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Covers the battle at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 and the resulting expulsion of the French and the division of the country into a North and South Vietnam.
Covers the battle at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 and the resulting expulsion of the French and the division of the country into a North and South Vietnam.
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00:10To be continued...
00:44To be continued...
01:00Between 1945 and 1975, Indochina was wracked by one of the longest and most bitter wars of the century.
01:15The battle for Vietnam drew in millions of soldiers, Vietnamese, French, American, Australian, Korean and British,
01:23and profoundly affected the lives of vast numbers of civilians.
01:39The American War, which lasted from 1960 to 1975, was a conflict fought with extreme ferocity and destructiveness.
01:51There was on the ground a guerrilla war of firefights, merciless search-and-destroy operations, and endless sieges.
01:59And also an air war of extreme intensity.
02:06Eight million tons of bombs wrought havoc on the landscape and people.
02:17The war that cost 1.3 million lives, including 58,000 American dead, was about much more than the fate
02:26of one small country.
02:30Twenty years before the first American combat soldiers set foot in Vietnam, the seeds for America's war had been sown.
02:56With the partitioning of Europe, east and west, after World War II, the Western powers were on the alert for
03:03communist gains in the territories of the old empires.
03:07Soviet expansion in Europe was perceived as the greatest threat.
03:30In October 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China.
03:36The battle lines of the Cold War were now clearly drawn.
03:58To American strategists, the communist victory in China fueled the fear of Soviet and communist expansion.
04:10At stake, they believed, were economic interests throughout Asia and the Pacific and U.S. communication and trade links to
04:18the Indian Ocean.
04:21President Eisenhower believed that one Asian country falling to communism would bring down its neighbors in a domino effect.
04:31Soviet and Chinese power would advance southwards until even the Australian continent was threatened.
04:44It was Indochina that seemed to hold the key to the future of southern Asia.
04:52The region bordered the newly created Chinese People's Republic and was still a French colony.
05:01French strategy was to hold on to power by creating puppet states in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
05:14The biggest obstacle to the French plan was the Viet Minh, a huge Vietnamese independence movement.
05:28In September 1945, under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese League for Independence, known as the Viet Minh,
05:37took Hanoi from the Japanese occupying forces and declared independence for the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
05:48In the south, the Japanese surrendered to the British.
05:55However, France still considered Vietnam her colony.
06:00General Gracie, the British commander, ordered the Japanese rearmed to fight the Viet Minh to retake the colony.
06:08Thus, the French-Indochina war began.
06:16In the war between the French and the Viet Minh, the United States had, until recently, stayed strictly neutral.
06:25U.S. officials had originally supported the Viet Minh and its leader, Ho Chi Minh, and they also strongly opposed
06:33the French attempt to keep their old colony.
06:40However, that was before the rise of Communist China.
06:45Now, the fear was that if the Viet Minh beat the French, they would open the door to the Chinese
06:52and the Soviets.
06:55Cold War politics had come to Vietnam.
07:12The Soviet Union and China recognized the Viet Minh as the only legitimate government of Vietnam in January 1950.
07:22Already, China was giving Ho Chi Minh arms, ammunition, and training bases.
07:34The United States, for its part, recognized a French creation, the State of Vietnam.
07:39And U.S. President Harry Truman approved a program of military and economic help.
07:48But even before the order was signed, the situation changed dramatically.
08:00In June 1950, war broke out in Korea.
08:05Communist northern forces, backed by the Soviet Union and China, invaded the South, and the U.S. sent troops to
08:12intervene.
08:18By October, American units were locked in combat with Chinese divisions on the Korean battlefield.
08:26Now, it seemed to the United States more important than ever to contain China on every possible front.
08:34That meant a massive increase in backing for the French in Vietnam.
08:45By 1953, a year into the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. support for the French war against the
08:52Viet Minh had turned into a flood of arms and cash.
08:55The United States paid three-quarters of the cost, a staggering $1 billion in 1954.
