Viet Cong and People's Army of Vietnam use of terror in the Vietnam War

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Murder, kidnapping, torture and intimidation were a routine part of Viet Cong (VC) and People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) operations during the Vietnam War. They were intended to liquidate opponents such as officials, leaders, military personnel, civilians who collaborated with the South Vietnamese government, erode the morale of South Vietnamese government employees, cow the populace and boost tax collection and propaganda efforts. [1] [2] : 2–63  [3] : 270–9 

Contents

Overview

During the early years of the war, assassinations, and similar activity was organized via "special activity cells" of the VC. As the conflict continued, efforts were centralized under the VC Security Service, estimated to number 25,000 men by 1970. [4] This extensive use of terror received comparatively little attention from Western journalists, who were preoccupied with covering the conventional warfare aspect of the conflict. [3] : 270–9  Notable VC/PAVN incidents of terror include the Đắk Sơn massacre, Massacre at Huế, Son Tra massacre and the Thanh My massacre. [5]

Killings and abductions (1964–1971)
YearKilled [6] Abducted [7]
19641,7959,554
19651,900n/a
19661,7323,810
19673,7065,369
1968 [8] 5,3898,759
19696,2026,289
19705,9476,931
19713,3914,788
Total30,06245,500

Similar results could be achieved by provoking hasty reaction or retaliation attacks by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) or American forces on villagers through sniping, raids, or placing mines and booby traps in and near villages. Such reactions sometimes sparked atrocities that could be used in VC propaganda to help mobilize or radicalize elements of the populace. [2] A 1965 Christian Science Monitor article by Japanese journalist Takashi Oka reported on what seemed to be the use of the method. The VC entered a village and harangued the local populace about supporting the Revolution, before digging in and passing word to the district capital that they were active in the community. The next day, U.S. planes bombed the village and its Catholic church. VC operatives emerged after the destruction to tell survivors about the perfidy of the U.S. imperialists. [4] Such methods could sometimes backfire, with villagers blaming VC forces for the destruction and death brought to their communities. [4]

In December 1960 the South Vietnamese government reported to the International Control Commission (ICC) that during the year the VC destroyed or damaged 284 bridges, burned 60 medical aid stations and, through destruction of schools, deprived some 25,000 children of schooling. [2] : 94  In October 1961 a U.S. State Department study estimated that the VC were killing South Vietnamese civilians at a rate of 1,500 per month. [2] : 94  In October 1964, U.S. officials in Saigon reported that from January to October 1964 the VC killed 429 Vietnamese local officials and kidnapped 482 others. [2] : 98  In June 1965 South Vietnamese officials reported that the rate of assassinations and kidnappings of rural officials had doubled in June compared to May and April, with 224 officials being either killed or kidnapped. [2] : 98  On May 11, 1967, State Health Secretary Dr. Tran Van Lu-Y told the World Health Organization in Geneva that more than 200 doctors and medical workers in South Vietnam had been victims of the VC in the previous ten years. He said that 211 members of his staff have been killed or kidnapped; 174 dispensaries, maternity homes and hospitals destroyed; and 40 ambulances mined or machine-gunned. [2] : 105  By 1969, nearly 250 civilians were being murdered or kidnapped each week. VC/PAVN terror squads committed over 36,000 murders and almost 58,000 kidnappings from 1967 to 1972 according to a U.S. Department of Defense estimate in 1973. [5] Statistics for 1968–72 suggested that "about 80 percent of the terrorist victims were ordinary civilians and only about 20 percent were government officials, policemen, members of the self-defence forces or pacification cadres." [3] : 273 

PAVN/VC forces and spokesmen consistently denied using terror tactics. They attributed mass graves found at Huế after their temporary occupation of the city to spontaneous action by aggrieved communities. [2] However, the use of terror was encouraged in official VC documents. A May 17, 1965 memorandum from the COSVN Security office, directed Nguyễn Tài, the chief of security for the Saigon-Gia Định Party Committee, to "exploit every opportunity to kill enemy leaders and vicious thugs, to intensify our political attacks aimed at spreading fear and confusion among the enemy's ranks." [9] COSVN Resolution Number 9, published in July 1969 noted: "Integral to the political struggle would be the liberal use of terrorism to weaken and destroy local government, strengthen the party apparatus, proselyte among the populace, erode the control and influence of the Government of Vietnam, and weaken the RVNAF." [5]

