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88-618: In early April 1967 MACV gave instructions to commence the Task Force Oregon plan, which involved the movement of an Army task force to Đức Phổ and Chu Lai area to allow the 1st Marine Division to move north to Danang to support the 3rd Marine Division in northern I Corps . COMUSMACV General William Westmoreland appointed his chief of staff MG William B. Rosson to command the unit, designated Oregon after Rosson's home state. MG Rosson reported directly to III Marine Amphibious Force which controlled I Corps, however he

176-566: A "North first", or pro-Beijing, faction led by Trường Chinh , and a "South first" faction led by Lê Duẩn. 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. Lê Duẩn's blueprint for revolution in the South

264-606: A handful of terrorist campaigns waged over the last third of the twentieth century". 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. Convinced that 1968 could be the last chance for decisive victory, General Nguyễn Chí Thanh , suggested an all-out offensive against urban centers. He submitted

352-516: A little more than a third the size of its Washington namesake, included twelve acres of enclosed office space. In addition to the headquarters offices, the complex included a barracks, a mess hall, a refrigerated storage building and its own power plant and telephone exchange. Inside, according to one staff officer, "the well-waxed corridors had the fluorescent feel of an airport terminal." A cyclone fence, topped with barbed wire and with watch towers at intervals, provided close-in protection. Following

440-631: A lull while Hanoi focused on events in Laos (1960–61). Moscow favored reducing international tensions in 1960, as it was election year for the U.S. presidency. Despite this, 1960 was a year of unrest in South Vietnam, with pro-democracy demonstrations inspired by the South Korean student uprising that year and a failed military coup in November. To counter the accusation that North Vietnam

528-569: A main highway in broad daylight. In October 1957, a series of bombs exploded in Saigon and left 13 Americans wounded. In a speech given on September 2, 1957, Hồ reiterated the "North first" line of economic struggle. 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

616-530: A massacre of 252 Montagnards in the village of Đắk Sơn in December 1967 using flamethrowers. 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. Ami Pedahzur has written that "the overall volume and lethality of Vietcong terrorism rivals or exceeds all but

704-530: 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. The Soviets cut aid in 1964 as an expression of annoyance with Hanoi's ties to China. 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. The winter of 1964–1965

792-580: A more militant line. 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. In June 1958, the VC created a command structure for the eastern Mekong Delta. French scholar Bernard Fall published an influential article in July 1958 which analyzed

880-512: A new purpose-built facility. The building was designed and constructed under the supervision of the U.S. Navy Officer in Charge of Construction RVN. The construction contractor was RMK-BRJ , at a cost of $ 25 million. MACV occupied its new headquarters early in August 1967. The new complex soon earned the nickname "Pentagon East." The air-conditioned structure of two-story prefabricated buildings,

968-645: A plan for an enormous offensive against Saigon. In response to the 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. 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 , about 75 miles (121 km) northwest of Saigon. (COSVN

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1056-815: A plan to Hanoi in May 1967. After Thanh's death in July, Giáp was assigned to implement this plan, now known as the Tet Offensive . The Parrot's Beak , an area in Cambodia only 30 miles (48 km) from Saigon, was prepared as a base of operations. Funeral processions were used to smuggle weapons into Saigon. VC entered the cities concealed among civilians returning home for Tết . The U.S. and South Vietnamese expected that an announced seven-day truce would be observed during Vietnam's main holiday. At this point, there were about 500,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam, as well as 900,000 allied forces. General William Westmoreland ,

1144-638: A plan to revive the insurgency entitled "The Road to the South" to the other members of the Politburo in Hanoi. He argued adamantly that war with the United States was necessary to achieve unification. 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. Leadership divided into

1232-439: A profound psychological impact because South Vietnamese cities were otherwise safe areas during the war. U.S. President Lyndon Johnson and Westmoreland argued that panicky news coverage gave the public the unfair perception that America had been defeated. 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

1320-580: A result, on 1 April 1966, Naval Forces, Vietnam , was established to control the Navy's units in the II, III and IV Corps Tactical Zones. This eventually included the major combat formations: Coastal Surveillance Force ( Task Force 115 ), River Patrol Force ( Task Force 116 ) and Riverine Assault Force ( Task Force 117 ). The latter unit formed the naval component of the joint Army-Navy Mobile Riverine Force . Commander Naval Forces, Vietnam (COMNAVFORV) also controlled

