| Vietcong or National Liberation Front Việt Cộng or giải phóng quân [Liberation Army] | |
|---|---|
| Participant in the Vietnam War | |
 Flag of the Vietcong | |
| Active | 1956—1976 |
| Ideology | Communist |
| Clans/tribes | Provisional Revolutionary Government People's Liberation Armed Forces |
| Leaders | COSVN: Trần Văn Trà (chairman, 1964-76; defence minister for PRG, 1969-76), Phạm Hùng (Politburo member supervising COSVN). The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia Year 1956 ( MCMLVI) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Year 1976 ( MCMLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based The Republic of South Vietnam (Cộng Hòa Miền Nam Việt Nam was the provisional government of South Vietnam following the final military defeat of the Army of the COSVN, pronounced "CŎS-vĭn" and standing for Central Office for South Vietnam ( Vietnamese: Văn phòng Trung ương Cục miền Nam) was a Phạm Hùng ( June 11, 1912 – March 10, 1988) was the Prime Minister of Vietnam from 1987 to 1988 Politburo, short for Political Bureau, Russian Politicheskoye Buro, is the executive organization for a number of Political parties, most notably NLF: Nguyễn Hữu Thọ (chairman), Huỳnh Tấn Phát (General Secretary, vice-chairman), Võ Chí Công, Phung Van Cung (vice-chairman). Nguyễn Hữu Thọ ( July 10, 1910 - December 24, 1996) was acting President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam from Huỳnh Tấn Phát (1913 near Mỹ Tho &ndash September 30, 1989 in Ho Chi Minh City) was a South Vietnamese politician and revolutionary Võ Chí Công (born August 7, 1913) was a Vietnamese Communist Political figure. |
| Headquarters | Hanoi, North Vietnam (NLF) Loc Ninh, South Vietnam (COSVN) |
| Area of operations | Southeast Asia (Vietnam) |
| Originated as | Vietminh (League for the Independence of Vietnam) |
| Allies | North Vietnam, China, Soviet Union, Cuba |
| Opponents | South Vietnam United States Ngo Dinh Diem Many others... |
| Battles/wars | See full list |
- "Victor Charlie" redirects here. For other uses, see VC.
The Vietcong, or VC, was an army that fought the United States and the South Vietnamese governments during the Vietnam War (1958-75). "RVN" redirects here RVN is also the former callsign of a TV station in Wagga Wagga New South Wales Australia The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia It had both guerrilla and regular army units, both soldiers recruited in South Vietnam as well as others attached to the regular North Vietnamese army. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRVN or less commonly Vietnamese Democratic Republic (Việt Nam Dân Chủ Cộng Hòa was a Country on the northern half of Vietnam It was closely allied with the communist government of North Vietnam. The group was formed in the late 1950s by former members of the Vietminh. The Việt Minh (abbreviated from Việt Nam Ðộc Lập Ðồng Minh Hội, English "League for the Independence of Vietnam" was a National liberation It played an outstanding role in the Tet Offensive of 1968 and was dissolved in 1976 when North and South Vietnam were officially unified under a communist government. The Tet Offensive was a military campaign conducted between 30 January and 23 September 1968, by forces of the Vietcong, or National Front for
Contents |
Names
The name Vietcong is from Vietnamese Việt Cộngpronunciation , which is short for Việt Nam Cộng Sản ("Vietnamese communist"). The word appears in Saigon newspapers beginning in 1956 as part of the "Communist Denunciation Campaign. "[1] The earliest citation for "Vietcong" in Engish is from 1957. [2] American forces referred to the Vietcong as Victor Charlie, often shortened to Charlie, from the letters "V" and "C" in the NATO phonetic alphabet. The NATO phonetic alphabet, more formally the international radiotelephony spelling alphabet, is the most widely used Spelling alphabet.
