Page 480 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

dogrnas, the drive was centered on patrioti6rn : fighting the Arnerican
irnperialists and their puppet regirne.

Many North Vietnarnese soldiers and people, however,
did not i.gnore that in waging war against the South, their leaders had
the agsistance of Cornrnunist China and the Soviet Union and the
infl.uence of both had altered the countryte independence. They also
were aware that the anti-Arnerican call was designed to deceive the
people and conceal the true nature of the war : an aggresaion against
South Vietnarn, an ideological war that had lost its rneaning. This ex-
plained the collapse of the Cornrnunist rnorale during and aJter the
general offensive. This collapse rnarked for the first tirne by rnass
surrenders of hundred of Cornrnunist soldiers - sornething that never
happened during the resistance war against the French.

Following their acute setback, the enerny retaliated
rnadly by shelling the cities indi sc r irninate Iy for one rnonth. This was
a big rnistake in what they clairned to be a peoplers war. The Corn-
rnunists betrayed their own rule, just because the people in the cities
had {ailed to welcorne thern. Another retaliation rneasure was the rnas-
sacre of civilians in Hue where thousands were executed or buried
ali.ve. Ordered by the C ornrnuni st leadership itself, the rnassacre
shocked public opinion both at horne and abroad,
After their defeat in the cities, the enerny returned to
rural areas and their usual guerilla activitles. Again they clairned
they had taken control of the countryside to encircle the cities, But
this argurnent had lost its appeal to the peasants" who had suffered
too rnuch frorn the war and heard too rnany VC prornises to continue
to believe the Cornrnunists would win. What the Reds clairned as great
victories had turned out to be nothing but sheer exploitation, heavy
taxes, unpaid 1abor, destruction and death.

To strengthen their inJrastructure in rural areas, the
Cornrnunists now could rely only on their hard core cadre, rein{orced
by cadre corning frorn the North, which further unrnasked what they
had clairned to be a peoplers uprising in the South.
Another irnportant fact that should not be overlooked
was the defection of high ranking Cornrnunist cadre to the government
side, sornething that never occurred during the resistance war
against the French. Many returnees under the RVN rrChieu Hoirl
prograrn were high ranking Viet Cong cadre. They rallied to the
governrnent side for various reasons, but indicated in the final analysis

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