1408-657: A result, the 1st Logistics Command was established. Large scale combat deployments began when the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade was deployed in the Da Nang area from March 1965. When the III Marine Amphibious Force moved to Da Nang on 6 May 1965, its commanding general, Major General William R. Collins , was designated MACV's naval component commander. In May 1965, the Army's 173d Airborne Brigade from Okinawa arrived. In July 1965, in response to

1496-469: 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. A photo by Eddie Adams showing the summary execution of a VC in Saigon on February 1 became a symbol of the brutality of the war. In an influential broadcast on February 27, newsman Walter Cronkite stated that the war was a "stalemate" and could be ended only by negotiation. The offensive

1584-618: 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. 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. The Saigon-Cholon Peace Committee,

1672-643: A single banner . North Vietnam established the NLF on December 20, 1960, at Tân Lập village in 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 Accord (1954). Hanoi gave the regroupees military training and sent them back to the South along the Ho Chi Minh trail in

1760-560: A single formation, the 1st Signal Brigade . It supported the combat signal battalions of the divisions and field forces in each corps area. The 1st Signal Brigade operated the many elements of the Defense Communications System in South Vietnam. To improve co-ordination and management of communications-electronics assets, the brigade commander served as the U.S. Army, Vietnam, staff adviser on all matters pertaining to Army communications-electronics. In contrast to

1848-475: A speech that was published prominently in the official media, so the fortunes of his "North first" faction may have revived at this time. COSVN rejected this view as "lacking resolution and absolute determination." 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

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1936-585: 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. 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 camps , despite

2024-804: Is from 1957. 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; Mặt trận Dân tộc Giải phóng miền Nam Việt Nam ). Many writers shorten this to National Liberation Front (NLF). In 1969,

2112-594: The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) , recently reorganized from an infantry formation, reported in country, and the rest of the 1st Infantry Division arrived in October. Two corps-level HQs were established in 1965-66, Task Force Alpha (soon to become I Field Force, Vietnam ) for U.S. forces in the II Corps Tactical Zone and II Field Force, Vietnam , for U.S. Army forces in the III Corps Tactical Zone . The 5th Special Forces Group

2200-557: The Joint Chiefs of Staff , estimated that Tet resulted in 40,000 communist dead (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 . Tet had

2288-574: The Naval Support Activity Saigon (NSA Saigon), which supplied naval forces in the II, III and IV Corps areas. Naval Support Activity Danang (NSA Danang), provided logistic support to all American forces in I Corps, where the predominant Marine presence demanded a naval supply establishment. NSA Danang was under the operational control of Commander III Marine Amphibious Force. Major component commands of MACV were: The "Commander, U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam"

2376-517: The United States Support Activities Group & 7th Air Force (USSAG/7th AF), it was located at Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base in northeast Thailand . The advance echelon of USSAG/7AF moved from Tan Son Nhut Air Base to Nakhon Phanom on 29 January 1973. Transfer of the main body, drawn largely from the operations and intelligence sections of MACV and Seventh Air Force, began on 10 February. USSAG

2464-514: The 1st Brigade, 10lst Airborne Division. On 25 September 1967 the 23rd Infantry (Americal) Division ) was activated to control the blocking force, replacing the provisional task force HQ. With the elapse of five months, all the three same brigades remained in the new division, but the brigade at Chu Lai was now named the 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, after a responsibility swap that had occurred in August. In April 1966, all Army communications-electronics resources in South Vietnam were combined in

2552-470: The Army Support Group for administrative and logistical needs. Over the course of 1962 U.S. military strength in South Vietnam rose from about 1,000 to over 11,000 personnel. Each service continued to provide its own logistical support. Throughout 1963 the duties of the U.S. Army Support Group steadily increased, particularly regarding to combat support activities and logistics. During the year,

2640-489: The Hòa Hảo and other militant religious sects in early 1956, Diệm turned his attention to the VC. Within a few months, the Viet Cong had been driven into remote swamps. The success of this campaign inspired U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower to dub Diệm the "miracle man" when he visited the U.S. in May 1957. France withdrew its last soldiers from Vietnam in April 1956. In March 1956, southern communist leader Lê Duẩn presented

