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
ensure co-ordination between the villages and to the intelligence aspect and similarly at the Province level. Above that there should only be an inspectorate, the main purpose of which should be to visit posts as frequently as possible to find out their needs, stay with them and help them to understnad the importance of their mission. The Civil Guard at Province and District level should be responsible for logistic and administrative support.
15. A prerecuisite for the establishment of Self-Defence Corps units, including their posts in strategic and defended hamlets, is that they can be adequately and rapidly supported by Civil Guard units in the event of an attack developing and, in turn, the Army should be responsible for dealing with any large concentration which may develop against such hamlets. It would be fatal to establish such units and posts before this support can be provided. Training is not a major problem as only a minimum is required and in many places there are a number of former soldiers. All peasants have a natural instinct for small scale guerrilla and anti-guerrilla operations.
Civil Guard
16. The Civil Guard should be organised to provide the permanent static framework of the Government's security forces within each Province. Their present organisation on a battalion and company basis is desirable only for the purpose of equipment and retraining. Their subsequent deployment requires that battalion Headquarters should be the provincial headquarters with company headquarters becoming the district headquarters. Provinces should then be reinforced by additional companies as may be required particularly for mobile operations. As the security situation improves companies may be transferred elsewhere, except that a company headquarters must remain at district level even though the number of men in that particular company may be reduced. This means that the total strength of the Civil Guard in a Province can vary considerably but that the headquarters framework at the Province and District level must always remain.
17. The operational direction of the Civil Guard in a Province should rest with the Chef de Province through the battalion commander and at district level with the District Chief through the company commander (when the Chef de Province and the Chef de District are military officers). In all other respects the command and administrative channel should go direct from the battalion commander to the Civil Guard element at the Combined Headquarters, and thence to the main Civil Guard Headquarters in Saigon. As and when provinces are declared "white," and civil administrators are appointed as Chefs de Province, then the whole command chain will run direct from Civil Guard headquarters in Saigon through Combined Headquarters to the Battalion Headquarters at Province level and thence to its companies.
