Declassified per Executive Order 13526, Section 3.3
NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011
Enclosure No. 2
Despatch No. 205
From Saigon
- (b) The Chef de Province will, however, be responsible for all civil emergency measures and their direction and, in that respect, will exercise command over the civil departments concerned.
- (c) Civil Guard and Self-Defence command channels are discussed in paragraphs 17 and 14 below.
Civil Measures
9. The basic units of population are the village and Hamlet. Although the sizes vary, there are normally about 4 to 5 Hamlets of 200-300 houses to each village. The main civil emergency measures required at this level are:
- (a) regrouping of hamlets round the perimeter i.e. along the Cambodian frontier and on the fringes of the mangrove swamp areas, particularly those which have become long established communist bases. These hamlets should be known as "defended Hamlets"; and
- (b) the establishment of "strategic hamlets" in the remainder of the area.
10. The establishment of a "Cordon Sanitaire" along this part of the frontier (or elsewhere on the perimeter) is not desirable, except possibly at special points, because:
- (a) it gives up ground;
- (b) it eliminates intelligence coverage;
- (c) it establishes a more or less permanent patrol commitment for either Civil Guard or Military forces; and
- (d) it still does not solve the problem of the populated areas wherever they may start.
Regrouping of hamlets is likely to prove a better solution provided that they are of a convenient size for defence and control and the inhabitants are not moved too far from their normal work. Regrouped villages might be too big and unwieldy and cause too drastic a move of the population. The ideal size for a defended hamlet is about 300 houses (8-10 to an acre).
Control measures
11. (a) Prohibited areas from which the population is totally excluded until further notice should be declared and all Government forces should have complete freedom to shoot on sight in such areas;
(b) Curfews,
