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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-05244 to 363-05256.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-05244 to 363-05256
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Title
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Second article on the encirclement and psychological warfare operations of the U.S. Army
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Description
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Original title: "psyops", Keever's title: "U.S. Troops use Bullhorns, Flashcards, Loudspeakers to Woo Communists to Departs", Article draft about various means the U.S. used to try and convince Communists to surrender, for the Christian Science Monitor, page 13
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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)
(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 SEPTEMBER 27--The 1st Brigade's ground units
go into battle carrying on bullhorns and flashcards for broadcasting
face-to-face to Communists units that they should surrender and that will be
well-treated. The flashcards,
written in Vietnamese and in English,
list pre-planned messages appropriate fro varying battlefield situations.
H donut ShAPED ENCIRClemen
Joe
But, when the American ground units/encircle ermesse in a donut
ROUND
formation a Communist uh unit, then more centralized and sophisticated
psychological warfare method is used-at-hot-borne 1000-watt loudspeaker.
HELICOPTER.
from H HEL.
dangling
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psyops 2 (normass/deepo)
The brigade, which concentrates its psychological operations on
capturing the Communists, has developed several battlefield techniques.
One is called "instand psyops! Am If one Communist prisonor 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
troopse In other cases, "instant payops" is especially tailored to
that th the Communist unit that is encircled; recently, for example,
intelligence information indicated the surrounded unit was low on food
and ammunition. The i airborne loudspeaker rominded the Communist troops
of this and emphasised the futility of continuing to fight when they were
completely encircled without hope of escape.
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payops 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
heavy 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 paychological operations is
Fire First Lieutenant James MMM. Kilcrease repeat Kilcrease Junior of
Nashville, Tenn. (800 Smiley Street). A young, sensitive Negro who was
wounded as a platoon leader last month, he was assigned to a at the staff
position in the brigade headquarters. He also served in Vietnam in 1963
with the U. S. Special Forces and he speaks a smattering of Vietnamese.
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psyops 4 (normass/deepe)
"The hardest part of this war is finding the enemy-not fighting him,"
Lt. Kilorease explained.
"And after finding him, then to stabilize the
enemy 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 psychological response from him--rather than
to kill him. We biv give him the choice of surrendering or dying."
Thus far, the battlefield s psyops program has had marginal success-
but the brigade is continuing to experiment to get better results. Since
arriving in Long An province in mid-June, the brigade has received elevel
eleven voluntary defectors and 300 prisoners, all of them a direct result of
psychological operations made during battlefield contacts. Many 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 psyops program.
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psyops 5 (normass/deepe)
When the American brigade has encirlo ed a Communist unit in a
ShapeD
donut-styled formation,
then Lt. Kilcrease flies over the hol Communist-held
RE
Posits
hold of the donut several hundred feet above Communist weapons to appeal
to 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
Without the
The Communists somtimes
is not encircled, then we are talking to the target blind.
donut, the confusion of battle does not afford the enemy a chance to
escape from his own comrades who watch each other./
shoot their own comrades in the back rather than letting them surrender,
but if there's enough confusion from our donut encirclement, then they
can escape.
"Whon the donut is formed and the encirclement is complete, 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 (normass/deepe)
Speaking softly, but confidently, he continued to detail the o
peyops his payops mission battlefield psyops mission:
"When the brigade first has contact with the enemy, we put on an
artillery display for psychological purposes for them. Then the brigade
commander orders a complete stop to all firing. There's no firing from
anywhere--from the artillery down to the lowest private with his 16.
Then, I fly over in the helicopters an with an interpreter who is often
a former Communist defector. He explains to the Communists why the firing
has stopped, that they are surrounded and that it is senseless to keep
fighting and that they can rally to us through the Chieu Hoi program, aid tha
We give them specific directions of on how to rally-like moving towards
a river or a road. Then we give them a time period to decide. In the
daytime, maybe it may be as long as 30 minutes, but near darkness it is
about ten minutes. We have to watch their reaction carefully, to be sure
they do not try to break out of the donut when we have stopped all our firing.
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psyops 7 (normass/deepe)
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 through it because the fires are so
thro thoroughly inter-looking," he said.
to our troops
"Then after awhile, the firing is stopped again. We emphasizè an
ineed immediate stop to all firing, down to the privates because we don't want
We want the enemy to realize our
to tilt the psychological balance.
weapons fire is a controlled thing.
