REACTION TO INFILTRATION - 1968/01/26

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Tet Declassified
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 00758690
• Document Creation Date: July 27, 2018

.!Approved for Release: 2018/07/61-00758690
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NTERIA06A jON REPORT/a,,.
rrP.IS REPORT IS THE RESULT OF THE INTERROGATION ACTIVITY CONDUCTED .
THE NATIONAL INTERROGATION CENTER (NIC) UNDER THE JOINT AUSPICES
0; THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE ORGANIZATION (CIO) AND THE U,S. CENTRAL
� INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (C/A) WITH TEE PARTICIPATION OF DETACHIVNT.6, �
::�61499TH SPECIAL ACTIVITIES GROUP (USAF).
COUNTRY : SOUTH VIETNAM (SVN)
NORTH VIETNAM (NVN)
LAOS
SUBJECT : Reaction to Infiltration
DATE OF INFO : December 1967
pat AND PLACE 15 January 1968 (I-U)
OF ACQUISZT/ON.:_DANANG, MANG NAM
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NIC REPORT NO : 099/68
NIC CASE NO : FET
DATE OF REPORT : 26/1/68
NO.OF PAGES : 3
REF: NIC Report 097/68 (PIR)
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This report was collected by a NIC Field EXploitation Temn..on 14 4nuary 1968 in
DANAN-Municipality SVN. Source is not available at the NIC for further exploitation.
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3.3(h)(2)
preparation for infiltration inApril 1967,S�ce,.received political .
octrinationthat emphasizet:the/Poorness%q U.S. Combit techniques and told the
soldiers to remain as close as pOssible,to ae-U&S.*,troOps in order to avoid
bombingsland,shellinga. 'Cadres saidA4Ft-fourfths of SVN had been liberated
Source's unit would probably notf-have::',Wfight at all; because a" few units.
ltrated had not had to be useeilOt&nbat yet. The cadres said that the death
ratio in-NVA/VC units in SVN was extremely low and even in large victories
euffered.few casualties. Source's-unit would
� only called to the battlefield-when necessary. During infiltration; the
heavy load and sickness w4s Source's major complaint. During infiltration he
read GVN leaflets secretly and was strongly affected by one that showed an WA
corpse outside DUC CO Post; he thoupt he had been deceived by the NVN Government.
Food and medicine were also in short supply on thetrip.
EI6TRIBUTTON:
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CLASSIFICATION
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CONF NTIALNone
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ATTACHMENTS:
3.3(h)(2)
NOTICE: THIS MATERIAL CONTAINS INFOAWATION
AFFECTING TN ,AlIONAL DEFENSE OF THE 01811111
ISS Wttl4lf THE. MEANDrO OF THE ESONONASS
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;Beginning from the day he received the pre-infiltration course
I Source knew for sure that he would be sent to SVN.
He felt that it was his fate. He became hesitant and undecisive whether
or not he should ask his superiors to allow him to stay in NVN, because if
he insisted his rice ration would surely be cut.
After the completion of the pre-infiltration course, he was allowed to go
on leave for 15 days to visit his family. Like the other men, he was free
to inform his family of his coming departure for SVN, if he wished. Source
was sad and never wanted to let his aged parents know about his departure,
however, since he realized that this was probably the last time he would see
them, one day before he returned to his unit, he i orm f ed them nthe
,infiltration. Upon learning this, Source's mother '
cried 3.3(h)(2)
Icoitterly� whereas his father remained quiet. Sour e saia tnat his parents
,also regretta/Y accepted his departure as inevitable.
�The infiltration waS thoroughly prepared ahead of time. Throughout the period
of the pre-infiltration course, company and battalion cadres ceaselessly
built up their troopalmorale. In all political indoctrination sessions, they
would never miss telling the soldiers that the U.S. combat techniques were
very poor and the U.S. soldiers were not well-seasoned, the only thing they
needed to do during the action was to manage to stay as close to U.S. elements
as possible, then U.S. bombings and shellings would hardly harm them. Cadres
said that four-fifths of SVN had been liberated, and probably Source's unit
,would not have to fight at all, because a few infiltrated units so far had
never been used in combat. They explained that the percentage of death of
,NVA/VC Units in SVN was extremely low, sometimes those units had large
,victories and yet suffered very minor casualties. Consequently, according
to the cadres, Sourceis unit would
onlY 3.3(h)(2)
'Galled to the battlefield when very necessary.