From 1960 to 1969, the Vietcong was more formally known as the National Liberation Front, a loose translation of the group's formal Vietnamese name, Mặt trận Dân tộc Giải phóng miền Nam Việt Nam (literally, National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam). In 1969, the Vietcong created the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam, often abbreviated as PRG. The Republic of South Vietnam (Cộng Hòa Miền Nam Việt Nam was the provisional government of South Vietnam following the final military defeat of the Army of the Although the NLF was never officially abolished, the Vietcong no longer used the name after PRG was created.
The Vietcong's military wing was known intially as the People's Liberation Army and later as the People's Liberation Armed Forces. In common usage, both names were shortened to Liberation Army (giải phóng quân).
History
By the terms of the Geneva Accord (1954), which ended the Indochina War, France and the Vietminh agreed to a truce and to a separation of forces. This article is about the proposal for peace between Israel and Palestine The First Indochina War (also known as the French Indochina War, the The Anti-French War, the Franco-Vietnamese War, the Franco-Vietminh War, This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The Việt Minh (abbreviated from Việt Nam Ðộc Lập Ðồng Minh Hội, English "League for the Independence of Vietnam" was a National liberation Communist forces regrouped in North Vietnam while non-communist forces regrouped in South Vietnam. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRVN or less commonly Vietnamese Democratic Republic (Việt Nam Dân Chủ Cộng Hòa was a Country on the northern half of Vietnam "RVN" redirects here RVN is also the former callsign of a TV station in Wagga Wagga New South Wales Australia However, about 5,000 to 10,000 Vietminh remained in the South. [1] In January 1956, South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm launched a campaign against these remnants, who by this time had been joined by other dissent groups such as the Hòa Hảo. Hòa Hảo is a religious tradition based on Buddhism, founded in 1939 by Huynh Phu So, a native of the Mekong River Delta region of southern Vietnam By the end of the year, this campaign was largely successful. But in December 1956, Hanoi secretly decided to take measures to revive the communist insurgency in the South. [3] An assasination campaign began in July 1957 when 17 civilians were killed by machine gun at a bar in Chau-Doc. A district chief and his entire family where killed in September on a main highway. [1] In October 1957, a series of bombs exploded in Saigon and 13 American were wounded. [1] Also at this time, a candestine radio station was set up and proclaimed that a rebellion led by the previously unknown "National Salvation Movement" had begun. [1] Influential journalist Bernard Fall published an article in July 1958 which chronicled the pattern of rising violence and proclaimed that a new war had begun. Bernard B Fall ( November 19, 1926 - February 21, 1967) was a prominent War correspondent, Historian, political scientist [1] In March 1959, North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh proclaimed a "people's war" on the South. For the city named after him see Ho Chi Minh City. Hồ Chí Minh (name [4] Communist assistance to the Vietcong increased dramatically and 4000 of the "regroupees" of 1954 were sent back South via the Hochiminh Trail. The Ho Chi Minh trail was a logistical system that ran from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam to the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam through [4] In May 1959, the Central Office for South Vietnam was reestablished. COSVN, pronounced "CŎS-vĭn" and standing for Central Office for South Vietnam ( Vietnamese: Văn phòng Trung ương Cục miền Nam) was a [4] COSVN was a military headquarters for the South which had been abolished in 1954. By the end of the year, communist uprisings in the Mekong Delta and the Central Highlands had created "liberated zones" beyond the control of Saigon. The Mekong Delta (đồng bằng sông Cửu Long “Nine Dragon river delta” is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties [5]
To avoid the appearance of violating the Geneva Accord, the independence of the Vietcong was stressed in communist propaganda. The National Liberation Front was organized in December 1960 as the political wing of the Vietcong. In 1962, the People's Revolutionary Party was created as a separate communist party for South Vietnam. The NLF and associated front organizations had their headquarters in Hanoi throughout the conflict.
