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VIETCONGThe Viet Cong was the name given by Western sources to the National Liberation Front (NLF) during the Vietnam War. The NLF was a political group with its own army – the Peoples’ Liberation Armed Forces of South Vietnam (PLAF) that operated in South Vietnam and Cambodia. The Viet Cong had guerrilla and regular army units, as well as a network of revolutionaries that organised peasants in anti-US actions in the areas they controlled.
During the Vietnam War, communists and anti-war spokespeople insisted the Viet Cong was an insurgency that was strictly located in the South, while the US and US backed South Vietnamese governments maintained the group was a puppet of Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam. RESOURCES BELOW
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SOME QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT:
1. How did the Viet Cong win the support of the local populations?
2. Why would the local populations take the risk of harbouring known or suspected Viet Cong when they knew the risks were great?
3. Was the support of the Viet Cong to the local people pragmatic or legitimate?
4. How could the non-communist forces have done better in winning the hearts and minds of the villagers?
5. What was their tactic for fighting and was it effective?
RESOURCES
AGENT ORANGE
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GUERRILLA WARFARE
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THE TET OFFENSIVE
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THE VIET CONG
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