87

Appendix:

Terror

--

The Record

89
Appendix:

r
I

Terror

--

The Record

To provide the reader with a sense of the all-encolTlpassing nature of cOlTllTlunist terror in Viet-NalTl, representative, but
by no lTleans cOlTlprehensive, exalTlples have been selected frolTl
books, governlTlent files, newspaper lTlorgues and International
Control COlTllTlission reports.
Viet Minh Terror

I
(

The Viet Minh war against the French was lTlarked by con_
siderable use of terror, not only against the French but against
VietnalTlese who did not support the Viet Minh.
Beginning in the final days of World War II, the cOlTllTlunists,
under Vo Nguyen Giap, destroyed allnon-colTllTlunist nationalist
leaders they could run to earth.
In the Viet Minh controlled areas during the war, "enelTlies
of the Resistance" were systelTlatically elilTlinated.
SOlTlething of a blood bath took place following victory in
1954, one whic.h would have been greater had not SOlTle 900,000
North VietnalTlese escaped to the South in Operation Exodus.
Terror again surged upwards in 1956 with the so-called
land reforlTl progralTl, which actually was destruction of the natural leader class in the North VietnalTlese villages. A conservative figure of the nUlTlber who died at this period is 50,000; SOlTle
estilTlates run as high as a half-lTlillion (population of North
Viet-NalTl at the tilTle was about 14 lTlillion).
Accounts of various cOlTllTlunist terror activity is found in
the standard works on the Viet Minh war, including: Bernard
Fall, Le Viet Minh; Joseph Buttinger, VietnalTl: A Dragon ElTlbattled; Lucien Bodard, The Quicksand War; George K. TanhalTl,
COlTllTlunist Revolutionary Warfare: The Viet Minh in Indochina.
The later terror, during the so-called land reforlTl period, is
detailed in Harvey SlTlith et aI, Area Handbook for North VietNalTl; Hoang Van Chi, FrolTl ColonialislTl to COlTllTlunislTl; Donald
Lancaster, The ElTlancipation of French Indo-China; and Dennis
Duncanson, GovernlTlent and Revolution in Viet-NalTl.

; I

" I

90

Some typic al quota tions follow :

"Tha t city (Saig on) was in the hand s of the Viet Minh
.
For a mont h on end life there was a night mare . Durin
g the day
every thing seem ed quiet .. Fear came back with the
twili ght.
The dark ness outsi de was full of prow ling Viet Minh
... ' It was
an endle s s vigil . In every hous e the waiti ng had the
same aspe ct.
The room s were lit for sake of face. The men playe
d card s with
their only weap ons, the kitch en knive s, withi n hand
's reach .
From time to time they brok e off to calm their wive
s overt aken
by hyste ria. The child ren, all put into the same bed
in a nextdoor room , trem bled with fear and were sick on the
mosq uito
nettin g. The terro r moun ted. From mout h to mout
h ran the
name s of men who had been hack ed to piece s, of wom
en who had
been raped and cut open , of child ren who had been
maim ed. The
shrie ks of those who were being tortu red to death
could be heard .
The Viet Minh had set up Resi stanc e camp s in the
subu rbs and
there they took their hosta ges, buryi ng them alive
, with only
their head s show ing abov e the groun d. The horr or
reach ed its
culm inatin g point ... when some one hund red men were
dism embe red, slash ed to piece s in unim agina bly horri ble circu
msta nces. "
Lucie n Boda rd. The Quic ksand WAr: Prelu de to VietNam .
Bosto n: Atlan tic Mont hly Pres s. 1963. p.11
"To make force a Viet Minh mono poly requ ired a
grea t deal of preve ntive viole nce .. ' Like all fanat
ics whet her
polit ical or relig ious who beliv e that they are calle
d upon to save
souls or to reali ze grea t worl dly proje cts, the comm
unist s had
no qualm s when it came to adva ncing their caus e by
assa ssina tion ... It was not diffic ult for peop le conv inced of
the virtu e of
their cause to kill other s and feel they had perfo rmed
a good
deed .... Succ ess was achie ved throu gh a polit ical
strat egy in
whic h terro r, alwa ys subo rdina te to tacti cal cons idera
tions ,
playe d a secon dary thoug h at time s a rathe r impo rtant
role ... "
"The Com muni st polic y of killin g all true natio nalis
t
oppo nents of the Viet Minh also had deep and lastin
g polit ical
cons eque nces for the futur e of Viet- Nam . It is one
of the reasons for the weak ness of the non- Com muni st natio
nal move ment
whic h, its best and most prom ising young cand idate
s murd ered,
was depri V'ed of score s of quali fied leade rs, enoug
h to guide it
for many year s to come . "

91
_ Joseph Buttinger, Viet-Nam: A Dragon Embattled, New York
Praeger, 1967. pp 275-6, 412.
North Viet-Nam
"In 1955 North Viet-Nam launched a three-year
program of economic rehabilitation and land distribution ..
motivated in part by the regime's attempt to strengthen its
control over the population by purging the landlords whom they
regarded as reactionary. In implementing the redistribution
measures the Communist regimes used terror and other coercive means resulting in the death of more than 50,000 persons
between 1954 and 1956. "
_ Harvey Smith, et al. Area Handbook for North Vi-e.t-Nam,
Washington, P. C. : American University Foreign Area Studies.
1967.p 63.
liThe Land Reform was carried out in two successive
campaigns 0953-1956) .... The second campaign was interrupted in 1955 owing to the mass exodus of nearly a million people
from North to South Viet-Nam. ".. The communists temporarily
halted the terror in order to avoid an even larger exodus ... But
after the closing of Hai Phong, the last seaport through which
people could escape, they at once resumed their campaign ....
The number of victims in this campaign has never been made public,
but if we are to believe M. Gerard Tongas, a French professor
who remained in Hanoi up to 1959 and who claims to have accurate information: 'This indescribable butchery resulted in one
hundred thousand deaths.' "
- Hoang Van Chi, From Colonialism to Communism: A Case
History of North Viet-Nam, New York: Praeger 1964. (The
Tongas citation is L' enfer communiste du Nord Viet-Nam. Les
Nouvelles Editions. Debress, Paris 1960; p. 222).
"These 'mistakes'(in the DRV Land Reform program)
had been committed by the Communist cadres in charge of this
operation who, when they were faced with disconcerting discov_
ery that no landlords existed in many of the (Red River) delta
villages, had proceeded to create such a class by resorting to
murder and torture in order to wring the statutory confessions
of past ill-treatment of tenant farmers from villagers who either