09:15The problem was that even with colossal American aid, the French were failing to beat the Viet Minh.
09:24The guerrillas now numbered 120,000 trained troops, backed by 200,000 local fighters.
09:41As French casualties passed 50,000, in France, the public grew weary of the seemingly endless war.
09:52There were calls for negotiations with the Viet Minh.
09:56Pressure for talks grew even greater as the conflict in Korea ended.
10:02But Eisenhower and his vice president, Richard Nixon, were dead set against any compromise.
10:17In spite of U.S. opposition, some kind of peace effort in Indochina looked inevitable.
10:23The hope was that the French might win a major battlefield victory and so strengthen their hand in any talks.
10:34The result was a plan for a big offensive in late 1953.
10:42The main effort would be in southern Vietnam, but the French also meant to launch a blocking operation in the
10:49north that just might deliver a major victory.
11:10By now, vast tracts of French Indochina had fallen under Viet Minh control.
11:20In the northeast of Vietnam, the only French territory was an enclave around Hanoi.
11:29The insurgents' main military stronghold was in the Viet Bắc, a mountainous region near the Chinese border.
11:37To the Viet Minh, already in control of vast areas of Laos, its royal capital, Luang Prabang, offered a tempting
11:45target and the French were keenly aware of the danger.
11:58The French plan was to create at Dien Bien Phu, deep in hostile territory, a fortified base which would threaten
12:06the enemy's supply lines to Laos.
12:11Just as important, the fort might act as bait, luring the Viet Minh to attack with their best troops.
12:21The base could be supplied from Laos overland and it could also be reinforced by air.
12:31The result they hoped for would be a set-piece battle that would allow superior French firepower to inflict a
12:38decisive defeat on the Viet Minh.
12:50In late November 1953, the Viet Minh's 316th Division advanced towards Laos, just as the French had expected.
13:01On November 20th, 800 elite French paratroopers, including a battalion of the Foreign Legion, were dropped near Dien Bien Phu.
13:12The reaction of the Viet Minh was to march elements of five more divisions towards the French camp.
13:25The French paratroopers at Dien Bien Phu quickly set about building fortifications and an airstrip.
13:31The idea was to mount offensive sweeps into the surrounding area, but soon the French were forced to think again.
13:45As the Viet Minh massed around the base, it became suicidal to venture far outside.
13:51Within two months, as the noose around Dien Bien Phu was drawn ever tighter, even a fighting withdrawal was no
13:58longer an option for the French.
14:11Even though his forces were now surrounded, the French commander, Colonel Christian de Castry, was completely confident.
14:19He was certain that aircraft could supply all the base's needs.
14:24Only enemy artillery posed any real danger.
14:33Some Viet Minh guns had begun to fire on the base, but the French were sure that only a handful
14:40could have been deployed in such difficult hilly terrain.
14:47As for Viet Minh supplies and reinforcements, French air power would make sure they never reached Dien Bien Phu.
15:04Even though up to a hundred French planes attacked Viet Minh's supply routes every day, their efforts were having little
15:11effect.
15:12Too often, aircraft were grounded by the weather.
15:16And in any case, the Viet Minh were masters of camouflage and deployed huge numbers of anti-aircraft guns.
15:29In a massive effort over several months, General Voi Nian Jop, the Viet Minh commander, used 50,000 support troops
15:38to deploy more than 200 artillery pieces and anti-aircraft guns and a vast supply of ammunition around Dien Bien
15:45Phu.
15:46It was one of the most extraordinary feats of logistics in military history.
15:51To the 10,000 French now inside the base, the realization that they were surrounded by field guns and mortars
15:59and four deadly Soviet Katusha rocket systems came as a dreadful shock.
16:23The French base at Dien Bien Phu had been sited on a flat valley floor.
16:31The airstrip and headquarters were the focus for the main battle position, a complex of five strongholds codenamed Françoise, Huguette,
16:42Claudine, Eliane, Dominique.
