In November 1965, North Vietnamese communist leader Le Duan wrote to agents in South Vietnam regarding the escalating struggle against the US. In his memo, Le Duan reminded them of tactical and political approaches they should be using:

“Dear brothers,

The Politburo has recently met to look into the current situation and issue the new resolution for the South. I would like herein to discuss further specific aspects of some issues which could not be fully addressed in the resolution…

1. At present, it is imperative to have control in the battlefield. We should always attack and self-defend at the same time; increasingly expand our authority in the mountainous, rural, delta areas, leading to control over some urban and suburban areas. If we want to gain and keep control, we must arrange the armed and political forces suitably. Coordinate different battlefields, spread thin the American and puppet troops [ARVN] so we can attack easily; blockade, divide their troops to destroy easily; ruin the enemy´s major and small transportation routes…

2. To coordinate different battlefields, it is important to understand the location of strategic areas, our target objects and assign tasks appropriate to each battlefield. The mission in the delta is due to wear the enemy´s troops out, destroy and curtail them, preserve the reserves of people and assets for us. The mission in the mountainous areas is due to weaken and curb the enemy, especially the American main force and puppet troops, at the same time perfect and expand our guerrilla bases…

3. Coordinate our three types of troops, apply our various tactics and warfare techniques. I will not repeat ways of coordinating different troops and forms of tactics but only emphasise the importance of these issues. The reality in the South has showed that our people´s armed force can wear out and destroy the enemy, regardless of who they are and where they are stationed. And even the enemy admitted that our military is about the best in the world. That´s because our people´s armed force, besides having a wonderful fighting spirit and strong political belief, can coordinate three different kinds of army…

4. Control the reserve force and know how to defeat the enemy suddenly…

5. Thoroughly carry out the policy of fighting the enemy politically AND militarily… Reality shows that even though the U. brings in more troops to Vietnam, it is possible they will fail to weaken our political power. In fact, our political power is likely to be enhanced and the US will be isolated and fail miserably… The more troops the US brings in, the more military bases it builds, the larger an area it occupies, the more sophisticated weapons it uses, the more bombings it carries out, the more chemical poisons it uses, the worse the conflict between our people and the Americans becomes, the more our people hate them…

6. Quickly build a political force in the urban areas and strengthen our activities… Try to transform people to party members on the spot, at the same time select some party members in the rural area and move them to the urban areas. Arrange for party members and patriotic people, like young people, students and women, to operate in every street, market, school, religious group…

7. Further, strengthen the propaganda we are circulating among the puppet troops. For the puppet troops, it is important to understand our new policy: target the American invaders and traders; isolate the cruel officers, convince a large number of people including units to either be on our side or be quiet. Our goal is to divide the puppet troops so that even though they are large in number, only a few of them fight against us fiercely; and though we have fewer troops, we can focus to combat the most stubborn puppet troops and the Americans…

8. Determine to defeat the American invaders. We have to encourage all party members, people, soldiers to try their best to destroy a few thousand American soldiers and 50,000 thousand puppet troops. At the same time, they must be ready to fight to the end if the US brings in a few thousand troops more to escalate the war in the South and throughout the country…

9. Encourage people to contribute to the resistance and pay attention to improving the people’s energy to fight…”

Le Duan