2728-709: The Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, and formally inactivated it. Viet Cong [REDACTED]   Republic of South Vietnam Non-state allies: Non-state opponents: The Viet Cong (VC) was an epithet and umbrella term to refer to the communist -driven armed movement and united front organization in South Vietnam . Formally organized as and led by the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam and nominally conducted military operations under

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2816-460: 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. 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 ). Today's Vietnamese media most frequently refers to

2904-724: The North Vietnamese to reopen the Ho Chi Minh trail. Although 1970 was a much better year for the VC than 1969, 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. 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

2992-453: The North delivered nearly 365,000 tons of war matériel to battlefields, 2.6 times the total for the previous 13 years. 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 Phước Bình in January 1975, South Vietnamese morale collapsed. The next major battle, at Buôn Ma Thuột in March, was

3080-801: The South in 1961–63. The VC grew rapidly; an estimated 300,000 members were enrolled in "liberation associations" (affiliated groups) by early 1962. The ratio of VC to government soldiers jumped from 1:10 in 1961 to 1:5 a year later. The level of violence in the South jumped dramatically in the fall of 1961, from 50 guerrilla attacks in September to 150 in October. U.S. President John F. Kennedy decided in November 1961 to substantially increase American military aid to South Vietnam. The USS  Core arrived in Saigon with 35 helicopters in December 1961. By mid-1962, there were 12,000 U.S. military advisors in Vietnam. The "special war" and "strategic hamlets" policies allowed Saigon to push back in 1962, but in 1963

3168-563: The South were northerners, 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. The VC created an urban front in 1968 called the Alliance of National, Democratic, and Peace Forces . The group's manifesto called for an independent, non-aligned South Vietnam and stated that "national reunification cannot be achieved overnight." In June 1969,

3256-640: The U.S. CIA . 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 Cochin China , according to the official communist military history. The US military believed that 70 percent of communist main-force combat troops in

3344-493: The U.S. buildup continued, especially in aviation, communications, intelligence, special warfare and logistic units, reaching a total of 17,068 men, of which 10,916 were Army. Because of this expansion, the commanding general, General Joseph Warren Stilwell Jr. late in 1963 proposed that the name of the support group be changed to U.S. Army Support Command, Vietnam. Harkins concurred and General James Francis Collins , commander of United States Army, Pacific and Admiral Felt approved

3432-632: 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 . In January and February 1968, some 80,000 VC struck more than 100 towns with orders to "crack the sky" and "shake the Earth." The offensive included a commando raid on the U.S. Embassy in Saigon and the massacre at Huế of about 3,500 residents. House-to-house fighting between VC and South Vietnamese Rangers left much of Cholon ,

3520-489: The VC and government forces soon increased drastically from 180 clashes in January 1960 to 545 clashes in September. By 1960, the Sino-Soviet split was a public rivalry, making China more supportive of Hanoi's war effort. For Chinese leader Mao Zedong , aid to North Vietnam was a way to enhance his "anti-imperialist" credentials for both domestic and international audiences. About 40,000 communist soldiers infiltrated

3608-677: The VC killed two U.S. military advisors at Biên Hòa , the first American dead of the Vietnam War. The "2d Liberation Battalion" ambushed two companies of South Vietnamese soldiers in September 1959, the first large unit military action of the war. This was considered the beginning of the "armed struggle" in communist accounts. 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). The fiery declarations of 1959 were followed by

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3696-423: The VC regained the military initiative. The VC won its first military victory against South Vietnamese forces at 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). After this meeting, the communist side geared up for

3784-689: The VC was a nationalist insurgency indigenous to the South. They said that the VC was composed of several parties—the People's Revolutionary Party , the Democratic Party and the Radical Socialist Party —and that VC chairman Nguyễn Hữu Thọ was not a communist. Anti-communists countered that the VC was merely a front for Hanoi. They said some statements issued by communist leaders in the 1980s and 1990s suggested that southern communist forces were influenced by Hanoi. According to

3872-408: 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 modern Vietnamese communist leadership that the movement was actually under the North Vietnamese political and military leadership, aiming to unify Vietnam under

