Fact Or Farb

A free visual presentation of North Vietnamese Army that I am sure reenactors and collectors will be interested. The link is down in the comment and I will update the presentation from time to time in order to perfect it.

@FactOrFarb Hey man, do you still have the assessment photo of the "Vietnamese V1, V2" (aka bom bay) from the Americans? I would love to know. Thanks

German weapons available to French force in Indochina, as of December 31st, 1950 (Mortars not included). The most powerful of these would be the 20mm MG 151 autocannon, which the French mounted on their armored riverine patrol vessels.

@FactOrFarb Which one? It’s cut out in the pic

@rac112apilas The one and only magazine

@FactOrFarb In the Hanoi Military Museum (back in 2023) they had the Walther pistol of Col. Charton on display. Where did you get these numbers btw?

@no1melonlover No

@FactOrFarb Did Viet Minh ever try to copy at least one if these weapons? I once read an article about US weapons that VN copied

@Sigma9814 Hanoi Weapon Museum

@FactOrFarb I remember seeing an MP 40 on display at a museum in Vietnam, but I can't remember which museum it was.

@E_Hartmann_194 They "borrowed" the cannons from the Hue citadel for the attack

@FactOrFarb Hold up bronze what ?

Backed by a 75 mm mountain gun, several bronze cannons and a Type 92 heavy machine gun, twenty Japanese from a suicide unit attacked the French position at the Grand Hotel de Hué on 21 December 1946. The attack ultimately failed after 3 repeated attempts.

@FactOrFarb Can you send me the photo? I forgot to save it.

Vietnamese depiction of the battle:

Machine translation of the source. (Originally in Vietnamese)

Sgt. Royer Hayes checks a family bomb shelter during a search of a suspected VC village in Cu Chi, 1968. His mechanized unit had no dedicated Tunnel Rat, so Hayes was tasked with the job simply because he was small enough to fit inside.

@Arghast4 Logistics won the war

@FactOrFarb Didn't like 5 Kongers get slimmed per American? I dont think infantry tactics won that war. Bad high level US policy and having a lot more dudes did.

Comparison of the standard combat load for AK and SKS rifles over the years, as prescribed by NVA command. Notably, the reduction in ammo was not driven by shortages, but by operational experience: Many troops felt they didn't need that many rounds for a fight.

@britdimwit @pippahideen It isn't based on Chinese squad because Chinese squad of the time had less firepower than a Vietnamese squad.

@FactOrFarb @pippahideen How much of this did the Vietnamese derive from the Chinese? How much of their small arms fire doctrine did they derive organically?

@pavnforcesse Battle of Quang Tri, 1972

@FactOrFarb I’ve seen that but the war was over at that point. I’m wondering more 1973-1974 when the ARVN was still putting up real resistance, albeit without any US support.

@pavnforcesse You can simply count the number of guys with taped magazines in Saigon on April 30th 1975 or guys with no chest rig or any kind of ammo pouches. Those would be the guys that chose to go into battle with 60 rounds.

@FactOrFarb I understand that this is naturally how the combat load would evolve with hit and run tactics, but how would this change as American troops withdrew and the PAVN was able to fight more conventionally against the ARVN?

@pippahideen Different small arms fire doctrine

@FactOrFarb This is pretty interesting if you compare to US troops who would load up as much ammo as possible; experienced troops carried up to 20 magazines (20*20, 400 rounds) plus more ammunition in boxes

@FlexuallyT 3 mags + 10 individual cartridges (Tracer/Incendiary)

@FactOrFarb did they under load ?

@FlexuallyT It is reported that during Operation Lam Son 719 in 1971, both the main NVA divs taking part in the battle were using a combat load of 100 rounds. It was deemed enough for the time as the battle was won.

@FactOrFarb how would they reduce a mag and a half load of ammo from 69 to 71?

@Paodeptrai1 According to doctrine, you need to bring a couple of tracer rounds for special occasions

@FactOrFarb I find it a little odd that the standard load for later war is exactly 100rds tho, wouldnt 120rds or 90rds make more sense given the mag configuration?