92

cu ltiv ate d the ir ow n me ag

re ho ldi ng s or in som e ca
ses po sses sed no lan d at all . Th
e co st in liv es an d suf fer ing
of thi s
som be r far ce wa s rev ea led
in De cem be r 195 6 wh en 12,
000
vic tim s of the op era tio n we
re rel ea sed fro m the for ced
lab or
cam ps to wh ich the y ha d be
en un jus tly con dem ned ; the
nu
mb er
of tho se wh o ha d be en mu rde
red wa s un off ici all y est iIn
ate d
at be tw een ten an d fif tee n
tho usa nd . "
Do nal d La nc ast er, Th e Em
an cip ati on of Fr en ch Ind oCh ina , Ox for d Un ive rsi ty
Pr es s, 196 1. pp 37 7-8 .
"T he pe rio dic al cam pa ign
s of sy ste ma tic ter ror ,
to en su re ob ed ien ce an d loy
alt y, fol low ed the su cc ess
ion of
ide as pu t int o pra cti ce in
Ch ina (on lan d ten ure pro
ble
ms ) ..
In 195 4 vil lag e mu rde rs of
all eg ed tra ito rs ha d be en
pe rpe tra ted ou t of ha nd as ac ts
of ven gea nce ; fro m 195 1 on
wa rd the
pu rpo se of ter ro r be cam e
ind oc tri na tio n in thi s sen
se an d
vic tim s we re pic ke d ou t by
de nu nc iat ion , mo re or les
s at
ran do m, acc ord ing to the
ir so cia l sta nd ing , to be ma
de
ex am ple s of at pe op le' s tri
als . Bu t the gre ate st of
the ter ro r
cam pa ign s in the DR V did
no t be gin un til 195 3. Th
e int en tio n see ms to ha ve be en les
s the eli mi na tio n of an y pa
rti cu lar
cla ss of pe op le tha n era dic
ati on fro m ev ery bo dy 's mi
nd ,
wi tho ut dis tin cti on of cla ss,
of an y de sir e to ow n pri va
te
pro pe rty or to pu rsu e an y
pri va te pu rp os es ... . Pe
op
le'
s
co urt s, set up by the vis itin
g tea ms of ca dre s an d co
nd uc ted
wi th sim ila r co wa rdl y hy
ste ria to tho se of Ch ina ,
de
ma
nd ed
qu ota s of de nu nc iat ion s by
the vil lag ers an d ord ere d
on
-th
espo t de str uc tio n of pro pe
rty and ex ecu tio n of the ow
ne rs by
va rio us un jud ici al ba rba rit
ies ; be sid es ten s of tho usa
nd s wh o
los t the ir liv es ma ny mo re
we re ma de ou tca sts fro m
the ir
vil lag e co mm un itie s "
De nn is T. Du nca nso n, Go
ve rnm en t an d Re vo lut ion
in Vi etNa m.
Lo nd on Ox for d Un ive rsi ty
Pr es s, 196 8; pp 17 3-4 .
"H ard tim es lay ah ead for
t.he peo ple of No rth
Vi et- Na m (la te 195 4) ... .
Co lon ial ism wa s dea d bu t
mi ser y
and un fre ed om co nti nu ed
to be the peo ple f slo t.
An d in
the po liti cal co nfl ict s tha t
the se co nd itio ns we re bo un
d to

93

produce, terror would still re1Tlain the gover=ent's chief

weapon against popular discontent. "
-

Joseph Buttinger, Op. cit. p, 896.

South Viet-Na1Tl- -A Partial Chronology

February 2, 1960 - Terrorists sack and burn the

Buddhist te1Tlple at Phuoc Thanh, Tay Ninh province. They
stab to death l7-year old Phan Van Ngoc, who tries to stop
the1Tl.
April 22, 1960 - S01Tle 30 ar1Tled c01Tl1Tlunists raid Thoi
Long, An Xuyen province. They atte1Tlpt to take away villager
Cao Van Nanh, 45. Villagers protest en lTlasse. Far1Tler
Pha1Tl Van Bai, 56, is particularly argU1Tlentative. The C01Tl1Tlunists, angered, seize hi1Tl. This arouses the villagers
who swar1Tl toward the Viet Cong and their prisoner. The
c01Tl1Tlunists fire into the crowd. A l6-year old boy is shot
dead.
August 23, 1960 - Two school teachers, Nguyen Khoa
Ngon and Miss Nguyen Thi Thiet, are preparing lessons at
h01Tle when c01Tl1Tlunists arrive and force the1Tl at gun point
to go to their school. Rau Ran, in Phong Dinh province.
There they find two 1Tlen tied to the school veranda. The
c01Tl1Tlunists read the death order of the two 1Tlen, na1Tled
Canh and Van. They are executed, presU1Tlably to inti1Tlidate
the school teachers.
Septe1Tlber 24, 1960 - An ar1Tled band sacks a school
in An Lac, An Giang province. It piles seats and desks
toge ther and fire s the1Tl and the school. All that re1Tlains
is four bare walls.
Septe1Tlber 28, 1960 - Father Hcang Ngoc Minh, 1Tluch
beloved priest of Kontu1Tl parish, is riding fro1Tl Tan Canh
to Kondela. A c01Tl1Tlunist road block halts his car. A bullet
s1Tlashes into hi1Tl. The guerrillas drive ba1Tlboo spears into
Father Minh's body, then one fires a sub1Tlachine gun point
blank, killing hi1Tl. The driver Huynh Huu, his nephew, is
seriously wounded.

94

SepteInber 30, 1960 - A band of ten arIned COInInunists

kidnap farIner Truong Van Dang, 67, froIn Long Tri, Long
An province. They take hiIn before what they call a "people's
tribunal." He is condeInned to death for purchasing two
hectares of rice land and ignoring COInInunist orders to turn
the land over to another farIner. After the "trial" he is shot
dead in his rice field.
DeceInber 6, 1960 - Terrorists dynaInite the kitchen at
the Saigon Golf Club, killing a VietnaInese kitchen helper
and injuring two VietnaInese cooks.
DeceInber,1960
during the year the
bridges, burned 60
truction of schools,
schooling.

- The GVN reports to the ICC that

COInInunists destroyed or daInaged 284
Inedical aid stations and, through desdeprived SOIne 25,000 children of

March 22, 1961 - A truck carrying 20 girls is dynaInited

on the Saigon- Vung Tau road. The girls are returning from
Saigon where they have taken part in a Trung Sisters Day
celeb'ration. After the explosion terrorists open fire on
survivors. Two of the girls are killed and ten wounded.
The girls are unarmed and traveling without escort.
May 15, 1961 - Twelve Catholic nuns from La Providence order are traveling on Highway One toward Saigon.
Their bus is stopped by communists who ransack their
luggage. Sister Theophile protests and is shot dead on the
spot. The vehicle is sprayed with bullets seriously wounding Sister Phan Thi No. The ambush takes place near
Tram Van, Tay Ninh Province.
July 26, 1961 - Two Vietnamese National Assemblymen
Rmah Pok and Yet Nic Bounrit, both Montagnards, are shot
and killed by terrorists near Dalat. A schoolteacher, trav_
'eling with them on their visit to a Montagnard resettlement
village, is also killed.
September 20, 1961 - One thousand main force COInInUnist soldiers storm Phuoc Vinh, capital of (their) Phuoc Thanh

95

provin.c:e, sack and burn government buildings, behead

virtually the entire administrative staff. They hold the
capital for 24 hours before withdrawing.
October, 1961 - AU. S. State Department study estimates that the communists are killing Vietnamese at rate
of 1, 500 per month.
December 13, 1961 - Father Bonnet, a French parish
priest from Konkala, Konturn is killed by a terrorist while
visiting parishioners at Ngok Rongei.
December 20, 1961 - S. Fukai, a Japanese engineer at
the Da Nhim darn, a Japanese government war reparations
project to supply electric power to Viet-Nam, is kidnaped
after being stopped at a road block. His fate is never learned.
January 1, 1962 - A Vietnamese labor leader, Le Van
Thieu, 63, is hacked to death by terrorists wielding machetes
near Bien Hoa, in the rubber plantation on which he works.
January 2, 1962 - Two Vietnamese technicians working
in the government's anti-malaria program, Pham Van Hai
and Nguyen Van Thach, are killed by communists with
machetes, 12 miles south of Saigon.
February 20, 1962 - Terrorists throw four hand grenades into a crowded village theater near Can Tho, killing
24 women and children. In all, 108 persons are killed or
injured.
April 8, 1962 - Communists execute two wounded
American prisoners of war near the village of An Chau in
Central Viet-Nam. Each, hands tied, is shot in the face
because he cannot keep up with the retreating captor s.
May 19, 1962 - A terrorist grenade is hurled into the
Aterbea restaurant in Saigon, wounding a Berlin circus
manager and the cultural attache from the German Embassy.

