Inside the VC and the NVA...

This book is just awesome. It is a wealth of information gathered by the documents and letters that were taken off of wounded, dead, captured, and those that surrendered (Chieu Hoi). Also, taken and printed were some of the RAND Corporation interviews with the captured VC/NVA.

So far, from what I have gathered (only a few chapters) is that the country was divided into three (3) distinct regional groupings; 1) Northeners, from the Red River Valley. 2) Centralists, from the southern part of North Vietnam and the northern regions of South Vietnam. And... 3) Southerners, from the Saigon and Mekong Delta areas of South Vietnam. This created friction on the small unit level that at times, got down right nasty. Each group dispised the other for one reason or another. More to come.

Continuing...

Then there were the "Autumn" people or "regroupees". As one VC assistant platoon leader, an "Autumn" person himself, explained: "They/we were Southeners who left for North Vietnam in the autumn of 1954, after the Geneva Agreement was signed." There was some strong resentfulness of the "Autumn" people after 1958 by the VC. These VC, actually "Viet Minh", who stayed in the South, complained about their (Autumn/regroupees) arrogance and perceived rapid promotions. They also believed that they had lived very comfortably in the North while they endured constant hardship and persecution in the South. According to one VC, the "Autumn people/regroupees" considered the VC their lackeys. "They are very arrogant, and I myself have been ordered by them to do this or that." It gets even worse from here.

One can only imagine that their were few things holding these fighters together. One, would be the Political Commissar. And two, their belief in a united Vietnam as told by Ho Chi Minh. More to come.

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by MAB32

They also believed that they had lived very comfortably in the North while they endured constant hardship and persecution in the South.

Boy, someone was buying into their own propoganda about the socialist worker's paradise.

TR

[HOLLiS]

I would liked to have spoken better Viet-Namese. I worked with three KCS', one was local VC, the other two were from Hanoi. I spent a fair amount of time with Hoi, who was local VC. Ding and Trum were Bac Biet. I liked Ding but never spent much time with him. I really don't think they had any big illusions of the Socialist Worker Paradise.

Continuing...

A Senior-Lieutenant "Autumn" person himself stated that the Northeners often spoke disrespectfully of men like himself:

"The North Vietnamese cadres blame the South Vietnamese, the Southern fellas only know how to have fun!" Sometimes they used local slang to insult one another, "The Autumn people smell like shrimp sauce!." The Southerners were right back with, "Those Northeners stinkers are misery! They consider money to be everything. They are cowards like land crabs!" He continues with...

"The South Vietnamese consider the North flatterers, servile flatterers, always nodding to show their submission and never conceiving any idea of fighting for their own rights. The North considers the South as lacking Revolutionary ethics, never being satisfied with anything, having a weak standpoint, always fighting!" By the way, this intelligent and very perceptive individual, beat up his North Vietnamese battalion. That episode is in chapter 8. We will have to wait till then to find out why.

More to come...

Well after a bad snow storm, 12 inches of snow, two power outages, and sub-zero wind chills, I will now continue.

Continuing...

The life of a Vietnamese villager is quite interesting. It seems that the image of Vietnamese families, happily toiling over the same rice fields for thousands of years and suffering horrifically because this is the land of their ancestors and leaving would cause undue stress has been greatly exagerated. Throughout history, the Vietnamese have won wars and lost them to conqueres from just about everywhere. It seems that they never stayed in one place longer than a few dozen years or so. According to the RAND corporation, the Vietnamese person wasn't much into "family tree's". Only as far as the village gates, did most villagers world revolve upon. All he needed was to be found in the village and to get into trouble with the village chief or elders was a very serious affair. For example, to be told to leave by one's family or village chief was the worst kind of punishment. Corporal punishment was almost non-existant.

Life in a village was divided into regiments. Bewtween farming and family and the village chiefs, their wasn't too much else going on. However, what I did learn mostly from this chapter was that like his Western counterparts, he would take the path of least resistance and do anything to better his circumstances. For example, a Vietnamese farmer who would ask his American friend to buy him a watch at the local PX, then turn around and sell it on the "black market" for a large profit saw no wrong in doing this. He looked at it as taking advantage of the circumstances. There is no act of disloyalty or duplicity on his part. Now if he awoke in the middle of the night with a gun sticking in his ear, he generally did what he was told to do, regardless of his private political convictions or even who was holding the gun.

