The hard core of the pro-Communist rebel force numbers only some 2,000 tough Viet Minh guerrilla fighters.

* 1945 – August Revolution: Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh take power in Hanoi, Vietnam.

As a result of the Geneva Conference on Indochina, Cambodia was able to bring about the withdrawal of the Viet Minh troops from its territory and to withstand any residual impingement upon its sovereignty by external powers.

Ho Chi Minh, Vo Nguyen Giap, Viet Cong and select members of the Green Berets in the Vietnam War ( and the First Indochina War before that ).

* In Indochina the French government was facing the Viet Minh communist rebels and lost its Indochinese colonies during the First Indochina War in 1954 after the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.

General Zhang Fakui ( Chang Fa-kuei ), who based himself in Guangxi, established the Viet Nam Cach Menh Dong Minh Hoi meaning " Viet Nam Revolutionary League " in 1942, which was assisted by the VNQDD to serve the KMT's aims.

Viet Minh units occasionally made forays into Cambodian bases during their war against the French, and, in conjunction with the leftist government that ruled Thailand until 1947, the Viet Minh encouraged the formation of armed, left-wing Khmer Issarak bands.

According to the historian David P. Chandler, the leftist Issarak groups, aided by the Viet Minh, occupied a sixth of Cambodia's territory by 1952 ; and, on the eve of the Geneva Conference, they controlled as much as one half of the country.

The French Aviation navale drops napalm over Viet Minh guerrilla positions during an ambush ( December 1953 ).

* 1954 – First Indochina War: The Viet Minh take control of North Vietnam.

Among other activities, the OSS helped arm, train and supply resistance movements, including Mao Zedong's Red Army in China and the Viet Minh in French Indochina, in areas occupied by the Axis powers during World War II.

After the Soviet Union recognized the Viet Minh as the government of Vietnam in 1950, French Communists ( PCF ) took up the cause of Vietnam's independence.

In both cases, the Viet Minh and NLF were able to cut off the opposing army by capturing the surrounding rugged terrain.

* December 19 – Viet Minh forces begin a war against French occupying forces in Vietnam, succeeding in 1954 with France's surrender at Dien Bien Phu.

* May 19 – The Viet Minh is formed in Vietnam to overthrow the French Army in the nation.

* The Indochina Communist party, led by Ho Chi Minh, combines with the Nationalist party to form the Viet Minh.

* March 13 – French troops begin the battle against the Viet Minh in Dien Bien Phu.

* March 23 – In Vietnam, the Viet Minh capture the main airstrip of Dien Bien Phu.

* April 28 – U. S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles accuses Communist China of sending combat troops to Indo-China to train the Viet Minh guerrillas.

Many Viet Cong units operated at night, and employed terror as a standard tactic.

The breakup of larger Viet Cong units increased the effectiveness of the CIA's Phoenix program ( 1967 – 72 ), which targeted individual leaders, as well as the Chiêu Hồi Program, which encouraged defections.

Called sappers, these units represented a force economy measure for the NVA ( North Vietnamese Army ) and the Viet Cong.

Several units of the French army, including some battalions of the Foreign Legion, were devastated by the Viet Minh and essentially ceased to exist as fighting units.

Peer De Silva, former head of the Saigon department of the Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) wrote that from as early as 1963, Viet Cong units were using disembowelment and other methods of mutilation as psychological warfare.

The horrendous losses inflicted on Viet Cong units struck into the heart of the irreplaceable infrastructure that had been built up for over a decade.

PAVN ( People's Army of Vietnam ) and Viet Cong sappers, as they were called by US forces, are better described as commando units.

Thousands of specially trained elite fighters served in the PAVN and Viet Cong commando / sapper units which were organized as independent formations.

Viet Minh units occasionally made forays into Cambodian bases during their war against the French, and, in conjunction with the leftist government that ruled Thailand until 1947, the Viet Minh encouraged the formation of armed, left-wing Khmer Issarak bands.

* June 18 – To reduce the chances of Viet Cong forces slipping away from large South Vietnamese ground units by fleeing operations areas in small groups, U. S. Marine Corps helicopters operating in South Vietnam begin to use the " Eagle Flight " tactic, in which Marine transport helicopters circle contested areas and drop off South Vietnamese troops when and where they are needed to block escaping Viet Cong forces.