96

May 20, 1962 - A bOInb explodes in front of the Hung

Dao Hotel, Saigon, a billet for Arn.erican servicern.en,
injuring eight Vietnarn.ese and three Arn.ericans who are in
the street at the tirn.e.
June 12, 1962 - Corn.rn.unists arn.bush a civilian passenger bus near Le Tri, An Giang province, killing the passengers, the driver and the driver's helper, a total of five rn.en
and WOInen.
October 20, 1962 - A teen-age corn.rn.unist hurls a
grenade into a holiday crowd in downtown Saigon, killing six
persons, including two children, and injuring 38 persons.
Novern.ber 4, 1962 - A terrorist hurls a grenade into
an alley in Can Tho, killing one Arn.erican servicern.an and
two Vietnarn.ese children. A third Vietnarn.ese child is
seriously injured.
January 25, 1963 - CornnlUnists dynarn.ite a passengerfreight train near Qui Nhon, killing eight passengers and
injuring 15 others. The train is carrying only rice as freight.
lv,arch 4, 1963 - Two Protestant rn.issionaries
Elwood
Forreston, an Arn.erican, and Gaspart Makil, a Filipino
are shot dead at a road block between Saigon and Dalat. The
Makil twin babies are shot and wounded.
lv,arch 16, 1963 - Terrorists hurl a grenade into a
Saigon horn.e where an Arn.erican farn.ily is having dinner,
killing a French businessrn.an and wounding four other
per sons, one of them a woman.
April 3, 1963 - Terrorists throw two grenades into a
private school near Long Xuyen, An Giang province, killing
a teacher and two other adults. Students are perforrn.ing
their annual variety show at the tirn.e.
April 4, 1963 - Terrorists throw grenades into an
audience attending an outdoor rn.otion picture showing in

97

Cao Lanh village in the Mekong Delta, killing four persons

and wounding 11.
May 23, 1963
Cornrnunists mine the main northern
rail line, killing five civilian passengers. Twelve other
passengers and crew are injured.
May 31, 1963
Two powerful explosions set off by
terrorists on bicycles kill two Vietname se and wound ten
others in Saigon. Police believe the explosion was accidentally premature.
September 12, 1963 - N.iss Vo Thi Lo, 26, a schoolteacher in An Phuoc, Kien Hoa province, is found near the
village with her throat cut. She had been kidnaped three
days earlier.
October 16, 1963 - Terrorists explode mines under two
civilian buses in Kien Boa and Quang Tin provinces, killing
18 Vietname se and wounding 23.
November 9, 1963 - Three grenades are thrown in
Saigon, injuring a total of 16 persons, including four children;
the first is thrown in a main street, the second along the
waterfront, and the third in the Chinese residential area.
February 9, 1964 - Two Americans are killed and 41
wounded, including four women and five children, when a
communist bomb is set off in a sports stadium during a
softball game. A second portiun of the bomb fails to explode.
Officials estimate that if it had, fifty persons would have
died.
February 16, 1964 - Three Americans are killed and
32 injured, most of them U. S. dependents, when terrorists
bomb the Kinh Do movie theater in Saigon.
July 14, 1964 - Pham Thao, chairman of the Catholic
Action Committee in Quang Ngai, is executed when he returns
to his native village of Pho Loi, Quang Ngai province.

98
October, 1964 - U. S. officials in Saigon report that
from January to October of 1964 the communists killed 429
Vietnamese local officials and kidnaped 482 others.
December 24, 1964 - A Christmas eve bomb explosion
at the Brink officers' billet kills two Americans and injures
50 Americans and 13 Vietnamese.
February 6, 1965 - Radio Liberation announces that the
communists have shot two American prisoners of war as
reprisals against the Vietnamese government, which had
sentenced two terrorists to death.
February 10, 1965 - Terrorists blow up an enlisted
men's barracks in Qui Nhon, killing 23 Americans.
March 30, 1965 - A bomb explodes outside the American
Embassy in Saigon, killing 2 Americans, 18 Vietnamese and
injuring 100 Vietnamese and 45 Americans.
June 24, 1965 - Radio Liberation announces the execution
of an American prisoner.
June 25, 1965 - Terrorists dynamite the My Canh restaurant in Saigon, killing 27 Vietnamese, 12 Americans, two
Filipinos, one Frenchman, one German; more than 80 persons
are injured.
June, 1965 - Vietnamese officials report the rate of assassinations and kidnapings of rural officials has doubled in
June over May and April; 224 officials were either killed or
kidnaped.
August 18, 1965 - A bomb at the Police Directorate office
in Saigon kills six and wounds 15.
October 4, 1965 - One of two planted bombs explodes at
the Cong Hoa National Sports Stadium, killing eleven Vietnamese, including four children, and wounding 42 persons.
October 5, 1965 - A bomb goes off, apparently prematurely, in a taxi on a main street in downtown Saigon, killing two
Vietnamese and wounding ten others.

99
Dece mbe r 4, 1965 - In Saig on a terro rist bom b kills
eigh t per sons when it expl odes in fron t of a bille t for
U. S.
enlis ted men ; 137 are injur ed, inclu ding 72 Ame rican
s,
thre e New Zeal ande rs and 62 Viet nam ese.
Dece mbe r 12, 1965 - Two terro rist plato ons kill 23
Viet nam ese cana l cons truct ion work ers asle ep in a
Budd hist
Pago da in Tan Huon g, Dinh Tuon g prov ince; woun d
seve n
othe rs.
Dece mbe r 30, 1965 - Saig on edito r Tu Chun g of the
news pape r Chin h Luan is gunn ed down in poin t blan
k fire as
he arriv es hom e at noon for lunc h. Earl ier he had
publ ished
the texts of threa tenin g note s he had rece ived from
the com Inun ists.
Janu ary 7, 1966 - A Clay more mine expl odes at Tan
Son Nhut gate (entr ance to Saig on airp ort), killin g
two persons and injur ing 12.
Janu ary 17, 1966 - Com mun ists in Kien Tuon g deto
nate
a mine unde r a high way bus, killin g 26 civil ians, seve
n of
them child ren. Eigh t pers ons are injur ed and three
are
liste d as miss ing.
Janu ary 18, 1966
Com mun ists mine a bus in Kien
Tuon g prov ince , killi ng 26 civil ians .
Janu ary 29, 1966 - Terr oris ts kill a Cath olic prie
st,
Fath er Phan Khac Dau, 74, at Than h Tri, Kien Tuon
g provinc e. Five othe r civil ians, inclu ding a chur ch offic
er,
are also kille d. The mara uder s dese crate the chur
ch, destroyi ng its statu ary and relig ious artif acts .
Feb ruar y 2, 1966 - A com mun ist squa d amb ushe s
a
jeep load of Viet nam ese info rmat ion work ers, killi
ng six
and woun ding one; in Hau Nghi a prov ince.

100

February 14, 1966

Two mines explode beneath a
bus and a three-wheeled taxi on a road near Tuy Hoa, killing
48 farm laborers and injuring seven others.
March 18, 1966
Fifteen Vietnamese civilians are
killed and four injured by the explosion of a homemade mine
on a country road eight kilometers west of Tuy Hoa, Phu
Yen province.
May 22, 1966
Terrorists kill 18 sleeping men, a
woman and four children during an attack on a housing center for canal workers in the Mekong Delta province of An
Giang. "We are doing this to teach you a lesson," a communist cadre is reported to have said just before he pulled the
trigger.
On the eve of South Viet-Namls
September 10, 1966
Constituent Assembly elections, communists stage 166 separate incidents of intimidation, abduction and assassination.
Polling places also are destroyed.
September 11, 1966 - On election day, communists kill
19 voters, wound 120, in fire on polling places, mining of
roads, and in individual assassinations.
September 24, 1966 - American troops free eleven
persons froIn a cOITnl1.unist "jail" in Phu Yen province who
report that 70 fellow prisoners were deliberately starved to
death and 20 others tortured until they died.
October 11, 1966 - Acting on information from a 14year old boy, allied forces discover a prison complex in
Binh Dinh province containing the bodies of 12 Vietnamese
who had been machine gunned and grenaded by fleeing guards.
October 22, 1966 - A youth worker in ilinh Chanh, Gia
Dinh provi.nce, is shot and killed by ra.ider s while asleep
in his home.

