Pushed into Cambodia, the Viet Cong could no longer draw South Vietnamese recruits. Berkeley Heights, NJ: MyReportLinks.com, 2006. For the next thousand years Vietnam struggled to gain its independence from its much larger neighbour. Test yourself on primary and secondary sources by taking this quiz. I was extremely angry at the enemy and I loved my country so much. Charlie Company had arrived in Vietnam three months before the My Lai massacre. Thus the NLF, who were based in the thick forests of South Vietnam, began by taking control of the villages in the rural areas. "It is a major irony of the Vietnam War that our propaganda transformed this debacle into a brilliant victory. The Viet Cong used any available tactic to demoralize and intimidate the population, including the assassination of South Vietnamese commanders. Example: Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Sources-personal narratives. Names [edit | edit source]. O'Connell, Kim A. After Diem had gained power in South Vietnam, he forced the peasants to pay for the land they had been given. When it became clear that President Ngo Dinh Diem had no intention of holding elections for a united Vietnam, his political opponents began to consider alternative ways of obtaining their objectives. I didn't know whether they were true because I wasn't there. It shows that the key leadership of the Vietcong (VC), the officers and much of the cadre many at the technicians, political organizers, and propagandists have come from. He does not think he screamed when the Vietnamese twisted and bent his shattered leg. President Eisenhower's Promise. . [82] Without consulting the PRG, North Vietnamese leaders decided to rapidly dissolve the PRG at a party meeting in August 1975. [50] Notable Viet Cong atrocities include the massacre of over 3,000 unarmed civilians at Huế, 48 killed in the bombing of My Canh floating restaurant in Saigon in June 1965[51] and a massacre of 252 Montagnards in the village of Đắk Sơn in December 1967 using flamethrowers. Are the following sources primary or secondary? To give feedback, contact us at education@dp.la. It's a mine that goes after the lower torso: a terrible mine... On one occasion after my company had encamped and sent out patrols there was a large explosion only 200 yards away... We raced out there and only two men were living out of a patrol of eight or so. 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. Or they might be hauled off to jail, and God knows what happened to them. 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. Immediate source of acquisition or transfer. We didn't tiptoe in there.". By the end of 1969, there was little communist-held territory, or "liberated zones", in South Vietnam, according to the official communist military history. I would rather trust a dog than a person. In order to combat better-supplied American and South Vietnamese forces during the Vietnam War, Communist guerrilla troops known as Viet Cong dug tens of … Viet Cong were suspected of hiding inside the homes of elderly people, who would not normally be suspected by U.S. troops. It was conical shaped, three prongs jutting out of the soil. The Vietnam War: Tet Offensive. [29] 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. In Vietnam a Communist government has set out deliberately to conquer a sovereign people in a neighbouring state. . North Vietnam established the National Liberation Front on December 20, 1960, to foment insurgency in the South. B. 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. [38] The USS Core arrived in Saigon with 35 helicopters in December 1961. [6], In a speech given on September 2, 1957, Hồ reiterated the "North first" line of economic struggle. [72] The group's manifesto called for an independent, non-aligned South Vietnam and stated that "national reunification cannot be achieved overnight. 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