* January 1 – 7 – The U. S. Armys 173rd Airborne Brigade and Australian troops carry out Operation Marauder, a combined helicopter and ground assault against Viet Cong forces in South Vietnams Mekong Delta and the first time American units operate in the Delta.

* February 12 – Operation Pershing begins against Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army units in Bin Dinh and Quảng Ngãi provinces in South Vietnam ; it will last until January 1968.

The Mekong Delta Mobile Afloat Force was originally conceived as providing an all weather " strike " capability in the Mekong Delta, to actively prosecute contact with Viet Cong units in the Vietnam War.

The action was fought between Australian forces and Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army units after the 108-man D Company, 6 RAR clashed with a force of over 2, 000 men from the Viet Cong 275th Regiment, reinforced by at least one North Vietnamese battalion and elements of D445 Provincial Mobile Battalion.

Although purportedly separate from the North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam ( PAVN ), the later increasingly provided reinforcements to the Viet Cong main forces, while PAVN units themselves would operate in Phuoc Tuy in later years.

Part of Military Region 1, the principle communist units operating in Phuoc Tuy were main forces from the Viet Cong 5th Division.

The account claimed that following the mortar attack on 16 / 17 August, the Viet Cong force had subsequently formed up in a wide semi-circle at 10: 15 on 18 August to lie in wait for the Australians, with 275th Regiment given the " middle battle " position and tasked with spring the ambush, while other units from the 275th Regiment and one company from D445 Battalion occupied the " front block " position near the village of Long Tan, while two companies from D445 Battalion under the command of Major Sau Thu had been tasked with occupying the " back block " position to encircle the Australians by sweeping beneath their " tail " and destroying them.

For the first time, the newly created Viet Cong 273rd and 274th Regiments was ordered to join the 271st and 272nd Regiments on the battlefield ; their objective was to destroy the regular units of the South Vietnamese military, and eliminate the strategic hamlets to enlarge the so-called ' liberated zones '.

Despite being a superpower and having a superior arsenal of weapons at its disposal, the United States was unable to make substantial gains against North Vietnam's proxy guerilla army in South Vietnam, the Viet Cong.

However, the Viet Minh were not in a position to do this, having instituted a party purge of ' disloyal ' Communists as well as a highly disruptive land reform program in the two years since the Geneva agreement.

After having Cronauer as a thorn in his side for a number of months now, Dickerson devises a plot to get rid of Cronauer once and for all by sending him and Garlick to interview soldiers in the field near An Lộc – knowing in advance that the only road leading into this particular area has been captured by the Viet Cong ( VC ), a fact which he keeps from the pair.

Two of the men were discovered to have survived despite their wounds, having spent the night on the battlefield in close proximity to the Viet Cong as they attempted to evacuate their own casualties.

Already behind schedule and with B Company having been out for longer than expected, Smith wanted to relieve Ford before more time elapsed and then follow the Viet Cong tracks to continue the pursuit that afternoon.

The position appeared to have been used by the Viet Cong as a staging area prior to the bombardment two nights before, while signs of casualties having been loaded into carts and evacuated were also located.

At the track junction D Company found evidence of the Viet Cong mortars having been prepared for firing, while further equipment was found scattered around the position which again indicated a rapid withdrawal and the accuracy of the counter-battery fire.

Finally a runner arrived from Company Headquarters with a replacement radio, having moved through heavy fire as he attempted to locate the platoon, killing two Viet Cong soldiers with his Owen gun on the way.

One of the soldiers was found to have survived despite his wounds having spent the night on the battlefield in close proximity to the Viet Cong as they attempted to evacuate their own casualties.

The operation lasted until 8 September and despite the intensity of the previous fighting little contact occurred, with no evidence of any large Viet Cong force having been in the area being uncovered.

Under the cover of darkness the Viet Cong withdrew from the battlefield, having won their first major victory.

Over the years, under Do's leadership, Nguoi Viet grew into one of the most prestigious ethnic publications in history, having earned its founder and its immigrant community worldwide recognition.