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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-02088 to 363-02100.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-02088 to 363-02100
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Title
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Article on the tactics of the 1st Brigade, US Army 9th Infantry Division
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Description
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Original title: "psyops." Keever's title: "U.S. Troops Use Bull Horns, Flashcards, Loudspeakers to Woo Communists to Depart." Original caption: "This is the last of a two-part series on the synchronized military encirclement and psychological warfare operations of the 1st Brigade, US Army 9th Infantry Division." Article by Keever about the tactics of the 1st Brigade, US Army 9th Infantry Division, especially the use of psychological warfare
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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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psyops 1 (normass/deepe)
Long Ar
(This is the last of a two-part series on the synchronized military
encirclement and psychological warfare operations of the 1st Brigade,
U. S. Army 9th Infantry Division).
TAN AN,
SOUTH VIETNAM SEPTIMBER 27---The 1st Brigado's ground units
go into battle carrying bullhor sem bullhorns and flashcards for broadcasting
face-to-face to Communists unite that they should surrender and that will be
well-treated. The flashcards, wrt written in Vietnamese and in English,
list pre-planned messages appropriate fro varying battlefield situations.
But, when the American ground units encircle on masse in a donut
formation a Communist uh unit, then more centralized and sophisticated
psychological warfare method is used--ex heli-borne 1000-watt loudspeaker.
from HHcL cupt=
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psyops 2 (normass/deepe)
The brigade, which concentrates its psychological operations on
capturing the Communists, has developed several battlefield techniques.
One is called "instand psyops" ( If one Communist prisoner or
voluntary defector is taken by the brigade during a battle,, he is asked
fly over the war zone in a helicopter and broadcast an appeal to his
comrades below, telling them he has been will-treated by the American
troops. In other cases, "instant psyops" is especially tailored to
that the Communist unit that is encircled; recently, for example,
intelligence information indicated the surrounded unit was low on food
and ammunition. The airborne loudspeaker reminded the Communist troops
of this and emphasized the futility of continuing to fight when they were
completely encircled without hope of escape.
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Psyops 3 (normass/deepe)
Another technique is called "psyops with a punch. " The heli-borne
loudspeaker messages to the Communists below that the unit is surrounded-
and that this-is-your-last-chance to surrender or defect before the next
BOMBARD Ment
sheavy bombardment by air or artillery is directed onto their positions.
"We try to fight this war with every angle," one brigade officer
explained.
The brigade's officer in charge of psychological operations is
Fire First Lieutenant James MMM. Kilcrease repeat Kilorease Junior of
Nashville, Tenn. (800 Smiley Street). A young, sensitive Negro who was
wounded as a platoon leader last month,
of
position in the brigade headquarters.
he was assigned to st the staff
He also served in Vietnam in 1963.
with the U. S. Special Forces and he speaks a smattering of Vietnamese.
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payops 4 (normass/deope)
"The hardest part of this war is finding the enemy-not fighting him,"
Lt. Kilorease explained.
"And after finding him, then to stabilise the
onomy-to make him stand still so that we can talk to him with our loudspeakers.
If he isn't interested in listening to us, then we unlease our firepower We
try to use our firepower to get a paychological response from him-rather than
to kill him. To biv give him the choice of surrendering or dying."
Thus far, the battlefield, s payopa program has had marginal success-
but the brigado is continuing to experiment to get better results. Since
arriving in Long An province in mid-June, the brigade has received olevel
eleven voluntary defectors and 300 prisoners, all of them a direct result of
paychological operations made during battlefield contacts. Hany Communist
defectors prefer to turn themselves into Vietnamese government units, rather
JULY
than the brigade, yet roughly 40 per cent of these 127 defectors last month
were induced to surrender because of the American payops program.
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payops 5 (noxmass/doope)
When the American brigade has encirloed a Communist unit in a
donut-styled formation,
then Lt. Kiloroase flies over the hol Communist-hold
hold of the donut several hundred feet above Communist weapons to appeal
to t for their surrende5 surrender. He has been shot at so many times, he
has lost count. "It's just a common thing," he laughed.
