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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-07011 to 363-07021.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-07011 to 363-07021
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Title
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Article about North Vietnamese control of Việt Cộng troops
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Description
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Original title: "Command", Keever's title: "North Vietnamese Army Now Commands Viet Cong in two-thirds of the South", Article draft about the North Vietnamese assuming direct control of Việt Cộng units, for the Christian Science Monitor
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AI Usage Disclosure
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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.
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Transcript
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Sairad
Prorouter Tokyo
Command 1 (normass/deepe)
Saigon, May 9--The North Vietnamese Army has assumed direct command
of local Viet Cong units in the upper two-thirds of South Vietnam,
intelligence sources reported today.
FIRMY
The significant move-which means the North Vietnam is virutally
AS WELL AS fighting it
.
running the Communist side of the war there was the subject of a detailed
briefing to the highest-ranking members of the American-backed Vietnamese
government and armed forces, reliable sources report.
Within the southern one-third of the country, the Viet Cong High
BELIEVED HEAD QUARTERED
Command, Tegerturated in the jungled so stronghold of War Zone C
near Cambodia, still retains control of their own troops, reliable sources
report.
More Reuter
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Sairad
Proreuter Tokyo
Command 2 Saigon (normass/deepe)
The North Vietnamese Army command stretches from roughly one hundred
n
miles north-northeast of Saigon upwards to the seventeeth parallel, where the
only
bloodied six-mile wide demilitarized zone once theoretically separates
Communist North Vietnam and the southern, American-supported republic.
Horizontally,
the command reaches from the South China Sea on the east to
the Laotian-Cambodian land borders on the west.
north-northeast.
Arcing forth of
are the three provinces of Phuoc Long, Lam Dong and Binh Thuan,
Saigon
which are
geographically important for containing the foothills to the mountainous
northern region along the land borders. They are also historically important
for forming the old French-imposed political division between the
Mekong Delta area once called Co Cochinchina,
and Central Vietnam
(Annam) which ranged mother northward to slightly above the 17th para
seventeenth parallel. These regional distinctions are still important,
arx on some issues, are more forceful than Vietnamese m tionalism.
RREE
of these provinces the Nath North Vietnam Army is in command
of the Communist side of the war.
and
Nrth
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Sairad
Proreuter Tokyo
Command 3 Saigon (normass/deepe)
this
Intelligence sources said their confirmed information-based on the
interrogation of several high-ranking North Vietnamese officers--indicated the
Southern-born Viet Cong guerrillas, political cadre and organized units were
quickly shifting into the heavily populated areas along the South China Sean
Sea. Here, they are expected to concentrate their fighting against the
Vietnamese government armed forces and the crucial pacification (Revolutionary
Development) program.
"This sign
Command CHANGE
To significant ove means there are now two hot
separate, hot wars in South Vietna," one intelligence officer
explained. "One war is between North Vietnamese and American units.
The second is the Viet Cong against the Vietnamese government soldiers and
political organizations.
It will mean more bloodshed in a spiralling war."
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Sairad
Proreuter Tokyo
Command 4 Saigon (normass/deepe)
One of the North Vietnamese officers whose interrogation lead to
the confirmation of the major development was named Lt. Col. Huynh Cu,
who was formerly head of instruction for the Viet Cong Inter-zone V
repeat five region, com encompassing the five northernmost provinces of
the Southern republic. He dere defected to the government side in
the spring of this year. Another North Vietnamese officer, working in
intelligence for the Communists, was recently captured in Danang and his
interrogation also added to the government's knowledge of the Communist
change of command.
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Sairad
Proreuter Tokyo
Command 5 Saigon (normass/deepe)
The intelligence sources also reported that in the new
North Vietnamese command responsibility
fulfilled by two separate gro structures. The one command structure
controls the war in the five northernmost provinces of the Seart South-
Quang Tri along the seventeenth parallel, Thua Thien, Quang Nam
Quang Tin and Quang Ngai, The headquarters of this command is is
in the environs of the frequently-bombed city of Thanh Hoa,
north of the seventeenth parallel in North Vietnam.
200 miles
The sources said the
one mission of the TOU
Tour
elements of North Vietnamese divisions in this
area was to learn how to counter effectively x American units--especially
the American Marines-as future training and strategic planning against
an any possible ground invasion into North Vietnam by Allied troops. The
The second command structure covers roughly half of South Vietnam from
the perimeter north of Saigon to the southern limitis of the Tah Thanh Hoa
command.
The headquarters of this second command has not repeat not been
located yet. SOURCES
More Reuter
Said.
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Sairad
Proreuter Tokyo
Command 6 saigon (normass/deepe)
The Nth Vietnamese generals commanding these two headquarters-or
the over-all campaign--are still unknown, sources said. However,
the intelligence officers said that two North Vietnamese are confirmed to
be present in the South. One of these is Lt. Gen. Nguyen Chi Thanh,
once confirmed to be in command of all North Vietnamese units operating
Currently
in the Soul. South. It is unknown whether he is now one of the generals
also commanding the Viet Cong military machine.
