32. Fact: The Viet Cong was well armed and supported independently of the North Vietnamese government
In truth, the Viet Cong were a well-armed and trained organization, with much of their support coming from North Vietnam, whose officials directed and planned their operations – Tet is a good example – and whose supplies came to them directly from both the Soviet Union and China. Armed primarily with AK-47s, the world’s most ubiquitous assault rifle then and now, they often outgunned their enemies in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, who often carried the M-1 and M-14 rifles which the US military had discarded as a front line assault rifle, at least until late in the war as the US was abandoning the ARVN to its inevitable fate. Up to $5 billion dollars in military aid was supplied directly to the Viet Cong by the Chinese and the Soviets between the mid-1950s and 1968, according to the CIA.
