Vietnam Documents and Research Notes. Saigon: U.S. Mission in Vietnam. This series was made up mainly of major Communist documents, some openly published in Hanoi and others captured by US forces, translated into English. They are available in some of the better libraries in a microfilm collection. The texts of some items in this series have been placed on-line in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University. These include:
No. 12, Pacification and the Viet Cong Reaction. January 1968. 6 pp. Text.
No. 16, The Problems of a Dispensary. January 1968. 8 pp. Text.
No. 19, Self-Criticism: Report from a North Vietnamese Division. February 1968. 8 pp. Covers the period September to November 1967, in the PAVN Third Division. Text.
No. 20, 'The New Situation and Mission': A Viet Cong Training Document. March 1968. 12 pp. Text.
No. 21, Organizations and Committees Formed by the Viet Cong During the 1968 Lunar New Year Offensive. March 1968. 8 pp. (Alternate title Organizations Formed by V.C. for 1968 Tet Offensive.)
No. 22, 'Time-Opportunity': The Uprising Appeal of Viet Cong Leaflets. March 1968. 16 pp. Text.
No. 23, Albert E. Palmerlee, Viet Cong Political Geography. March 1968. 10 pp.
No. 30-32, After Tet: Three Viet Cong Assessments. April 1968. Text (perhaps incomplete?).
No. 34, 'The Party in Command': Political Organization and the Viet Cong Armed Forces. May 1968. 19 pp. Text.
Nos. 36-37, North Vietnam's Role in the South. June 1968. 23 pp. These are not translated documents, but analyses written by Americans: "The North Vietnamese Army in South Viet-Nam," presented by W. Averell Harriman in the Paris negotiations, May 27, 1968 (pp. 3-4), and "Working Paper on the North Vietnamese Role in the War in South Viet-Nam," released by the U.S. Department of State, May 1968 (pp. 5-23). Text.
Nos. 43-44, Friction Between Northern and Southern Vietnamese: Directives Urge Standing 'Shoulder-to-Shoulder with Our Kith and Kin Brothers'. September 1968. 8 pp. Two policy directives urging Viet Cong units to give better treatment to northern infiltrators who have been added to their forces. In each case, the English translation is followed by a copy of the first page of the Vietnamese original. Text.
No. 45, The Processes of Revolution and the General Uprising. October 1968. 24 pp. The authorship of this document, captured in Bien Hoa province in May 1968, was unknown. Text.
No. 63, Truong Chinh: "Weaknesses, Shortcomings and Mistakes" in Agricultural Co-operatives. June 1969. 34 pp. Text.
No. 65, Public Presentation of U.S. Prisoners of War. August 1969. 8 pp. A document captured December 31, 1968, in IV Corps, written by the Enemy/Civilian Proselyting Section of the Political Department of an unspecified zone. Text.
No. 68, "Two Speeches by General Vo Nguyen Giap." November 1969. ii, 37 pp. Speeches given in June and July 1969. Text.
No. 69, "Truong Chinh's Speech on the 15th Anniversary of the Bao Anh Viet-Nam". December 1969. 7 pp. The Bao anh Viet-nam was Hanoi's only pictorial magazine. Text.
No. 70, "The Party's Military Line is the Ever-Victorious Banner of People's War in Our Country" by General Vo Nguyen Giap. January 1970. iii, 82 pp. Translation of material originally serialized in the newspapers Nhan Dan and Quan Doi Nhan Dan, December 14-17, 1969. Errata, front matter, and pp. 1-45, and pp. 46-82.
No. 74, "Vietnamization . . . The Path Leading to Collapse." February 1970. iii, 30 pp. Translation of material originally broadcast on Liberation Radio in five installments, December 14, 15, 17, 1969, and January 3 and 4, 1970. Text.
No. 76, "Forty Years of Party Activity." March 1970. ii, 127 pp. The bulk of this is an official history of the Communist Party, serialized in Nhan Dan, January 12-19, 1970, and also published in book form. Two shorter items published in Hanoi in English are also included. Front matter and pp. 1-45, pp. 46-95, pp. 96-127.
No. 82, "A Preliminary Report on Activities during the 1969 Autumn Campaign." August 1970. 18 pp. A COSVN document dated October 1969. Text.
No. 84, A Brief Chronology of Momentous Facts and Events in the History of the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam, 1945 to 1970, September 1970. 132 pp. Front matter and pp. 1-48 (a chronology covering the years 1945-1969, broadcast by Hanoi radio in English August 9, 16, and 21, 1970); pp. 49-99 (continuation of the previous chronology, covering 1970, and some other material); pp. 100-132.