Considered strongly prophing t
The 52-year-old general is one of only two four-star generals
in the North Vietnamese Army. The other is Commander-in-Chief General
is considered Moscow-trained and oriented
.
Vo Nguyen Giapa
General Thanh,considono
be strongly pre-dring,
was former commander of some of the northern provinces of South Vietnam
during the French Indo-China War ending in 1954.
He is a member of
the National Defense Council and a member of the Lao Dong (Communist)
Party Politburo and Secretariat in North Vietnam.
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Sairad
Proreuter Tokyo
Commend 7 Saigon (normass/deepe)
In 1961, he was head of the Political Department of the North
Vietnamese Army and later became the Party chief of the Rural Affairs, /
during the collectivisation of agriculture.
0
The second North Vietnamese ge general confirmed to be in the
South is Maj. Gen.
Hoare Ter thei The 61-year-old
three-star general is Vice chief of staff, vice minister of defenses
and member of the Central Committee of the Lao Dong (Communist) Party
in North Vietnam. A close associate of General Giap in the past, he
is considered a brilliant strategist and politically astute officer.
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Sairad
Proreuter tokyo
Command 8 saigon (normass/deepe)
The major shift in the command responsibility is expected to
strengthen the Communists short-term military position for a bloody,
significant offensive beginning with the July monsoon rains, sources here
believe.
In the long-range future, however, some political sources believe
the change may have some disadvantages for the Communists. First, these
sources argue, North Vietnamese troops are almost as foreign in the
jungled terrain of the South as are American units. Second, the sources
believe the move may well accelerate the already-present ill-feeling
between the North Vietnamese regulars and the Southern-born Viet Cong.
The regional differences are important here; with each up having a
different ge language accent and centuries of anomosity. Third,
some American military commanders have long regarded the Viet Cong units-
who operate inxminimi
among neighbors in familiar terrain--as more
a fearsome enemies than the North Vietnamese units.
Region
Now, the decision-
making authority on the military side has shifted to the Northerners.
Fourth, in the political arena, both internally and internationally,
the development seems to give additional, visible evidence to the *
official
Of American view that the war here is one of aggression from the
North rather than simply a home-grown insurrection of Southern dissidents,
From the Communist viewpoint, the command shift would
some sources argue.
be considered justified in the light of the Allied combat buildv
although they have not official announced tho change and PROB
u
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Sairad
Proreuter Tokyo
Command 9 Saigon (normass/deepe)
Observers here view the change as one of at least four milestone
Bout
Ne military decisions made by the Communists in the current present
Vietnam war. These four decisions are:
in 1960
1. In 1959, the Communist decision, based on a study of Southern-
born Lao Dong Party member Le Duan, to resort to arms in an attempt to
protect their political apparatus and to expand it in confronting the
anti-Communist government based in Saigon. This decision was ratified
by other Communist bloc countries at the Moscow Conference attended by
President Ho Chi Minh and General Thanh. A few months later the National
Liberation Front for South Vietnam was officially proclaimed and guerrilla
warfare broke out.
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Sairad
Proreuter Tokyo
Command 10 Saigon (normass/deepe)
2. In 1962, the Communists set up a "unified" command,
SCATTERED
pulling together and strengthening their hogue
several
Houge pouge guerrilla
units under one sax general headquarters. This decision was made
months after the American military command in Saigon was set up.
North Vietnamese-born political and military cadre were at that time
being introduced tomanimanxanaxxm
UNIT
3. In 1964, the first North Vietnamese-born combat units were
introduced, prinoiap principally heavy weapons and support units.
From His
The first North Vietnamese-born prisoner of war was captured by the
Vietnamese government in July,' although the American military command
at that time denied the significance of the capture. Since then,
six North Vietnamese divisions have been infiltrated into the sou
South, reliable sources report.
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Sairad
Prorouter Saigon
Command 11 saigon (normass/deepe)
4. Sex In early 1967, the decision to give the North
Vietnamese Army command of the war in the upper portions of South
Vietnam and command of Viet Cong units.
(Note to Editor: USAID does not have any more available copies
of provincial backgrounders. They are attempting to update and reprint
but this will take six months to one year.
new ones,
Sorriest.
Do you want a rather dry, non-controversial, yet I think significant
wrapup on the National Liberation Front--how it was formed, how it
ABOUT
operations with the population and Hanoi etc--off of 3000 words?
Please advise. I can send it in several days. Thanks).
End Reuter
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Date
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1967, May 9
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Subject
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Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Vietnam (Democratic Republic). Quân đội; Mặt trận dân tộc giải phóng miền nam Việt Nam; Command of troops
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Location
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Saigon, South Vietnam
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Coordinates
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10.8231; 106.6311
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Size
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20 x 26 cm
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Container
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B7, F5
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Format
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dispatches
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Collection Number
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MS 363
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Collection Title
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Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers
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Creator
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Keever, Beverly Deepe
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Collector
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Keever, Beverly Deepe
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Copyright Information
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These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.
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Publisher
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Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries
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Language
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English
