The Viet Cong. Origins, infrastructure, and organization -- On the field of battle -- Generating friction -- The big-unit war : 1965. Strategic debates and decisions -- Van Tuong -- An Ninh and the Ia Drang Valley -- The B2 front -- Cong Truong 9 enters the fray -- The die is cast -- The big-unit war : 1966. An inauspicious beginning -- Winter-spring battles : region 5 -- Winter-spring battles : the B2 front -- Epilogue. The big-unit war and the road to Tet -- Attitudes and adversaries.