And then, I make another appeal to
them this time not to rally as i under the Chieu Hoi program, but to
surrender as a prisoner of war. If there are alot of North Vietnamese troops
we assure them they will be treated by the Geneva Conf Conventionw
the local Viet Cong don't know about the Geneva Confe Conventin
in the unit,
Conventions;
Conventions,
so we just assure them they'll be treated well. We always
try to use military power to psychologically convince the enemy to give up,
rather than to kill him."
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psyops 8 (normass/deepe)
When they do rally to
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 commanders-rather
than surrendering or rallying to Allied units.
Allied the Allies, many Communists prefer to come into Vietnamese government
outposts and installations, rather than American units--and mehy many-of-the
governmen uni governments units are none too enthusiastic in welcoming them.
Some Communists 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
them on the spot. American commanders have taken great pis pains to
disprove this point;
American troops are specifically ordered to make sure
the Communist defectors and prisoners are not ru roughed up or shot during
ht the battlefield confusions.
Sometimes, Commun wounded Communists are
given medical treatment on the battlefield so that their comrades can
witness it. Even when American troops have had their buddies killed by the
Communists, they often butter-up the prisoners and show the prisoners
some kindness by giving them waterk water, cigarco cigaree oigaretes food
LEID.
and gum during the battle.
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psyops 9 (normass/deepe)
Some Communist defectors and prisoners have been amzed that the Americs
that the Americans trea have treated them so kindly with
expressed amazement
superb medical care, food, boots and clothing.
are afraid to surrender or rally to Allied units,
Still, many Communists
even when faced with
death on
on
the battlefield; Communist cadres have tightened their control
Communist cadre sa
over the troops by counter countering the Allies psyops program. Leaflet
American leaflet
anging d
ED
drops informin in Communist areas about ch 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
are given indoctrination see impromptu indoctrination sessions and hold
self-criticism sess meetings because they listened to the "impore
"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 man-
while the Viet Cong locals generally try to break off contact and evade
terrorism
the American units. Aleck Also, the Communist and hasselsory peins
to make surrenders and defections less attractive and more difficult.
The Chie Il Chiou Hoi ralliers have been specific targets of terrorism by the
Communists since the Tet offensive; prison camps were also battlegrounds during
and since the Tet; 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. Kilcrease
"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 foxhole to
try to escape our firepower.
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pyops 11 (normass/deepe)
In one
battlefield case, two ralliers
came to the First Brigade,
then volunteered to return to the Communist area to convince their comrados
to either surrender or /r voluntarily rally. But, the Communists killed
one and wounded the other rather than listening to their surrender spe
please pleas.
camps
Once the prisoners and defectors are returned to base campk.
American Vietnam and Vietnamese interrogators explain in detail and
again ask each individual if he choses to be classified as a prisoner of WAR.
or a rallier in under the Vietnamese government's Chieu Hoi program.
H
The prisoner of war is placed in a designated 4 barbed wire, well-guarded
camp until the end of the war and 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. In the Chieu Hoi
program, however, many defectors must again take up arms within a year's
time to fight their former comrades. The advantage, is, however, they can
live with their families in the South and tres given & full rights of other
Vietnamese citizens, t rather than living out the rest of the war in a
concentration a camp.
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psyops 12 (normass/deepe)
rallied to the Americans under the
One North Vietnamese who
Chieu Hoi program later said he wanted to be classified as a prisoner of
wa he was tired of killing and risking being killed. Also, ximum
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 defected to the anti-Communist side.
Another psyops experiment pre program tehoniq technique that has
been initiated is helicoptering the wives of Viet Cong or ex-Viet Cong
Loud SPEAKER
over a Communist base area and having the woman appeal to them through
the loudspeaker to surrender.
Interrogations have shown that many of the
Communist troops are lonely for their families and wives,
have been separated for years.
Generally,
some of whom
the wife of the Viet Cong
PROMISES
appeals to the fighters to return to their families and that they will be
treated well when they rally,
Last week,
a Viet Cong ralliera 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
Outpost
The next afternoon, four
of
a Vietnamese government u
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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psyops 13 (normass/deepe)
"My dream and the dream of other officers in the brigado is to get a
whole unit to come in," Lt. Kilcrease said. "We're cers concerned about the
results of an operation, especia our psychotig psychological operation S
especially when the Viet Cong are so badly hurt and we wonder why don't
to us?
OVER
these guys come our
== END Rentix.
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Date
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1968, Sep. 27
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Subject
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United States. Army. Infantry Division, 9th; Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Psychological warfare; Guerilla warfare; Tactics
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Location
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Tân An, South Vietnam
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Coordinates
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10.5366, 106.4130
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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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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