No. 87, Developing Vietnamese Military Science: An Address by Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap. December 1970. vi, 32 pp. A speech given in September 1970, published in Nhan Dan and Quan Doi Nhan Dan, October 30, 31, 1970. The text.
No. 88, The Viet Cong's March-April, 1970 Plans for Expanding Control in Cambodia--A Documentary Record. December 1970. 84 pp. Translations of ten documents, one of which was actually written in 1969. pp. 1-43, and pp. 44-84.
No. 90, Communist Security Forces in Viet-Nam. February 1971. 77 pp. Documents covering security forces in both North and South Vientm, dated from 1962 to January 1971. Front matter and pp. 1-46, and pp. 47-77.
No. 91, The 19th Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Viet-Nam Workers Party and Its Reference Documents. March 1971. iii, 79 pp.
No. 92, The Decline of VC Capabilities in Sub-Region 5, COSVN, in 1969-1970. April 1971. 10, 24, 16, 5, 10, 4 pp. (Introduction and five captured documents, dates from December 30, 1969, to September 18, 1970, paginated separately). The Introduction says that Sub-Region 5, created late in 1967, included portions of Binh Duong, Bien Hoa, Phuoc Long, and Long Khanh provinces, and War Zone D, but seems to have War Zone D confused with the Iron Triangle (pp. 2-3). Front matter and pp. 1-10, 1-24, 1-13, and pp. 14-16, 1-5, 1-10, 1-4.
No. 93, "Viet Cong Political Geography of South Viet-Nam," January 1971.
No. 94, Ideological Problems Within the People's Liberation Armed Forces. May 1971. 27 pp. plus appendices. An article by Cuu Long (believed to be a pen name for Major General Tran Do), broadcast on Liberation Radio in installments, April 27-30, 1971, with other documents added as appendices. Appendix 4, a training document for platoon-level cadres and soldiers, captured in November 1970, is notable for its claim than in 1969, the Communist forces had killed 230,000 U.S. soldiers (p. 4-3). Front matter, Cuu Long text, and Appendices through p. 3 of Appendix 4, and pp. 4-19 of Appendix 4.
No. 96, The Viet-Nam Workers' Party 1963 Decision to Escalate the War in the South. July, 1971. Introduction (pp. i-xiii) only.
No. 97, Communist "Repression" in South Viet-nam. August 1971. Part I has a three-page note on terminology, a 29-page introduction, and translated texts of four documents. front matter, introduction, and pages 1-11 of document #1; page 12 of document #1 to page 10 of document #4; pages 11-12 of document #4. Part II has translated texts of 16 more documents: front matter, document #5 through page 8 of document #7; page 9 of document #7 through document #13; document #14 to document #20.
No. 98, "World Situation and Our Party's International Mission" as seen from Hanoi, 1960-1964. September 1971. pp. 1-47: a long introduction written by the U.S. editors, tracing Lao Dong Party policy with many long quotes from party leaders (pp. 1-37), and the first part of Vo Nguyen Giap, "Strengthening National Defense and Building Up the People's Armed Forces, September 1960; pp. 48-97: the remainder of Giap's essay (pp. 48-54), "Joint Statement of Chairman Liu Shao-chi and President Ho Chi Minh, May 1963 (pp. 55-67), and the first part of "World Situation and Our Party's International Mission" (resolution of the Lao Dong Party 9th Plenum, December 1963) (pp. 68-97); pp. 98-147: remainder of "World Situation and Our Party's International Mission" (resolution of the Lao Dong Party 9th Plenum, December 1963) (pp. 98-134); and pp. 148-153.
No. 99, The Study of COSVN Resolution 10, October 1971. vii, 43 pp. Part I, front matter and pp. 1-41, pp. 42-43.
No. 100, The Ho Chi Minh Image, 1969-1971. October 1971. Part I, front matter and pp. 1-42, pp. 43-86, pp. 87-96; Part II, front matter and pp. 97-128, pp. 129-172.
No. 101, The "Provisional Revolutioanary Government of the Republic of South Viet-Nam", Part II, The Founding Conference of the PRG. January 1972. 81 pp. pp. 1-47, and pp. 48-81. The PRG's founding conference occurred June 6-8, 1969.
No. 102, The People's Revolutionary Party of South Viet-Nam. February 1972.
Part I. Part III, The 1971 Reindoctrination of the PRP. February 1972. xvi, 62 pp. pp. i-xvi, 1-31, and pp. 32-62, and
No. 106, Part I, "Arm the Revolutionary Masses and Build the People's Army" by General Vo Nguyen Giap, Chapters I and II. June 1972. iii, 54 pp. Translation of material originally published in Tap Chi Quan Doi Nhan Dan, issues for December 1971 and January 1972, and in Hoc Tap, issues for January and February 1972. Text. Note that the American translation was in three parts, while the Vietnamese original had been in four parts, so the numbers are out of synch.
