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National Democratic and Peaceful Forces of Vietnam

by Albert S Kirsch

See also:

Vietnam

I was watching a TV show on the battle for Hue, Viet-Nam, and the flag was flying over the provincial government house.
Albert S Kirsch, 3 March 2002

This is the flag of the National, Democratic and Peaceful Forces of Vietnam, a progressive organization created under sponsorship of the Viet Cong (and allied with other small leftist factions) in 1968 and was in use for a short time (about1968-70). I believe that soon after Tet offensive the organization was de facto dissolved.
Jaume Ollé, 5 March 2002

by Leon Lee

On 6-Feb-1968 during the Tet Offensive, US Marines from "Hotel" Company retook the Hue Provincial Headquarter compound from Vietcong forces after bitter street battles.

The so-called "Vietcong flag" that they hauled down was not the traditional "Blue/Red banner with Yellow Star" VC flag, but rather it had 3-horizontal stripes of Red-White-Red with a Yellow Star in the middle.

Therefore, tentative comments gathered on this unknown 1968 variant of the Vietcong communist flag included :

1) Flag used for "Provincial Communist Government of South Vietnam" during its month-long takeover of the ancient imperial capitol of Hue in 1968.

2) North Vietnam propaganda desired to control world opinion that the warfare in South Vietnam was initiated strictly by South Vietnamese communist despite the fact that North Vietnam controlled the entire apparatus. Hence, they needed a "fake flag" to represent the southern communist.

3) Flag was used exclusively for Vietcong forces. But the 1968 Tet Offensive essentially wiped out their military capabilities. From 1968 onward, vast majority of fighting was conducted by North Vietnamese forces augmented into the VC structure. Hence, they abandoned the 1968 communist flag and adopted the 1969 VC flag to reflect the new troop concentration.
Leon Lee, 16 June 2003