By 1961, the insurgency was at a crisis level and the U. S. government, led by President John F. Kennedy, responded by substantially increasing aid to South Vietnam. John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (May 29 1917&ndashNovember 22 1963 often referred to by his initials JFK, was the thirty-fifth President of [5] The Vietcong defeated government forces in major battle at Ap Bac in 1963. In 1964, Trần Văn Trà, a general in the North Vietnamese army, was appointed chairman of the COSVN, the Vietcong's top military position. He served in this position until 1976. COSVN reported to General Nguyen Chi Thanh, a member of the North Vietnamese Politburo. General Nguyễn Chí Thanh (1914 - July 7, 1967) was a North Vietnamese officer who was born in Thua Thien Province in Central i. e. not to NLF. After Thanh's death in 1967, COSVN reported to Politburo member Phạm Hùng, previously Thanh's deputy. Phạm Hùng ( June 11, 1912 – March 10, 1988) was the Prime Minister of Vietnam from 1987 to 1988
Some 200,000 U. S. soldiers were sent to Vietnam to fight the communists in 1965 and in 1968 the number of U. S. soldiers in Vietnam peaked at 500,000. [6] Although its activities otherwise focused on rural areas, the Vietcong played an outstanding role in the dramatic Tet Offensive of the 1968, which included a series of attacks on urban areas and a commando raid on the U. S. Embassy in Saigon.
This offensive was undertaken in the hope of triggering a general uprising. However, urban Vietnamese did not respond as the Vietcong anticipated and the offensive exhausted the organization. Later communist offensives, such as the Easter Offensive of 1972 and the final 1975 offensive, were predominately staffed by the North Vietnamese regular army. The Easter Offensive, officially the Nguyen Hue Offensive and also ( Chiến dịch Xuân hè 1972 in Vietnamese was a military campaign conducted by the After the communists captured Saigon in 1975, the Provisional Revolutionary Government, a Vietcong front organized in 1969, nominally governed the whole of South Vietnam until North and South were merged officially in 1976.
References
- ^ a b c d e f http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent14.htm
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary, "Viet Cong"
- ^ James Olson and Randy Roberts, Where the Domino Fell: America and Vietnam, 1945-1990, 67 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991)
- ^ a b c The History Place - Vietnam War 1945-1960. Retrieved on 2008-06-11. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1184 BC - Trojan War: Troy is sacked and burned according to the calculations of Eratosthenes.
- ^ a b http://www.olive-drab.com/od_history_vietnam_advisors.php
- ^ http://libcom.org/history/1957-1975-the-vietnam-war
See also
- NLF and PAVN strategy, organization and structure
- Phoenix Program
- Kit Carson Scouts, "returned" Vietcong combatants
- Hai Thieng
- Tet Offensive
Further reading
- Marvin Gettleman, et al. During the Second Indochina War better known as the Vietnam War, a distinctive land warfare strategy and organization was used by the Main Force of the People's Liberation Armed Forces The Phoenix Program ( Vietnamese: Chiến dịch Phượng Hoàng, a word related to Fenghuang, the Chinese phoenix) was a military The Kit Carson Scouts ( Hoi Chanh Vien in Vietnamese, loosely translated as "members who have returned" belonged to a special program created by the Hai Thieng (Vietnamese Hai Thiêng or Bùi Văn Thiêng was a member of the NLF (Viet Cong forces The Tet Offensive was a military campaign conducted between 30 January and 23 September 1968, by forces of the Vietcong, or National Front for 1995. "Vietnam and America: A Documented History". Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-3362-2. (See especially Part VII: The Decisive Year. Discussions of Tet from Westoreland, Hunt and the Pentagon papers are presented as well as Seymour Hersh on My Lai. )
- Truong Nhu Tang. 1985. "A Viet Cong Memoir". Random House. ISBN 0-394-74309-1. (See Chapter 7 on the forming of the NLF, and chapter 21 on the communist take-over in 1975. )
- Frances Fitzgerald. 1972. Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam. Fire in the Lake The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam, written by Frances FitzGerald and published by both Back Bay Publishing and Little Boston: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-28423-8. (See the description in Chapter 4. 'The National Liberation Front'. )
- Douglas Valentine. 1990. The Phoenix Program. New York: William Morrow and Company. ISBN 0-688-09130-X.
- Merle Pribbenow (transl). 2002 "Victory in Vietnam. The official history of the people's army of Vietnam". University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0-7006-1175-4
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic