Page 457 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

trgeneral of{ensiverr and a Itgeneral uprisingrr. Their war policy, which
had been ttoccupy the countryside to encircle the citiesrr, rrow was
changed into rroccupy the cities to liberate the countrysiderr' To occupy
the cities, of course, fireans a cornplete political take-over. The
Viet Cong had planned to reach this goal within a reJ.atively short
tirne. According to their docurnents, the rrrelatively short tirne rl
would be frorn six rnonths to Z years.

In accordance with their new strategy of attacks
against the cities, the Viet Cong established a prograrn of rnilitary
training airned at bringing their troops frorn rural areas into townships.
Highlights of the prograrn included:
1. General : On Two Tactical Fields and the As sign-
rnent of Cornbat Force s.

C ity fighting tactics :
- Sapper action, disguise and infiltration.
- Secret grouPing at night tirne'
- Concentric advance.
- Raids on rnechanized nests, artillery ground firing.
- r'Encircling and isolatingrr tactics.
- Attacking rnechanized units in rnotion within the city'
rnine attacks.

C ornbat assignrnents :
- In- c ity force
- Force attacking frorn outside the city
- City rrcuttingrr force
- Reserve force ready for reinforcernent on all fronts.
This force will becorne the occupying and defense
force when the battle is won'
- Force to intercept governrnent reinforcernents.
- trCorridorrt force assuring logistical and itinerary
tasks.

- Worker s forc e
- Anti-aircraft force, artillery force.
- Sapper force, engineering force accornpanying
infantry units for sabotage action, or going along with
assault units for initial break throughs'

Z. Preparing the Offensive : C ornbat Preparation,
Battlefield Preparation, Attack Plans, Means and Equiprnent.

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