No. 106, Part II, "Arm the Revolutionary Masses and Build the People's Army" by General Vo Nguyen Giap, Part III. June 1972. vi, 72 pp. Translation of material originally published in Hoc Tap, April 1972. Text, missing a couple of pages.
No. 106, Part III, "Arm the Revolutionary Masses and Build the People's Army" by General Vo Nguyen Giap, Part IV. October 1972. An introduction without page numbering, followed by 51 pp. of text. Translation of material originally published in the PAVN newspaper Quan Doi Nhan Dan, September 23-28, 1972. Front matter and pp. 1-30, and pp. 31-51.
No. 107, Bases of Power in the DRV, October 1972. 99 pp. The bulk of this was translations of four documents (one by Le Duan, one by Truong Chinh, and two not signed by individual authors) written between October 1971 and July 1972, but there are also a long introduction and an appendix, which among other things list which people held which top positions in Hanoi as of mid 1972. pp. 1-48, and pp. 49-99.
No. 108, PRP Abandons 1972 Plans for a Revolution in Saigon. November 1972. xi, 34 pp. The text.
No. 111, The Leadership of the PRG, the NFLV and their Affiliated Organization, 1973, April 1973. Front matter and pp. 1-48 (Introduction and profiles of Huynh Tan Phat, Nguyen Huu Tho, Phung Van Cung, Nguyen Van Kiet, Trinh Dinh Thao, Thich Don Hau, Pham Hung, Tran Van Tra, Tran Nam Trung, Nguyen Van Cuc, Vo Chi Cong, and Tran Buu Kieu); pp. 49-66 (profiles of Nguyen Van Hieu, Nguyen Van Trieu, Nguyen Van Tien, and Tran Bach Dang, and lists of the memberships of various bodies); pp. 67-102 (more lists, and text of the appeal of the NLF and PRG to the South Vietnamese people, January 28, 1973).
No. 114, VWP-DRV Leadership, 1960 to 1973, July 1973. Part I, The Party. Front matter and pp. 1-30, pp. 31-81. Part II, The Government. Front matter and pp. 82-128, pp. 129-138.
No. 117, "Communist Guidance on 'New Phase' of the 'Revolution' in South Vietnam." April 1974. 20 pp. The text.
The Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) is a U.S. government agency that monitors the content of the
public media (primarily the broadcast media, but despite its name it has sometimes covered the print media)
of other nations. Its Daily Report has been published five days a week
in two versions: one covering the whole
world, and one made up of area editions providing much more detailed coverage of particular regions. The way the
regions were defined and named was changed occasionally. Material relevant to the Vietnam War was initially in the
Daily Report: Far East, later in the Daily Report: Asia & Pacific. They are made up mainly
of radio broadcasts (some of
which were originally in English and others of which have had to be translated). They are available both
on paper and on microfiche. The current SuDoc number is:
PREX 7.10:FBIS-APA
Daily Report: Asia & Pacific, 2 January to 15 January 1973
Daily Report: Asia & Pacific, 16 January to 30 January 1973
Daily Report: Asia & Pacific, 31 January to 15 February 1973
24 December 1964, North Vietnam, pages jjj 3 to jjj 8. Hong Chuong, "Long Live the Soviet October Revolution," published in Hoc Tap, November 1964.
25 January 1965, North Vietnam, pages jjj 8 to jjj 20. Hoang Van Thai, "It Is Necessary to be More Thoroughly Imbued with the Party's Military Line in the Building of the Army and the Consolidation of National Defense," published in Hoc Tap, December 1964.
13 April 1967, North Vietnam, pages jjj 4 to jjj 10. Maj. Gen. Song Hao, talk on strengthening "basic units" in the PAVN, given at a recent conference of the PAVN Directorate of Political Affairs, broadcast on Radio Hanoi 5 April 1967. By "basic unit" he seemed to mean both the companiy as a military unit, and the chi bo, the Lao Dong party organization within the company.
31 January 1968, North Vietnam, pages jjj 4 to jjj 23. Lt. Gen. Song Hao, "Develop the Proud Tradition of Our Army and Unceasingly Reinforce the Revolutionary Quality and Determination to Defeat the Aggressive U.S. Pirates," Quan Doi Nhan Dan, 19 December 1967, pp. 1-3.
29 February 1968, South Vietnam, pages KKK 4 to KKK 22. The Tet Offensive.
15 January 1969, North Vietnam, pages K 5 to K 11 (pages in reverse order). Includes a brief item about Swedish aid to the DRV.
