GBH Openvault

Vietnam: A Television History; Captured Viet Cong Film During Operation Junction City [Part 1 of 2]

Part of The Vietnam Collection.

01/01/1967

Covers Viet Cong activities as shot by amateur cameramen within VC units. Reel 1 - Shows Viet Cong crossing field, ambushing jeep, dead ARVN soldier, Viet Cong digging trench, collecting residue from tapped rubber trees, questioning Vietnamese women and children. Vietnamese leaving Viet Cong checkpoint, bomb damage around Viet Cong base camp, C-130 in flyover, Vietnamese leaving bus, Viet Cong speaking to group, group reading Viet Cong material, and boarding bus, remains of tank and A-1E engine. Viet Cong setting up machine gun at foxhole, entering and leaving bunker, setting up machine gun at entrance to bunker, crossing ditches and streams with material fastened to bicycles, crossing footbridge, attending political or propaganda lecture, UH-1B in flyover, Viet Cong writing letters, digging hole for munitions storage bunker, cleaning carbine, testing captured field radio, lighting cigarette, relaxing, cleaning rifle, dragging limbs on road, wiring artillery rounds for booby traps, crossing river in dugouts, aiming .45 cal. pistol, applauding as women and children enter camp with food, and eating in large groups. 869' Total footage in reel. Reel 2- Shows Viet Cong at political or propaganda lecture, crossing road, carrying AK-47 submachine gun, abandoned bus at side of road, dead body beside bus, Viet Cong in field, dead ARVN soldier C-123B in flyover, Viet Gong making mines from scrap material and gun powder, women cultivating crops, Viet Cong carrying dud MK.82 bomb in sling, removing fuse and detonator from bomb, planting home made mines on trail, rushing to bunker, woman and boy storing hand grenades in foxhole, Viet Cong digging tunnel, cleaning and repairing weapons, entering thicket, blowing bugle, charging across field, firing M-16, carbine, M-1 and other weapons, setting up M-16A1. Afers mines (similar to Claymore mine), shaped-charge mines made by Viet Cong, Viet Cong stacking limbs on road, covering large hole with poles, foliage and dirt, planting mines and punji sticks on trails. UH-1B in flyover. Viet Cong leaving bunkers, moving through trenches, briefing groups on Claymore mine, speaking at political or propaganda class, testing and repairing captured radio components, using code key, recovered radiosonde transmitter (T-435A/AMT-48), Viet Cong tossing US Military ID card, family photos, and Vietnamese and US service medals on ground, poster with accomplishments of Viet Cong unit, Viet Cong printing and proofreading papers, and writing letters, A-1E and C-130 flyovers. Viet Cong working in field and cultivating crops, making explosives, pouring substance into mine, handing out material to Vietnamese at meeting, putting safe-conduct sticker on bus leaving check-point, Vietnamese leaving bus at checkpoint, reading material, and listening to Viet Cong speakers including a woman.

Series

Vietnam: A Television History

Title

Captured Viet Cong Film During Operation Junction City [Part 1 of 2]

Series Description

This 13 part series covers the history of Vietnam from France's colonial control, through the 1945 revolution, to the 1975 U.S. evacuation from Saigon and the years beyond. The series' objective approach permits viewers to form their own conclusions about the war. 101--Roots of a War--Despite cordial relations between American intelligence officers and Communist leader Ho Chi Minh in the turbulent closing months of World War II, French and British hostility to the Vietnamese revolution laid the groundwork for a new war. 102--The First Vietnam War (1946-1954)--The French generals expected to defeat Ho's rag-tag Vietminh guerrillas easily, but after eight years of fighting and $2.5 billion in U.S. aid, the French lost a crucial battle at Dienbienphu--and with it, their Asian empire. 103--America's Mandarin (1954-1963)--To stop the spread of communism in Southeast Asia, America replaced France in South Vietnam--supporting autocratic President Ngo Dinyh Diem until his own generals turned against him in a coup that brought political chaos to Saigon. 104--LBJ Goes to War (1964-1965)--With Ho Chi Minh determined to reunite Vietnam, Lyndon Baines Johnson determined to prevent it, and South Vietnam on the verge of collapse, the stage was set for massive escalation of the undeclared Vietnam War. 105--America Takes Charge (1965-1967)--In two years, the Johnson Administration's troop build-up dispatched 1.5 million Americans to Vietnam to fight a war they found baffling, tedious, exciting, deadly and unforgettable. 106--America's Enemy (1954-1967)--The Vietnam War as seen from different perspectives: by Vietcong guerrillas and sympathizers; by North Vietnamese leaders; by rank and file; and by American held prisoner in Hanoi. 107--Tet (1968)--The massive enemy offensive at the Lunar New Year decimated the Vietcong and failed to topple the Saigon government, but led to the beginning of America's military withdrawal. 108--Vietnamizing the War (1968-1973)--President Nixon's program of troop pull-outs, stepped-up bombing and huge arms shipments to Saigon changed the war, and left GI's wondering which of them would be the last to die in Vietnam. 109--Cambodia and Laos--Despite technical neutrality, both of Vietnam's smaller neighbors were drawn into the war, suffered massive bombing, and in the case of Cambodia, endured a post-war holocaust of nightmare proportions. 110--Peace is at Hand (1968-1973)--While American and Vietnamese continued to clash in battle, diplomats in Paris argued about making peace, after more than four years reaching an accord that proved to be a preface to further bloodshed. 111--Homefront USA--Americans at home divide over a distant war, clashing in the streets as demonstrations lead to bloodshed, bitterness and increasing doubts about the outcome. 112--The End of the Tunnel (1973-1975)--Through troubled years of controversy and violence, U.S. casualties mounted, victory remained elusive and American opinion moved from general approval to general dissatisfaction with the Vietnam war. 113--Legacies--Vietnam is in the Soviet orbit, poorer than ever, at war on two fronts; America's legacy includes more than one half million Asian refugees, one half million Vietnam veterans and some questions that won't go away. Series release date: 9/1983

Duration

00:24:04

Asset Type

Stock footage

Media Type

Video

Subjects

Camouflage (Military science)

War damage

Freight transportation

Operation Junction City, 1967

Nationalism and communism

Vietnam (Asia) nation

Special operations (Military science)

Vietnamese

Combat

Propaganda

Viet Cong

Military bases

National liberation movements

Vietnam War, 1961-1975

Bunkers (Fortification)

Locations

Tay Ninh Province, South Vietnam

Genres

Documentary

Topics

War and Conflict

Creators

Ellison, Richard (Series Producer)

Publication Information

NARA

Rights Summary

Public Domain Rights Holder: NARA

Citation

Chicago: “Vietnam: A Television History; Captured Viet Cong Film During Operation Junction City [Part 1 of 2],” 01/01/1967, GBH Archives, accessed November 15, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_418C807C656441C1AEC83F3D77CB9599.

MLA: “Vietnam: A Television History; Captured Viet Cong Film During Operation Junction City [Part 1 of 2].” 01/01/1967. GBH Archives. Web. November 15, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_418C807C656441C1AEC83F3D77CB9599>.

APA: Vietnam: A Television History; Captured Viet Cong Film During Operation Junction City [Part 1 of 2]. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_418C807C656441C1AEC83F3D77CB9599