On the infiltration route, the first hardship he experienced was the heavy
laidorabout 22 kilos which he had to carry all the way to SVN. . During the
practice of carrying heavy loads prior to the infiltration, Source never
really tried. The same as the others, he would throw off some stones fran .
his basket so that he would not get tired. He never thought he would have
to carry heavy things a very long way, but when he was put to the actual task,
he hat as if he had been tortured terribly. especially when he climbed a
slippery hill. Then, beginning in Laos, he as well as the
other infiltrators were no longer issued canned food and they had to eat
dried food/ as instructed.
'He was exhausted but still tried to follow his
unit, because there was no place for him to stay in Laos. At that time, he
thought that he would be dead in the jungle, but he survived to continue his
way to SVN.
Source noticed that during the infiltration, 3.3(h)(2)
'theothers were still able to catch up the Group. Fortunately, his unit was
not bombed or ambushed. Source used to read GVN leaflets secretly, and one
of them verystrongkY affected him. This was the one with a young NVA soldier
lying dead within the fence of DUC CO post; on the back of the leaflet was
the deceased soldier's letter to his aged mother written in prose. He thought
that he was deceived by the NVN Government to liberate the SVN people who were
really living in happiness; that green fields and scenes in SVN were too
beautiful to be smeared with blood because of the foolish liberation; that he
had seen gentle and beloved mothers in SVN just like his mother in NVN, and he
could not understand why a bloody liberation by the NVN Government was so
necessary.
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
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In addition to psychological effects, Source found that his living conditions
were not pleasant at all. According to daily rations, each man was supposed
to receive 700 grams of rice but actually each would receive about 500 or 600
grams of poor-grade rice only. They had no other food to eat with the rice,
except that they tried to prepare some sort of salty soup so that they could
411 their stomachs. In some.s:rgas, they could not even find consumable wild
vegetables to make soup. .Medicine was in short supply; only the seriously
sick were issued medicine, whereas those who were not really sick never
hoped to get even vitamins but they were allowed to rest and stay in the unit
quartering location4
Source: said that he. could judge his comrades' reactions through their bold
words. Previously while in NVN they did not know the situation very well,
but since they arrived in SVN, Source strongly believed that they could use
their judgement properly, although the majority of them are very young, from
17 to 23. Some openly said that they would not believe anything until they
saw or received the things they had been promised.
8. Source noticed that desertions took place only in NVN. As they entered into
Leas, there Were no more deserters; because from there it would be a real
problem for them to go batk to NVN, if they wished to desert. Measuree
against desertion were applied by taking away 300 grams of seaSoning
powder from the soldiers (the amount of seasoning powder each soldier was
issued before the infiltration), because with this seasoning powder he could
sell it for 60 NVN piastres which was enough for him to spend on the way
back to his native village (if he was still in NVN); and by entrusting the
reliable men to guard the others.
,Before arriving in Laos, Source had little hope that he would be able to
return to NVN, because he met a few hard-core cadres on the infiltration
raUte and was told that the cadres ranking from Assistant Platoon Leader
and higher would be allowed to return to NVN, after they had turned over
the soldiers to combat unit--; in SVN. However) when arriving in Laos he met
some other cadres who told him that after 2 September 1967 this was no
longer happening.
Speaking of the treatment of local people, Source said that his infiltration
grOup did not go through any populated area in SVN, but in NVN the treatment
given by the people to the troops appeared to be indifferent, probably
because they had received too many infiltration groups already. and worse
still in some areas, because the villagers tried to steal things from the
troops. Source said that this rcaulted from the hard life which the NVN
piOple, especially those living in NR4, had borne.
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