THE SITUATION IN VIETNAM

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Tet Declassified
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03024591
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 14
• Document Creation Date: April 26, 2019
• Document Release Date: April 30, 2019
• Publication Date: December 6, 1967

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DIRECTORATE OF
INTELLIGENCE
MEMORANDUM
The Situation in Vietnam
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6 December 1967
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cis Itip�beerer
WARNING
This document contains classified information affecting the national security
of the United States within the meaning of the espionage laws, US Code
Title 18, Sections 793, 794, and 798.
lop-Seurff
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Information as of 1600
6 December 1967
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HIGHLIGHTS
New fighting has broken out near Bu Dop on the
Cambodian border.
I. The Military Situation in South Vietnam:
Fighting broke out again in the Bu Dop area on
5 and 6 December, Skirmishes were alsoreported in Quang
Nam and Binh Dinh provinces (Paras. 1-4). Interroga-
tions and captured documents indicate that enemy
forces are improving their sapper capability through
infiltration (Paras. 5-9). Prisoners in Pleiku
Province report that North Vietnamese Army replace-
meilts are being used in Viet Cong local force units
(Paras. 10-11). The Weekly Review of South Vietnam
Battle Statistics (Para. 12). (Charts)
II. Political Developments in South Vietnam:
The Lower House has approved more
than 30 rules and has decided on its board of offi-
cers (Para. 3).
III. North Vietnamese Military Developments:
There is nothing of significance to report.
IV. Other Communist Military Developments:
There is nothing of significance to report.
V. Communist Political Developments: There
is nothing of significance to report.
VI. Other Major Aspects: Cambodia has strongly
rejected South Vietnam's assertion of its right to
pursue Communist troops into Cambodia (Paras. 1-3).
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CORPS
Spew;
SOUTH VIETNAM
abECEMBER
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I. MILITARY SITUATION IN SOUTH VIETNAM
1. Fighting flared up again near the Bu Dop
Special Forces camp on 5 December. US and South Viet-
namese troops have been hit by sporadic mortar and
rocket barrages in this area since 29 November when
enemy forces attacked Bu Dop and the nearby Bo Duc
District headquarters compound.
2. In the latest action a company of the US
1st Infantry Division, part of a battalion sent last
week to reinforce the Special Forces camp, ran into
an estimated two enemy platoons in fortified positions
less than a mile from the camp's airstrip. The US
troops reported killing ten enemy soldiers, possibly
from the Viet Cong 272nd Regiment. Four Americans
were wounded. Early on 6 December an enemy force
attacked another US 1st Division patrol in the same
general area.
3. There are conflicting reports concerning
the attack on 5 December on Dak Son New Life hamlet
located about 12 miles southwest of Bu Dop. Initial
accounts of a death toll of 300 were clearly exag-
gerated, but late reports quote US and Vietnamese
officials on the scene as stating that casualties
were indeed heavy and that 40 percent of the hamlet
had been destroyed. Only five deaths have been con-
firmed so far by Saigon. In recent months the Commu-
nists have launched an increasing number of terrorist
raids on New Life hamlets and government refugee
centers.
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4. US troops reported 34 enemy troops were killed
in two other skirmishes along the central coast on
5 December. One of these occurred in Quang Nam Prov-
ince, some 27 miles south of Da Nang, and the other
in coastal Binh Dinh Province. In the Quanq Nam ac-
tion one body was identified as 3.3(h)(2)
that of a North Vietnamese Army major--the commanding
officer of the 3rd Regiment of the North Vietnamese
2nd Division.
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Sapper Activity in Military Region 5
5. Interrogation reports and captured docu-
ments indicate that enemy units in the Communists'
Military Region 5 have reinforced their sapper capa-
bility through infiltration of individual replace-
ments and additional units. Increased sapper capa-
bility would allow the enemy to carry out more at-
tacks against allied rear bases, populated areas,
and government administrative centers. These sappers
try to inflict maximum casualties and destruction
with limited risk to their own forces. They almost
certainly have a psychological effect on the South
Vietnamese living in contested or government-con-
trolled areas.
8. This is the most recent evidence of sapper
infiltration into Military Region 5 and the latest
of many indications which point to a new emphasis on
sapper-type operations. In addition to the above
mentioned units, the 407th sapper battalion and the
K-90 and the K-91 sapper companies infiltrated into
Pleiku and Khanh Hoa provinces, respectively, in
late 1966 and early 1967. A new sapper battalion,
designated the 408th, has reportedly been organized
in the western highlands under the operational con-
trol of the B-3 Front.
6 December 1967
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9. Recently captured documents provide evidence
that the enemy has established a sapper school in
Military Region 5. This school is believed to be
independent of the region's political-military school
and reportedly can train about 450 a year.
Replacements in Viet Cong Local Forces
10.