16:45To break up attacks, strongpoints Anne-Marie, Gabriel, Beatrice, and Isabel had been created on a series of low hills.
17:01The base was manned by nine infantry battalions and two crack parachute battalions.
17:07For support, there were artillery and mortars, light tanks, and fighter bombers.
17:22By early March 1954, 49,000 Viet Minh had deployed around Dien Bien Phu.
17:31Three infantry divisions and two independent regiments were supported by the field guns of the 351st Heavy Division on the
17:41hills to the east and by heavy mortars on all sides.
17:48Anti-aircraft guns were secretly placed to cover the air routes in and out of the valley.
18:02As the weeks went on, Viet Minh artillery fire caused more and more casualties amongst the French at Dien Bien
18:09Phu.
18:14The fortifications had never been meant to withstand heavy artillery and the French were horrified to find that neither counter
18:21-battery fire nor airstrikes were able to silence the enemy guns.
18:30They were too well dug in to hillside caves and bunkers and too well camouflaged.
18:38Any day now, the French knew, they would face an all-out enemy attack.
18:43It came on March 13, 1954.
18:56The Viet Minh assault began with a massive artillery bombardment.
19:03French gun positions in the central area were hammered.
19:08In three days after repeated human wave assaults and hopeless French counter-attacks, the Viet Minh took the northern strong
19:15points of Beatrice, Gabrielle and Anne-Marie.
19:29The loss of their northern outposts cost the French 1,500 men.
19:35The Viet Minh had suffered much worse, nearly 7,000 killed and wounded, but they had proved that the French
19:42defenses could be overcome.
19:50They had also closed down the base's main airfield for good.
19:55The French would now have to depend on parachute drops for supply and reinforcement.
20:08After a two-week lull, the Viet Minh renewed their offensive.
20:18The battle raged for a fortnight, with the French contesting every foot of ground.
20:25In the end, shocking Viet Minh casualties forced General Jaap to pause.
20:34Meanwhile, the French situation was getting desperate.
20:38Ammunition and food was short, and 3,000 wounded were trapped inside the base in appalling conditions.
20:52With disaster looming on the battlefield, the French appealed to the United States for help.
20:57There was a plan to use American bombers and even to drop four nuclear weapons, which was codenamed Operation Vulture.
21:07But Eisenhower ruled out any American military intervention unless other allies took part.
21:14None agreed to help.
21:17The French at Dien Bien Phu were to be left to their fate.
21:40Although the outpost Isabelle was still in French hands, it was by now cut off from the central stronghold at
21:47Dien Bien Phu.
21:51Besieged by the Viet Minh 304th Division, Isabelle was under heavy artillery fire.
22:00Incredibly, although attacked time and time again, the post would hold out until the very end of the battle.
22:14In the central sector, strongpoint Francoise had been abandoned and the Viet Minh had captured Dominique, along with part of
22:22Elian and Huguette.
22:29However, there were two new strongpoints, Sparrowhawk and Juno.
22:39Meanwhile, the Viet Minh had adopted new tactics in an attempt to reduce their terrible casualties.
22:46Secretly, they had dug more than 50 miles of trenches, creeping right up to the French perimeter.
22:56The final Viet Minh assault came on the night of May 1st, 1954.
23:11After a massive barrage, the Viet Minh infantry hit the remaining bunkers of Huguette and Elian.
23:20In spite of fierce French resistance, positions fell one by one until, on the evening of the sixth day, a
23:27huge mine demolished part of Elian and its last bunkers were overrun.
23:42At 5.30 p.m. on May 7th, 1954, Vietnamese forces occupied the French command post and the French commander
23:51ordered his troops to cease fire.
23:53It was 55 days to the minute since the battle had begun.
23:59At Tian Bien Phu, 3,000 French troops had been killed and 8,000 wounded.
24:05The Viet Minh had suffered much worse, with more than 8,000 dead and 12,000 wounded.
