TRANSMITTAL OF INFORMATION ON VIETNAM - 1967/12/29

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Tet Declassified
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 05008018
• Document Creation Date: July 27, 2018

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29 December 1967
MEMORANDUM FOR: Mr. John Warner, Legislative Counsel
SUBJECT : Transmittal of Information on Vietnam
1. Attached are papers providing data requested by Congressman
Bayh on infiltration from North Vietnam to South Vietnam, US strength in
Vietnam, and biographic material on senior Communist military leaders
in South Vietnam.
2. General Thai has commanded enemy forces in Region V (South-
Central Vietnam) since early 1965. Several sources have reported that he
succeeded the late General Nguyen Chi Thanh as overall commander at the
Central Headquarters for South Vietnam (COS'VN). Other sources have
named General Dung as General Thanh's successor; we have not confirmed
either of these series of reports. General Don commanded the Viet Cong
Region V before General Thai's arrival and has since been his deputy.
General Tra (who also uses the alias of Tran Nam Trung) was the overall
commander in the south before General Thanh's arrival in 1965 and is still
listed publicly by the Front as commander of the Liberation Armed Forces.
We believe he has been relegated to a secondary position (such as Chief of
Staff) in the same way as was General Don, Both Don and Tra had regrouped
to the north after the 1954 armistice and returned south in the early 1960's.
3. We stand ready to provide any further information required.
Attachments
George A. Carver, Jr.
Special Assistant for Vietnamese Affairs
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HISTORICAL DATA ON INFILTRATION AND U.S. STRENGTHS
1. Infiltration. Significant infiltration of military personnel from
North Vietnam to South Vietnam began in 1959; before that year, infiltration
was on a small-scale and limited largely to movements of political cadre
and agents. Annual figures for infiltration since 1959 (including both
confirmed and probable categories, but omitting possibles) are as follows:
1959-1960
4, 600
1961
6,300
1962
12,800
1963
7, 900
1964
12,400
1965
26, 000
1966
55, 300
1967
30,000*
2. Before 1964, the infiltrated elements comprised largely
southerners who had been regrouped to the north after the 1954 armistice.
These men had been integrated into the North Vietnamese Army, and most
had received advanced military and political training during the years
preceding their dispatch back to the south. They were sent back south in
accordance with a systematic program, begun in late 1959, to accelerate
the development of Viet Gong military capabilities. Most of the regrouped
southerners were used to provide experienced and well-trained military
cadres for the Viet Gong main force and local force units which were formed
beginning in late 1960. Others provided command and staff personnel for the
headquarters and support elements created at the Central Office (COSVN),
Regional, Provincial and District levels which were developed between 1961
and 1962. Still others were used as technical cadre for specialized units --
engineers, anti-aircraft, transportation, and medical -- created progressively
after 1962.
*Confirmation of infiltrating groups usually lags an average of six months .
behind their actual movement; thus the figures for 1967 are still incomplete
for the last six months. Judging from past experience, the total for 1967
may run as much as 50 percent higher than the number confirmed thus far
this year.
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3. Beginning in late 1964, the pattern of infiltration shifted, and
the flow of regrouped southern cadre was replaced by the movement of
ethnic northerners formed into complete combat units. Since then, only
a handful of southerners have been confirmed in infiltration groups, and
the enemy's main force military structure has gradually taken on a
predominantly northern complexion. Almost half of the enemy's 151
infantry-type battalions currently in the south originated in North Vietnam
and are composed of ethnic northerners. Other northern regulars have
been integrated as replacements into southern Viet Cong main force --
and even local force -- units. The influx of northern combat units was
accompanied in early 1965 by the infiltration of senior North Vietnamese
Army officers to further strengthen the command echelons of the enemy's
forces. Generals Hoang Van Thai and Nguyen Chi Thanh (the latter since
killed) arrived in the south in early 1965 to take command of regional and
national headquarters; other lesser cadre were used to create new "Front"
headquarters needed tr. control the larger-scale tactical groupings made
possible by the introdu,., ion of North Vietnamese -Army units.
4. U.S. Strength The strength of the U.S. Military Assistance
Advisory Group (MAAG) in 1954 was 342 officers and men. This number was
increased to about 1,000 between 1955 and 1961 as it took on training responsi-
bilities for the Vietnamese Armed Forces following the withdrawal of the
French Expeditionary Corps. In late 1961, after General Taylor's mission,
the U.S. began augmenting its advisory elements and introducing support
elements to assist the Vietnamese Armed Forces to counter the expanding
Viet Cong military threat. U.S. military strength increased to over 10,000
by the end of 1962, and to about 25,000 in 1964. (The Department of Defense
can provide precise figures.) With the influx of North Vietnamese Army
regular units in late 1964, it became evident that Vietnamese Government
combat capabilities were inadequate to the challenge. Consequently, early
in March 1965, the first U.S. ground combat units were introduced to cope
with the enemy's increased military potential.
r
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The attached material was prepared in follow-up
of a briefing given to Senator Birch Bayh on
19 December 1967 by Messrs. George Carver
and John Warner for the Senator's upcoming trip
to Vietnam.
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