Why Guerrillas Fight So Hard

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363-04857

Title

Why Guerrillas Fight So Hard

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Article published in the New York Herald Tribune about the tenacity of Việt Cộng fighters, page 12

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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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12,
New York Herald Tribune
Sunday, May 30, 1965
"After a decade of economic and military
aid, totaling $3 billion, given by the United
States to the Republic of Viet Nam, why have
American policymakers and Saigon govenment
officials been unable to counter politically the
Communist advance among the Vietnamese
people?"
The question was put to Western diplo-
mats, soldiers, technicians, economists; it was
put to Vietnamese officers and government of-
ficials, incumbent and out of office."
Beverly Deepe, three years a resident corre-
spondent in Viet Nam, put the question, went
into the countryside to see for herself, and here
begins her six-part examination of the complex
problem, which has meaning throughout the
world.
Explained one Western diplomat: "The
whole postwar world is a battle, and the emerg-
in nations are the battlefield. It's a race to see
whether the Communists or the Americans will
fill the vacuum of power created when the
colonial nations withdrew. The emerging na-
tions are ripe for communism-the doctrine of
anti-imperialism and nationalism, of taking from
the haves and giving to the have-nots.
"This is no longer a question of victory in
Viet Nam, it's a question of the position of
America in the world."
Our Girl in Viet-I: Why
Guerrillas Fight So Hard
The Viet Cong manpower
falls into two main categories:
the older-generation troops who
fought against the French 15 to
20 years ago, and a younger gen-
eration recruited in South Viet
Nam...The younger-generation
Viet Cong troops join the Liberá-
tion Army for different reasons.
Some of them are virtually kid-
napped. Others have personal
grievances or are simply bored
with life in the villages. The Viet
Cong promises them adventure,
and a chance to see life and be
educated...
By Beverly Deepe
A Special Correspondent
SAIGON.
One of the biggest puzzles of the Viet Nam war is
what makes the Communist Viet Cong guerrillas fight
so hard.
"It's fantastic the way the Viet Cong lay it on," a
Vietnamese-speaking American provincial representative
commented.
"Young kids who fought with them explain it by say-
ing the Viet Cong create a 'new order and a new reality.'"
According to reliable persons who have talked with
Viet Cong prisoners and defectors, the Viet Cong man
power-composed of 38,000 to 46,000 "hard-core" fighters
and 60.000 to 80,000 part-time guerrillas-falls into two
main categories: the older-generation troops who fought
against the French 15 to 20 years ago and a younger
generation recruited in South Viet Nam.
Of the first category, more than 70,000 Viet Minh-as
they were called during the French Indochina War-left
their homes in South Viet nam when the country was par-
titioned in 1954 and went to North Viet Nam, where they
continued their training and indoctrination.
INFILTRATION
From 1956 onward, they gradually infiltrated back to
their native villages. The most significant aspect of their
return was a transfusion of political leadership into the
South to organize and recruit younger Southerners. Simul-
taneously, the Communists began a massive campaign of
assassination of village government officials, virtually
obliterating the government's local leadership.
The older troops had fought the French for one reason:
independence, with its anti-French, anti-colonial, anti-
white overtones. They fought and won with guns, but
their most effective weapon was hate.
One member of a Viet Minh suicide squad wrapped
himself in gasoline-soaked cotton. ran into a French
cammunition depot in Saigon and burned himself alive to
*destroy the installation. The story of the "cotton boy"
swept through the countryside.
"My father even wanted me to volunteer to be a cotton
boy," a Saigon business man recently recalled.
Young Vietnamese students read French history books
referring to "our ancestors, the Gauls." This example of
French acculturation was countered by the Viet, Minh
argument: "Please remember, your ancestors were not the
French. You know your ancestors were the dragon and
the fairy." a legend commonly accepted by the population.
According to prisoners in the older group, once they
returned to South Viet Nam in the late '50s, they were
surprised at what they found. They had been told the
South must be liberated from its own poverty. One said
he was astonished to see the government troopers wear-
ing boots. (Communist troops often wear rubber-tire
sandals).
Another said he had been told that two-thirds of
South Viet Nam had been liberated. But when he attacked
government villages the peasants fought his men. They