24:12But for them, the outcome had still been a triumph.
24:20On the eve of an international conference on Indochina, they had shattered France's resolve to carry on the war.
24:33The Viet Minh expected that the negotiations at Geneva would open the way for full Vietnamese independence and a major
24:41role for them in running the new country.
24:47In fact, the Viet Minh negotiators faced bitter disappointment.
24:56Behind closed doors, Chinese Prime Minister Zhao Enlai struck a deal with the French and forced Ho Chi Minh to
25:03agree that the country be divided into two zones.
25:12There was to be a cease fire, but there would be no immediate decision about who was to control Vietnam
25:18until elections settled the future.
25:44After Tian Bien Phu, the Viet Minh had controlled nearly three-quarters of Vietnam and parts of the country.
25:50Laos and Cambodia.
25:54At the peace conference, Laos and Cambodia were confirmed as independent states, but Vietnam was divided at the 17th parallel.
26:07The Viet Minh were given control of the northern part, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam with its capital in Hanoi.
26:18In the south, the state of Vietnam was to be run from Saigon.
26:26A demilitarized zone was established between the two regions.
26:34By agreement, 190,000 French-led troops would be withdrawn from north to south Vietnam.
26:4480,000 Viet Minh troops in the south, mostly southerners, would go to the north.
26:58For the French, the prospect of withdrawing from the northern part of Vietnam was deeply humiliating.
27:07However, they still assumed France would continue to play a major role in the south.
27:12The illusion would not last for long.
27:16France's role was already being taken over by the United States.
27:33On September 8, 1954, at a conference in the Philippines, the US sponsored the creation of the Southeast Asia Treaty
27:41Organization, which would soon include South Vietnam.
27:51The Americans were now dealing directly with the new South Vietnamese government, led by Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Dien.
27:58They had begun to bypass the French completely.
28:10On October 9, 1954, the Viet Minh 308th Division, veterans of Dien Bien Phu, marched in triumph into Hanoi, in
28:19accordance with the Geneva agreement.
28:28At the same time, the last French troops in the north prepared to leave.
28:33With them went 850,000 refugees encouraged by a CIA black propaganda campaign and fearing for their future under Viet
28:42Minh rule.
28:48Before the very eyes of the French and the Vietnamese people, Vietnam was crystallizing into two separate states, each with
28:56its own government, its own army, and its own Cold War allies.
29:22For Ho Chi Minh, the North Vietnamese president, the years following the Geneva agreement were bitterly disappointing.
29:31Ho was adored by millions of Vietnamese, North and South, as the man who'd driven out the French.
29:38But he had only won half a victory.
29:43South Vietnam, backed by the United States, refused to hold the elections that had been agreed at Geneva, the elections
29:51Ho had counted on, in which the US knew he would win, to reunify the country.
29:58Everything pointed to the fact that the division of Vietnam would be permanent.
30:12As a nationalist and founder of the Indo-Chinese Communist Party, Ho Chi Minh was fast transforming North Vietnam.
30:26The party took control of almost every sphere of life.
30:30The reconstruction of the war-ravaged economy was pushed ahead at incredible speed.
30:47One of Ho Chi Minh's highest priorities was to get as much aid for North Vietnam as he could from
30:53the Soviet Union and China.
30:58In July 1955 in Moscow, he won promises of cash help for the North to stave off a food crisis.
31:10The Russians also pledged to send technicians and military advisers.
31:14At the same time, China meant to match or even better the Soviet offer.
31:30Although Ho Chi Minh's greatest ambition was to reunify North and South Vietnam, so far he had urged his followers
31:38to be patient.
31:40He had refused to back guerrilla warfare against the South.
31:44Both China and the Soviet Union were also insisting on caution.
31:49But by 1958, pressure to back an armed campaign was mounting.
32:05The tens of thousands of Southern Viet Minh soldiers who came North after the Geneva Accords were by now restless
32:13and homesick.
