Viet Cong
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010What is the difference between the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong?
I know that in the Vietnam War, we fought both the Viet Cong and the NVA. What is the difference between the two of them? Were the VC a special forces group, like MACV-SOG, or were they just another group of soldiers? Thank you if you can help.
The People's Army of Vietnam and the People's Liberation Army both consisted of Vietnamese from the north and the south who fought against the soldiers of the so-called "Republic of Vietnam" and the Americans. The PAVN were organised into divisions and equipped and armed in the north. The PLAF were not a "Special Forces" group - they were largely peasants who either joined voluntarily or were recruited to defend their villages against the corrupt and brutal regimes of the RVN, or the American invaders. The PLAF were different from the PAVN, had different arms, different training, were farmers by day and guerrillas by night, and often took part in propaganda acts in order to raise awareness and recruit more soldiers and supporters for the revolution.