"The donut confines the target," he explained. "When the enemy
is not encircled, then we are talking to the target blind. Without the
donut, the confusion of battle does not afford the enemy a chance to
escape from his own courades who watch each other. The Communiste somtimos
shoot their own comrades in the back rather then letting them surrender,
but if there's enough confusion from our donut encirclement, then they
oan occape.
"When the donut is formed and the encirclemont is completo, then
I helicopter over the hole of the donut broadcasting to the Communists below
with my 1000 from my loudspeaker."
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psyops 6 (normans/doepe)
Speaking softly, but confidently, he continued to detail the o
peyope his payops mission battlefield payops mission a
"When the brigade first has contact with the onomy; we put on an
artillery display for paychological purposes for them. Thon the brigade
commander orders a complete stop to all firing. There's no firing from
anywhere from the artillory down to the lowest private with his -16.
Then, I fly over in the helicopters an with an interpreter who is ofton
e former Communist defector. He explains to the Communists why the firing
has stopped, that they are surrounded and that it is conseless to keep
fighting and that they can rally to us through the Chieu Hoi program.and
We give them specific directions of on how to rally-like moving towards
a river or a rood. Then we give them a time period to decide. In the
deytime, maybe 1 may be as long as 30 minutes, but near darkness it is
We have to watch their reaction carefully, to bo suro
they do not try to break out of the donut when we have stopped all our firing.
about ten minutes.
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payops 7 (normana/deepo)
If there is no move by the Communists to rally, then more artillery #
is called directed into their positions. The firepower is so massive, that
"sometimes I wonder how they live throught it because the fires are so
thro thoroughly inter-looking,"
he said.
to
"Then after awhile, the firing is stopped again. We emphasize an
imood immediate stop to all firing, down to the privates because we don't want
to tilt the psychological balance. We want the enemy to realize our
weapons fire is a controlled thing. And then, I make another appeal to
them this time not to rally am i under the Chieu Hoi program, but to
surrender as a prisoner of war. If there are alot of North Vietnamese troops
in the unit, we assure them they will bo treated by the Coneva Conf Conventionw
the local Viet Cong don't know about the Coneva Confe-Conventin
Conventions;
Conventions,
so wo just assure them they'll be treated woll. Wo always
try to use military power to psychologically convince the enemy to give up,
rather than to kill him."
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payope 8 (normass/deepe)
American officers concede they face many problems in their psychological
warfare campaign. Many Communists would simply fight to their
da death much to the astonish bewilderment of American commander-rather
then rendering or rallying to Allied units. When they do rally to
Allied the Allies, many Communists prefer to come into Vietnamese government
outposts and installations, rather than American units--and mnahy many of the
governmen uni governments units are nono too enthusiastic in welcoming them.
Some Communiste prefer to rally to Vietnamese government units because of
the language barrier with American troops--and also because of Communist
propaganda, which has convinced their troops that the American troops are
more vicious than the Vietnamese troops in maltreating killing or torturing
thom on the spot.
American commanders have taken great pane pains to
disprove this points American troops are specifically ordered to make sure
tho Communist defectors and prisoners are not ru roughed up or shot during
ht the battlefield confusions.
Sometimes,
Commun vounded Communists are
given medical treatment on the battlefield so that thoir comrades oan
witness it. Even when American troops have had their buddies killed by the
Communists, they often button the prisoners and show the prisoners b
some kindness by giving then weterk water, oigarco cigaree cigaretos food
and gum during the battle.
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payops 9 (normass/doopo)
Some Communist defectors and prisoners have been emzed that the America
expressed anasement that the Americans trea have treated them so kindly with
superb medical care, food, boots and clothing. Still, many Communists
are afraid to surrender or rally to Allied units, even when faced with
death on the battlefield; Communist ondres have tightened their control
Communist cadre say
over the troops by counter countering the Allies payops program. Leaflet
Amorioen leaflet
drops informin in Communist areas about oh the progre Chieu Hot program are
poisonous and should be picked up by the Communist troops. After loudspeaker
American loudspeaker missions are heard by a Communist unit,
the troops
N
are given indoctrination see impromptu indoctrination sessions and hold
self-criticism Doss meetings bocause they listened to the "impera
"imperialistic propaganda."