101

October 24, 1966 - The Hue -Quang Tri bus runs over
a mine in Phong Dien district, Thua Thien province; 15
passengers are injured.
October 27, 1966 - A grenade is thrown into a home in
Ban Me Thuot, Darlac province, killing a 63-year old man
and a nine-month old child; seven other persons, six of them
WOITlen, are wounded.
October 28, 1966 - An alert policeman arrests a female
communist agent who is about to place a time- bomb under
the reviewing stand at a festival in Khanh Hung (Soc Trang),
Ba Xuyen province.
November 1, 1966 Communists direct long-range
recoilless rifle fire into downtown Saigon during National Day
celebration killing or wounding 51 persons.
Nove=ber 2, 1966 - A grenade is thrown by a terrorist
at Phu Tho racetrack, Saigon, killing two persons and wounding eight others, including two children.
NoveITlber 2, 1966 - A squad of arITled guerrillas
attacks a harrtlet in Chau Thanh district, Phong Dinh province,
then withdraws after detonating a lO-kilograITl charge which
wrecks a steel bridge across the Dau Sau canal. An aged
WOITlan and two children are wounded.
NoveITlber 3, 1966 - COITlITlunist squads infiltrate the
outskirts of Saigon, fire 24 recoilless rifle shells on the city.
AITlong the buildings hit are Saigon Central Market, Grall
Hospital, Saigon Cathedral, a seITlinary chapel and several
private hOITles. Eight persons are killed and 37 seriously
wounded.
NoveITlber 4, 1966 - COITlITlunists lob ITlortar shells
into a village in Hau Nghia province, killing one civilian and
wounding eight.

102
COITI ITIuni st attac k an outpo st in
Nove tnber 4, 1966
two
Tay Ninh provi nce, killin g six civil ians and woun ding
Revo lutio nary Deve loptn ent teatn tnetn ber s.
l
Nove tnber 7, 1 Q66 - A cotnt nunis t squad on Prov incia
and
Road 8, Quan g Duc provi nce, abdu cts a haml et chief
depu ty chief .
ear
Nove tnber 8, 1966 - In Chau Doc provi nce, a 53-y
d to
old wotn an is tortu red and shot to death ; a note pinne
atnes e
her body accu ses her of supp ortin g the South Vietn
gove rntne nt.
le
Nove tnber 16, 1966 - A terro rist botnb -lade n bicyc
South
on Nguy en Van Thoa i Stree t, Saigo n, explo des; two
Vietn atnes e soldi ers and a civil ian are woun ded.
Eigh t tnort ar round s on Can Giuo c,
Nove tnber 19, 1966
woun ded
Long An provi nce, kill two child ren; 12 civili ans are
five
Sotne 20 tnort ar round s drop on Can Duoc , woun ding
civili ans.
when
Nove tnber 20, 1966 - Two polic etnen are woun ded
equip ped
they attetn pt to retno ve seve ral cotnt nunis t bann ers
with explo sive devic es.
Nove tnber 23, 1966 - Thre e terro rists dress ed in
guard ing
South Vietn atnes e artny unifo rtns kill a polic etnan
nce.
a bridg e at Khan h Hung (Soc Tran g), Ba Xuye n provi
seven
Whil e escap ing, they throw two grena des, woun ding
civil ians and two soldi er s.
off
Nove tnber 26, 1966 - A Clay tnore -type tnine is set
l, An
in the playg round of the Trinh Hoai Duc boys I schoo
using adjaThan h, Binh Duon g provi nce. Kore an troop s are
and
cent area as a train ing site. Thre e Kore ans are killed
a Vietn atnes e stude nt is woun ded.
tnarNove tnber 30, 1966 - Cotn tnuni st shell Tan Uyen
woun ding
ket, Bien Hoa provi nce, killin g three civil ians and
seven .

103
December 4, 1966 - A village chief in Gia Dinh province
is abducted from his horne in Phu Lam by four men and as sassinated by rifle fire.
December 7, 1966 - Tran Van Van, Constituent Assemblyman, is assassinated while en route to the National Assembly building; death weapon is a .32 caliber East German pistol; his killer s are captured.
December 10, 1966 - A terrorist throws a grenade into
the Chieu Hoi district playground, Binh Duong City, severely
injuring three children.
December 10, 1966 - A taxi on Highway 29, Phong Dinh
province runs over a lTline. Five passengers, all women,
are killed and the driver badly wounded.
December 13, 1966 - Revolutionary Development personnel attend a course at the Ca Mau school, An Xuyen province; a charge explodes in the classroom, killing three and
wounding nine.
December 20, 1966 - A squad infiltrates a hamlet in
Quang Tin province, kidnaps a former Viet Cong member
who recently defected, carries him to another location and
shoot shim.
December 27, 1966 National Constituent Assemblyman, Dr. Phan Quang Dan, narrowly escapes death when
his car explodes in Gia Dinh province. A charge is concealed
beneath the vehicle and detonates as Dr. Dan opens the door.
Dan escapes with minor wounds but a woman passerby is
killed and five civilians wounded.
January 6, 1967 - A South Vietnamese policeman in
Tan Chu, Kien Phong province, is shot and killed while
members of his faIT1ily look on.
/'

January 7, 1967 - An explosion destroys a school and

health station in Hong Ngu district, Kien Phong province.

10 4

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-------

105
Marc h 30, 1967 - Reco illess rifle fire direc ted at
lishe s
home s of fami lies of South Vietn ames e troop s demo
the
200 hous es and kills 32 men, wom en and child ren in
capit al city of Bac Lieu provi nce.
ent
Apri l 13, 1967 - A South Vietn ames e enter tainm
et,
haml
troup e is the targe t of noctu rnal raid in Lu Song
killed ;
near Da Nang . The team chief and his depu ty are
two team mem bers are woun ded.
Apri l 14, 1967 - Terr orist s kidna p Nguy en Van Son
cand idate
in Binh Chan h distr ict, Gia Dinh p:-ov ince; he is a
in the elect ions for villag e coun cil.
Nam
Apri l 16, 1967 - A squad enter s Cam Ha, Quan g
child is
p:'ovi nce and murd ers an elect ion cand idate . One
kille d and three civili ans are woun ded.
Sui Chon haml et north east of Saigo n is
Apri l 18, 1967
lution attac ked by assas sins and arson ists who slay five Revo
ct seven ;
ary Deve lopm ent team mem ber s, woun d three , abdu
are tied
three of those slain are youn g girls , whos e hand s
. Onebehin d their back s befor e they are shot in the head
fire.
third of the haml et's dwel ling is destr oyed by
et,
Apri l 26, 1967 - Nguy en Cam, chief of Ba Dan haml
Cam
Quan g Nam provi nce, is shot and kille d by a terro rist.
had been a cand idate in recen t elect ions.
e
May 10, 1967 - A bus loade d with South Vietn ames
h, Phu
civili ans runs over a land mine near Than Bach Thac
five
and
r
Bon provi nce. One passe nger is killed ; the drive
passe nger s are woun ded.
More than 200 docto rs and medi cal
!viay 11, 1967 victi ms
work ers of the Repu blic of South Viet- Nam have been
Secre
th
of the comm unist s in the past 10 year s, State Heal
nizat ion
tary Dr. Tran Van Lu-Y tells the Worl d Heal th Orga
been killed
in Gene va. He says 211 mem ber s of his staff have
hosp itals
or kidna ped; 174 dispe nsari es, mate rnity home s and
d.
destr oyed ; 40 ambu lance s mine d or mach ine-g unne

