaganda.png|thumb|right|A U.S. propaganda leaflet urges Viet Cong to defect using the [[Chiêu Hồi]] Program.]]

At this point, there were about 500,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam,<ref name="libcom"/> as well as 900,000 allied forces.<ref name="Westmoreland345"/> 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 [[Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone|DMZ]].<ref>Westmoreland, p. 344 (editor's note).</ref> In January and February 1968, some 80,000 VC struck more than 100 towns with orders to "crack the sky" and "shake the Earth."<ref>{{cite book |first=Clark |last=Dougan |author2=Stephen Weiss |title=Nineteen Sixty-Eight |url=https://archive.org/details/nineteensixtyeig00doug |url-access=registration |publisher= Boston Publishing Company |___location= Boston |year=1983 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/nineteensixtyeig00doug/page/8 8], 10|isbn=978-0-939526-06-2 }}</ref> The offensive included a commando raid on the [[U.S. Embassy in Saigon]] and the massacre at Huế of about 3,500 residents.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,839103,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071204184428/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,839103,00.html |archive-date=December 4, 2007 |title=The Massacre of Hue |magazine=Time |date= October 31, 1969}}<br />{{cite web |last=Pike |first= Douglas |url=http://www.kysales.com/massacre_at_hue.htm |title=Viet Cong Strategy of Terror |pages= 23–39|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206162435/http://www.kysales.com/massacre_at_hue.htm|archive-date= December 6, 2022}}</ref> House-to-house fighting between VC and [[South Vietnamese Rangers]] left much of [[Chợ Lớn, Ho Chi Minh City|Cholon]], a section of Saigon, in ruins. The VC used any available tactic to demoralize and intimidate the population, including the assassination of South Vietnamese commanders.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kearny |first=Cresson H. (Maj) |title=Jungle Snafus...and Remedies |publisher=Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine |year= 1997 |page= 327}}</ref> A photo by [[Eddie Adams (photographer)|Eddie Adams]] showing the [[Saigon Execution|summary execution of a VC]] in Saigon on February 1 became a symbol of the brutality of the war.<ref name="Lee">{{cite news |last=Lee |first=Nathan |title=A Dark Glimpse From Eddie Adams's Camera |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/10/movies/10weap.html?_r=1&ref=arts |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=April 10, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615191635/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/10/movies/10weap.html?_r=1&ref=arts|archive-date=June 15, 2018}}</ref> In an influential broadcast on February 27, newsman [[Walter Cronkite]] stated that the war was a "stalemate" and could be ended only by negotiation.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.alvernia.edu/cgi-bin/mt/text/archives/000194.html |title=Walter Cronkite on the Tet Offensive |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719082223/http://www.alvernia.edu/cgi-bin/mt/text/archives/000194.html |archive-date=July 19, 2008 }}</ref>

The offensive was undertaken in the hope of triggering a general uprising, but urban Vietnamese did not respond as the VC anticipated. About 75,000 VC/PAVN soldiers were killed or wounded, according to [[Trần Văn Trà]], commander of the "B-2" district, which consisted of southern South Vietnam.<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Tran Van Tra |title=Tet}} in {{cite book |last=Warner |first=Jayne S. Warner |title=The Vietnam War: Vietnamese and American Perspectives |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |year=1993 |editor1=Luu Doan Huynh |___location=Armonk, NY |pages=49–50}}.</ref> "We did not base ourselves on scientific calculation or a careful weighing of all factors, but...on an illusion based on our subjective desires", Trà concluded.<ref>{{cite web |author=Tran Van Tra |title=Comments on Tet '68 |url= http://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~ebolt/history398/TranVanTrasCommentsOnTet68_2.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807080937/https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~ebolt/history398/TranVanTrasCommentsOnTet68_2.html|archive-date=August 7, 2011}}</ref> [[Earle G. Wheeler]], chairman of the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]], estimated that Tet resulted in 40,000 communist dead<ref name="VNATM">{{cite web |url=http://www.i-served.com/v-v-a-r.org/VietnamAndTheMedia_part03.html |title=Vietnam Veterans for Academic Reform |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226221928/http://www.i-served.com/v-v-a-r.org/VietnamAndTheMedia_part03.html |archive-date=February 26, 2009 }}</ref> (compared to about 10,600 U.S. and South Vietnamese dead). "It is a major irony of the Vietnam War that our propaganda transformed this debacle into a brilliant victory. The truth was that Tet cost us half our forces. Our losses were so immense that we were unable to replace them with new recruits", said PRG Justice Minister [[Trương Như Tảng]].<ref name="VNATM"/> Tet had a profound psychological impact because South Vietnamese cities were otherwise safe areas during the war.<ref>{{cite news |last=Crowell |first=Todd Crowell |title=The Tet Offensive and Iraq |url=http://hnn.us/roundup/comments/31297.html |date=October 29, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090823000026/http://hnn.us/roundup/comments/31297.html |archive-date=August 23, 2009 }}</ref> U.S. President [[Lyndon Johnson]] and Westmoreland argued that panicky news coverage gave the public the unfair perception that America had been defeated.<ref>{{cite book |last= Aron |first= Paul |title= Mysteries in History |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=82zu_Aw5VFgC |isbn= 1-85109-899-2 |page= 404 |date= November 7, 2005|publisher= Bloomsbury Academic }}</ref>