32:17There was more pressure from inside the South, where the Viet Minh that had stayed behind were being wiped out
32:24by the new regime.
32:32In the Northern Government, an increasingly powerful faction of Southerners, led by Lei Duan, the Communist Party General Secretary, was
32:40also arguing for strong measures.
32:45In January 1959, with Ho Chi Minh's blessing, the North Vietnamese Communist Party voted to support armed revolution in South
32:55Vietnam.
32:59To help the campaign, 4,500 Viet Minh Southerners were prepared for infiltration back into the South.
33:25By 1957, two years after taking power in South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem had impressed the United States.
33:33He had used the army forcibly against gangsters and armed religious groups.
33:39It had looked for a while as if President Diem could create a viable non-communist state in South Vietnam
33:46and win the support of the Southern people.
34:00In fact, Diem had no intention of introducing the democracy or the social reforms that the United States wanted.
34:08He unleashed a savage campaign against his political opponents, using the army and police to make mass arrests.
34:22There was widespread torture and summary executions.
34:28At the same time, Diem's own family built up enormous wealth and power, while most of the South Vietnamese continued
34:36to live in dire poverty.
34:43By September 1960, to the immense frustration of the United States, which was pouring in aid, Diem's regime was detested
34:52by vast numbers of South Vietnamese.
34:58There was already virtual civil war, with armed rebellions breaking out all over the country.
35:05Increasingly, the revolts were being led by nationalist and communist guerrillas, and some trained men infiltrated down from the north.
35:19Over 12 months, 1,400 local government officials and civilians were killed, and a further 700 kidnapped.
35:32In South Vietnam, the guerrillas began to mount bold attacks on military posts, convoys, and railways.
35:49As events in South Vietnam spiraled towards chaos, in January 1961, John F. Kennedy took office as the 35th President
35:58of the United States.
36:03Almost at once, Kennedy faced a series of Cold War crises.
36:08Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was preparing to resume atmospheric testing of atomic weapons.
36:14Khrushchev also promised to increase Russian support for communism around the world.
36:25The climax came in August 1961, with a tense standoff in Europe, as the Russians sealed off East Berlin and
36:34began to build the Berlin Wall.
36:42Kennedy's reaction to the sense of mounting threat was to order a massive strengthening of American defenses.
36:48He ordered the call-up of 150,000 military reservists.
36:55A program was launched to build public nuclear fallout shelters right across the United States.
37:07There was a surge in arms production, especially of strategic nuclear weapons.
37:22With so many immediate crises demanding the attention of the President, Vietnam was far down the White House agenda.
37:30All the same, concern was growing.
37:35The South Vietnamese guerrillas were now 17,000 strong.
37:40In September 1961, there were 450 attacks, some involving hundreds of guerrillas at a time.
38:07Shortly after the decision to mount an armed revolution in South Vietnam,
38:12an organization had been created to control the military and political effort.
38:30This organization, the National Liberation Front, represented a wide range of political, ethnic and religious groups.
38:53The military wing of the NLF was the People's Liberation Army.
38:59The army included guerrillas who had been sent down from North Vietnam,
39:04Viet Minh veterans, and local armed groups.
39:15The main purpose of the force was to support the political battle,
39:19and the civilian leaders of the front kept tight control.
39:24President Siem christened them the Viet Cong, the Vietnamese communists, and the name stuck.
39:33The Viet Cong meant to follow the same kind of political and military strategy that had won the war against
39:39the French.
39:40Politics, diplomacy, and violence would be carefully coordinated, so each always worked with the others.
39:50For the time being, military activity would take second place to the political effort.
39:57Many hoped that a full-scale war would never be necessary.
40:04Others, particularly those closely connected with the North,
40:07saw a military campaign as the key to victory, and expected it to pass through three critical stages.
40:30In the first phase of the revolution, with the National Liberation Front's insurgents greatly outnumbered by Saigon's army,
40:37the task for guerrilla units would be to survive in the face of government attack.
