Dak Son Massacre

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The Dak Son Massacre was one of the largest massacres committed by ground forces during the Vietnam War.

On December 5, 1967, several hundred troops of the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (NLF), also known as the Viet Cong, came to the Montagnard hamlet of Dak Son, which was home to over 2,000 people. The Montagnard people were known for their fierce opposition to communist forces. In addition, the Viet Cong had heard that the hamlet had at one point taken care of refugees fleeing NLF forces. They therefore decided to make an example of Dak Son.[1]

Over 600 troops marched in to the village and caused mass chaos. They used flamethrowers to destroy the shelters and kill the men, women, and children who lived there. The flamethrowers were used so that any survivors and people who heard of the atrocity would not soon forget.[2] As the Viet Cong fired their weapons, people were incinerated inside their own homes, and some had managed to escape into foxholes in their homes were still killed from the smoke. The homes that were not destroyed by flamethrowers were destroyed with grenades, and on the way out patches of the main town were lit for no reason except for good measure. Just before they elected to leave the village, out of 160 survivors, 60 were shot down on the spot by Viet Cong gunmen, while most of the remaining were taken hostage, never to be heard from again. The remaining people that were not taken hostage were left to bury their dead and be left with the memory. Most of the survivors elected to join an irregular force so that they would be able to defend themselves and other if the Viet Cong and their flamethrowers had ever elected to come back.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Spector, Ronald H. After Tet: The bloodiest Year in Vietnam
  2. ^ Krohn, Charles A. The Last Battalion

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