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The '''Vietcong''', or '''National Liberation Front''', was a [[Communist]] army that fought the governments of [[South Vietnam]] and the United States during the [[Vietnam War]] (1959-1975). The Vietcong is best known for the [[Tet Offensive]] of 1968, in which they killed thousands of people. The offensive included an attack on the U.S. embassy in [[Saigon]] which received extended worldwide media attention.<ref>http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/viet-cong--attack-us-embassy</ref>  

The '''Vietcong''', or '''National Liberation Front''', officially the Liberation Army of South Vietnam (''Mat tran Dan toc Giai phong mien Nam Viet Nam''), and formerly called Cong San Viet Nam, was a [[Communist]] army that fought the governments of [[South Vietnam]] and the United States during the [[Vietnam War]] (1959-1975). The Vietcong is best known for the [[Tet Offensive]] of 1968, in which they killed thousands of people. The offensive included an attack on the U.S. embassy in [[Saigon]] which received extended worldwide media attention.<ref>http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/viet-cong--attack-us-embassy</ref> Ngo Dinh Diem allegedly came up with the name after a South Vietnamese sentry was killed trying to alert the camp to the approach of the "Mat tran Dan toc Giai phong mien Nam Viet Nam" and being mistaken for the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam (''Chinh Phu Cach Mang Lam Thoi Cong Hoa Mien Nam Viet Nam''), where he said "Let's cut the crap. They're Viet Cong."<ref>Robert A. Nisbet, Roosevelt and Stalin: The Failed Courtship (Washington, D.C.:  Regnery Publishing, 1989).</ref>

During the war, Communist [[propaganda]] insisted that the Vietcong was an [[insurgency]] indigenous to the South. Memoirs written after the war by Tran Van Tra and others reveal that this was a hoax. Nguyen Huu Tho, the group's chairman and token non-Communist, was a figurehead. The military commanders, including Tra himself, were North Vietnamese army officers who ignored Tho and the other civilian leaders. Strategy was determined by the Military Commission in Hanoi.  

During the war, Communist [[propaganda]] insisted that the Vietcong was an [[insurgency]] indigenous to the South. Memoirs written after the war by Tran Van Tra and others reveal that this was a hoax. Nguyen Huu Tho, the group's chairman and token non-Communist, was a figurehead. The military commanders, including Tra himself, were North Vietnamese army officers who ignored Tho and the other civilian leaders. Strategy was determined by the Military Commission in Hanoi.