40:48Safe base areas would be created as defensive sanctuaries,
40:52and as springboards for small-scale guerrilla attacks.
40:58In the second phase, the insurgents would deploy larger units and would seek out bigger battles.
41:06The opposing forces would be more evenly balanced, and under relentless pressure,
41:11the enemy would become defensive and static.
41:19In the third phase, at the key moment when the NLF became stronger than the government army,
41:25they would launch large-scale assaults against enemy installations,
41:29and seek out decisive conventional battles.
41:35This phase, the general offensive, combined with uprisings in the cities and towns,
41:40would bring the downfall of the Saigon regime, and the reunification of Vietnam.
42:00While the revolution was in its early phase, the NLF meant to build up its organization as fast as it
42:06possibly could.
42:09Political agents founded dozens of associations to bring every kind of support into the movement.
42:20There were associations for women, farmers, students, and workers.
42:26In less than two years, the Front claimed 300,000 members.
42:40At the same time as it built up grassroots support, the NLF meant to intensify its military operations.
42:47Bigger attacks on government forces would gain the movement prestige.
42:52Meanwhile, intensive training and preparation by North Vietnamese officers
42:57would forge the Viet Cong into an efficient and formidable fighting machine.
43:30As the NLF tightened their grip on the countryside, the South Vietnamese army began to behave exactly as the guerrillas
43:38had expected them to.
43:40They grew increasingly defensive, staying in fortified posts and never venturing out after dark.
43:51Battles only happened when the guerrillas chose and the army suffered a steady drain of casualties.
44:04By now, there were 900 American military advisors in South Vietnam charged with building up and training the South Vietnamese
44:12armed forces.
44:15They were appalled by the army's dismal performance against the guerrillas, but saw no reason why the South Vietnamese shouldn't
44:23be able to cope.
44:26What they wanted was a much more aggressive approach.
44:41American advice was that the army should get out on mobile operations and find the bigger enemy units.
44:50The civil guard and militia could look after local security.
44:57The Americans developed a counterinsurgency plan, supposed to better coordinate the different forces, but progress on the ground was painfully
45:06slow.
45:12While the handful of American personnel struggled to improve the situation inside South Vietnam, in Washington, military planners worried about
45:22the external threat.
45:23The fear was that North Vietnam or even China might take advantage of the South's weakness.
45:37Already, with the approval of the White House, a contingency plan had been drawn up for putting in American combat
45:43troops if an invasion looked imminent.
46:01If North Vietnam or China looked likely to invade the South, the American contingency plan, Op Plan 32, called for
46:10rapid deployments.
46:15A Marine expeditionary force would be based at Da Nang, an army division near Saigon, and another near Pleiku.
46:27Another division might be sent to bolster Thailand.
46:33If the invasion actually happened, U.S. forces would be increased by another three divisions.
46:40Aircraft carriers and land-based bombers would be positioned for massive attacks on North Vietnam,
46:47while amphibious, airborne, and ground forces would mount a full-scale invasion of Northern Territory.
47:09By now, the guerrilla war in South Vietnam looked so dangerous that American military planners believed the country might collapse
47:17even without a Northern invasion.
47:21The Joint Chiefs of Staff, the President's military advisors, argued that the best option was to implement Op Plan 32
47:29anyway and put three divisions into South Vietnam.
47:35The first 20,000 men would show the United States were serious.
47:39They believed the rest, up to 70,000 troops, would be enough to clean up the guerrilla threat altogether.
47:54Although the Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, was in favor of sending in troops, President Kennedy had no desire to
48:02embroil American soldiers in an Asian guerrilla war.
48:08But neither could the President afford accusations that he was soft on Communism.
48:16In November 1961, Kennedy approved a compromise plan drawn up between McNamara and the Secretary of State, Dean Rusk.
48:33Phase one of the Vietnam plan would see a big increase in financial support for the South Vietnamese Army.
48:45The number of American military advisors in Vietnam would be raised to over 3,000.
