Quote:
Originally Posted by Ray
How much did the political situation, apart from corruption in SV, play a role in the military operations?
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Sir,
Aside from the corruption on the logistical side, the cronyism, relatives and lackeys of the politicians were given commands that they were not up to the task of performing. It took the proven incompetence in almost all cases before the American choice of a commander who was competent was finally promoted into a position that was deserved. This covers the Vietnamization phase from 68-72.
Under Diem (prior to major US involvedment) he did the same thing, except that many units' primary mission was actually a "republican guard" type role to prevent Diem's overthrow from a coup. This destroyed unit of command, as there were lower ranking officers who didn't "report" to their commanders, but rather straight to Diem. Added to this, was the fear by Diem that casualties would only exacerbate the desire of the military to form a coup. Thus, you had some ineffective commanders and a disjointed command structure that was hobbled by a strategic outlook that the danger was not from the NLF, but from within the SVN Army.