Battle of Binh Gia - Background

Background

In 1964, the political establishment in South Vietnam was still in turmoil. Following the coup that ousted Ngo Dinh Diem, the military situation quickly worsened as the National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) gained significant ground in the countryside because the Military Revolutionary Council which governed South Vietnam, lacked direction both in terms of policy and planning. Furthermore, General Duong Van Minh, as the Chairman of the Military Revolutionary Council, and his civilian Prime Minister Nguyen Ngoc Tho favoured a political resolution instead of using military force, which brought them into conflict with the United States over the best strategy to end the Communist threat in South Vietnam. As a result, both men became increasingly unpopular amongst the military generals who held real political power in Saigon. On January 30, 1964, General Nguyen Khanh successfully ousted Duong Van Minh from the Military Revolutionary Council without firing a single shot. For much of the year, Nguyen Khanh spent most of his efforts on consolidating political power, instead of fighting the Viet Cong.

In contrast to the political unrest in Saigon, the Communist leadership in North Vietnam were far more concerned about the best strategy to fight the South Vietnamese government and their American supporters. While all leaders in Hanoi shared the same goal of eventual reunification of their homeland, different factions within the Communist Party disagreed on the best method to achieve their desired goal. Members of North Vietnam’s Politburo were divided by the issues surrounding the Soviet strategy of peaceful co-existence versus the Chinese strategy of supporting national liberation movements in emerging countries. Despite their differences of opinion, the Communist Party leadership ultimately made preparations for armed struggle in South Vietnam. From Hanoi’s perspective, the military regime in Saigon was able to hold out because the Communist main forces were still not ready to fight a conventional war, so North Vietnam must focus on the development of its military force in the shortest period of time. In the meantime, however, the war must be kept at its current level in order to prevent the full involvement of the United States military.

On October 11, 1964, the National Liberation Front in South Vietnam was ordered to carry out a series of military operations as part of the Communist winter-spring offensive. The NLF Nam Bo (Mekong Delta) Regional Command established a sub-command under the leadership of Tran Dinh Xu with Nguyen Hoa as the deputy commander, and Le Van Tuong as the political commissar. Their mission was to inflict damage on the regular units of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and destroy the strategic hamlets constructed by the former Ngo Dinh Diem regime. The National Liberation Front in South Vietnam identified the regions of Binh Long-Phuoc Long and Baria-Long Khanh, along Route 14, as the main targets for their offensive. Meanwhile, the Central Military Commission in Hanoi appointed General Nguyen Chi Thanh as the commander of North Vietnamese military operations in southern Vietnam. Other high-ranking officers such as Major Generals Le Trong Tan and Tran Do, and Colonel Hoang Cam were sent to South Vietnam to supervise the military build-up which would commence in November 1964.