DECLASSIFIED: Viet Cong

The Vietnam War or Second Indochina War was a conflict between North Vietnam allied with Communist countries such as the Soviet Union and China against South Vietnam and its allies, notably the United States.

After France's attempted re-colonisation of Indochina (the French Indochina War, 1946-54), an agreement was devised to temporarily partition the country in two with a de-militarized zone, this agreement was reached at the Geneva Conference in 1954.

The term Viet Cong originally applied to the Communist troops that were left in hideouts in South Vietnam after the Geneva Conference.

The "Vietnam War" ostensibly began as a civil war between feuding governments. The South Vietnam government fought largely to maintain its governing status within the partitioned entity, rather than to "unify the country" as was the goal of the North.

Fighting began in 1957 and with U.S. and Soviet-Chinese involvement would steadily escalate and spill over into the neighbouring Indochinese countries of Cambodia and Laos.

Jungle warfare was perfected by North Vietnam. From their hidden tunnel cities, the Viet Cong launched operations that were terrifying in their ingenuity, savagery and persistence.

The ten day battle for the place that came to be known as Hamburger Hill was perhaps the classic conflict of the Vietnam War. U.S. and South Vietnamese troops fight for Ap Bia Mountain. The battle was one of the most controversial and fiercest battles of the Vietnam War.

Piecing together newly disclosed stories from both sides, we learn how American commanders made the mistake of fighting this battle as they had fought World War II.