Aside from some districts in the Mekong Delta, the VC failed to create a governing apparatus in South Vietnam following Tet, according to an assessment of captured documents by the U.S. [[CIA]].<ref name="CIA">{{cite web |title=Failure of the Viet Cong to establish liberation committees |url=http://library2.usask.ca/vietnam/index.php?state=view&id=1210 |work=Declassified CIA Documents on the Vietnam War |date= February 22, 1991|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307201509/https://library.usask.ca/vietnam/index.php?state=view&id=1210|archive-date= March 7, 2021}}</ref> The breakup of larger VC units increased the effectiveness of the CIA's [[Phoenix Program]] (1968–72), which targeted individual leaders, as well as the [[Chiêu Hồi]] Program, which encouraged defections. By the end of 1969, there was little communist-held territory, or "liberated zones", in the rural lowlands of [[Cochinchina|Cochin China]], according to the official communist military history.<ref>"Victory in Vietnam: The Official History of the People's Army of Vietnam, 1954–1975." University Press of Kansas, May 2002 (original 1995). Translation by Merle L. Pribbenow. Page 246.</ref> The US military believed that 70 percent of communist main-force combat troops in the South were northerners,<ref name="Porter-26">{{cite book |last=Porter |first=Gareth |title=Vietnam: The Politics of Bureaucratic Socialism |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=RFEAZOoEBn0C |year=1993 |page= 26 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0-8014-2168-6}}</ref> but most communist military personnel were not main-force combat troops. Even in early 1970, MACV estimated that northerners made up no more than 45 percent of communist military forces overall in South Vietnam.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://vva.vietnam.ttu.edu/images.php?img=/images/F0159/F015900080736a.pdf | title=Order of Battle Summary, 1 - 28 February 1970 | publisher=Combined Intelligence Center Vietnam | access-date=May 30, 2024}} (Virtual Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University, item #F015900080736), page I-1. MACV estimates of enemy strength were not very reliable, but their political bias if any should have been to exaggerate the proportion of northerners.</ref>

The VC created an urban front in 1968 called the '''Alliance of National, Democratic, and Peace Forces'''.<ref name="Porter27">Porter, pp. 27–29</ref> The group's manifesto called for an independent, non-aligned South Vietnam and stated that "national reunification cannot be achieved overnight."<ref name="Porter27"/> In June 1969, the alliance merged with the VC to form a "Provisional Revolutionary Government" (PRG).

===Vietnamization===

The Tet Offensive increased American public discontent with participation in the Vietnam War and led the U.S. to gradually withdraw combat forces and to shift responsibility to the South Vietnamese, a process called [[Vietnamization]]. Pushed into Cambodia, the VC could no longer draw South Vietnamese recruits.<ref name="Porter-26"/> In May 1968, Trường Chinh urged "protracted war" in a speech that was published prominently in the official media, so the fortunes of his "North first" faction may have revived at this time.<ref>Ang, p. 138.</ref> COSVN rejected this view as "lacking resolution and absolute determination."<ref>Ang, p. 139.</ref> The Soviet invasion of [[Czechoslovakia]] in August 1968 led to intense Sino-Soviet tension and to the withdrawal of Chinese forces from North Vietnam. Beginning in February 1970, Lê Duẩn's prominence in the official media increased, suggesting that he was again top leader and had regained the upper hand in his longstanding rivalry with Trường Chinh.<ref>Ang, p. 53.</ref> After the overthrow of Prince [[Sihanouk]] in March 1970, the VC faced a hostile Cambodian government which authorized a U.S. offensive against its bases in April. However, the capture of the [[Plain of Jars]] and other territory in Laos, as well as five provinces in northeastern Cambodia, allowed the North Vietnamese to reopen the Ho Chi Minh trail.<ref name="Ang52">Ang, p. 52.</ref> Although 1970 was a much better year for the VC than 1969,<ref name="Ang52"/> it would never again be more than an adjunct to the PAVN. The 1972 [[Easter Offensive]] was a direct North Vietnamese attack across the DMZ.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vietnampix.com/popvc.htm|title=The Vietcong|website=www.vietnampix.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221005082704/http://vietnampix.com/popvc.htm|archive-date= October 5, 2022}}</ref> Despite the [[Paris Peace Accords]], signed by all parties in January 1973, fighting continued. In March, Trà was recalled to Hanoi for a series of meetings to hammer out a plan for an enormous offensive against Saigon.<ref>Karnow, p. 673.</ref>[[File:VC carrying POW in litter DD-ST-99-04295.JPG|thumb|left|Viet Cong soldiers carry an injured American POW to a [[prisoner swap]] in 1973. The VC uniform was a floppy jungle hat, rubber sandals, and green fatigues without rank or insignia.<ref>{{cite web |author= Tran Van Tra |title= Vietnam: History of the Bulwark B2 Theatre |url= http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resources/csi/tra/csirp_vhbbt.html#48 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090528195125/http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resources/csi/tra/csirp_vhbbt.html#48 |archive-date= May 28, 2009 }}</ref>]]

