National Liberation Front (Nfl)
The National Liberation Front
The National Liberation Front, an organization that aimed to overthrow South Vietnam, was commonly addressed by the United States and Southern Vietnamese as the Viet Cong (National). The Viet Cong was not directly founded by Ho Chi Minh, however if one was to trace back how it was founded, Ho Chi Minh would be responsible for its creation (Viet Cong). The Viet Cong derived from leaders of the Viet Minh, and as I stated in the Viet Minh page, the Viet Minh was founded by Ho Chi Minh (Viet Cong). One of the main reasons why the U.S increased its intervention in Vietnam is because in 1961, John F. Kennedy wanted to provide military aid to South Vietnam to help its civil war against the Viet Cong (Vietnam War World).
The Viet Cong executed "hit and run" guerrilla tactics which basically meant that they ambushed the U.S soldiers and then vanished into the forest (Schomp). Not to mention that many soldiers suffered "Jungle Rot". When the U.S troops fought in forest-swamp areas, they tend to receive horrible rashes which they called "Jungle Rot" (Isserman). In addition, the Viet Cong consisted of regular looking people including women and children (Isserman). These factors gave U.S troops an extremely difficult time identifying the Viet Cong.
It's also important to know that the Viet Cong launched the Tet Offensive, the biggest ambush by the Viet Cong (Vietnam War History).
*Special thanks to my uncle and my brother for allowing me to use this interview. The question at the beginning was "What did you think of the way the Americans fought?"*
In this particular section of the interview, my uncle talks about his thoughts on how the Americans fought. Surprisingly, the way he acknowledges how the Americans had a hard time fighting the Viet Cong because of the unfamiliar land they are fighting in and the way they are disguised as civilians supported the previous facts stated about how the Viet Cong looks like regular people. He discusses how he believes the Americans were not fit for guerrilla warfare, and even worse, how the Viet Cong can disguise as a friendly which makes it dangerous for the Americans because they have the potential to kill them at any time. My uncle's knowledge of the Viet Cong further supports the thesis that it was a factor in which the Americans struggled to win the war.