Page 475 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

Hanoi leaders deerned it necessary to create a new politic al otganiza_
tion as a tirnely rnove that could attract rnore people frorn the opposition,
increase the possibility of holding direct talks with the United States
and gain international recognition in view of the irnrnediate forrnation
of a coalition governrnent,

The new political alliance was forrned to include
leading elernentg living in the nationalist zone in order to deceive
world public opinion.

After the failure of the general offensive, nobod.y
knew which of the two C ornrnunist rnade fronts in South Vietnarn was
the rnain one. What appeared crystal clear to all was the NLF could
no J.onger conceal its nature as a tool of Cornrnunist aggreB6ion. As
far as the rrAlliance of Nati,:nal, Dernocratic and peaceful Forcesrl

was concerned, it had turned out to be an abortive rnovernent. The
C ornrnunist general offensive, designed to present it to the world,
had failed. In the eyes of the urban populations, it was no less a
disguised Cornrnuni.st organization than the NLF.

D. - PROPAGANDA

What was played up by the Cornrnunist propaganda
rnachinery through both I{anoi and NLF radios during the Tet general
offensive ? Firet, the forrnation of the so called of National,
"Alliance
Dernocratic and Peaceful Forcesrr in the South was announced. It was
the NLF who acted as spokesrnan for the Alliance, calling for united
action to restore rrindependence, dernocracy and peacer to the South
in view of later national reunification.
The Alliancers avowed airn was to topple the legal
governrrrent of South Vietnarn and to forrn a neutralist coalition
governrnent that would include nationalist elernents that oppose the
RVN governrnent and the Arnerican intervention.

Although the general offensive failed the very day it
was launched, the Cornrnunist radios kept clairning victories for rnore
than a week, trying to booet the red soldierst rnorale. It rnight be
interesting to record these facts here for future generations to judge
how untruthful the C ornrnuni st propaganda was :

A cornrnunique issued by the Cornrnunist cornrnand in
-
Saigon Gia Dinh reported that offensive troops had occupied rwithin
ten daysrr the ARVN General Staff headquarters, the Arneri.can

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