had been told they must liberate the South from the
American imperialists, but soon discovered they were fight-
ing Vietnamese.
But few of these veterans defected to the government
side. One old-time propaganda agent captured in the
South explained that he listened to the Voice of America
and British Broadcasting Corp. to discover the truth. But
he listened to the Hanol radio to find out the correct
party line.
He reasoned that if the party lied, there must be a good
reason for it. The party knew best.
The younger-generation Viet Cong troops join the
Liberation Army for different reasons. Some of them are
virtually kidnaped. Others have personal grievances or
are simply bored with life in the villages. The Viet Cong
promise them adventure, and a chance to see life and
be educated.
There is no sharp overriding national cause which the
Viet Cong are pushing throughout the country, such as the
anti-French campaign. But there are grievances.
Some unmarried males join to get away from their
landowners. Some are fired from their jobs and join.
Many prefer serving with the Viet Cong rather than gov-
ernment forces because they believe they can stay closer
to their families.
Some young married men join to get away from the
inlaws; the Communists in the village promise to take
care of the wife and children. (One Viet Cong trooper
returned to his village, found his wife and children desti-
tute, picked up a rifle and shot up the Viet Cong village
committee.) One was talked into joining when a pretty
girl promised to marry him if he did; he became disillu-
sioned when he found she had promised to marry six other
recruits also.
Some are simply kidnaped at gunpoint. One was led
away with a rope around his neck. One was kidnaped only
hours after his wedding.
One reliable source estimated that about 10 to 15 per
I cent of the southern-born Viet Cong troops were orphans.
About 30 per cent are farm laborers. About 80 per cent
came from the rural areas.
In the West, the war in Viet Nam is an ideological
confrontation with Communism. In Viet Nam, this not
the way it is regarded by many of the Viet Cong.
The Communists operate behind the mask of the
National Liberation Front, which exploits nationalism
and xenophobism. It disguises its Communist core philos-
ophy by sloganeering about freedom and democracy.
One Western diplomat explained the Communist
appeal in these words: "The Communists have swiped the
American ideals. The Communists are promising the
peasants a New, Fair, Square Deal-land reform, demo-
cratic elections, land courts for justice."
Hence, the appeal of the Communist guerrilla move-
ment is not communism at all. One American official
explained that of more than 200 Viet Cong prisoners
and returnees he interviewed, not one mentioned any-
thing about Marxism-Leninism, atheism, collecitve farms.
But the Viet Cong also have a strong appeal for youth.
"The Viet Cong promise them fun-that life will be gay,"
one source said. "Many of those who join believe they get
this."
Even if a youth has been froced to join the Viet
Cong, a highly effective indoctrination session immediate-
ly begins to mold him into an enthusiastic, well-disciplined
fighter.
Perhaps, this can be seen in their songs.
Neil Jamieson, 29, a Vietnamese-speaking provincial
representative from Gloucester City, N. J., translated a
number of Viet Cong songs and talked with incoming
Viet Cong defectors.
One of the songs goes:
We are peasants in soldier's clothing
Waging the struggle for a class oppressed for
thousands of years.
Our suffering is the suffering of the people.
"Many of their songs are centered on victory," Mr.
Jamieson said. "They associate the soldiers with the
peasants-fighting oppression, not only against the foreign-
ers, but also the upper classes within society.
"The troops accept-in fact, glorify-hardship because
it identifies them with the people. It's almost like old
Christianity. It's like little kids' Sunday school hymns-the
idea of picking up the Cross for Jesus but instead of a
cross it's a pack."
He said most of the Viet Cong songs were "upbeat,
emphasizing the positive in a Norman Vincent Peale
manner." Government songs were often sad.
A SPARTAN LIFE
"The young troops lived a very spartan life," Mr.
Jamieson continued. They were short of medicine, and all
suffered attacks of malaria. Many suffered real hardships.
It was cold in the jungle, yet they didn't dare light a big
fire.
"I talked with many of the Viet Cong about their
songs," he said. "After their evening meal, they would
break into teams of three and have their self-criticism
sessions. Each one would go through his experiences of the
day his life in society and in his three-man combat team.
If one of them was wounded in combat, the two buddies
would take care of him.
"After supper they would go through this ritual. They
are taught to do this immediately after joining the Viet
Cong by the older cadre, who told them that sins can be
