This
leaflet bears the same title as the one above but has a much shorter message stating that Vietnam is no threat to the United States and the people of South Vietnam love peace. The spelling and grammar is poor but the message is clear – Americans go home.
American Officers and GI’s being Pushed to get killed in the Mountains.
There are dozens of leaflets addressed to American officers, soldiers and GI’s, but I have never seen one that mentioned being killed in the mountains. This leaflet was found by a CAP Marine in 1969. The Vietnamese text at the top on the front says:
Leaflet from the Liberation Army of Thua Thien Hue to the American soldiers.
Vietnamese text at the bottom of the back of the leaflet is:
It's requested that all people, soldiers and guerrilla give the kindness to this surrendered U.S soldier and take him to safe place.
Join the Struggle…
The honor of the United States was mentioned again in this 1970 leaflet from the Central Trung Bo National Front for Liberation. The text is very long and of course the grammar and spelling is awful so I will just add a few lines as written by the Viet Cong:
Join the struggle to save yourselves and the honor of the United States.
The US government has acknowledged that the Vietnam war is the third in the war history of the United states, as far as us casualties are concerned. Up to 10 p.m. March 31, total American death in Vietnam already surpassed the Korean war toll of 33,639 GIs, the 100,000 wounded for life were not included. It is worth moticing that the figures released by us authorities are always far below the truth.
Anyhow Nixon goes on embarcimg headlong into this costly, deadly, unjust, aggressive war thus wasting more of the American youth's blood….
Do GIs Have a Right to Know
This is one of the strangest leaflets found in Vietnam. This large anti-war leaflet is 9.5 x 14-inches with text on both sides. The front of the leaflet reproduces an alleged article from theNew York Post, 15 October 1966. The back bears a photograph depicting three soldiers that allegedly refused deployment to Vietnam on 30 June 1966. The long text discusses various articles in numerous newspapers discussing American losses in the Vietnam War. The leaflet was issued by the Fifth Avenue Vietnam Peace Parade Committee, New York City. I assume that this American anti-war leaflet was sent to Vietnam where it was reproduced and distributed by the Viet Cong. Once found, the leaflet was forwarded to Brigade Intelligence first, and then passed along to the PSYOP unit for study.
The NLF also produced surrender leaflets, just as the Allies did. One bears the long title:
THE SOUTH VIETNAM NATIONAL FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION GIVES LENIENT AND HUMANE TREATMENT TO RALLIED ARMYMEN AND PRISONERS-OF-WAR.
Notice that they have copied the "rallier" term from the South Vietnamese Chieu Hoi program. Some of the text is:
Men in the U.S. army and its satellite armies who cross over to the people’s side will be given kind treatment and helped to return to their families when conditions permit…
This insult to the American military occurs again in a leaflet entitled "WHY?" In the leaflet the Americans are accused of using poison gas and compared to Nazis:
Are you resigned to playing the same role as those Nazi soldiers who blindly obeyed Hitler’s orders and committed crimes…?
We do not kill you…
Lieutenant Charles A. Brown of the 1st Air Cavalry took this small leaflet off a captured Viet Cong fighter in Quang Tri in 1967. It tells the American soldier exactly how he will be treated when he is captured and offers him humane treatment. Curiously, the back is like a pointee-talkee card for the Vietnamese and tells them how to give orders to American prisoners. Odd that it was taken from a Viet Cong prisoner. There is a single line in Vietnamese at the bottom of the front that says:
Show this to American soldiers when you capture them
The back of the leaflet is in Vietnamese and the first item in each line is the Vietnamese effort to phoneticize the English words, the second item that we have added is the English phrase they are trying to say, and the third item (the second on the actual leaflet) is the translation of the Vietnamese words explaining what the first item means.
VERBAL ORDERS FOR USE WHEN CAPTURING AND HANDLING AMERICAN PRISONERS OF WAR
- Xo-ren-do o dai! (Surrender or die) - If you surrender you will not die
- Gan dao! (Gun down) - Put your gun down
- Hen ap! (Hands up) - Raise your hands
- Ton rao! (Turn round) - Turn around
- Not mu! (Not move) - Stand still
- Go quick! (Go quick) - Move faster
- Xai-lon! (Silence) - Be quiet
- Hoe de men! (Where the men?) - Where are the others?
- Con dem! (Call them) - Tell them to come out
I Surrender
For those that think teaching the Vietnamese to speak English phonetically is a new propaganda concept, here is a WWII leaflet where the British teach the German soldiers two words phonetically. The leaflet explains to them:
I surrender in English
Ei Ssorrender
VC Flag Leaflet
Sometimes the crude leaflets are quite colorful. Some of the leaflets depicted the Communist flag in full color. I have them with either English or Vietnamese text. One such leaflet shows their flag in red, blue and gold, and the title "Leniency and humane treatment to rallied Armymen and prisoners-of-war." There were discussions of the terms "leniency and humane treatment" in several American documents. Experts called the phrase "directive language" and believed that the Communist Party had directed that these words be used in almost every leaflet dealing with ralliers and prisoners. There were even discussions of what the words meant. One expert stated that the Viet Cong considered the American military to be nothing more than criminals and bandits who were in Vietnam illegally and who had no rights under the Geneva Convention. These Americans under their control were subject to severe punishment. If they treated a prisoner with the most rudimentary kindness that would automatically become lenient and humane treatment.
Policy toward US and Satellite POWs in South Vietnam.
Another Viet Cong leaflet depicts a stylized flag and the title, “Policy toward US and Satellite POWs in South Vietnam.” It offers the usual promises of safe conduct and good treatment and is signed by “The High Command of the SVNLA.”
VC Flag Leaflet
The leaflet is actually a large sheet that has been folded into eight segments. It shows the Viet Cong flag on the front and all the text is in Vietnamese. It is interesting to note that the Americans prohibited the image of the Viet Cong flag on any Allied leaflet because the image could be cut from the leaflet by an enemy soldier and saved as a wallet-sized photograph and carried as a patriotic reminder of Communist victory. The text on the front of the folded sheet is:
Announcement for the Convention of Chairman's Plenum Session,
Central Committee of the National Liberation Front for South Vietnam.
Righteous Cause
Another interesting piece of Vietnamese-language propaganda is the above newspaper Chinh Nghia (“Righteous Cause”). This propaganda newspaper was produced to keep the local people up-to-date with Communist doctrine. This New Year issue is for Tet (Year of the Horse) 1966. The paper was produced by the Military Proselytize and Propaganda Service. The main headline is the announcement of a four-day Tet truce. It ends with “We wish you good health a happy new year.”
Determined to Fight…
The Vietnamese often prepared leaflets in the Vietnamese language for their own civilians or the Army of Viet Nam, what they might call the "Puppet Army of the Americans." The next two leaflets were both found in 1968 in the Mekong Delta. This leaflet depicts an American Eagle with the face of President Lyndon B. Johnson pierced by three arrows. The Viet Cong propaganda on the arrows says:
Determined to fight, determined to win.
General Attack; general uprising --- All together. Kill Americans and Thieu
North Vietnam shot down 3,300 airplanes.
Thieu of course is the Republic of Vietnam’s President Nguyen Van Thieu.
North Vietnam is Determined…
This Viet Cong leaflet to the Vietnamese depicts Americans falling into a deep hole. A B-52 bomber is in the hole too. It implies that the Vietnam War is a deep abyss that will bury the Americans. The text is:
North Vietnam is determined to hold South Vietnam.
All the Vietnamese people…