General Vo Nguyen Gap's "People's War, People's Army"

Before I had left the Jungle Operations Course in Panama, it was my privilege to read Vo Nguyen Gap's important book: "People's War, People's Army", was essentially the Vietcong Insurrection Manual for Underdeveloped Countries like Afghanistan. Gap understood that the "Franco-American Imperialists" had conceived a 'rather audacious plan, aimed at annihilating his main force and ending the war within 18 months: The French had decided to concentrate their forces in the Red River delta in the autumn and winter 1953 for 'mopping-up' operations to destroy his guerilla bases, and they also planned attacks on Gap's free zone in order to attract and exhaust his main forces. The French would then recruit new 'puppet' units, while continuing the regrouping of their mobile forces to prepare a decisive offensive on Gap's front in the north. If the plan were working well, in autumn and winter 1954, the French would bring back to north Vietnam their greatly increased forces, still under the influence of the enthusiasm created by their recent victories. In launching a major offensive against Giap's bases, the French would have occupied new territories, annihilating the bulk of Giap's main forces to end their aggressive war and permanently transform all of Vietnam into a colony and a 'Franco-American' military base.