Vietcong

In the Vietnam War (1954–75), the members of the communist National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam, founded in 1960, who conducted a guerrilla campaign against South Vietnamese and US forces. Their name was coined by the South Vietnamese government to distinguish them from the Vietminh, who had liberated North Vietnam from Japanese occupation and then French colonial rule in 1941 and 1954. Supplied and reinforced by the North along the ‘Ho Chi Minh Trail’, the insurgents ultimately forced the withdrawal of US troops and reunified Vietnam by 1975.

Beginning with the assassination of South Vietnamese government officials, sabotage, and other terrorist acts, the Vietcong campaign intensified throughout the early 1960s. As the regime in South Vietnam was strengthened by US advisors and then combat troops, so the Vietcong received increasing support from the regular North Vietnamese Army. The Vietcong were at the forefront of the surprise Tet Offensive of 1968, which brought the war into the heart of the South Vietnamese capital, Saigon, but suffered heavy losses during this operation. In 1969 the Vietcong joined with other groups to form the Provisional Revolutionary Government.