Religion and superstition played an important role in the life of a Vietnamese. Buddhism was the predominant religion in the village. Other religions that were common were: Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Chinese ancestor worship, and Animism. Astrology also played a role in their lives as well. There is some question however, just how much of a role these played in his life. Like us, I don't think that your typical Vietnamese knew his religion any better than we know ours. Most of us would know the names of Santa's reindeer or the seven dwarfs more so that the Ten Commandments. Go figure.

I guess the bottom line is that your typical Vietnamese is an "opportunist" to some degree and lying, cheating, or stealing, was just another way of life.

More to come...

Where did all of their support come from? Here is a breakdown:

1) China (PRC) - They started transferring over weapons from the Korean War to the Viet Minh in October of 1950 until the end of that war with the cease fire agreement in 1953. The PRC then continued to supply the Comunist forces of North Vietnam for the next decade with a total of $670+ million before 1965. When the war began to escalate bewteen us and the VC/NVA so did the PRC's money to the VC/NVA. They sent $110 million in 1965 to $225 million in 1967. During the latter years of the war the PRC provided on average, $150 to $200 million dollors annually.

2) The USSR - They started with support to the Viet Minh in the early 1950's with the delivery of trucks via China. Based upon economic needs and a growing distrust of China, the NVA established closer ties with Moscow in 1957. With a visit to Hanoi by Soviet Marshal Voroshilov in May of 1957, support form the USSR increased so fast that it outdistanced the PRC in one year. With the Sino-Chinese split of the 1950's the USSR had to send most of its aid by water rather than by land across China. Soviet aid (military and economic) totaled $365 million from 1954 to 1964 and sharply increased to $295 million in 1965 alone. In 1966 it nearly doubled the previous year to $510 million. In 1967 there was an all time high of $705 milion given in aid. During the latter parts of the war the USSR aid averaged $420 million per year.

Allot of money was going to North Vietnam to fight the war in the south.

[clapdoc]

I will not attempt to get into the socio-economic situation in Viet Nam.
The NVA was a hardcore fighting unit, they believed that any tactic necessary to win was acceptable. I have seen and many other FOG's have seen torture used as a weapon against the Yards in the Highlands and I know that I nor any of my team mates would ever have allowed ourselves to be captured.
It is my humble opinion that the Yards are the only group of people in Viet Nam that deserve our support, I am certain that many other FOG observed the
contempt the RVN troops had for the Yards.

I realize I probably got off course with this reply, for this i apologize. I just had to put my $.02 in.

clapdoc,

I commend you on your service in Vietnam Sir. However, I don't really understand your response to this thread on the VC & NVA?

[clapdoc]

I respect the nva and vc for their fighting ability, I do not respect the way they treated the civilian population to achieve thier military/political goals. Torture, forced enlistment and terror tactics to any village or hamlet that showed allegiance to the U.S. is no way honorable.
Check the civilain deaths at Hue during the Tet Offensive where thousands of political prisoners were executed and put in mass graves.
Check the Yard history about the atrocites that the NVA dealt them before and during the U.S.' involvement in Southeast Asia.


Clapdoc sends,

[HOLLiS]

Originally Posted by clapdoc

I respect the nva and vc for their fighting ability, I do not respect the way they treated the civilian population to achieve thier military/political goals. Torture, forced enlistment and terror tactics to any village or hamlet that showed allegiance to the U.S. is no way honorable.
Check the civilain deaths at Hue during the Tet Offensive where thousands of political prisoners were executed and put in mass graves.
Check the Yard history about the atrocites that the NVA dealt them before and during the U.S.' involvement in Southeast Asia.


Clapdoc sends,

Well said, my understanding too. I can admire their will to fight, the ability to take a major pounding (B52) but it ends at the atrocities. Sat Bac biet.

H.