Page 12
University Daily Kansan Wednesday, April 29,1964
Peasant Changes Into 'Phantom-Like' Figure
The following dispatch describing the Viet Cong guerrilla fighters is the third and last of a series on the men who are waging the war in Viet Nam.
By Neil Sheehan
By Neil Sheenan United Press International
The Vietnamese communist guerrilla is a legendary,phantom-like figure in 20th century warfare. He has proven that his own human resources and ingenuity can defeat the best technology and massive fire-power of modern western-style armies.
Like his government enemy, the average hard-core Viet Cong guerrilla is a South Vietnamese peasant lad in his early twenties.
But by the time he has completed the roughly two years of political and military education which qualify him for full membership in an elite communist regular unit, he is no longer an easy-going cheerful young farmer.
A strange and forbidding metamorphosis has taken place. He has been transformed into a lean, hard and disciplined fighter, capable of lying on his back for hours in the filthy ooze of a flooded rice paddy, breathing through a hollow reed to avoid searching government troops.
HE HAS LEARNED to man a machinegun calmly and with deadly accuracy against strafing fighter-bombers and attacking government troops while the artillery shells crash around his foxhole and his comrades are burned to blackened flesh by flaming napalm.
He can march 15 miles under the tropical sun, plunge into a ferocious four-hour night infantry assault on a fortified government outpost and then march another 15 miles the following day to avoid retaliating government troops.
A hard core Viet Cong's career begins when he is persuaded or sometimes intimidated by a communist political agent in his home village into enlisting in the local village guerrilla squad.
After his day's work in the rice fields, the young peasant listens to long hours of political indoctrination by Viet Cong agents. He is told over and over again that the Americans are "imperialist aggressors" who have invaded South Viet Nam in order to enslave the Vietnamese people and use the country as a Far Eastern military base.
The Americans, who many of these peasants have never seen, are portrayed as "warmongers" who enjoy bombing Vietnamese women and children.
THE PEASANT BOY is told that the Saigon government is a "puppet" of the Americans and that government troops are commanded by U.S. officers and are just "mercenaries."
His grievances against local government officials or militiamen are played upon carefully. He endlessly repeats the lessons he has learned in these indoctrination classes, is criticized by his comrades on how well he has absorbed what he has been told and then criticizes himself, all in public.
The Viet Cong never mention communism in their propaganda. They portray themselves as nationalists fighting to liberate the country from foreign invaders.
As a village guerrilla, the young peasant also learns to spy on local government outposts and report the
weaknesses in their defenses. He keeps an eye on government troop movements along roads in the vicinity and guides hard-core communist units through his area when they move in.
IF HE PERFORMS well as a village guerrilla he is moved up into one of the communist district companies or platoons. He is still a parttime soldier but his military training is stepped up. The political indoctrination and "self-criticism" sessions never stop.
Soon he graduates into one of the provincial Viet Cong battalions. He is a full-time soldier now and his real military training begins.
Chinese communist leader Mao Tze-tung has said that in order to succeed, the guerrilla must swim like a fish in a sea of the people. The guerrilla is taught the three "togethers" which are the Viet Cong formula for such warfare:
—Live with the people.
-work with the people. Fat with the people.
Eat with the The standard Viet Cong garb typifies this strategy. It consists of the same black shirt and trousers worn by Vietnamese peasants, with a turtle-shaped woven reel helmet covered with a thin plastic fabric to keep off the sun and rain.
WHEN ACTS OF TERRORISM such as beheadings are carried out against local government officials, landlords, or peasants friendly to the government, the recruit is told that these cruel acts are fully justified because these persons are "traitors" to the nation.
IN A HARD-CORE battalion he is commanded by officers who are
V1 3-1951
With this kind of leadership, the hard-core communist guerrilla is a formidable enemy.
members of the Vietnamese communist party and who have had years of experience in guerrilla warfare, both against the French and the U.S.-backed government forces. Although they are southerners, these Viet Cong officers have been through staff and command schools in North Viet Nam. Company commanders in one well-known communist battalion average 34 years old with an incredible 16 years of combat behind them.
Dance to the Furys Friday at the Dine-a-Mite
IT'S A RUSTIC MAN'S WORLD IN THE WINTHROP Waxhide HAND SEWN FRONT
This is the rich manly burnished leather look designed for today's active goers and doers.
ARENSBERG'S VI 3-3470 819 Mass