Đắk Sơn massacre

Đắk Sơn massacre
Đắk Sơn massacre
Location	Đắk Sơn village, Phước Long, South Vietnam
Date	5 December 1967
Target	Montagnard villagers of Đắk Sơn
Attack type	Massacre
Deaths	252 civilians
Perpetrators	Viet Cong

The Đắk Sơn Massacre was a massacre committed by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War, in the village of Đắk Sơn, Phước Long Province, South Vietnam.

Massacre

Prior to the attack, earlier battles had occurred between the Viet Cong (VC) and the village militias. On 5 December 1967, two VC battalions attacked Dak Son village, and after a battle with the militia, killed 252 civilians and kidnapped an estimated 100 civilians in a "vengeance" attack on the hamlet of Đắk Sơn, home to over 2,000 Montagnards.^[1]^[2] The VC believed that the hamlet had at one point given aid to refugees fleeing VC forces.^[3] An additional 800 displaced Montagnard had previously arrived to Dak Son from nearby villages that had been taken over by the VC.^[2]

Troops marched into a village near Dak Son, some of whom used flamethrowers effectively.^[4] As the VC fired their weapons, people were incinerated inside their own homes, and some who had managed to escape into foxholes in their homes died of smoke inhalation. The homes that were not destroyed by flamethrowers were destroyed with grenades, and on the way out patches of the main town were set afire. Before leaving the village, the VC shot 60 of the 160 survivors. The remaining 100 were taken hostage.^[5]

Vietnamese government claim

According to the Vietnamese government there was no massacre by the VC but rather many civilians were actually killed by US bombing during a battle at Đắk Sơn with the VC.^[6]

Gallery

References

^ "On the Other Side: Terror as Policy - TIME". 6 February 2009. Archived from the original on 22 May 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
^ ^a ^b Stur, Heather (29 December 2017). "The Viet Cong Committed Atrocities, Too". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
^ Spector, Ronald H. After Tet: The Bloodiest Year in Vietnam. p. 206.
^ Krohn, Charles A. The Last Battalion. p. 30.
^ "The Massacre of Dak Son - TIME". 15 December 2008. Archived from the original on 15 December 2008. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
^ Lịch sử Bình Phước kháng chiến, 1945-1975 (in Vietnamese). Nhà xuất bản Chính trị quốc gia. 2002. p. 338.