Subversion in the Mekong Delta

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363-04735.pdf

Digital Object Identifier

363-04735

Title

Subversion in the Mekong Delta

Description

Third of a series of four articles published in the New York Herald Tribune about the war in Vietnam in 1965 and prognasticating its outcome in 1966

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Draft transcripts were automatically generated via Google Document AI and are currently under review. Please report significant errors to Archives & Special Collections at archives@unl.edu.

Transcript

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- Page 1
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Viet Nam: Past and Prospect
Subversion in the Mekong Delta
This is the third of a series
of four articles reviewing the
war in Viet Nam during 1965
and assessing the prospects in
1966.
SA DEC, South
Viet Nam.
Officially, the Mekong Delta
south of Saigon-where no
American combat units have
yet been based-is one of the
spots where the Vietnamese
government is progressing
well. The simple tranquillity of
fishing boats passing through
canals, the hectic automobile
traffic on the roads, the un-
broken routine of peasant life
would seem to confirm the of-
ficial version.
But those who live in the
villages say the Viet Cong
have seized virtual control of
this rich rice bowl.
The process is not one of
violent battles, but the invis-
ible strangulation and isola-
tion of government authority.
It is a process of subversion
which might be called termite
warfare. Government author-
ity has been squeezed into
small rings of villages around
provincial and district capi-
tals, and into isolated out-
posts along the main roads
and canals.
At Sa Dec is the headquar-
ters of the Vietnamese 9th In-
fantry Division. Six miles
away is the village complex
of Nha Man. Two of its three
villages are already controlled
by the Communists. The third
village, Tan Nhuan Dong, is
protected by one company of
about 100 paramilitary troops.
An additional platoon is as-
signed to each of two smaller
outposts-Ba Thien, one mile
away, and Nga Ba, two miles
off.
ENCIRCLED
The
company at
Tan
Nhuan Dong lives in an old
French fort. Its job is to pro-
tect the village and a bridge
which stretches across a river
flanked by several operating
rice mills and brick factories.
The two outposts are en-
circled by Viet Cong guer-
rillas. Last month they were
totally isolated from the local
population. To bring in sup-
plies and support for these
two posts, the government has
to use 10 armored boats. On
every voyage the boats and
their complement of troops
draw Communist sniper fire.
The platoons in each of the
two small posts theoretically
send out small, regular pa-
trols to gather intelligence.
They are called the "ears and
eyes of the regular forces."
But recently, a local villager
described them as "blind men
in a jail." For it is rare that
a member of either platoon
dares leave his compound,
even to fetch water from the
river 20 yards away.
to pick up the body 20 yards
away from his post. The re-
quest was refused.
The platoon was ordered to
bury the corpse inside the
post, but again the men re-
fused to pick up the body. On
repeated orders, they eventu-
ally brought in the corpse,
but
fiscated if they allow their
sons to become government
soldiers.
The Viet Cong forbid land-
owners to hire local labor, and
terrorize potential workers-
the labor force
drying up
from both ends. Once-wealthy
landed proprietors must plant
and harvest their own rice-
backbreaking work.
though unofficial and terror-
istic-taxation. Often using
children as collectors, they
force millers, small factory
owners and business men to
pay regular levies.
Peasants must turn over to
the Reds 40 per cent of the
rice they grow above their own
family's consumption.
no
had
the outpost
shovels, so they used knives to
dig the grave. They had no
lumber or nails, so they ripped
wood from the walls of their
outpost to make the coffin.
After the grotesque burial,
morale was so low the com-
pany commander decided to
transfer the platoon. The 100-
man company ordered to re-
lieve them refused to obey
their transfer order and most
of them defected to the Com-
munists rather than man the
Nga Ba outpost. Most returned
after the province district
chiefs were forced to visit the
company of deserters, but the
order to man the outpost was
rescinded.
ISOLATION
The influence of the Com-
munists goes, however, far be-
yond the terror built with
snipers' bullets.
Last month, the Viet Cong
ordered peasants and business
men working or living within
a half-mile of the Nga Ba
outpost to move away. The
word went out: No one was
allowed to move inside the
half-mile limit. Rather than
sail on the river 20 yards from
the outpost, villagers' sampans
were assigned to small canals.
One rice miller moved his
mill brick-by-brick, machine-
by-machine, to a new spot
nearer government authority.
One villager's reaction: "The
Viet Cong were very nice to
give him the permission to
move his rice mill. Otherwise,
he would have starved to
death. No one would have
brought rice to him to be
polished within the half-mile
radius of the post."
In monthly propaganda
meetings with the villagers,
Viet Cong political agents
claim "the Americans are wag-
ing an all-out war against the
Vietnamese people. The people
have to make a clear-cut
choice between their friends
and their enemies. Those who
want to fight with the Amer-
icans can go to the govern-
ment-controlled area, Those
who want to fight against the
Americans can stay with us.
There is no third choice."
In Sa Dec, refugee villagers
prefer to live in their sam-
pans moored along the river-
front. They have refused to
live in refugee housing pro-
vided by the government.
Many of the wealthier land-
owners already have been
forced to flee to government-
Last week, one defender controlled zones, producing
crossed the outpost's barbed- the effect of an economic
wire fence for water. He was purge of the area by the
wounded by a sniper and fell Communists. Their aban-
on the river bank. No one doned lands, especially fruit
dared rescue him. He died
groves along the canals, have
and his body was left on the been boobytrapped and mined
same spot for three days. The by Red guerrillas. The Viet
commander asked head- Cong have warned landowners
quarters for reinforcements, that their lands will be con
VISITS HALTED
Within the last month, the
Viet Cong have withdrawn
permission to local residents
to visit friends or relatives in
government controlled areas.
Even the father of one of the
senior generals at the Viet-
namese army headquarters in
Saigon-who previously had
been allowed by the Viet Cong
to visit his son-now is for-
bidden to leave the Viet Cong
area.
But the Viet Cong efforts
are not all just erosive. They
have established efficient-
Any
fish of grain grown in the Red
controlled area which is sent
into government territory is
taxed by the Viet Cong-as if
they maintained a national
border.
So under the noses of gov-
ernment officials and a major
army force, the Communists
have established their own
government in the Mekong
Delta. It has almost eroded
away the authority of the
anti-Communist Saigon re-
gime, and, perhaps more sig-
nificantly, has taken major
steps toward replacing it with
an authority of their own.
The next, and final, article
in the series will examine the
problems of rooting out Viet
Cong control of villages in the
mountain areas, and the role
played by the U. S. Marines.

Date

1966, Jan. 18

Subject

Mekong Delta (Vietnam); Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Propoganda; Counterinsurgency--Vietnam (Republic); Vietnam War, 1961-1975

Location

Sa Đéc, South Vietnam

Coordinates

10.3057; 105.7468

Container

B4, F6

Format

newspaper clippings

Collection Number

MS 363

Collection Title

Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers

Creator

Keever, Beverly Deepe

Copyright Information

These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.

Publisher

Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries

Language

English