3960-637: 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 unified under a communist government. The term Việt Cộng appeared in Saigon newspapers beginning in 1956. It is a contraction of Việt Nam cộng sản (Vietnamese communist). The earliest citation for Viet Cong in English

4048-413: The Viet Cong. Squads were assigned monthly assassination quotas. 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. Notable VC 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 and

4136-521: The alliance merged with the VC to form a "Provisional Revolutionary Government" (PRG). 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. In May 1968, Trường Chinh urged "protracted war" in

4224-407: The border between North and South Vietnam. The deployment of a division-sized U.S. Army force would allow the 1st Marine Division to move north, to provide greater support for the 3rd Marine Division in the northern portion of the I Corps Tactical Zone . Designated as Task Force Oregon , it included the 196th Infantry Brigade ; the 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division at Chu Lai Base Area ; and

4312-512: The carrier, amphibious, and naval gunfire support forces and, at least during early 1965, the coastal patrol force, which Commander Seventh Fleet directed, the Navy's forces within South Vietnam were operationally controlled by COMUSMACV. Initially, Westmoreland exercised this command through the Chief, Naval Advisory Group. However, the increasing demands of the war required a distinct operational rather than an advisory headquarters for naval units. As

4400-507: The civilian air terminal, allegedly because Premier Nguyễn Cao Kỳ wanted to keep the property for a postwar tourist hotel. In late April 1966, with the Saigon regime locked in a tense confrontation with Buddhist and ARVN rebels in I Corps, Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and Westmoreland reopened the effort to acquire the Tan Son Nhut soccer field. Under their combined pressure, Kỳ gave way. On 2 July 1966 construction started on

4488-679: The closure of MACV and the establishment of the DAO, the MACV Headquarters became the DAO Compound. Under the terms of the Paris Peace Accords MACV and all American and third country forces had to be withdrawn from South Vietnam within 60 days of the ceasefire. A small U.S. military headquarters was needed to continue the military assistance program for the southern Republic of Vietnam Military Forces and supervise

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4576-587: The commander-designate for the task force headquarters (HQ) in the event of operations in Southeast Asia, had participated in the planning for such operations, was appointed commander and promoted to general. Harkins became the senior U.S. military commander in South Vietnam and responsible for U.S. military policy, operations and assistance there. Harkins had the task of advising the South Vietnamese government on security, organization, and employment of their military and paramilitary forces. As provided for in

4664-667: The deactivation of MACV on 27 March 1973. Command then passed to the Commander USSAG/Seventh Air Force at Nakhon Phanom. The DAO was activated on 28 January 1973 with United States Army Major General John E. Murray , formerly MACV director of logistics, as the Defense Attaché and United States Air Force Brigadier General Ralph J. Maglione, formerly the MACV J-1 (Director for Manpower and Personnel), as deputy Defense Attaché. By 29 March,

4752-437: The disguised colonial regime of the imperialists and the dictatorial administration, and to form a national and democratic coalition administration." 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. Violence between

4840-620: The entire headquarters. He initially tried to obtain a site between the ARVN Joint General Staff compound and Tan Son Nhut Airport , desirable from the standpoint of removing Americans from central Saigon and placing MACV conveniently close to its Vietnamese counterpart. The Vietnamese government refused to turn over the most suitable location, a soccer field ( 10°48′45.62″N 106°39′57.49″E  /  10.8126722°N 106.6659694°E  / 10.8126722; 106.6659694  ( post-1967 MACV, Saigon ) ) near

4928-568: The first VC front, was founded in 1954 to provide leadership for this group. 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". Front groups were favored by the VC to such an extent that its real leadership remained shadowy until long after

5016-494: The first commanding general of MACV (COMUSMACV), and was previously the commander of MAAG Vietnam. After reorganization he was succeeded by General William C. Westmoreland in June 1964, followed by General Creighton W. Abrams (July 1968) and General Frederick C. Weyand (June 1972). MACV was disestablished on 29 March 1973 and replaced by the Defense Attaché Office (DAO), Saigon . The DAO performed many of

5104-561: The group as the " Liberation Army of South Vietnam " ( Quân Giải phóng Miền Nam Việt Nam ) . 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