106
May 16, 1967 - In two separate attacks in Quang Tin and
Quang Tri provinces,
communists kill eight Revolutionary
Development team members and injure five.
May 24, 1967 - The information officer of Phu Thanh, Bien
Hoa province, and his two children are killed by grenades thrown
into their horne at 3 a. m.
May 29, 1967 - Frogmen emerge from the Perfume River
in Hue to blow up a hotel housing members of the International
Control Commission. No member of the Indian-Canadian-Polish
team is hurt, but five South Vietnamese civilians are killed and
15 wounded. The hotel is 80 percent destroyed.
June 2, 1967 - Armed with automatic weapons, two platoons
make a post-midnight raid on a Chieu Hoi camp in Long An. They
injure five South Vietnamese soldiers and five civilians.
June 27, 1967 - Twenty-three civilians are killed when their
bus strikes a mine in Binh Duong province, southeast of Lai Khe.
July 6, 1967 - Several children walking on the road to a
pagoda at Cam Pho hamlet, Quang Nam province, are wounded
when a passing truck explodes a Viet Cong anti-tank mine. One
child dies of wounds.
July 13, 1967 - An explosion in a Hue restaurant kills two
Vietnamese. Twelve Vietnamese, seven Americans and one
Filipino are injured.
July 14, 1967 - Terrorists dressed in Vietnamese Army
uniforms capture a prison in Quang Nam province, releasing
about 1,000 of the 1,200 inmates; they execute 30 in the prison
yard. Ten civilians are killed and 29 wounded as the terrorists
fight their way out of the area.
July 25, 1967 - Communists appear at homes in Binh Trieu,
Long An province and kidnap four men, a woman and the woman's
16-year-old son. All six are found the following morning along
Highway 13, hands tied behind their backs, a bullet in each head.
August 5, 1967 - During a special civics class in a secon dary school in An Xuyen province, part of the September election

107
1 girl a hand
"get out the vote" camp aign, a terro rist gives a smal
it caref ul1y
gren ade with the pin extra cted and tells her to carry
s the greto her teach er. At the class room door the child drop
nade , killin g hers elf and injur ing nine child ren.
when
Augu st 24, 1967 - Terr orist s kil1 one and woun d four
in
eman
e polic
they deton ate a char ge at the home of a Vietn ames
Can Tho, Phon g Dinh prov ince.
are
Augu st 26, 1967 - Twen ty-tw o civil ians die and six
prov ince.
injur ed when their bus strik es a mine in Kien Hoa
sena te
Augu st 27, 1967 - A week befo re presi dent ial and
l1ess rifle
elect ions, terro rists step up their activ ities . A recoi
227. Ten die
and mort ar attac k On Can Tho kills 46 and injur es
Deve lopm ent
and ten are injur ed in an attac k on a Revo lutio nary
inclu ding
team in Phuo c Long prov ince. Four teen civil ians,
of Ban Me
five child ren, are woun ded by mort ar fire south east
is woun ded
Thuo t, Darl ac prov ince. Two civil ians die and one
civil ians are
in an attac k On a haml et in Binh Long prov ince. Six
ince.
kidna ped from Phuo c Hung vil1a ge in Thua Thie n prov
four
Augu st 29, 1967 - Grou ps of comm unist s infil trate
kil1 two
haml ets in Than h Binh distr ict, Quan g Nam prov ince,
chief .
civil ians and abdu ct six, inclu ding an inter -fam ily
crate rs
Sept embe r I, 1967 - Terr orist explo sives blast six
ing al1 vehic ular
in Natio nal Rout e 4 in Dinh Tuon g prov ince, stopp
bus whic h runs
traff ic exce pt a South Vietn ames e army ambu lance
ing 23.
over a pres sure mine , kil1in g 13 pass enge rs, injur
Hoa,
Sept embe r 3, 1967 - Shor tly after pol1s open in Tuy
n in a
Phu Yen prov ince, comm unist s deton ate a bomb hidde
woun ded.
pol1i ng place . Thre e vote rs are kille d and 42 are
ings, claim
Elec tion morn ing attac ks, inclu ding long -rang e shell
48 lives .
in Quan g
Nove mber 8, 1967 - The Ky Chan h refug ee cente r
perso ns,
Tin prov ince is infil trate d by terro rists who kill four
fire the camp 's
woun d nine othe rs and kidna p nine more ; they also
scho ol.
ed
Dece mber 5, 1967 - A name that shou ld be reme mber

108

as long as Lidice is Dak Son, a Montagnard village of SOrrle 2, 000

in Phuoc Long province, the scene of what in SOrrle ways rerrlains
the worst atrocity in the entire atrocity-ridden war. SOrrle 300
cOrrlrrlunists stage a reprisal raid on Dak Son. The chief weapon:
the flame thrower, 60 of them. The purpose: purely to terrorize.
The result: a Carthaginian solution, all but so..ving of the salt.
After breaking through the flimsy harrllet militia defense, the
comrrlunists set about systematically to destroy the village and
the people in it. Families are incinerated alive in their grassroofed huts or in the shelters dug beneath their beds. Everything
combustible is put to the torch: houses, recently harvested grain
on the ground, livestock, fences, trees, people. One of the first
Arrlericans to approach the scene the following day: "As we
approached the place I thought I saw charred cordwood piled up
the way you pile up logs neatly beside the road. When we got
closer I could see it was the burned bodies of several dozen
babies. The odor of burned flesh, which really is an unforgettable
srrle 11 , reached us outside the village and of course got stronger
at the center. People were trying to breathe through cabbage
leaves ... I saw a srrlall boy and a srrlaller girl, probably his
sister, sort of melted together in a charred errlbrace. I saw a
mother burned black still hiding two children, also burned black.
Everything was burned and black. The worst was the wail of
the survivors who were picking through the smouldering ruins.
One man kept screarrling and screarrling at the top of his lungs.
For an hour he kept it up. He wasn't hurt that I could tell. He
just kept screarrling until a doctor gave hirrl a shot of rrlorphine
or something ... Fire bloats bodies I learned, and after a few
hours the skin splits and peels and curls ... The far end of the
village wasn't burned; the communists ran out of flamethrower
fuel before they got to it ... " Estimated toll: 252 dead, about
two-thirds of therrl WOrrlen and children; 200 abducted, never to
return.
December 14, 1967 - Bui Quang San, member of South
Viet-Nam's lower house, is gunned down in his horne near Saigon.
Two days before his rrlurder, San told friends of receiving a letter
from the communists threatening his life. His rrlother, first
wife and six children were killed in an earlier Viet Cong raid in
the city of Hoi An.
December 14, 1967 - Saigon reports a total of 232 civilians
killed by acts of terrorism in one week.

109
i
Dece tnber 16, 1967 - Durin g the int.er tniss ion at a class
on
ars
appe
cal dratn a at' the Univ ersity of Saigo n, a cotnt nunis t
A stude nt
stage and begin s a propa gand a speec h abou t the NLF.
ach. Two
attetn pts to clitnb to the stage and is shot in the stotn
other stude nts are shot in the tnele e that follow s.
s Tatn
Janu ary 20, 1968 - An artne d propa gand a teatn enter
a
gand
propa
a
Quan , Binh Dinh Provi nce, gathe rs 100 peop le for
shot to death .
sessi on; one protn inent villag e elder objec ts and is
Vinh
Apri l 6, 1968 - A band of cotnt nunis ts enter s That
piast ers
Dong , Tay Ninh provi nce; they sell seve ral thous and
a schoo l
wort h of "war bond s" and then depa rt, takin g with thetn
w and six
teach er, the hatnl et chief 's two daug hters and nephe
other tnale s age 15 or 16.
indis May 5 - June 22, 1968 - Sotne 417 rock ets are fired
ed Four th
critn inate ly into Saigo n, chief ly in the dense ly-po pulat
tn
122tn
Distr ict. The rock ets are 107tn tn Chin ese-t nade and
Sovi et-tn ade. Resu lt: 115 dead, 528 hosp italiz ed.
c on
May 29, 1968 - A band of cotnt nunis ts stops all traffi
ped,
Rout e 155 in Vinh Binh provi nce; 50 civili ans are kidna
-whe eled
inclu ding a Prote stant tnini ster; 2 buse s and 28 three
taxis are burn ed.
refug ee
June 28, 1968 - A tnajo r attac k is tnade again st the
. In all,
cente r and fishin g villag e of Son Tra, south of Da Nang
and tnach ine
88 perso ns are killed and 103 are woun ded by tnort ar
hotne s are
gun fire, grena des and explo sive charg es. Sotne 450
hotne less.
destr oyed leavi ng 3, 000 of the 5, 000 perso ns there
r are fired
Late r, villa gers gathe ring batnb oo to rebui ld the cente
on frotn atnbu sh.
of thetn
July 28, 1968 - Four gun-w ieldin g terro rists , two
of
rootn
wotn en, deton ate a 60-po und plast ique charg e in city
Chin eseChol on Daily News , tnost protn inent of city' s seven
build ing;
langu age news pape rs, after orde ring work ers out of
the four escap e befor e polic e arriv e.
ion's
Septe tnber 1, 1968 - Doct ors at the Atne rical Divis
been
have
en
27th Surg ical Hosp ital repo rt two Mont agna rd wOtn
deter tnine d
brou ght in for treat tnent for adva nced anetn ia. It is

