Dak Son massacre
The Đắk Sơn massacre was a war crime committed by the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (Viet Cong) during the Vietnam War on December 5, 1967 in the village of Đắk Sơn. 252 civilians died.
procedure
On December 5, 1967, two battalions of the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam attacked the village of Đắk Sơn , where about 2000 civilians from the tribes of indigenous Montagnards ("hill tribes ") lived. The Montagnards were considered hostile to communism . In addition, the Viet Cong suspected that the village served as a shelter and supply station for enemy refugees.
More than 600 fighters set huts and shelters on fire and killed men, women and children with flamethrowers , which were used especially to ensure that this atrocity would get around and be remembered for as long as possible in order to prevent other Montagnards from further resistance. Many residents were cremated in the burning huts or suffocated from the smoke in their burrows in the ground into which they had been able to escape. Dwellings that were not completely burned down were blown up with hand grenades . Shortly before leaving the village, 60 other survivors were shot and the rest of the population was abducted to serve as hostages.
literature
- Charles A. Krohn: The Last Battalion: Controversies and Casualties of the Battle of Hue p. 30. Westport 1993.
- Ronald H. Spector: After Tet: The Bloodiest Year in Vietnam New York Free Press 1993
- Original documents in the Vietnam Center and Archive , PDF, English
Web links
- "The Massacre of Dak Son" , Time Magazine , December 15, 1967 English
- "Dak Son Massacre" , Vietnam War Atrocities' reports, English