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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-04462 to 363-04470.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-04462 to 363-04470
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Title
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Article about changes in Việt Cộng command
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Description
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Original title: "command", Keever's title: "Shake-up in Viet Cong High Comand gives more North Vietnamese Control over Southerners." Article draft about changes in Việt Cộng command after the failed May 1968 offensive which saw the North Vietnamese take control. Written 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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- Page 1
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zczc sag
yy nam
command 1 (normass/deepe)
SAIGON, AUGUST 15--The Viet Cong High Military Command has undergone
a shakeup of major magnitude since the Communists unsuccessful May
offensive, informed sources report.
The shakeup of its top leadership has been confirmed by Allied
intelligence sources on the basis of prisoner and defector interrogations,
these sources said..
The spe shakeup is considered of far greater relatively significance
than the much-publicized changeover in the American command from General
William C. Westmoreland to General Creighton W.
Abrams.
==more reuter
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- Page 2
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zcze sag
yy nnm
command 2 (normass/deepe)
The changes
The recent personnel shifts in the Viet Cong military leadership
are considered significant here because more Northern-born or
Northern-trained generals have, in effect,, usurped more command
authority and responsibility from native Southern officers.
may also indicate Hanoi's dissatisfaction with military developments
in the South since the May offensive; or they might indicate Hanoi's
desire to increase the calibre and quality of leadership, particularly
it
around Saigon, during what they frequently de describes as a decisive
period.
In addition, at the lower military echelons,
a number of
regimental and battalion commanders have also reportedly been chargete
demoted because of poor performance of their units during the May offensive.
An appreciable number of these lower-ranking unit commanders have also been
captured by Allied forces or voluntarily defected to the Vietnamese government
side because of increased battlefield pressure.
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zczc: sag
yy nnm
command 3 (normass/deepe)
In short, the Communists!
"war of liberation" is increasingly
being fought and lead by imported Northern troops and generals instead of
Comm AND
MAN.
"homegrown" Southerners.
IN Responsmithing south Vietnam, the, Communist military structure is divided
into two unequal commands. The northern two-thirds of South Vietnam
DIRECT
is under almost exclusive military control and command of North Vietnam
directly with a North Vietnamese command running most of the major
operations, North Vietnamese generals commanding the North Vietnamese
main-force units composed predominantly, if not exclusively, of
North Vietnamese troops.. But,
the South southern one-third of
the country is still under control of the Viet Cong High Command, which
was some years ago ostensibly lead by Southerners. Now, it is becoming
more Northern in leadership as well as troop composition.
The
The Viet Cong
High Command is the military section of the Central Office of South
Vietnam (COSVN)--which is the supreme military and political headquarters
VIETNAM.
of the Communist Party for this southern third of the South
Viet Cong military structure, also called the People's Liberation Armed
Forces, contains both military commanders, as in the West, and political
the latter being more important on over-all conduct of the war.
commissars,
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yy nnm
command 4 (normass/deepe)
The history of the Viet Cong military shakeup begins last year,
when General Nguyen Chi Thanh had sev served since 1965 in the dual-ali
all-powerfull capacity of both commander-in-chief and 'political commissar
of the Viet Cong armed forces. The 52-year-old General Thanh was one of
North Vietnam's two four-star generals,, the only other one being
commander-in-chief of the North Vietnamese Army,, Vo Nguyen Giap.
Last
year, Radio Hanoi announced that Thanh had died of a heart attack;
SAD
stated they believe he was killed
but,
Home Allied sources here have
in B-52 raid.
Both
two
ConE-SHAR
Brig. Gen.
RAN
TRAN DO
(two-Stre)
Maj. Gen. Tran Van Tra
offens. UF A
After his death, the top military position was split.,
assumed the political commissar responsibilities;
took over as commander-ip in-chief. They served/until after the Communist
May offensive, which the Communists acknowledge in captured documents of
having been pretty much of a dismal failure. Two new personalities
then arrived to fill these two top positions.
Maj. Gen. Hoang Van Thai)
became commander-in-chief of the Viet Cong, we replacing on Maj. Gen.
Southern REGROUPS,
who became his deputy commander.. Pham Hung replaced Gen. Tran Do,
Northerner
who returned to his previous potio position as deputy political commissar.
==morex reuter
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2020 sag
yy nam
comma ndo (normass/deepe)
Tran Do was domoted to his future post previous post of deputy
political commissary commar commissar.
General Thai, as commander-in-chief of the Viet Cong armed forces,
is roughly analogous to General Abrams ox as American commander here or
to General Cao Van Vien who is in charge of the Vietnamese government
armed forces.