no
that the North Vietnamese had been systematically draining them
of blood for treating their own wounded.
September 12, 1968 - A communist report (captured in
Binh Duong province) from the Chau Thanh district Security
Section to the provincial Party Central Committee says that seven
prisoners in the district's custody were shot prior to an expected
enemy sweep operation: "we killed them to make possible our safe
escape, " the report says.
September 26, 1968 - A grenade is thrown into the crowded
Saigon central market, killing one person and wounding 11.
December 11, 1968 - A band of terrorists appears at the
horne of the provincial People's Self-Defense Force chief in Tri
Ton, Chau Doc province; they bind his arms with rope and lead
him 50 yards from his horne where they fire a burst from a submachine gun into his body.
January 6, 1969 - The Vietnamese Minister of Education,
Dr. Le Minh Tri, is killed when two terrorists on a motorcycle
hurl a hand grenade through the window of the car in which he is
riding.
February 7, 1969 - A satchel charge is exploded in the Can
Tho market place, killing one and wounding three.
February 16, 1969 - Communists invade and occupy Phuoc
My village, Quang Tin province, for several days. Later, survivors describe a series of brutal acts: a 78-year old villager
shot for refusing to cut down a tree for a fortification; a 73-year
old man killed when he could not or would not leave his horne,
pleading that infirmities prevented him from walking; an II-year
old boy stabbed; several families grenaded in their homes.
January 19, 1969 - A bicycle bomb explodes in a shop in
Kien Hoa province (Truc Giang), killing six civilians and wounding 16.
February 24, 1969 - Terrorists enter the Catholic Church
in Quang Ngai province, assassinate the priest and an altar boy.
February 26, 1969 - A bicycle bomb explodes near a pool

III

hall in Kien Hoa province, killing a child and wounding three

other persons.
March 4, 1969 - Rector of Saigon University, Professor
Tran Anh, is shot by mot.:>rcycle-riding terrorists; previously
he had been notified that he was on ihe "death list" of something
called the "Suicide Regiment of the Saigon Youth Guard. "
March 5, 1969 - An attempt is made to assassinate Prime
Minister Tran Van Huong by hurling a satchel charge against the
automobile in which he is riding. The attempt fails and most of
the terrorists are captured.
March 6, 1969 - An explosive charge explodes next to a
wall at Quang Ngai city hospital, killing a maternity patient and
destroying two ambulances.
March 9, 1969 - Terrorists enter Xom Lang, Go Cong
Province, take Mrs. Phan Thi Tri from her horne to a nearby
rice field where they behead her, explaining that her husband had
defected from the communists.
March 9, 1969 - A band of communists attack Loc An, Loc
My and Loc Hung villages in Quang Nam province, killing two
adults and kidnaping ten teenage boys.
March 13, 1969 - Kon Sitiu and Kon Bobanh, two Montagnard villages in Kontum province, are raided by terrorists; 15
persons killed; 23 kidnaped, two of whom are later executed;
three long-houses, a church and a school burned. A hamlet
chief is beaten to death. Survivors say the communists' explanation is: "We are teaching you nut to cooperate with the governIllent. II

March 21, 1969 - A Konturn province refugee center is

attacked for the second time by a PAVN battalion using mortars
and B-40 rockets. Seventeen civilians are killed and 36 wounded,
many of them women and children. A third of the center is
destroyed.
April 4, 1969 - A pagoda in Quang Nam province is dynamited, killing four persons, wounding 14.

112

April 9, 1969 - Terrorists attack the Phu Binh refugee

center, Quang Ngai province and fire 70 houses, leaving 200
homeless. Four persons are kidnaped.
April 11, 1969 - A satchel charge explodes in the Dinh
Thanh temple, Long Thanh village, Phong Dinh province, wounding four children.
April 15, 1969 - An armed propaganda team invades An Ky
refugee center, Quang Ngai province, and attempts to force out
the people living there; nine are killed and ten others wounded.
April 16, 1969 - The Hoa Dai refugee center in Binh Dinh
province is invaded by an armed propaganda team. The refugees
are urged to return to their former (communist dominated) village,
but refuse; the communists burn 146 houses.
April 19, 1969 - Hieu Duc district refugee center, Quang
Nanl province, is invaded and ten persons kidnaped.
April 23, 1969 - Son Tinh district refugee center, Quang
Ngai province, is invaded; two women are shot and 10 persons
kidnaped.
May 6, 1969 - Le Van Gio, 37, is kidnaped and later shot
for refusing to pay "taxes" to a communist agent who entered his
village of Vinh Phu, An Giang province.
May 8, 1969 - Communist sappers detonate a charge outside
the Postal- Telephone Building in Saigon's Kennedy Square, killing four civilians and v.ounding 19.
May 10, 1969 - Sappers explode a charge of plastique in
Duong Hong, Quang Nam province, killing eight civilians and
wounding four.
May 12, 1969 - A communist sapper squad attacks Phu
My, Binh Dinh Province, with satchel charges, rockets and
grenades; 10 civilians are killed, 19 wounded; 87 homes are
destroyed.
May 14, 1969 - Five communist 122mm rockets land in
the residental area of Da Nang, killing five civilians and wounding 18.

113
June 18, 1969 - Three children are wounded when they
step on a cOTInnunist m.ine while playing near their hom.e in
Quan Long (Ca Mau) city, An Xuyen province.
June 19, 1969 - In Phu My, Thua Thien province, com.m.unists assassinate a 54-year old m.an and his 70-year old
m.other.
June 24, 1969 - A l22rn.rn. corn.rn.unists rocket strikes the
Thanh Tam. hospital in Ho Nai, Bien Hoa province, killing one
patient.
June 30, 1969 - Corn.rn.unist m.ortar shells destroy the
Phuoc Long pagoda in Chanh Hiep, Binh Duong province; one
Buddhist m.onk is killed and ten persons wounded.
June 30, 1969 - Three m.em.bers of the People's SelfDefense Force are kidnaped from. Phu My, Bien Hoa province.
July 2, 1969 - Two com.m.unist assassins enter a ham.let
office in Thai Phu, Tay Ninh province, shoot and wound the
ham.let chief and his deputy.
July 17, 1969 - A grenade is thrown into Cho Con m.arket,
Da Nang, wounding 13 civilians, m.ost of them. wom.en.
July 19, 1969 - A com.m.unist unit attacks the Chieu Hoi
center in Vinh Binh province killing five persons, including two
wom.en and a youth, and wounding 11 civilians.
July 18, 1969 - Police report two incidents of B-40 rockets
being fired into trucks on the highway, one in Quang Duc province
in which three civilians were wounded and one in Dar1ac province
which killed the driver.
July 19, 1969 - Corn.rn.unist seize and shoot Luong Van
Thanh, a People's Self-Defense Force m.em.ber, Tan Hoi Dong,
Dinh Tuong province.
July 30, 1969 - Com.m.unists rocket the refugee center of
Hung My, Binh Duong, wounding 76 persons.

