Largest online source for information on the Vietnam War. [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. This increased the hostility of the peasants towards the Ngo Dinh Diem government. 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. 10 Questions | By Dbspence | Last updated: Feb 22, ... A 2007 journal article about the Viet Cong with a formal writing style, bibliography at the end, and lots of analysis and interpretation. In 1965, General William Westmoreland developed the aggressive strategy of 'search and destroy'. A Viet Cong soldier poses inside a captured M48 tank.Photo: Onbekend CC BY-SA 3.0. I had to destroy villages, kill everybody there and then leave communist arms there. In 1969 alone, Operation Ranch Hand destroyed 1,034,300 hectares of forest. They make clear that U.S. military intelligence units in Vietnam, the CIA station in Saigon, and the NSA acquired and disseminated significant information indicating attacks were planned. It happened slowly and gradually so no one noticed when it happened. National Public Radio, "Cronkite: Gulf of Tonkin's Phantom Attack Faulty Intelligence Played Role in Decision to Engage Viet Cong, 2 August 2004. As another pointed out: "The infantryman knows that any moment the ground he is walking on can erupt and kill him; kill him if he's lucky. Their homes had been wrecked, their chickens killed, their rice confiscated - and if they weren't pro-Vietcong before we got there, they sure as hell were by the time we left. CIA. And then I came more closely to consciousness and found out it was me. Ho Chi Minh agreed to supply the guerrilla units with aid. And when they came out of My Lai, I heard the stories they came back with. Source: Wikimedia Commons. ", To defeat the more powerful enemy, the guerrilla needs to dictate the terms of warfare. Primary. Carter recalled that some GIs were shouting and yelling during the massacre: "The boys enjoyed it. Radio Hanoi called it the "National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam" in a January 1961 broadcast announcing the group's formation. Le Duan returned to inform his leader that Diem's policy of imprisoning the leaders of the opposition was so successful that unless North Vietnam encouraged armed resistance, a united country would never be achieved. Primary Sources; Vietnam is a small country to the south of China ('Vietnamese' means "non-Chinese people of the south"). The earliest citation for "Vietcong" in English is from 1957. In 1959, Ho Chi Minh sent Le Duan, a trusted adviser, to visit South Vietnam. Chemicals were also sprayed on crops. The NLF was told not to go into combat unless it outnumbered the enemy and was certain of winning. The LASV's best-known action was the Tet Offensive, a gigantic assault on more than 100 South Vietnamese urban centers in 1968, including an attack on the U.S. embassy in Saigon. The aim is to wear down gradually the much larger and stronger enemy. The archive was formed by Vietnam veterans in 1989 with a mission to “collect and preserve the documentary record of the Vietnam War.” The center holds annual guest lectures as well as regular conferences and other events. This powerful platform greatly enhances the research experience for students and researchers by broadening their discovery of primary source documents through the use of multiple search options and research tools. Another said, "Chalk up one for me." I was the one who was doing the screaming. They all died. In November, Hồ traveled to Moscow with Lê Duẩn and gained approval for a more militant line. Modeling Activity: Since this lesson asks students to look closely at primary sources to make observations and inferences about the Vietnam War, … By doing so they increased the peasants hostility towards the Americans and made it more difficult for them to support the South Vietnamese government against the communists. 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. Notes - Title from news agency caption. Viet Cong were suspected of hiding inside the homes of elderly people, who would not normally be suspected by U.S. troops. [53] 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".[54]. [62] In an influential broadcast on February 27, newsman Walter Cronkite stated that the war was a "stalemate" and could be ended only by negotiation. He would tell them nothing except his name, rank, serial number, date of birth. No.". An excerpt from the transcript of 1970 hearings investigating the My Lai incident, the mass slaughter of unarmed citizens by US soldiers. As one marine reported, every step created tension. The truth was that Tet cost us half our forces. A landmark party meeting was held in December 1963, shortly after a military coup in Saigon in which Diệm was assassinated. [42] Soviet aid soared following a visit to Hanoi by Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin in February 1965. Its military force, the Liberation Army of South Vietnam (LASV), fought against the United States and South Vietnamese governments during the Vietnam War, eventually emerging on the winning side. The Vietnam War was the first conflict that saw wide scale tactical deployment of helicopters. [71] 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" fraction may have revived at this time. The country doesn't know it yet but it has created a monster, a monster in the form of millions of men who have been taught to deal and trade in violence. Explore resources and ideas for Using DPLA's Primary Source Sets in your classroom. No doubt (I thought later) that was why they had the nerve to pop up in the midst of a reinforced battalion and fire away with American troops on all sides. Because it was their backyard. [6] It is a contraction of Việt Nam Cộng-sản (Vietnamese communist),[6] or alternatively Việt gian cộng sản ("Communist Traitor to Vietnam"). Content & structure Scope and content. [30] Violence between the Viet Cong and government forces soon increased drastically from 180 clashes in January 1960 to 545 clashes in September. I was determined to say nothing. This strategy failed dismally and some observers claimed that it actually increased the number of peasants joining the NLF. released from captivity after the cease-fire agreement in 1973. They were allied with North Vietnam and the troops of Ho Chi Minh, who sought to conquer the south and create a unified, communist state of Vietnam. Are the following sources primary or secondary? I remember telling the guys that I would never be captured but I changed my mind. A Viet Cong is a man, woman, or child a tough fighter, with words or weapons, for what he is taught to call the "liberation" of South Vietnam-the Republic of Vietnam. [35] The Viet Cong grew rapidly; an estimated 300,000 members were enrolled in "liberation associations" (affiliated groups) by early 1962. I did away with him myself. They did some similar things to my legs... During the night I heard someone screaming in the distance. For example, the search Subject: sources AND (Subject: (viet OR vietnam*) produces books including: It made sense then... You don't take a person's life and not have guilt feelings about it. I didn't know whether they were true because I wasn't there. A GI said, "Hey, I got me another one." After Diem had gained power in South Vietnam, he forced the peasants to pay for the land they had been given. [73] COSVN rejected this view as "lacking resolution and absolute determination. Biological Warfare. At first the NLF used hand-made weapons such as spears, daggers and swords. My wrists and arms were tied behind my back. [6] Front groups were favored by the Viet Cong to such an extent that its real leadership remained shadowy until long after the war was over, prompting the expression "the faceless Viet Cong". The organization was dissolved in 1976 when North and South Vietnam were officially unified under a communist government. Immediate source of acquisition or transfer. 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