A kneeling North Vietnamese Army (NVA) gunner and a crouching gun commander observe enemy helicopters approaching their position... waiting for the order to be given to open fire.

Notice: A second DShK set (VN134) has now been released, depicting a young female ‘VIET CONG’ gunner manning her gun in the horizontal ground defense role.

KING & COUNTRY PRODUCT INFORMATION: THE VIET CONG

The National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, commonly known as the Viet Cong were locally recruited South Vietnamese peasants and workers that fought against its own government and the United States during the conflict. The Viet Cong or 'VC' was made up of both part-time militia and regular full-time army units. Many of those militia were farmers by day... guerrillas by night... They often had the advantage of knowing the local countryside and area well compared to both the U.S. and ARVN units sent against them. Although the US and ARVIN forces had the firepower and the wealth of military equipment the V.C., or 'Victor Charlie' had the element of surprise and the long-term commitment that ultimately led to the collapse of South Vietnam and the victory of the North. In the Viet Cong there was a very strong female element who played an active role in all aspects of the fighting. 

PLEASE NOTE: IMAGES OF ACTUAL VIETNAM BATTLE SCENES OR FLAG, VIETNAM WAR MAPS AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS VIETNAM WAR PHOTOS INCLUDED IN THIS LISTING ARE FOR HISTORICAL PURPOSES ONLY AND ARE NOT PART OF THE SALE OF THIS NVA FIGURE & GUN SET. 

MINT CONDITION IN ORIGINAL KING & COUNTRY BOX!

HISTORICAL NOTE: THE VIET CONG ('VC' OR 'VICTOR CHARLIE)

Viet Cong (VC), in full Viet Nam Cong San, English Vietnamese Communists, the guerrilla force that, with the support of the North Vietnamese Army, fought against South Vietnam (late 1950s-1975) and the United States (early 1960s-1973). The name, Viet Cong, is said to have first been used by South Vietnamese Pres. Ngo Dinh Diem to belittle the rebels. Although beginning in the mid-1950s, as a collection of various groups opposed to the government of President Diem, the Viet Cong became in 1960 the military arm of the National Liberation Front (NLF). In 1969 the NLF joined other groups in the areas of South Vietnam that were controlled by the Viet Cong to form the Provisional Revolutionary Government (PRG). The movement?s principal objectives were the overthrow of the South Vietnamese government and the reunification of Vietnam. 

The early insurgent activity in South Vietnam against Diem's government was initially conducted by elements of the Hoa Hao and Cao Dai religious sects. After 1954 they were joined by former elements of the southern Viet Minh, a communist-oriented nationalist group. The overwhelming majority of the Viet Cong were subsequently recruited in the South, but they received weapons, guidance, and reinforcements from North Vietnamese Army soldiers who had infiltrated into South Vietnam. During the Tet Offensive of 1968, the Viet Cong suffered devastating losses, and primarily North Vietnamese soldiers later filled their ranks. For the most part, the Viet Cong fought essentially a guerrilla war of ambush, terrorism, and sabotage; they used small units to maintain a hold on the countryside, leaving the main population centers to government authorities.

HISTORICAL NOTE: 'TET' OFFENSIVE and THE BATTLE OF HUE... 1968

BATTLE OF HUE 1968 - VIETNAM WAR SERIES

Hue - the ancient imperial capital city of Vietnam - was a hundred kilometers south of the DMZ. It had a population of nearly 140,000, making it the third largest city in the Republic of South Vietnam. The Citadel, or Imperial City, is the walled in portion of Hue sitting on the north bank of the Perfume River. 

The Battle of Hue - also called the Siege of Hue - was one of the bloodiest and longest battles of the Vietnam War. Between 30 January and 3 March, 1968, in the South Vietnamese city of Hue, 11 battalions of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), four U.S. Army battalions, and three U.S. Marine Corps battalions - totaling 18 battalions engaged and defeated 10 battalions of the People?s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the Vietcong (VC).

By the beginning of the North Vietnamese 'Tet' Offensive on 30 January 1968, large, conventional, U.S. forces had already been committed to combat operations on Vietnamese soil for almost three years.

In 1968, the city of Hue, was an important supply and logistics center for U.S., ARVN (Army of the Republic of South Vietnam) and other Allied Forces from the coastal city of Da Nangto the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).  Hue was also a base for United States Navy supply boats.

The city was also one of the primary targets of the joint NVA/VC offensive, which coincided with the Vietnamese Lunar New Year.

Within hours of launching the attack on Hue the Vietcong and the PAVN launched the Tet Offensive, by simultaneously attacking hundreds of military targets and population centers across the country, including Hue. The PAVN and Vietcong forces rapidly occupied most of the city... only two small military compounds remained unoccupied. 

Over the next month, during intense house-to-house fighting, the U.S. Marines and ARVN forces gradually drove the enemy out of Hue. In the end, although the Allies declared a military victory, the city of Hue was virtually destroyed and more than 5,000 civilians were killed (2,800 of them executed by the PAVN and Vietcong, according to the South Vietnamese government). The communist forces lost an estimated 2,400 to 8,000 killed, while Allied forces lost 668 dead and 3,707 wounded. The losses negatively affected the American public's perception of the war, and political support for the war began to wane.

HISTORICAL REFLECTION: THE VIETNAM WAR (EXERPT FROM KEN BURNS "THE VIETNAM WAR")

America's involvement in Vietnam began in secrecy. It ended, 30 years later in failure, witnessed by the entire world. It was begun in good faith by decent people out of fateful misunderstandings, American overconfidence, and Cold War miscalculation. And it was prolonged because it seemed easier to muddle through than admit that it had been caused by tragic decisions, made by five American presidents, belonging to both political parties. Before the war was over, more than 58,000 Americans would be dead. At least 250,000 South Vietnamese troops died in the conflict, as well. So did over one million North Vietnamese soldiers and Vietcong guerrillas. Two million civilians, north and south, are thought to have perished, as well as tens of thousands more in the neighboring states of Laos and Cambodia. For many Vietnamese, it was a brutal civil war, for others, the bloody climatic chapter in a century-old struggle for independence. For those Americans who fought in it, and for those who fought against it back home, as well as those who merely glimpsed it on the nightly news, the Vietnam War was a decade of agony, the most divisive period since the American Civil War. Vietnam seemed to call everything into question, the value of honor and gallantry, the qualities of cruelty and mercy, the candor of the American government, and what it means to be a patriot. And those who lived through it have never been able to erase its memory, have never stopped arguing about what really happened, why everything went so badly wrong, who was to blame, and whether it was all worth it.

NEW 2022, AND AVAILABLE NOW FROM PICACHO PEAK COLLECTIBLES! 

MINT CONDITION IN ORIGINAL KING & COUNTRY BOX!

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