Đắk Sơn massacre

Đắk Sơn massacre
Location Đắk Sơn village, Đắk Lắk, South Vietnam
Date December 5, 1967
Target Montagnard villagers of Đắk Sơn
Attack type
 Massacre
Deaths 114-252
Perpetrators Viet Cong

The Đắk Sơn Massacre was a massacre committed by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War, in the village of Đắk Sơn, Đắk Lắk Province, South Vietnam.

Prior to the attack, earlier battles had occurred between the Viet Cong and the village defence militias.[1] On December 5, 1967, two battalions of Viet Cong attacked Dak Son village, and after a battle with the defence militia,[1] were alleged to have killed between 114 to 252 civilians in a "vengeance" attack on the hamlet of Đắk Sơn, home to over 2,000 Montagnards.[2] The Viet Cong believed that the hamlet had at one point given aid to refugees fleeing Viet Cong forces.[3]

Troops marched into a village near Dak Son, some of which used flamethrowers effectively.[4] As the Viet Cong fired their weapons, people were incinerated inside their own homes, and some who had managed to escape into foxholes in their homes died of smoke inhalation. The homes that were not destroyed by flamethrowers were destroyed with grenades, and on the way out patches of the main town were set afire. Just before they left the village, the Viet Cong shot 60 of the 160 survivors. Most of the remaining villagers were taken hostage.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 http://www.virtual.vietnam.ttu.edu/cgi-bin/starfetch.exe?sChOubo.LCctE5dCKhl3JvYOz0qh7yZCw7BGzvffNIEfnqFJvbXmjx2tW1l81BhQ3g@Z5nzDMBmadMoArEMac4sdSxNaZA91Qk0g9flbB8IImL2htxwIOQ/2311311042.pdf
  2. ↑ http://www.virtual.vietnam.ttu.edu/cgi-bin/starfetch.exe?eKyNkWEKgWpJ2CYvu.l2TRFzyh8Png25ko4LXJ6cB0QXbn8KPI.kqU8kkJnr7KuopP0HzfKYOldN3jOuWssZXt2Hit1PYbUs.7OEgI35RUth3XXUOUL9ew/2311404002.pdf
  3. ↑ Spector, Ronald H. After Tet: The Bloodiest Year in Vietnam.
  4. ↑ Krohn, Charles A. The Last Battalion. p. 30.

Further reading

  • Olive-Drab. "Vietnam War Atrocities." 10 October 2007.
  • "On the Other Side: Terror as Policy". Time. December 5, 1969.
  • "The Massacre of Dak Son". Time. December 15, 1967.
  • The VN Center Archive, "Vietnam war Atrocities". 2005.
  • "The Blood-Red Hands of Ho Chi Minh". Readers Digest. November 1968.
  • Military History Institute of Vietnam (2001). Nguyen Van Minh, ed. Tong Tien Cong Va Noi Day Nam 1968 [The 1968 General Offensive and Uprising]. History of the Resistance War Against the Americans to Save the Nation, 1954-1975,. V. Hanoi: National Political Publishing House. p. 20. Lay summary.
  • Spector, Ronald H. After Tet: The Bloodiest Year in Vietnam. New York: Free Press, 1993.

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