114

August 1, 1969 - A sapper team detonates a plastique charge

at the base of an electric transformer tower in Saigon, cutting
the line.
August 5, 1969 - Two grenades are thrown into the elementary school in Vinh Chau, Quang Nam province, where a
school board meeting is taking place. Five persons are killed
and 21 are wounded.
August 7, 1969 - Communist sappers set off some 30 separate plastique charges in the U. S. Sixth Evacuation Hospital compound, Cam Ranh Bay, killing two and wounding 57 patients.
August 7, 1969 - A series of explosions is detonated outside an adult education school for Vietnamese military in Cholon,
killing eight and wounding 60.
August 13, 1969 - Officials in Saigon report a total of 17
cornmunist terror attacks on refugee centers in Quang Nam and
Thua Thien provinces, leaving 23 persons dead, 75 injured and
a large number of homes destroyed or damaged.
August 21, 1969 - Communists infiltrate Ho Phong, Bac
Lieu province, and kill three People's Self-Defense Force
members, wound two others.
August 26, 1969 - A nine-month-old baby in his mother's
arms is shot in the head by terrorists outside Hoa Phat, Quang
Nam province; also found dead are three children between ages
six and ten, an elderly man, a middle-aged man and a middleaged woman, a total of seven, all shot at least once in the back
of the head.
September 6, 1969 - Communists rocket and mortar the
training center of the National Police Field Force in Dalat, killing five trainees and wounding 26.
September 9, 1969 - South Vietnamese officials report
that nearly 5,000 South Vietnamese civilians have been killed by
communist terror during 1969.
September 20, 1969 - Communists attack Tu Van refugee
center in Quang Ngai province, killing 8 persons and wounding

115

two, all families of local People's Self-Defense Force members.

In nearby Binh Son, eight members of a police official's family
are killed.
September 24, 1969 - A bus hits a mine on Highway I,
north of Duc Tho, Quang Ngai province; 12 passengers are killed.
October 13, 1969 - A grenade is thrown in the Vi Thanh
City Chieu Hoi center, killing three civilians and wounding 46;
about half those wounded are deperidents.
October 13, 1969 - Communists kidnap a Catholic priest
and a lay as sistant from the church at Phu Hoi, Bien Hoa province.
October 27, 1969 - Communists booby trap the body of a
People's Self-Defense Force member whom they have killed.
When relatives corne to retrieve the body the subsequent explos ion kills four of them.

116

Statistic s

(See Chart Below)

In May, 1967 the GVN-U.S. began employing new and more

sophisticated systems, some using computers, for the collection
and analysis of statistical data, including data on terror incidents.
Under the new systems, categories were changed some what and
therefore the pre-1967 figures below are not strictly comparable
to those later (hence the drop in total number of terror acts for
1968 and first ten months of 1969).
With respect to the general matter of the Viet-Nam war
and statistics, experienced writers in the mass media, the academic community and in government have learned, often from
personal and bitter experience, not to try to quantify the VietNam war. As a result they reflexively eschew statistics, not
because they do not recognize them as a valuable tool, but because
they know the conditions and circumstances under which they are
collected make them, at best, untrustworthy, and at worst, dangerously misleading. With respect to terror acts, the data processing system is chiefly dependent on reports from the 2S00-village
countryside, a shaky base indeed.
Like most people in developing societies the Vietnamese
are not great record keepers and particularly are not keepers
of precise numbers, usually seeing no need. (Belief in the imperative need for figures, indeed simply 10 become statistics-conscious, seems to be a characteristic that develops as does the
society.) Beyond this unperceived need to collect statistics of
any sort, including those on terror, there is in Viet-Nam a fog
of war which by its disruptive nature virtually prohibits systematic and patient collection of data. War is often responsible for
the destruction of such data as has been assembled. This is the
case, for example, of records of land surveys, title deeds and
other legal documents on holdings in the Mekong Delta, a jurist's
nightmare, one which the courts will be sorting out for a generation.
Thus in Viet-Nam there is the triple problem of indifference
to the collection of statistics, inability because of war to collect
them, and incomplete reporting even when collected. Therefor.e
this chart is to be treated cautiously. Its benefit, if any, is simply to suggest the scope and general order of magnitude of- communist terror acts over the years; the error probably is not more
than plus or minus 2S percent.

117

ssasslnahons 2

Kid naplngs

NA

1,700 (est.)

Z, 000 (est.) Negligible

1961

NA

1,300 (est. )

I, 318

NA

1962

20,000 (est. )

I, ll8

I, ll8

5,484

1963

25,280

827

1,596

3,735

1964

21, 733

516

1,525

15,500

1965

18,300 (est.)

305

1,730

15,200

1966

15,600 (est. )

1,732

3,810

1967

23,000 (est. )

3,707

5,357

9,617

5,389

8,759

9,216

5,340

5,807

Year
1957 to 1960

1968 5
1969
(10 mos. )

T error

ets

t ae s

ll8

Footnotes
1. Includes sabotage, harrassing fire, visits by armed propaganda teams to villages, "VC War Bond" sales, confiscation of
food, but not the other acts of terror listed in subsequent
columns.
2. Until May 1967 the figures are for assassinations of government officials only, and not killings of other civilians {records
were kept only on officials and even these are incomplete. }
Based on a 1964 study it probably is safe to conclude that for
every official Vietnamese assassinated, at least four nonofficials were killed.
3. As in the case of assassinations, the only records of kidnapings kept prior to May 1967 were kidnapings of government
officials; in light of a 1964 study, it is safe to conclude that for
every government official kidnaped, two non-government persons were seized. The GVN reported to the ICC in 1966 these
kidnaping figures {government and non-government totaled}:
1962, 10,000; 1963, 7,200; 1964, 10,450; 1965, 11,500.
4. Military attacks on villages, ambushes, etc., by the Liberation Army. After the beginning of the big-unit war and the
arrival of large numbers of PAVN, this figure no longer made
any sense.
5. The collection system broke down during the 1968 Tet
offensive and no firm statistics on terror acts are available
for the period Feb. 1 - March 15. The GVN reported civilian
casualties at Tet as 7,424 killed and 15,434 wounded.

119

Glossary of VietnaInese TerIns

121

Glossary of Vietnamese Terms

The term Viet Cong used to describe the communist forces
in Viet-Nam is an imprecise one. Nevertheless it now is in
almost universal use. The correct terms for the specific forces
on the other side are as follow:
A. The National Liberation Front of South Viet-Nam
(NLFSV), generally called the National Liberation Front (NLF),
sometime s NFLSVN. This is a communist front organization
which is the major--in terms of numbers--enemy force. It is
headed by a Central Committee and has elements running down to
the villages. It is made up of some 20 ostensibly independent
functional organizations, and a total membership of from 200,000
to 300, ODD, with perhaps 30,000 full-time cadres, about half of
whom are Northerners.
B. People's Liberation Armed Force (PLAF), formerly
called the National Liberation Front Army or Liberation Army.
It is divided into two parts:
1. The Full Military Force, usually called the Main
Force Or "hard hats".
2. The Para-Military Force, or the guerrilla force
which in turn is of two types:
a. Regional or Territorial Units - bands of
guerrillas living in the mangrove swamps and other
remote areas.
b. The Local Guerrilla - the part-time fighter who
is a farmer by day and a guerrilla by night.
C. The Communist Party of South Viet-Nam, known in the
South as the People's Revolutionary Party (PRP); its junior
organization is the People's Revolutionary Party Youth League
(PRPYL).

