Page 449 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

making a total of 1, 815, 000 rnen. The rernaining t,400, 000 rnen
were serving in other branches of activity.
This rneans that if North Vietnarn elected to send South
a1t young n-ren frorn 18 to 25, the in-filtration figrrre could reach
350,000.
7 year groups l8-25
(1,400, 000 x. : 350,000 )
ZSyear groups I8-45
Such a rnilitary buildup in the South, however, would jeopardize the
econorny in the North and would create huge logistical problerns' It
would also cause resentrnent arnong C ornrnuni st South Vietnarnese
cadres because of its being entirely North Vietnamese.

As a rnatter of fact, eneny units involved in the Tet
offensive already were composed rnostly of North Vietnarnese soldiers.
They were all young lnen, lr-rany sti11 under 14 or l'5' They had been
infiltrated into the South for a few rnonths and had never participated

in any battle befor e.
While increasing their infiltration of rnen into the South,
the North Vietnarrre se also sorrght to rnodernize the weaPonry of the
Cornmunist forces in the South, beginning late in 1967. Arrns and
arr-rr-nunit on were continuously sent Soutli through the Ho Chi Minh
j.
trail and by sea.
During the Iast ;hree rnonths of 1967 the Comrrrunists
'
infiltrated into South Vietnarn frorrr 107 to 320 tons of rnilitary equip-
r-nent per day. By neid-1967, North Vietnarnese trucks were seen at
the three-border area, while at sea the enerny used 100-ton boats
or rrotored boats disguised as foreign fishing vessels to transport
their arrrs, These boats would navigate in international waters and
reach secret poits on the South Vietnarnese coast at night' Their
trarrsportation systern was faultless thanks to a wc.Ll organized
liaison and inf orrnation network that had been set up throughout the
nititary areas. The systelr.r consists of liaison stations installed
along the irifiltration routes, at intervals of 4 to 8 hours walk depend-
ing on the length of each route segrrlent and its dangers' Several
starioirs on the same route are ca,l1ed a liaison 1ine. Connected lines
fornr the enerrryts liaisor'l network across South Vietnarn. Personnel
at each station consists of two to four agents depending on its irn-
portance and headed by a chief of station- The stations and their
transportation. of alrns and equiprnent were seldorn discovered' It
has to be notecl that t1-re enerr-ryrs I'iai":on and inforrrration systern was
tho:ouqi'Iy reorgar,ized in the course of 1967 probably as Part of the
!'eieral offei,sive pIarr.

., 452 -