Intelligence and Security Operations of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Ministry of National Defense

.~
4!>~I'
t
~ \$ .
r, ..*-_r;-» -, -_
-r '==~1:?%.4_@',__
;5*‘i:f-
5»; 59.»
§§.-.§¥'*' £17
1 5; ,-it -
’t:"::r *-~
s
-:9 * »
Wafi ms.
:;, *-=“u:-»‘ .1
.. , .,._.¢,
V: .-.
2
2- §§wv?.=i;.
,,, .,,.»...
‘5§I¢1?:.Y,:;
.
-»i~'.i=5‘§~.'.s
4‘-_',.'v;-1_‘|bvr
r ‘u~‘ '
'
4.
~r.tk2'4=\-
5:
~. II‘-.irl':'»-J,’ ‘
4
t I'>>\‘—i§_'¥‘- '.
.-
A ‘
..‘ if-3‘ .\~
v‘>l '.;,_ 2‘ .._:'.
.1;
- “'IJ1W
v in-.._~.’!__
—s-es-RH—
following the transfer of about 25,000 ARVN personnel to camps in North
Vietnam. As of March 1978, about 60,000 ARVN personnel were interned in
CDV camps in PAVN IV Corps.
Within Military Region 7 of PAVN IV Corps, there were 20 CDV camps,
designated Letter Box Number (LBN) 7590/L1 through L20, in Dong Nai,
Song Be, and Tay Ninh Provinces, for ARVN personnel, and two camps (one
in Song Be and one in Tay -Ninh) for Kampuchean POWs of Pol Pot's
Democratic Kampuchea Army. Five other camps were under the direct
supervision of PAVN IV Corps CDV Group 875 in the I-Io Chi Minh City area:
the Cu Chi, Chau Son (Thu Duc District), and Go Vap Camps each held about
1,000 internees; Camp Davis at Tan Son Nhut Air Base at o_ne time held over
3,000 VNAF personnel; and the Thanh Ong Nam (Hoc Mon District) Camp
had over 5,000 officers interned until May/June I976 when all were
transferred to camps on Phu Quoc Island. Extremely "dangerous" Category C
ARVN internees were at one timeheld in the BNV Chi Hoa (Ho Chi Minh
City) and Con Son Island Prisons. '
Three major camps for junior company grade officers were set up in Tay
Ninh Province; the Trang Lon, Cay Cay and Katum Camps, each of which
held about 8,000 officers. By October 1976, the Trang Lon Camp held over
10,000 internees, including 7,000 transferred from camps on Phu Quoc Island.
Three camps were located in Song Be Province, where they were known as the
Nha Do (Don Luan District), An Loc, and Loc Ninh Camps. The Nha Do
Camp at one time held over 3,000 internees, while the An Loc and Loc Ninh
Camps each had about 500 internees. Ten camps were located in Dong Nai
Province; seven in former Long Khanh Province; two in former Bien Hoa
Province; and one in former Phuoc Tuy Province, where Phoenix program
internees were held. The seven camps in former Long Khanh Province have
been identified as the Binh An, Dung Hiep, Hoang Dieu, Long Ciao, Long
Giap, La Nga, and Tam Dung Camps; the Suoi Mau and Tan Hiep Camps
were located in Bien Hoa Province; and the Binh C-ia Camp in Phuoc Tuy
Province. As of March 1976, the Hoang Dieu, Long Ciao and Long Giap
Camps each held over 5,000 internees. The other camps held from 500 to
1,000 internees each. The Suoi Mau Camp in Bien Hoa Province had been
previously known as the ARVN III Corps Prison Camp, and for the most part
held noncombatant military officers, including ARVN Buddhist and Christian
chaplains, political warfare personnel, retired officers, and an unknown
number of disabled veterans. The Tan Hiep Camp was a maximum security
prison for field grade officers who had been processed through other camps
and who had been sentenced to terms of hard labor; it held at one time over
300 VNAF pilots, who were categorized as high risk potential defectors by
Camp Davis authorities at Tan.Son Nhut.
According to PAVN Lieutenant Colonel Bui Thiep, director of the
Military Region 7 Reeducation Service,-over 21,000 junior company grade
officers had registered for reeducation in Military Region 7. In the March
1978 issue of the Soviet New Times magazine, Colonel Thiep was quoted as
saying that about 60,000 ARVN personnel were still in reeducation centers in
South Vietnam, that is, PAVN IV Corps, with 21,000 in his Military Region 7
camp system. Physical security for the Military Region 7 camp system was
69
—-5-EGR'Ei“-
mm 099011 ..--__’7 B2