21 April 1972, South Vietnam, pages K 16, L 1 to L 5, and 24 April 1972, pages L 2 to L 11 [some pages scanned out of order and/or scanned repeatedly]. Mostly Cuu Long, "Some Problems of Guerrilla Warfare in the Southern Rural Areas in the Phase of Struggle to Defeat the U.S. Vietnamization Strategy," part 1, "Correctly Assess the Friendly and Enemy Situation at the Basic Levels at the Present Time," and part 2, "The Present Problem of Advancing Toward Controlling Hamlets and Villages," broadcast on Liberation Radio in Vietnamese, 20-22 April 1972.
25 April 1972, South Vietnam, pages L 3 to L 6. Cuu Long, "Some Problems of Guerrilla Warfare in the Southern Rural Areas in the Phase of Struggle to Defeat the U.S. Vietnamization Strategy," part 3, "The Problem of Building and Developing Forces," broadcast on Liberation Radio in Vietnamese, 23 April 1972.
11 Oct 1972, North Vietnam, pages K2 to K5.
16 Oct 1972, North Vietnam, pages K4 to K6.
26 Oct 1972, North Vietnam, pages K8 to K13. Hanoi denounces Nguyen Van Thieu's speech of 24 October 1972.
9 January 1973, North Vietnam, pages K1 to K29 (out of order), including an article by Jean Leclerc de Sablon, of AFP, describing massive destruction done to Haiphong by the Linebacker II bombing (K26-K27).
26 Jan 1973, South Vietnam, pages L1 to L4. "Thieu Addresses Information Cadres on 'Peace' Agreement" Talk by President Thieu January 25. This is an "in-place cease-fire." Any Communists who venture into areas under our control ("99 percent of the population and 90 percent of the villages and hamlets") will be arrested or shot.
29 Jan 1973, North Vietnam, pages K1 to K29. Reactions to the signing of the Paris Agreements.
30 Jan 1973, North Vietnam, pages K1 to K22
31 Jan 1973, North Vietnam, page K1, and even numbered pages only from K4 to K26
1 Feb 1973, North Vietnam, pages K1 to K20; South Vietnam, page L1
2 Feb 1973, North Vietnam, pages K1 to K20; South Vietnam, page L1
5 Feb 1973, North Vietnam, pages K1 to K25
6 Feb 1973, North Vietnam, pages K1 to K26
7 Feb 1973, North Vietnam, pages K1 to K24; South Vietnam, page L1
8 Feb 1973, North Vietnam, pages K1 to K25
9 Feb 1973, North Vietnam, pages K1 to K13
12 Feb 1973, North Vietnam, pages K1 to K22; South Vietnam, page L1
13 Feb 1973, North Vietnam, pages K1 to K24
14 Feb 1973, North Vietnam, pages K1 to K16; South Vietnam, page L1
15 Feb 1973, North Vietnam, pages K9 to K11. Activities of Xuan Thuy in Poland and Italy.
22 Feb 1973, South Vietnam, pages L8 to L11. Communists charge RVN violations of the Paris Agreements.
23 Feb 1973, South Vietnam, pages L8 to L14. Communists charge RVN violations of the Paris Agreements.
21 Jan 1974, South Vietnam, pages L12 to L14. Miscellaneous, starting with Radio Saigon broadcast of 1/19/74 on the RVN proposals for general elections that had been presented to the Communists 2 April 1973, 28 June 1973, and 18 Janurary 1974.
25 Jan 1974, North Vietnam, pages k5 to K6. Quan Doi Nhan Dan Tet editorial, 23 Jan 1974, broadcast in Vietnamese 23 Jan 1974.
30 Jan 1974, South Vietnam, pages L6 to L7. Giai Phong Tet editorial, broadcast in Vietnamese on Liberation Radio, 23 Jan 1974. Pretty aggressive about striking back against RVN violations of the Paris Agreements.
4 Feb 1974, South Vietnam, pages L1 to L2, L6 to L10
Supplement, 4 February 1974, Text of DRV Foreign Ministry Document on First Anniversay of Paris Agreement. 18 pp. Translation of a document broadcast on Hanoi radio in Vietnamese, in installments, January 18-21, 1974.
