Structure of the Armed Forces

Leaving aside it's political role and examining the NLF military from a purely functional perspective, the NLF military operated in the Republic of Vietnam under the umbrella of the Liberation Army (Quan Doi Giai Phong). Whilst at first sight it may appear that the Liberation Army was composed solely of those forces in the south, an essential and integral part of the Liberation Army was the inclusion, by default, of the Defense of the Homeland Army, the so-called People's Army (Quan Doi Nhan Dan), that is, the Army of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, PAVN. The difference between the two is simply a question of degree, as stressed in NLF literature;

In the North there is a regular and modern army. It is a matter of the difference in the stage of the Revolution. The liberation has come to the North while it is still going on in the South. The main duty of the People's Army in the North is to defend the territory of the North, the safe base. The main duty of the Liberation Army in the South is the liberation of the South.

General Giap, in commenting upon the organization of the Viet Minh against the French, wrote that "from the first days there appeared three types of armed forces: paramilitary organizations or guerrilla units, regional troops and regular units." In elaborating upon this, Giap went on to say that;

• the regular forces "had the task of waging mobile warfare on a large battlefront aimed at annihilating the enemy forces."
• the regional forces "had the task of fighting locally and combining its action with the regular army or with guerrilla units,"
• the guerrilla units "had the task of defending the villages, participating in production, and combining with local forces and regular army in the preparation of the battlefront as well as in the attack ."

Bernard Fall noted that the Viet Cong retained the basic organization of the Viet Minh as described by Giap. In his description of Viet Cong organization he noted that "at the bottom, there are du-kich (militia) units raised in each village; above the du-kich, there are dia-phuong-quan (regional troops); and at the top of the ladder are the chu-luc (main force) regulars."

From documents, statements and commentaries it is clear that the Liberation Army had a formalised structure (Figure 1);

• the paramilitary elements (thanh phan ban quan su), which were generally local, civilian, part time, static and defensive, and usually not highly indoctrinated
• the so-called full military, or Main Force elements (thanh phan quan su), which were full time, better trained, and more thoroughly indoctrinated.