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in the end go to the enerny and constitute a waste of rnoney;
- Washington had planned no aurplus of arrns when the
war is over only upon seeing the deterrnination for cornbat of the
RVN forces in the course of the C ornrnunist Tet offensive did Washing-
ton realize that RVN troops were real soldiers.
It was not until 1l April 1968 that US Defense Secretary
Clark Cli{ford announce the beginning of the rnodernization of RVN
troops to rnatch the enernyrs rnodern equiprnent which included light
weapons, rockets, heawy rnachineguns and rnortars (2)

E. - TRAINING IN CITY STREET FIGHTING
Cornrnunist docurnents captured during and aJter the
Tet offensive indicated that enerny troops had been trained for both
the rnethod and technique of city street fighting. The enerny training
docurnents had been prepared long before the general offensive, while
others were prepared during the offensive in view of subsequent
wave s of attack s .
The docurnents placed heavy ernphasis on rnilitary
theory, but only a few dealt with actual experiences gathered in the
coui:se of the offensive itself. Tactics cited in the docurnents concerned
infantry units only. There was no rnention of other branches such as
artillery and r ocket"

The docurnents, however, were r.rore suitable for
guerilla warfare than for conventional warfare. They deserve attention
as the experiences gathered rnay lead the Viet Cong to preparing a
rnajor rnilitary handbook that suits the peculiarities of the Vietnarn
war.

In bringing the war into the cities, the Cornrnunists
entered what they called the rrtotal warrr phase, characterized by a

(1) During the Cornrnunist Tet Mar Than general offensive, only rnore
than a half of our l0 in{antry divisions and rnarine, airborne and
ranger units - the rnain units of our arrned forces - were equipped
with the M-16 which they received only a few days before Tet, This
was a surprise to the Viet Cong who had expected a less strong fire
power on our part. But our units rnet with sorne difficulties as they
had not been very familiar with the new weapon.

(z) Cf. US. News and World Report, 8 July 1968,

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