What is difference between Vietcong and VietMinh
Answers
he war in Viet Nam for liberation began well before the US was involved. There was resistance to the French colonialists in Indochina pre-WWII, resistance to the Japanese occupation during WWII, and resistance to the French colonialists post WWII. The Viet Minh was formed in 1941, and fought the Japanese and the French, and defeated the French in the north in 1954. The 1954 Geneva Conference tried to settle the issue, but temporarily divided the country between the Viet Minh in the north and the French and their Vietnamese allies in the south. The French then basically withdrew. Neither the US nor the Vietnamese in the south agreed with the Geneva Conference plan. It contemplated an election to resolve control and unify the two halves, but it never occurred. By 1960, war had broken out between north and south. By that point, the Viet Minh no longer existed as a guerilla force fighting colonialists, but morphed into the regular army of the nation of North Viet Nam (the NVA). Its weaponry was also upgraded as the major communist powers provided it with military aid.
The Viet Cong was formed in 1960, and consisted largely of southerners. Some former Viet Minh were southerners, and had either stayed in the south or gone to the north as part of the 1954 withdrawal to the north by the Viet Minh. They returned to the south to help form the Viet Cong. They recruited southerners who opposed the regime. The Viet Cong were guerillas and largely irregular soldiers, and were not nearly as tough or capable as regular NVA. They were largely under the control of the north, and served as an additional force in the north's effort to unite the south with the north. The Tet offensive in 1968 was undertaken largely by the Viet Cong, and decimated their forces. Its importance in the war was reduced after that. It ceased to exist in 1976 when the north conquered the south.