@Sturgis,
oralloy is taking a simplistic view of history that was badly written for the time by one group of historians. Not an uncommon occurrence. After this one and only truly successful TET, 1968, the Viet Cong went underground North of Saigon. They preformed "mule" duty for the NVA along the Ho Chi Minh Trail and In Country, moving supplies about and watching/reporting on ARVN and USA troup movements.
South of Saigon in the delta they were still very active in combat duty. The Viet Cong for the most part were villagers living in the same villages with those that held allegiance with the South Vietnamese government. A lot of them were for one side or the other depending upon who they were dealing with at the time.
How did you know if you were dealing with NVA regulars or Viet Cong? NVA wore uniforms and Viet Cong wore civilian clothes - typically, black pajamas (as we called them) or other civilian clothing. We came into contact with Cong wearing both outfits.
From history:
Quote:
Fall of Saigon
In response to the anti-war movement, the U.S. Congress passed the Case–Church Amendment to prohibit further U.S. military intervention in Vietnam in June 1973 and reduced aid to South Vietnam in August 1974.[79] With U.S. bombing ended, communist logistical preparations could be accelerated. An oil pipeline was built from North Vietnam to Việt Cộng headquarters in Lộc Ninh, about 75 miles northwest of Saigon. (COSVN was moved back to South Vietnam following the Easter Offensive.) The Ho Chi Minh Trail, beginning as a series of treacherous mountain tracks at the start of the war, was upgraded throughout the war, first into a road network driveable by trucks in the dry season, and finally, into paved, all-weather roads that could be used year-round, even during the monsoon.[80] Between the beginning of 1974 and April 1975, with now-excellent roads and no fear of air interdiction, the communists delivered nearly 365,000 tons of war matériel to battlefields, 2.6 times the total for the previous 13 years.[69]
Loc Ninh is where I operated in Nam in '69-'70. The Viet Cong were hardly ineffective, I would think. They were simply laying low performing odd tasks and supporting the NVA until they could come out into the open again.