122

D. People's Artny of Viet-Natn (PAVN), soldiers of the

North Vietnatnese Artny serving in the South, nutnber currently
105,000 (known in NVN, as Vietnatn People's Artny).
Other tnajor tertns used in Viet-Natn follow:
AR VN - Artny of (South) Viet-Natn.
Big-Unit War - The war so far fought chiefly in the highlands and
along the 17th parallel that separates North frotn South Viet-Natn.
Binh Van - The NLF troop proselyting progratn; literally, action
atnong the enetny troops.
Cao Dai - Religious sect unique to Viet-Natn; a blend of all tnajor
world religions; claitns tnetnbership of one tnillion.
Chieu Hoi - The GVN's surrender or atnnesty progratn; usually
called in English the open artns progratn.
CIDG - Civilian Irregular Defense Groups - Guerrilla-type units
of the GVN.
Civil Guard - Early GVN para-tnilitary organization, now called
Regional Forces.
CORDS - Civil Operations Revolutionary Developtnent Support; the
U. S. eletnent supporting the "pacification" progratn in tertns of
logistics and advice.
COSVN - Central Office for South Viet-Natn.
tional headquarters in the South.

Cotntnunist Opera-

Dang Lao Dong - Workers Party, the Cotntnunist Party of North

Viet-Natn.
Dau Tranh - Literally, struggle; the golden word in the cotntnunist
lexicon. Essentially a series of social disorders in rural areas
designed chiefly to raise revolutionary consciousnes s atnong
villagers and lead to the General Uprising.

123

zone along
DMZ - Dem ilitar ized Zone - The three -mile wide
Nam .
the l7th para llel separ ating Nort h from South VietDoan Ket - (See Natio nal Reco ncilia tion)
Viet- Nam .
DRV - Dem ocrat ic Repu blic of Viet- Nam , i. e., North
"pias ter" by
Dong - Vietn ames e unit of mone y, usua lly term ed
forei gner s.
of revol uFirst , Seco nd and Third Stage s - The three phas es
tiona ry guer rilla war as outli ned by:
Mao:

1) The enem y's strat egic offen sive and our strat egic
defen sive.
2) The enem y's strat egic conso lidati on and our
prep arati on for the coun ter-o ffens ive.
y's
3) Our strat egic coun ter-o ffens ive and the enem
strat egic retre at.

Truo ng Chinh :

Giap:

l) Defe nsive
2) Equi libriu m of force s
3) Gene ral coun ter-o ffens ive.

and
1) Cont entio n (cons isting of "man y year s of more

more inten se and gene raliz ed guer rilla fighti ng")

2) Equi libriu m
3) Coun ter-o ffens ive ("fir st by a serie s of local
opera tions , then by other s on a large r scale , whic h
were to lead to the decis ive victo ry of Dien Bien
Phu" )

GVN - Gove rnme nt of (Sout h) Viet- Nam .

l myth of the
Gene ral Upri sing (Tong Khoi Nghia ) - Majo r socia
unist socia l
Vietn ames e comm unist s, simi lar to the early comm
loat, whic h
myth of the gene ral strik e. Also used is noi day dong
mean s essen tially the same thing .
; a Budd hist
Roa Rao - Relig ious sect uniqu e to South Viet- Nam
in its milit ancy .
varia nt diffe ring chief ly from other Budd hist sects

124

Hoi Chanh - TerlTl for a person who cOlTles in under the GVN
Chieu Hoi or National Reconciliation progralTl.
ICC or ICSC - The International Control COlTllTlission or the International Control and Surveillance COlTllTlission - the international
organization (Canada, India, Poland) created to supervise the
ilTlplelTlentation of the 1954 Geneva Accords in Indochina.
KielTl Thao - COlTllTlunist institution: criticislTl and self-criticislTl
sessions.
Liberation ArlTly -(See above)
National Reconciliation - The broad GVN alTlnesty progralTl.
VietnalTlese, Dai Doan Ket.

In

NLF, NLFSV, NLFSVN, NFLSVN - (See above)

Pacification - (See National Reconciliation and Revolutionary
D eveloplTlent)
PAVN -(See D above)
PFF - Police Field Force; GVN.
PLAF - (See B above)
PSDF - People's Self Defense Force. The static hOlTle- guard
lTIilitia in the VietnalTlese villages; in effect the lowest echelon
of the GVN's defense structure.
Popular Forces (PF)
- GVN's district level para-lTIilitary force,
forlTlerly called Self-Defense Force (Dan Vel.
PRP - (See C above)
PRP Youth League - (See C above)
Protracted Conflict - COlTllTlunist doctrinal thesis, highly deterlTIinistic, which holds that tilTle, especially in terlTls of decades,
is on the side of the cOlTllTlunists; that inevitably they will succeed
in c olTllTlunizing the wo r ld.

125

Revolutionary Development - Name for GVN "pacification" program designed to improve at a highly accelerated rate the socioeconomic-political lot of the SVN countryside.
Regional Force (RF)
- GVN's para-military force standing
between ARVN as a national army and the Popular Force; found
at province level.
Resistance (The) - Communist name for the French- Viet Minh
War, 1946-54.
RGW - Revolutionary Guerrilla War; type of war being fought in
Viet-Nam. (See First, Second, Third stages).
RVNAF - Republic of Viet-Nam Armed Forces (South Vietnamese
armed forces).
Self-Defense Force - Former name of GVN village militia.
Special War - Name used by the communists for the type of war
being fought in South Viet-Nam. They define it as an imperialist
war for the purpose of colonization but in which the fighting is
done by "comprador natives" or "lackeys" rather than by soldiers
of the colonizing nation.
Strategic Hamlet - Diem government's program to develop a
system of defended villages as part of its resources control
program. After Diem, it became known as the New Life Hamlet.
Elements were later incorporated in Revolutionary Development
Program.
Struggle Movement - See Dau Tranh
Tong Khoi Nghia - See General Uprising
Viet Cong - Imprecise but now universally employed term for the
communist forces in South Viet-Nam.
VNAF - (South) Viet-Nam Air Force.

***

INDEX TO MAP OF HUE INDICATING MAJOR BODY FINDS

First Finds (Total 19 sites; the major ones are):
1 - Gia Hoi High School
2 - Tang Quang Tu Pagoda
3 - Bai Dau (Con Mo)
4 - Cho Thong
5 - Imperial Tombs (Tu Due, Dong Khanh)
6 - Thien Ham
7 - Dong Gi
Second Finds
8 - Phu Thu (Sand Dune Find)
a - Vinh Luu
b - Le Xa Dong
c - Xuan 0
9 - Xuan Hoa - Van Duong
10 - Le Xa Tay

11 - Vinh Loc District

12 - Nam Hoa District
Third Find
13 - Dai Mai Creek (Nam Hoa District)
Fourth Finds
14 - Phu Thu (Salt Flat Find)

Born in Minnesota in 1925. Douglas Pike was

educated at the University of California ( Berkeley)
(AB) ; American University in Washington. D. C.
(MA) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
During World War II Mr. Pike served with
the United States Army in the South Pacific. the
Philippines and Japan. He has spent most of his
adult life in Asia. including residence in VietNam
Hong Kong. Japan. Korea and the Philippines.
with frequent travel in other countries of the area.
He has worked as a journalist in the United States and Asia. and for
the United Nations as a civilian during the Korean war. He has been an
officer of the United States [nformation Agency since 1958 when he covered
the White House for the Voice of America. Subsequent assignments have
taken him to Viet-Nam and to Tokyo where he is currently serving as the
Special Assistant for Political Military Affairs to the director of the United
States Information Service in Japan.
He is the author of two books on Viet-Nam : Viet-Congo the Organization
and Techniques of the National Liberation Front of South Viet-Nam (MIT
Press. 1966) and War, Peace and The Viet Cone .. A Study of Current
Communist Strategy in Viet-Nam. (MIT Press 1969)
Mr. Pike is married and the father of three children.