5192-455: The growing size of U.S. Army forces in the country, United States Army, Vietnam was established, and both the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division as well as the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division , deployed from the United States. The brigade from the 101st Airborne Division was originally planned to replace the 173d Airborne Brigade but, with the need for additional combat forces, both brigades remained in South Vietnam. Two months later,

5280-499: The headquarters of Republic of Korea armed forces in Vietnam . As the U.S. military presence in South Vietnam grew, MACV quickly outgrew the Pasteur Street quarters and expanded into a proliferating number of buildings throughout downtown Saigon. This added to the command’s existing security vulnerabilities and communications difficulties. In March 1965, Westmoreland began a search for a new location large enough to accommodate

5368-489: The increase in United States military assistance to South Vietnam. MACV was implemented to assist the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) Vietnam, controlling every advisory and assistance effort in Vietnam. It was reorganized on 15 May 1964 and absorbed MAAG Vietnam to its command when combat unit deployment became too large for advisory group control. General Paul D. Harkins was

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5456-451: 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 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, and employed terror as a standard tactic. Rice procured at gunpoint sustained

5544-409: 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 U.S. embassy in Saigon . The offensive riveted the attention of the world's media for weeks, but also overextended

5632-414: 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. Trà himself was deputy chief of staff for the PAVN before being assigned to the South. The official Vietnamese history of the war states that "The Liberation Army of South Vietnam [Viet Cong]

5720-426: The more moderate Võ Nguyên Giáp , who was defense minister. An assassination campaign, referred to as "extermination of traitors" or "armed propaganda" in communist literature, began in April 1957. Tales of sensational murder and mayhem soon crowded the headlines. 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

5808-450: 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 and regular army units, as well as a network of cadres who organized and mobilized peasants in the territory the VC controlled. During the war, communist fighters and some anti-war activists claimed that

5896-444: The official media increased, suggesting that he was again top leader and had regained the upper hand in his longstanding rivalry with Trường Chinh. 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

5984-412: The only American military personnel left in South Vietnam were the U.S. delegates to the Four-Party Joint Military Commission established under the Paris Peace Accords to oversee the ceasefire, themselves in the process of winding up work and departing; the fifty man DAO military contingent; and a 143-man Marine Security Guard . At 11:00 on the 29th, in a simple ceremony, General Weyand furled the colors of

6072-412: The organization of the task force headquarters in the contingency plans, MACV's commander was also his own Army component commander. With an initial authorized strength of 216 men (113 Army), MACV was envisaged as a temporary HQ that would be withdrawn once the Viet Cong insurgency was brought under control. In that event, the Military Assistance Advisory Group would be restored to its former position as

6160-434: The pattern of rising violence and concluded that a new war had begun. 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. 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

6248-500: The principal U.S. headquarters in South Vietnam. For this reason, the MAAG was retained as a separate headquarters. In March 1962 Headquarters, U.S. Army, Pacific, removed the "provisional" designation from the U.S. Army Support Group, Vietnam, attached it to U.S. Army Ryukyu Islands , for administrative and logistical support, and made its commanding officer the deputy Army component commander under MACV. All U.S. Army units in South Vietnam, excluding advisory attachments, were assigned to

6336-584: The protests of the non-communist PRG members including Tạng. Without consulting the PRG, North Vietnamese leaders decided to rapidly dissolve the PRG at a party meeting in August 1975. 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. Activists opposing American involvement in Vietnam said that

6424-600: The redesignation. The new designation went into effect on 1 March 1964. MACV was reorganized on 15 May 1964, and absorbed MAAG Vietnam within it, when combat unit deployment became too large for advisory group control. A Naval Advisory Group was established and the Commanding General, 2nd Air Division , became MACV's Air Force component commander. That year the U.S. strength in Vietnam grew from about 16,000 men (10,716 Army) to about 23,300 (16,000 Army) in 1964. Logistic support operations were highly fragmented. As

6512-518: The same roles of MACV within the restrictions imposed by the Paris Peace Accords until the Fall of Saigon . Admiral Harry D. Felt, Commander-in-Chief, Pacific , established the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, on 8 February 1962, as a subordinate unified command under his control. Lieutenant General Paul D. Harkins , the Deputy Commander in Chief, U.S. Army, Pacific , who, as

