0 - The Black Vault

THE BDM CORPORATION
4. Strategic Hamlets (see Figure 5-6)
The concept of Strategic Hamlets (Ap Chien Lt.oc) took shape in
piecemeal fashion in a few localities early in 1961.
Some local authorities
had duplicated the village defense system as it had been employed witn
success against the 'iet Minh in Bui Chu and Phat Diem. the two oldest
Roman Catholic diocesan arcas in North Vietnam.38/ For example, in Ninh
Thuan province, the province chief, Lt. Colonel Khanh, initiated a village
defense program by encouraginq the villager- to plant a special kind of
cactus around their village..
The rapid growing, thorny cactus :iedge formed
a formidable barrier which discouragea penetration by enemy infiltrators.
Armed with primitive weapons -- pointed sticks, lances and spears --
village youths,
both male and female, performed security and guard functions,
In the Trung Hoa village of Darlac Province, Father Hoa, a
Catholic priest of Chinese origin who fled North Vietnam in 1954,
his village into a North Vietnam-type of community.,
with a large number of Nung people (a
fashioned
Father Hoa came south
Chinese catholic group from North
Vietnam) whom he helped resettle in his village as well as in the district
of Nam Con, located in Xuyen Province, The Nung (often called the "Sea
Swallows") resettlements became tightly stockaded defensive ar'eas within
enclosures of wooden
stakes reinforced by a system of camouflaged trap
holes lined with poison-tipped spikes. The villagers were armed with
crossbows and arrows,
Notwithstanding the crude weapons,
lances and spears in addition to a few old rifles.
the defense of the Nung villages was
Effective, and served as a model for other village and hamlet self-defense
systems in the Mekong Delta. 39/
Ngo Dinh Nhu launched the Strategic Hamlet Program late in 1961
with a view towards establishing a village defense system for the entire
country. This new scheme was an attempt at avoiding the mistake of erecting
whole new communities from the ground up. The plan was aimed at fortifying
existing villkges, although it did include some provisions for
4• destroying indefensible hamlets and the relocation of the inhabitants into
more secure communities.
Strategic !hamlets were to concentrate on ciil
5-17
h 4