Now 62 years old, Goneral Thai was born north of the 17th parallel
and has long been acknowledged a b as one of the soni or military chiefs
of North Vietnam. He is reputedly a brilliant strategist. He was trained
as a schoolteacher, but soon turned to the task of becoming a Communist
revolutionary military organizer. In the early 1960's, before coming
to the Sou he served in the North Vietnamese Army as vico-chief of staff,
vico-minister of defonso. He was also a mombor of the Contral Committee
of the Lao Dong (North Vietnamese Communist) Party. He then sont southwards
to command the North Vietnamese military actions in the northern sections
particularly
of South Vietnam along the demilitarized zone. Then,, in mid-1968, he
was promoted to be commander-in-chief of the Viet Cong armed forces.
#amore router
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zozo sag
yy nnm
command
(normass/deepe)
The new political commissar is small-framed, 52-year-old Pham Hung.
WAS RE. GROUPED
He was born in Vinh Long province of South Vietnam, but returned t
diplomatically DIVIDED
North after the 1954 Geneva Agreements dividing the country.
He them
became one of the foremost panty figures of the North Vietnamese regime,
serving at various times as first deputy prime minister, member of the Lao
Dong (Communist) Party Politburo and Secretariat,, chairman of the state
prices committee and chairman of the board of finance and trade.
His Communist Party membership goes back to the 1930s and he was
Elect
to the central committee wh of the Com Lao Dong Party when it was officially
ESTABLISHED
re-instituted in 1951.
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- Page 7
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2020 sag
yy nnm
command 7 (normass/deepe)
In the light of the Paris current light of the Paris peace talks, it
may be significant to note that Pham Hung was head of the cease-fire
FRENCH
committee in South Vietnam at the termination of the Indo-China War in
INCLUDED
His
July, 1954, which thorused responsibility for the regrouping regroupment
The following year,
of the various armed forces of the various countries.
as the regroupment process was finalized, he became head of the liaison
formale of
withdrawal
mission of the Viet Minh High Command in Saigon, which worked out schemes
between the pro-Communist and the French forces.
Hung appears to be a close associate of Pr North Vietnamese Prime
Minister Pham Van Dong, at one time serving on the agricultural board in
In mid-1961,
Dong's office. Hung served as acting Prime Minister during a two months
as absence abroad of the Pri Mr. Dong.
In 1957, Hung visited Prague and
Moscow and he accompanied President Ho Chi Minh to India and barm Burma
in 1958 and to Indonesia the following year.
Known as a skilled organizer
SIGN, Aicantly
and administrator, Hung's emergence in the North Vietnamese regime) coincided
COMMUNIST PARTY
with increasing propaganda urging reuinfication of North and South
Vietnam.
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zcze sag
yy nnm
comma nd 8 (normass/deepe)
Other Northerners also serve in prominent positions under
Serving as chief of "SCOT
the commander-in-chief,
General Thai.
as chief of staff since early this year is/
General Thai is Brig. Gen. Len Thang Tan, Desingxmex He was a
former division commander of the 320th North Vietnamese Division
took part in the fighting of the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954
the division
WHEN It
which
more than a decade later, fought at the Marth American Marine combat base
PORTEDLY
of Khe Sanh. Gen. Tan was once a deputy chief of staff in the North
Vietnamese Army.
are three depute
Serving under the chief of staff Tan are three deputies deputy
chiefs of staff, one for regular troops, one for regional forces and
one for guerrilla a militia forces.
The first deputy--for regular troops--
LE BRIGADIER GENERAL.
is a Northerner with the alias of Anh Sau who assumed the pepse ti on
took OVER SA'S
position early this yearwhen Gen. Tan assumed his former pot psotion
B 77S
το 611100 F chief of staff. Currently, Anh Sau is reported to serve
concurrently as for commander of the Communist forward command to attack
Saigon.
Xug
His deputy at the forward command is eol Colonel Tran Dinh
FORMERLY
a Southerner who used to command the whole greater Saigon area.
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zcze sag
Jy nnm
commando (normass/deepe)
The other two deputy chiefs of staff are Southerners, but neither
have the equivalent stato status or rank of thx general.
AND
Beneath the command headqu High Command level, all of the Viet Cong
North Vietnamese divisions are commanded either by Northern-born
generals or else by Southerners who traveled North in 1954 and gained
OR other RANKS
their general's stars in the North Vietnamese Army.
commandersy including southey predi
VIỆT Công
None of the division
HAVE
mantly elements, has been
position of division
promoted up howthe through the Viet Cong ranks to the top field position
MANDER; All My FELD LEADERS
have been imported from North Vietnam.
Southern
Increasingly,
more of the
regimental commanders in the Viet Cong divisions are also being lead
by Northerners,,
or persons trained the serving the North Vietnamese
Army, informed sources report.
== end reuter
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Date
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1968, Aug. 15
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Subject
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Mặt trận dân tộc giải phóng miền nam Việt Nam; Vietnam (Democratic Republic). Quân đội; Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Command of troops; Military leadership
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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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B10, F38
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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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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