5 Feb 1974, South Vietnam, pages L3 to L5
24 December 1974, North Vietnam, pages K1 to K23. K1 to K22 are Col Gen Song Hao, "Develop the Revolutionary Nature and Traditions of the VPA," published in the December 1974 issues of Tap Chi Quan Doi Nhan Dan and Tap Chi Hoc Tap, and broadcast in Vietnamese in installments on Radio Hanoi, December 8-14, 1974. K23 is a statement rejecting American "slanders" against the DRV in regard to American MIAs in Vietnam, broadcast in Vietnamese on Radio Hanoi 23 December 1974. [Some details of Song Hao's activities 1969-73, taken from the files of Douglas Pike rather than from the FBIS report, have also been included in this .pdf file.]
17 April 1975, North Vietnam, pages K2 to K5. Xuan Thuy and Pham Van Dong.
21 April 1975, South Vietnam, pages L4 to L8.
22 April 1975, North Vietnam, pages K1 to K4, and South Vietnam, pages L24 to L27. Reactions to the resignation of Nguyen Van Thieu as President of the RVN.
29 April 1975, South Vietnam, pages L3 to L4. RVN statement on peace negotiations; Duong Van Minh requested that the US close the DAO, and withdraw its personnel from South Vietnam, immediately.
6 June 1975, South Vietnam, pages L1 to L7. The Provisional Revolutionary Government's Council of Ministers met in Saigon June 4.
JPRS (the Joint Publications Research Service) did translations of written
materials from many areas, including Vietnam. JPRS often combined the translated texts of several items into a single
report. When a single item
from such a compilation has been placed online, without the title page or table of contents of the report
in which it was published, one can sometimes recognize it as coming from a JPRS report, though not identify
exactly which report, by the CSO code at the end of the translation.
Y3.J 66:13
The texts of a few JPRS reports are available online through the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC).
Chinese Aid to North Vietnam. JPRS: 3057. 10 March 1960. 11 pp.
Census in North Vietnam. JPRS: 3102. 24 March 1960. 25 pp.
Selected Articles on Armed Forces in North Vietnam. JPRS: 3384. 4 June 1960. 15 pp. Lt. Gen. Tran Van Tra (Deputy Chief of General Staff, PAVN), "What Our People Must Do to Build Up the Armed Forces and Strengthen Defense," Thoi Su Pho Thong, 22 December 1959, pp. 20-26. Major General Phan Trong Tue interviewed on People's Armed Security Forces, in Tien Phong, 23 December 1959, pp. 1-2. Hoang Dao Thuy (Chief Liaison Bureau, Political Directorate, PAVN), "Our Military Heritage," Nhan Dan, 10 December 1959, p. 3. Goes back to the Trung sisters.
"Condemnation of the U.S. by Truong Chinh". JPRS: 5568. 16 September 1960. 16 pp. Translation of a speech published in Nhan Dan, 23 May 1960, p. 2.
Selected Translations on North Vietnam. JPRS: 4650. 26 May 1961. 69 pp.
Madeleine Riffaud, "Two Months with Guerrilla Forces in South Vietnam". JPRS: 29,284. 25 March 1965. 54 pp. Translation of a series of articles in French, published in the French Communist Party newspaper l'Humanité, February 14 to March 4, 1965.
Translations on North Vietnam, No. 167. JPRS: 41,025. 15 May 1967.
The texts of some JPRS translations have been placed on-line in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project at Texas Tech University.
"All for Total Victory". Translation of an article in Hoc Tap, January 1968, pp. 3-10. I deduce from the code "CSO: 3520-D" on the last page that this probably comes from a JPRS report in the series Translations on North Vietnam.
Nguyen Van Tran, "Hanoi Through Three Anti-American, National Salvation and Socialist Construction Years". Translation of an article in Hoc Tap, January 1968, pp. 34-42. I deduce from the code "CSO: 3520-D" on the last page that this probably comes from a JPRS report in the series Translations on North Vietnam.
"New War Situation Brings New Priorities," editorial, Hoc Tap, March 1968, pp. 1-6. I deduce from the code "CSO: 3520-D" on the last page that this probably comes from a JPRS report in the series Translations on North Vietnam.
"Assessment of General Offensive Discussed". Translation of an article in Hoc Tap, March 1968, pp. 7-16. I deduce from the code "CSO: 3520-D" on the last page that this probably comes from a JPRS report in the series Translations on North Vietnam.
National Assembly Candidates, 25 April 1976. Translations on Vietnam, No. 1819. JPRS 67622, 19 July 1976. Very brief data on the candidates in the 1976 election to the DRV National Assembly, compiled from information appearing in Nhan Dan, Giai Phong, and Saigon Giai Phong. Front matter and pp. 1-46 (A-Nang to Dong Si Nguyen) and pp. 47-78 (Nguyen Thi Nguyet to Kah Yieng).
Copyright © 1996, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2019, 2022, Edwin E. Moise. This document may be reproduced only by permission. Revised December 24, 2022.