===Fall of Saigon===

{{further|Fall of Saigon}}

In response to the [[Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War|anti-war movement]], the U.S. Congress passed the [[Case–Church Amendment]] to prohibit further U.S. military intervention in Vietnam in June 1973 and reduced aid to South Vietnam in August 1974.<ref>Karnow, pp 644–645.</ref> With U.S. bombing ended, communist logistical preparations could be accelerated. An oil pipeline was built from North Vietnam to VC headquarters in [[Lộc Ninh, Bình Phước|Lộc Ninh]], about {{convert|75|mi}} northwest of Saigon. (COSVN was moved back to South Vietnam following the Easter Offensive.) The Ho Chi Minh Trail, beginning as a series of treacherous mountain tracks at the start of the war, was upgraded throughout the war, first into a road network driveable by trucks in the dry season, and finally, into paved, all-weather roads that could be used year-round, even during the [[monsoon]].<ref name="Kar672-74">Karnow. pp. 672–74.</ref> Between the beginning of 1974 and April 1975, with now-excellent roads and no fear of air interdiction, the North delivered nearly 365,000 tons of [[Materiel|war matériel]] to battlefields, 2.6 times the total for the previous 13 years.<ref name="Whitcomb">{{Cite web |last=Whitcomb |first=Col Darrel |title=Victory in Vietnam: The Official History of the People's Army of Vietnam, 1954–1975 (book review) |url=http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/bookrev/pribbenow.html |work=Air & Space Power Journal |date=Summer 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207103945/http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/bookrev/pribbenow.html |archive-date=February 7, 2009 }}</ref>

The success of the 1973–74 dry season offensive convinced Hanoi to accelerate its timetable. When there was no U.S. response to a successful PAVN attack on [[Battle of Phước Long|Phước Bình]] in January 1975, South Vietnamese morale collapsed. The next major battle, at [[Battle of Ban Me Thuot|Buôn Ma Thuột]] in March, was a walkover. After the [[fall of Saigon]] on April 30, 1975, the PRG moved into government offices there. At the victory parade, Tạng noticed that the units formerly dominated by southerners were missing, replaced by northerners years earlier.<ref name="Porter-26"/> The bureaucracy of the Republic of Vietnam was uprooted and authority over the South was assigned to the PAVN. People considered tainted by association with the former South Vietnamese government were sent to [[Re-education camp (Vietnam)|re-education camps]], despite the protests of the non-communist PRG members including Tạng.<ref name="Porter29">Porter, p. 29</ref> Without consulting the PRG, North Vietnamese leaders decided to rapidly dissolve the PRG at a party meeting in August 1975.<ref name="Porter28">Porter, p. 28.</ref> North and South were merged as the [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam]] in July 1976 and the PRG was dissolved. The VC was merged with the [[Vietnamese Fatherland Front]] on February 4, 1977.<ref name="Porter29"/>

==Relationship with North Vietnam==

Activists opposing American involvement in Vietnam said that the VC was a nationalist insurgency indigenous to the South.<ref name="Ruane">{{Citation |last=Ruane |first=Kevin |title=War and Revolution in Vietnam, 1930–75 |year=1998 |page= 51 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn= 1-85728-323-6}}</ref> They said that the VC was composed of several parties—the [[People's Revolutionary Party (Vietnam)|People's Revolutionary Party]], the Democratic Party and the Radical Socialist Party<ref name="Burchett" />—and that VC chairman [[Nguyễn Hữu Thọ]] was not a communist.<ref name=Karnow>{{cite book| title=Vietnam: A history |first=Stanley |last=Karnow |author-link=Stanley Karnow| year=1991 |publisher=Penguin Books | isbn=0-670-84218-4}}, p. 255.</ref>

