I had always suspected the VC and NVA combined forces. Is this true?
My experiences in the TET offensive of Jan/Feb were VC units, primarily 274/275th regiments then later working Cambodian border (Tay Ninh sector) coming across many NVA. The May 68 TET second phase (mini Tet) South of Saigon was pretty well full Battalion strength NVA units. I don’t doubt some NVA/VC may have combined or fought in the same skirmishes, but no, don’t remember my unit running across both uniformed NVA and typical VC casualties together.
“I had always suspected the VC and NVA combined forces. Is this true?”
IIRC the NVA convinced the Viet Cong into leading the Tet assaults on the cities of South Vietnam.
And the result was that the Viet Cong were nearly wiped out in the process, with the center of gravity of the war then shifting to NVA regulars.
I doubt that Hanoi was all that unhappy about the outcome. Their goal was to conquer South Vietnam for themselves and they may have seen the VC as a potential rival that they would need to push aside anyway.
Walter Cronkite deserves an honorable mention from Hanoi for his useful idiot role in convincing the American public that Tet was a Communist victory, and “proof” that the South Vietnamese people didn’t care about defending their country from conquest.
VC and NVA were never actually separate. NVA always ruled and VC had many NVA cadres and officers.