forgiven but to conceal anything is a blow against the
group.
"If for example, the young trooper had lost his ammu-
nition or weapon, he'd criticize himself. This psychological
aspect is a great Viet Cong strength.
"After the self-criticism session, there would be an-
nouncements by the cadre and then would sit around and
sing to pass their time in the evening. They would sit
around a small campfire, if security permitted-just like
the Boy Scouts used to do. These youths were uneducated,
but the Communists taugh them about the sputnik and
Castro and Cuba. They didn't understand it well, but they
knew Cuba was a tiny country near America and America
was a paper tiger when Cuba stood up to us and we were
powerless to do anything to them.
"The troops were short of rice, yet each day they put a
few grains from each meal in a bamboo tube. When there
was enough they'd take it to a tribal village and have a
party for the children.
"One youthful trooper was with the Viet Cong for
three years, and was a member of their youth organiza-
tion, which is the halfway point to becoming a party
member. He was recruited at gunpoint, but he didn't hate
the Viet Cong.
He told me: "If I told you what I thought about out
there in the jungle you'd think I was crazy. The Viet Cong
create an new reality; you feel you are in the world
and not out of it."
Tomorrow: The failures in U. S. policy.
Americans With a Price on Their Heads in Saigon
By Beverly Deepe
A Special Correspondent
SAIGON.
One American explained outside. Of course, I sleep tween them. The two were on
that he always checked his with my pistol by my side patrol with 300 Vietnamese,
pillow and blankets for poison- and I always sleep with my but the Communist guerrillas
ous snakes before going to bed. glasses on. I'm stone blind
aparently waited to catch the
American advisers here are "That would be a very clever without them."
concerned that their names. way to kill me," he said, "and
Viet Cong are very clever."
A number of incidents have Americans before setting off
supported the theory that the the mine.
are on the top of Communist
Still another adviser de- guerrillas have specific orders Also, in an action earlier
"kill" lists. They are taking scribed his personal precau- to kill Americans first. For this year northwest of Saigon,
precautions to disappoint the tions: "I go to sleep about 2 example, an American cap- Viet Cong attackers used a
Viet Cong guerrillas.
a. m. each night with my ra- tain was killed and a sergeant megaphone to talk a company
wounded recently of Vietnames soldiers into
"We don't know how much dio earplus in one ear. That seriously
money we've got on our heads," ear is my pillow. The other when an electronically-deto- deserting four American ad-
ear is listening for any noises nated land mine exploded be- visers. All but five South
one field officer said, "but we 1
know the Viet Cong guerrilla
who kills us could retire with
the money."
To prevent the Communists
from collecting, one American
Captain said he always sprays
the roadside with machine gun
fire when he travels by jeep
in the countryside. "It gives
us a feeling of confidence to
know that our machine guns
are working while we drive,"
he said. "Of course," he added,
"we don't shoot as we go
through villages. But we hold
several grenades in our hands,
knowing that if we're fired at
in a village we could throw out
a grenade. We don't know if
we've ever killed anyone on the
roadsides-we never stop. That
would be a trap and we'd be
knocked off for sure."
Another U. S. adviser said
he never started the engine
of his jeep without first check-
ing for grenades, timebombs
and gunpowder in his gas tank
and engine.
Vietnamese mountain tribes-
men fled the scene, and the
guerrillas then attacked and
killed the four Americans and
the five loyal Vietnamese.
"The Viet Cong have been
trying to pick off Americans,"
one U. S. adviser said. His
rule of the road to combat
this: Blend in with the crowd.
"At first they spotted us be-
cause of our uniforms, so we
started wearing exactly what
the Vietnamese government
troops wore," he said. "Then
the Viet Cong picked us out
because we carried newer
weapons than the Vietnamese,
so we started using old weap-
ons."
Blending in with a crowd,
though, is more easily said
than done. "My two sergeants
are short and fit in with the
size of the Vietnamese sol-
diers," another American serv-
iceman said. "But I'm tall
and they can spot me miles
away." "Besides," he added,
the Vietnamese do."
"I wear glasses-and none of
A buddy provides a drink for one of the Americans wounded by snipers in Viet Nam last week.

Date

1965, May 30

Subject

Mặt trận dân tộc giải phóng miền nam Việt Nam; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Guerilla Warfare; Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Military morale

Location

Saigon, South Vietnam

Coordinates

10.8231; 106.6311

Container

B180

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