Declassified per Executive Order 13526, Section 3.3
NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011
SECRET
VIET CONG STRENGTH[1]
1954 - 1964
(Rounded to nearest thousand)
| Year | Main and Local Force (Regulars) |
Guerrillas, Self-Defense Units, Secret Self-Defense Units (Irregulars) |
Source |
| 1955* | 10,000 | NA | NSC Briefing, 16 March 1956. Open sources give 5-10,000. Weekly Intelligence Digest, 18 May 1956, suggests 10,000 number should be revised to 6-8000. |
| 1956* | 5,000-7,500 | NA | Weekly Intelligence Digest, 10 August 1956. |
| 1957* | 1,000-2,000 | 2,000 | Weekly Intelligence Digest, 30 May 1958; Weekly Intelligence Digest, 18 July 1958. |
| 1958* | April-2,000 | NA | Weekly Intelligence Digest, 19 December 1958. |
| 1959* | 2,000 | NA | NIE 63-59, 26 May 1959. |
| 1960 | April-4,000 Sept.-7,000 Dec.-10,000 |
3,000 (SNIE 63.1-60) | Weekly Intelligen ce
Digest, 17 February ~ SNIE 63.1 -68, 3-5,000 regulars. |
| 1961* | June - 15,000 Sept. - 16,000 - 17,000 |
NA | Weekly Intelligence
Digest, 13 October 1961; Weekly Intel- ligenc e Digest, 20 October 1961. |
| 1962* | 23,000 | NA | Current Int elligence
We ekly Summary, OCI 2 November 1962. |
| 1963** | June - 25,000 | NA | Southeast Asia Military
Fact Book, DIA!J CS. |
| 1964** | June - 31,000 Dec - 34,000 |
72,000 | Based on MACV data. Data not retroactively adjusted. |
* Estimate of Viet Cong strength for this period is subject to great uncertainty. The numbers here should be treated as order of magnitude.
** Add approximately 40,000 in the Viet Cong "infrastructure". The infrastructure is defined as the PRP, PRP Central Committee, and the NLF. See MACV, Monthly Order of Battle Summaries, for a discussion. Also add 23-25,000 in Administrative Service, i.e., staff and technical service units subordinate to various headquarters.
- ↑ From letter, Rand Corporation, L-1498Z (attachment 1, 8-11-67). Data in table are SECRET.