6600-459: The technical assistance still required to complete the goals of Vietnamization . This headquarters became the Defense Attaché Office, Saigon . That headquarters also reported operational and military intelligence through military channels to DOD authorities. A multi-service organization was required to plan for the application of U.S. air and naval power into North or South Vietnam, Cambodia or Laos , should this be required and ordered. Called

6688-588: The trail during its first year of operation. The first arms delivery via the trail, a few dozen rifles, was completed in August 1959. 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. COSVN was initially located in Tây Ninh Province near the Cambodian border. On July 8,

6776-608: The war was over, prompting the expression "the faceless Viet Cong". 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

6864-469: Was a high-water mark for the VC, with the Saigon government on the verge of collapse. Soviet aid soared following a visit to Hanoi by Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin in February 1965. Hanoi was soon receiving up-to-date surface-to-air missiles. The U.S. would have 200,000 soldiers in South Vietnam by the end of the year. In January 1966, Australian troops uncovered a tunnel complex that had been used by COSVN. Six thousand documents were captured, revealing

6952-423: Was activated on 11 February 1973 under the command of commander of MACV. At 08:00 on 15 February, USAF General John W. Vogt Jr. , as USSAG/7AF commander, took over from MACV control of American air operations. U.S. air support operations into Cambodia continued under USSAG/7th AF until August 1973. The DAO was established as a subsidiary command of MACV and remained under the command of commander of MACV until

7040-420: Was also established in-country by 1965. A brigade of the 25th Infantry Division arrived in late 1965, with the 4th Infantry Division deploying between August and November 1966. The 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment was alerted for assignment to Southeast Asia on 11 March 1966. In April 1967, General Westmoreland, who had arrived in June 1964 as Commander of MACV, organized a division-sized blocking force along

7128-434: 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. President Hồ Chí Minh stressed that violence was still a last resort. Nguyễn Hữu Xuyên was assigned military command in the South, replacing Lê Duẩn, who was appointed North Vietnam's acting party boss. This represented a loss of power for Hồ, who preferred

7216-484: Was generally free to manoeuvre his brigades subject to maintaining the defense of Chu Lai Air Base . Task Force Oregon originally comprised the following units: On 1 August 1967 the 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division was redesignated the 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division and the 4th Division's original 3rd Brigade, which had been operating with the 25th Infantry Division in III Corps since entering South Vietnam,

7304-888: Was known by the abbreviation COMUSMACV ( / ˌ k ɒ m . juː ɛ s ˌ m æ k ˈ v iː / "com-U.S.-mack-vee"). COMUSMACV was in one sense the top person in charge of the U.S. military on the Indochinese peninsula ; however, in reality, the CINCPAC and the U.S. ambassadors to Vietnam , Laos, and Cambodia also had "top person in charge" status with regard to various aspects of the war's strategy. The original MACV Headquarters were colocated with MAAG at 606 Trần Hưng Đạo, Cholon . In May 1962 it moved to 137 Pasteur Street ( 10°46′58.25″N 106°41′35.94″E  /  10.7828472°N 106.6933167°E  / 10.7828472; 106.6933167  ( pre-1967 MACV, Saigon ) ) in central Saigon . The Trần Hưng Đạo site subsequently became

7392-536: 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 . Between the beginning of 1974 and April 1975, with now-excellent roads and no fear of air interdiction,

7480-561: Was redesignated the 23rd Infantry Division (Americal). MACV The U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam ( MACV ) was a joint-service command of the United States Department of Defense , composed of forces from the United States Army , United States Navy , and United States Air Force , as well as their respective special operations forces. MACV was created on 8 February 1962, in response to

7568-422: Was simultaneously redesignated the 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division. As more U.S. Army units arrived in South Vietnam, the 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division and the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division were released back to their parent divisions and two newly arrived brigades, the 11th Infantry Brigade and the 198th Light Infantry Brigade were assigned to Task Force Oregon. In September 1967 Task Force Oregon

7656-474: 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. "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. Earle G. Wheeler , chairman of

7744-468: 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. The group's formation was announced by Radio Hanoi and its ten-point manifesto called for, "overthrow

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