\unit had received North
Vietnamese replacements in September 1967 from the
108th Infiltration Group. This is the second report
of North Vietnamese Army replacements in this local
force unit, according to MACV.
11. There have been a number of reports in 1967
of North Vietnamese personnel being assigned to vari-
ous local force units in I and II Corps. The reports
illustrate the increasing difficulties the Communists
are having in recruiting personnel within South Viet-
nam. It seems probable that there are more North
Vietnamese soldiers in local force units than reported.
Many infiltration groups probably are assigned only
to provinces before they arrive in South Vietnam, and
their unit assignments are determined by province mil-
itary authorities on the basis of local or province
needs at the time of their arrival.
Weekly Review of South Vietnam Battle Statistics
10. The week of 26 November - 2 December compared
with the week of 19-25 November:
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3.3(h)(2)
I. Casualties
US
VC/NVA
19-25 Nov
26 Nov-2 Dec
19-25 Nov
26 Nov-2 Dec
Killed
1,826
1,358
212
207
Wounded
1,241
633
Missing/
Captured
TOTALS
1,826
1,358
1,453
840
6
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GVN
FREE WORLD
19-25
Nov 26 Nov-2
Dec 19-25
Nov 26 Nov-2 Dec
Killed
216
360
8
28
Wounded
664
799
18
38
Missing/
Captured
25
80
TOTALS
905
1,239
26
66
II. Viet Cong Incidents
Attacks
Battalion or Larger
Small Unit
19-25
Nov 26 Nov-2 Dec
56
78
0 � � � � 2
56 � � � � 76
Harassment
415
305
Terrorism
39
19
Sabotage
64
40
Propaganda
17
6
Antiaircraft
194
170
TOTALS
785
618
III. Weapons Captured
VC/NVA
GVN
19-25
Nov 26 Nov-2 Dec
19-25
Nov 26 Nov-2 Dec
Individual
372
Not
178
186
Crew-Served
29
Reported
7
34
TOTALS
401
185
220
1-4
T1"'SrECRET
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������' Viet Cong
GVN
1,877 500
1963 1964 1965 1966 1967
Casualties
(Killed only)*
SEP OCT NOV DEC
1967
16000-
12000
8000
Viet Cong/N VA
GVN/US/other F
ree World
SEPT
4000
26 NOV-2 DEC
1,358
589
SEP OCT
1967
US Casualties to Date: Killed15,369 Wounded 95,004 Captured 220 Missing 606
*Due to a change in the reporting of personnel losses, beginning 12 February 1967, the weekly and monthly
figure will represent only personnel killed.
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Viet Cong Attacks
400
200
11111111111 [1111111111 11111111111 11111111111
4000
3000
2000
1000
1964 1965 1966 1967
Viet Cong Incidents
(Excluding Atta ks)
iti11111111 11111111111
613864 12-67 CIA
1964
111[1111111 11111111111
1965
1966
11111111111
1967
150
100
50
1000
750
500
250
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26 NOV- 2 DEC
78
SEP OCTH NOV DEC
1967
26 NOV- 2 DEC
540 Total
170 AA Fire
6 Propaganda
65 40Sabotage
19 Terrorism
305 Harassment
SEP OCT NOV DEC
1967
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II. POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN SOUTH VIETNAM
Lower House Activities
3. The Lower House is moving ahead in its
rules drafting process and has approved more than
30 rules in four days of plenary debate. Among
the rules approved is one dealing with the house's
board of officers. These will include a chairman,
two vice chairmen, a secretary general, and three
deputy secretaries general. Unlike the Lower House,
the Upper House substituted a full committee on
internal affairs and rules for secretary general.
6 December 1967
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III. MILITARY DEVELOPMENTS IN NORTH VIETNAM
IV. OTHER COMMUNIST MILITARY DEVELOPMENTS
V. COMMUNIST POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS
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1. There is nothing of significance to report.
6 December 1967
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VI. OTHER MAJOR ASPECTS
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1. Cambodia has reacted to president Thieu's
recent statement that South Vietnam reserved the
right to pursue Communist troops into its territory.
In an official statement issued on 5 December,
Phnom Penh warned that Cambodian armed forces would
resist any crossing of the border by South Vietnam-
ese troops. It also reiterated that there are no
Viet Cong or North Vietnamese forces on Cambodian
territory and branded Thieu's statement as an at-
tempt by the US and South Vietnam to "bring the war
into Cambodia on false pretexts."
2. The Cambodians have expressed great concern
recently over the possibility of the war spreading
to their country and can be expected to use their
limited ground and air forces against any allied
ground units crossing the border.
3. There is no evidence, however, of any par-
ticular Cambodian alert along the border as a re-
sult of these increased fears in Phnom Penh./
Recent intrusions by Cambodian MIGs into South
Vietnam suggest that air patrols along the border
have probably increased.
VI-1
No Foreign Dissei. ;ack
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