This site was created and is maintained by Chris Hewitt
© 1997 hewittchris@hotmail.com
The Viet Cong was the common name given for the armed forces of The National Liberation Front (NLF)
founded in 1960 with the aim of fighting corrupt govenment in South Vietnam.
The core of the the Viet Cong were the 10,000 former members of the Viet Minh who had remained
in the South are the country was partitioned in 1954. The Viet Cong were divided into main sections:
the paramilitary units who might act as intellegence gatherers or saboteurs; and the full military units
The main force units, the true guerrilla army, were usually peasants recruited in the villages from men in
their teens. The villagers were hostile to the government of landlords, policemen and tax-collecters, and to
their American backers, who they regarded as foreign invaders.
ORGANISATION
Every new recruit joined a three-man cell which included one veteran. These 3 would be close comrades for as long
as they survived. They in turn were attached to a 3-cell squad, and 3 squads formed a platoon. The organisation bred
self discipline and mutual support, a defence against demoralisation and homesickness.
CONDITIONS
Uniforms were the famous black pajamas. On their feet they wore 'Ho Chi Minh' sandals, made out of old tyres. Apart from
these basics, all a guerrilla owned would be a few pairs of socks and underpants, some light nylon for use in a tent,
a mosquito net, and improvised oil lamp, a water flask, a digging tool and a long canvas tube for carrying rice. The VC
fighter was paid about 60 piasters a month - $2.
Very few of the Viet Cong peasant recruits were communists or had any knowledge of Marxism. No attempt was made to remedy
this. During training, they were taught the history of Vietnam's popular struggles against foreign invaders. It was a simple
approach which struck the right chord with the men.
The jungle was strange and threatening to the VC. Peasants don't live in jungles. many if the sandal-shod guerrillas died from
poisonous snakes. Solid army boots would have saved many of them. They also had no defense against the mosquitoes. More VC died
of malaria than of any other single cause. None of them escaped the hardship of malnutrition. Every day, if possible, at nine in
the morning and at four in the afternoon, a soldier ate a ball of cold rice spiced up with a few small chilli peppers. There was
never enough food.
The VC also lived with fear. The B-52 air strikes could come at any moment of the day. In order to protect themselves, the VC built
bunkers which expanded into the famous tunnel systems. The worst was the fear of a serious wound. These were almost always untreatable
with the poor medical facilities available to the guerrillas and promised only a long and lingering death.
Yet homesick, frightened and hungry, the Viet Cong guerrillas fought on. There were desertions, but the vast majority were willing to
fight to the death. They were well led by committed officers and the Viet Cong endured.
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