A Rand Corporation report from April 1970 titled Viet Cong Repression and Its Implications for the Future stated that: "repression—through elimination, demoralization and subversion of GVN personnel at all levels—had been a critical component of Viet Cong political and military activities in South Vietnam for over a decade. Under the organization and direction of the Viet Cong Security Service, repression played a vital role in the VC efforts to extend control over the population and to bring about the collapse of the GVN." [10] : 500  The report stated that the official estimate of civilians assassinated and abducted was "44,000 for 1966–1969, of whom about 4,000 were government officials or employees", but that this was likely an underestimate as it excluded those killed in military attacks. [10] : 502–3  The report estimated that if the communists took control of South Vietnam at least 100,000 people from all levels of the civilian and military structure would be executed. [10] : 505 

R. J. Rummel estimated that PAVN/VC forces killed around 164,000 civilians between 1954 and 1975, with a range of between 106,000 and 227,000. [11] Rummel's mid-level estimate includes 17,000 South Vietnamese civil servants. In addition, at least 36,000 South Vietnamese civilians were executed for various reasons between 1967 and 1972. [5] Thomas Thayer estimated in 1985 that between 1965 and 1972 the VC killed 33,052 South Vietnamese village officials and civil servants. [6] Ami Pedahzur wrote in 2006 that "the overall volume and lethality of Viet Cong terrorism rivals or exceeds all but a handful of terrorist campaigns waged over the last third of the twentieth century." [12]

Partial list of attacks and incidents

The following is a partial list of VC and PAVN terror attacks and incidents. [2]

1960

1961

1962

1963

1964

1965

Aftermath of Viet Cong car bomb outside the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, 1965 Scene of Viet Cong terrorist bombing in Saigon, Republic of Vietnam., 1965.jpg
Aftermath of Viet Cong car bomb outside the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, 1965

1966

Victims of the March 18 mine explosion Tuy Hoa- Fifteen civilians were killed in the explosion of a homemade Viet Cong mine on a country road HD-SN-99-02085.jpg
Victims of the March 18 mine explosion
23-year-old Le Van Than, who had defected from the VC to the South Vietnamese and was later recaptured by the VC and spent a month in a VC prison camp Starved Vietnamese man, 1966.JPEG
23-year-old Le Van Than, who had defected from the VC to the South Vietnamese and was later recaptured by the VC and spent a month in a VC prison camp

1967

A victim of the Dak Son massacre DakSonMassacre1.jpg
A victim of the Đắk Sơn massacre

1968

Searching for relatives killed in the Massacre at Hue Va006869.jpg
Searching for relatives killed in the Massacre at Huế

1969

1970-1975

Destroyed homes at Thanh My Thanh My 11 June 1970 (cropped).jpg
Destroyed homes at Thanh My

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References

  1. ↑ Heather Stur (19 December 2017). "The Viet Cong committed atrocities, too". The New York Times.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pike, Douglas (1970). The Vietcong Strategy of Terror (PDF). US Mission, Saigon. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 5, 2023.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  3. 1 2 3 Lewy, Gunther (1978). America in Vietnam. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0195027327.
  4. 1 2 3 Doyle, Edward; Lipsman, Samuel; Maitland, Terrence (1986). The Vietnam Experience The North. Boston Publishing Company.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Lanning, Michael; Cragg, Dan (1993). Inside the VC and the NVA. Ballantine Books. pp. 186–8. ISBN   978-0449907160.
  6. 1 2 Thayer, Thomas (1985). War Without Fronts: The American Experience in Vietnam. Westview Press. p. 51. ISBN   978-0367215910.
  7. ↑ Bonds, Ray (1979). The Vietnam War: The illustrated history of the conflict in Southeast Asia. Salamander Books Limited. p. 127. ISBN   0861011082.
  8. ↑ Does not include civilian casualties of the Tet Offensive
  9. ↑ Merle Pribbenow (14 April 2007). "The Man in the Snow White Cell". Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on June 13, 2007. Retrieved 28 August 2020.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  10. 1 2 3 Elliott, Mai (2010). RAND in Southeast Asia: A History of the Vietnam War Era. The Rand Corporation. ISBN   9780833047540.
  11. ↑ R.J. Rummel (1997). "Vietnam Democide". University of Hawaii. Archived from the original on March 13, 2023. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  12. ↑ Pedahzur, Ami (2006). Root Causes of Suicide Terrorism: The Globalization of Martyrdom. Taylor & Francis. p. 116. ISBN   978-0415770293.
  13. ↑ "Grenade kills 9 and wounds 110 at youth rally in South Vietnam". The New York Times. 9 January 1972. p. 15.
  14. ↑ Joseph Treaster (4 August 1972). "Mass executions by enemy reported in South Vietnam". The New York Times. p. 1.
  15. ↑ "Attack on refugee camp near Danang is reported". The New York Times. 10 September 1972. p. 3.
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