Anti-communists countered that the VC was merely a front for Hanoi.<ref name="Ruane" /> They said some statements issued by communist leaders in the 1980s and 1990s suggested that southern communist forces were influenced by Hanoi.<ref name="Ruane"/> According to the memoirs of Trà, the VC's top commander and PRG defense minister, he followed orders issued by the "Military Commission of the Party Central Committee" in Hanoi, which in turn implemented resolutions of the Politburo.<ref group=nb>Trà begins, "How did the B2 theater carry out the mission assigned it by the Military Commission of the Party Central Committee?" ({{citation |author=Trần Văn Trà |title=Vietnam: History of the Bulwark B2 Theatre |url=http://www.cgsc.edu/carl/resources/csi/tra/tra.asp |year=1982 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110602120806/http://www.cgsc.edu/carl/resources/csi/tra/tra.asp |archive-date=June 2, 2011 }})</ref> Trà himself was deputy chief of staff for the PAVN before being assigned to the South.<ref>{{cite web |first= Dr. Ernest |last= Bolt |url=http://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~ebolt/history398/WhoIsTVT.html |title=Who is Tran Van Tra? |access-date= April 7, 2009 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110710013735/https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~ebolt/history398/WhoIsTVT.html |archive-date= July 10, 2011 }}</ref> The official Vietnamese history of the war states that "The Liberation Army of South Vietnam [Viet Cong] is a part of the People's Army of Vietnam".<ref name="Victory68"/>

==See also==

* [[Viet Cong and PAVN strategy, organization and structure]]

* [[Viet Cong and PAVN battle tactics]]

* [[Kit Carson Scouts]], former Viet Cong who worked with U.S. Marines

* [[People's Army of Vietnam]], the North Vietnamese army

* [[Viet Cong and People's Army of Vietnam use of terror in the Vietnam War]]

==Notes==

{{Reflist|30em|group=nb}}

==References==

{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==

* U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112041209948 ''The Human Cost of Communism in Vietnam'' (1972)] .

*Holmes Brown and Don Luce. 1973. ''Hostages of War: Saigon's Political Prisoners''. Washington, DC: Indochina Mobile Education Project. ISBN none.

* Marvin Gettleman, et al. ''Vietnam and America: A Documented History''. Grove Press. 1995. {{ISBN|0-8021-3362-2}}. See especially Part VII: The Decisive Year.

*Frances Fitzgerald. 1972. ''Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam''. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0316284238. (See the description in Chapter 4. 'The National Liberation Front'.)

* Truong Nhu Tang. ''A Vietcong Memoir''. Random House. {{ISBN|0-394-74309-1}}. 1985. See Chapter 7 on the forming of the Viet Cong, and Chapter 21 on the communist take-over in 1975.

*Douglas Valentine. 1990. ''The Phoenix Program''. New York: William Morrow and Company. ISBN 068809130X.

* Frances Fitzgerald. ''[[Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam]]''. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1972. {{ISBN|0-316-28423-8}}. See Chapter 4. "The National Liberation Front".

* Douglas Valentine. ''The Phoenix Program''. New York: William Morrow and Company. 1990. {{ISBN|0-688-09130-X}}.

* Merle Pribbenow (translation). ''Victory in Vietnam: The Official History of the People's Army of Vietnam''. University Press of Kansas. 2002 {{ISBN|0-7006-1175-4}}

* Morris, Virginia and Hills, Clive. 2018. ''Ho Chi Minh's Blueprint for Revolution: In the Words of Vietnamese Strategists and Operatives'', McFarland & Co Inc.

==External links==

{{Commons category|Vietcong}}

[[Category:Vietnam War|Massacre at Hue]]

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150518183019/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1vJqTN-qVI&feature=youtu.be Tet Offensive 1968, US Embassy & Saigon fighting]. CBS News footage of the Tet Offensive.

[[Category:Rebellions in Asia]]

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20220614083044/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26NkXQvvPMI Vietnam War – Hue Massacre 1968]. A tribute to the dead of [[Huế]] by [[Trịnh Công Sơn]], one of wartime Vietnam's most prominent composers.

[[Category:Left-wing militant groups]]

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080522092223/http://vietnam.vassar.edu/abstracts.html The Wars for Vietnam: 1945–1975]. Primary documents concerning the Vietnam War, including peace proposals, treaties, and platforms.

* Digger History, [https://web.archive.org/web/20070403154806/http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-conflicts-periods/vietnam/tunnels.htm VC Tunnels]. At one point, Viet Cong tunnels stretched from the Cambodia border to Saigon.

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20220614072253/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4YEI94W5gA The Viet Cong 1965–1967 – part 1] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20220311225604/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kolaiKB3u8Y The Viet Cong 1965–1967 – part 2]. What was it like to be a Viet Cong? This recruiting video shows one perspective.

* "[https://web.archive.org/web/20230225075324/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edda5aMS_po. Tiên vê Sài Gòn]" (Forward to Saigon.) This propaganda video features singing Viet Cong and newsreel footage from the 1975 offensive.

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