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payops 10 (normass/deepe)
Also, the growing influx of North Vietnamese troops and hard-line
commanders in Long An province has decreased the rate of prisoner and defection
rate. The North Vietnamese are much more likely to fight to the last men-
while the Viet Cong locals generally try to break off contact and evade
terrorism
the American units. Alnok Alco, the Communist command has taken pains
to make surrenders and defections loss attractive and more difficult.
The Chic II Chieu Hol ralliers have been specific targets of terrorism by the
Communists since the Tot offensives prison camps wore also battlegrounds during
and since the Tets some ralliers or prisoners are shot in the back by
their comrades rather than being allowed to cross to American lines.
said.
"Hence, we're not geting as many alive as we'd like," Lt. Kiloroase
"The Communists may be afraid of our artillery and air bombardments,
but if the troop their comrades right next to them are going to shoot them,
too,
some of them are better to take a chance of jumping in a foxholo to
try to escape our firepower.
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Props 12 (normass/deepe)
In one battlefield case, two ralliers
come to the First Brigade,
then volunteered to return to the Communist area to convince their comrades
either surrender or r voluntarily rally. But, the Communists killed
one and wounded the other rather than listening to their surrender pe
please plea
camps
Quce the prisoners and defectors are returned to base ommple
American Vietnam and Vietnamese interrogatore explain in deteil and
of line
again ask each individual if he choses to be classified an a prisonor
or a rallier in under the Vietnamese government's Chieu Iloi program.
The prisoner of war is placed in a designated ba4 barbed wire, well-guarded
camp until the end of the war end is treated by American units at least-
according to the Geneva Conventions. For North Vietnamese troops, it means
they can return to the North at the end of the war. La the Orion Ho
program, however, meny defectors must again teke up arms within a year's
time to fight their former conrados. The advantago, is, however, they can
live with their families in the South and he is given a full rights of other
Vietnamese citizens, at rather than living out the rest of the war in e
concentration as campe
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psyops 12 (normass/deepe)
One North Vietnamese who rallied to the Americans under tho
Chieu Hoi program lator said he wanted to be classified as a prisoner of
we ho was tired of killing and risking boing killed. Also, anim
there are vague indications, but no specific statements, that North
Vietnamese troops fear reprisals against their families in North Vietnam
if it is publicized they have voluntarily defooted to the anti-Communist sido.
Another peyops experiment pre program tohonig technique that has
been initiated is helicoptering the wives of Viet Cong or ex-Viet Cong
Loud Spen
over a Communist base area and having the woman appeal to them through
the loudspeaker to surrendor. Interrogations have shown that many of the
Communist troops are lonoly for their families and wives,
somo of whom
have been coperated for years.
appeals to the fighters to return to their families and that they will be
Gonerally, the wife of the Viot Cong
Promise S
treated well when they rally.
Last wook,
a Viet Cong rallien a rallier from the Viet Cong and his
wife broadcast loudspeaker appeals over the target area where his comrades
he had once fought with were hiding out.
the Communists from the unit rallied to
The next afternoon, four of
a Vietnamese government wil
unit; American officers considered the rallier's wife more articulate
and imaginative in drawing up her appeal for the Communist troops than was
her husband who had served with the unit.
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payope 13 (normass/doope)
"My droan and the dream of other officers in the brigade is to got a
whole unit to come in," Lt. Kiloreasc said. "We're cong concerned about the
results of an operation, especia our psycholle psychological operation
especially when the Viet Cong are so badly hurt and we wonder why don't
OVER to us 2'
these guys come out.
== END Rutes
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Date
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1968, Sep. 27
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Subject
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Vietnam War, 1961-1975; United States. Army. 9th Infantry Division. 1st Brigade; Psychological warfare; Tactics
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Location
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Tân An, South Vietnam
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Coordinates
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10.5383; 106.4051
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Size
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20 x 26 cm
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Container
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B10, F39
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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
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Language
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English