48:54More American equipment would be sent, including helicopters, 300 pilots to fly them, and maintenance personnel.
49:02For the time being, the President put off a decision on the second phase, the possible deployment of American combat
49:10troops.
49:30By the end of 1961, the South Vietnamese Army was being expanded to 200,000 men.
49:41South Vietnam also had Marine units, a small Air Force flying American aircraft, and a Navy for coastal patrol.
49:51As well as the regular armed forces, there was the 68,000 man paramilitary civil guard and various local militia.
50:09Since the United States had started rebuilding the South Vietnamese Army back in 1955, the force had been organized, armed,
50:18and trained to fight large-scale battles.
50:25The danger had been expected to come from the North Vietnamese or Chinese armies, not from guerrilla bands.
50:37Commanders had been taught to mount big operations and to use massive firepower wherever they could.
50:44In fact, the South Vietnamese Army's entire structure and military doctrine had been copied wholesale from the United States Armed
50:52Forces.
51:00Senior American commanders had no doubt they were teaching the South Vietnamese the right tactics for the war they had
51:07to fight.
51:07Their main worries were about leadership and morale.
51:14President Siem had appointed his generals for their political loyalty rather than their abilities, while junior officers' promotions depended on
51:23family connections.
51:27As for the men, they were sometimes so poorly supplied, they had to steal food.
51:33Desertions were running at 400 a month.
51:57As the NLF guerrillas began recruiting and training all over South Vietnam, they quickly built up their combat forces to
52:0517,000 men and women.
52:11These were the main force troops, uniformed and trained to fight anywhere in units hundreds strong.
52:20Main force battalions were under the direct control of the NLF High Command, and a high proportion of their officers
52:27were trained troops from the North.
52:43The NLF were also creating regional and local forces.
52:48Regional troops were controlled by district commanders.
52:54They were less well armed and trained than the main forces,
52:57but their scattered units could come together to create powerful formations whenever they were needed.
53:09Local guerrilla units were based in the villages.
53:12They were part-time soldiers, whose main job was to defend areas where the NLF was gaining control.
53:23In villages where the movement's influence was weaker, they served to intimidate opponents and show the wishes of the NLF
53:30were always to be taken seriously.
53:41The vast majority of new recruits to the NLF were teenagers with no military experience.
53:47In the hamlets, they were organized by political officers into three-person cells.
53:54Long ago, the Chinese communists had found that three made for a group more tightly knit and loyal than any
54:01other number.
54:10Although some weapons from the North, including Chinese mortars and machine guns, were beginning to reach NLF units,
54:17most guerrillas had to use whatever they could get.
54:22Rifles and equipment captured from the government army or left over from the French war made up the bulk of
54:28the arsenal.
54:41There were also secret factories making small arms and turning out grenades and mines in enormous numbers.
54:54Local forces depended on even more primitive weapons.
54:57Some were designed mainly to frighten intruders, but others were extremely dangerous.
55:07Pungi traps, sharp spikes hidden in pits, could easily disable an enemy soldier.
55:13Pungis were often contaminated to increase the risks of infection.
55:37By the end of 1961, the Saigon government was forced to admit it was faced with a full-scale war.
55:46Every week, over a thousand people were being killed.
55:54All over the country, the NLF were organizing whole districts along communist lines, controlling education, health and agriculture.
56:14There were whole areas which had seen no government troops or officials for years.
56:28In spite of all the setbacks, American military advisors in South Vietnam were still confident the fight against the communists
56:36could be won.
56:38By this time, they themselves were getting more deeply involved in the battle.
56:44Advisors were strictly forbidden to engage in actual combat, but the reality of war was starting to take over.
57:01On December 11th, the helicopters promised by President Kennedy arrived at the Saigon docks.
57:12With them came 400 U.S. personnel to maintain and fly the aircraft.
57:17Within weeks, the helicopters and their American pilots would be in action on the Vietnamese battlefield.
58:16With the
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