I remember reading that during the Vietnam war, Vietcong troops would do things in order to psychologically scar the troops they were fighting. For instance at night going and randomly killing one soldier, leaving the rest alive but afraid each night. Or going into a tent and killing all but one soldier sleeping there so he would be completely traumatized.
Is there any accuracy to this? What other types of psychological mindgames did the Vietcong play during the Vietnam War?
While there is always a pinch of truth to any story coming out of Vietnam, most of them are either false or exaggerated.
Your two particular stories are not unique to the Vietnam War. I've heard stories like it being told in the context of WWII as well. One particular story that comes to mind is the battle of Monte Cassino where two Gurkhas cuts off the head of two out of three Germans in a foxhole so as to scare the living daylights out of the third one - something which they found to be hilarious. (A similar story is also to be found in Bill Slim's memoirs Defeat Into Victory).
The main problem with your stories is that they simply do not stand up against the realities of the Vietnam War. Vietnam infantry soldiers who were actually out in the field got notoriously little sleep and usually for an average 3 to 4 hours a night, if not less. Before going to sleep, soldiers would prepare Claymore mines and trip flares surrounding their position and there would always be someone on watch throughout the night.
The real question is: What type of psychological mind games did the VC and the NVA use against American soldiers in the field?
The truth is that they didn't need to play any mind tricks on the young soldiers - the war itself was a mind game. Counterinsurgency can be incredibly stressful for the ordinary soldier and the Vietnam War was not any different. Some soldiers did entire tours without ever seeing the enemy. The average VC ambush lasted for a few minutes. The VC and the NVA became elusive enemies, making it incredibly difficult to catch them in the act which demoralized the American soldier, making each attempt to find them more and more futile and increasingly frustrating.
The use of booby traps was another. While the infamous Punji sticks, situated at the bottom of holes dug by the VC/NVA and covered by foliage, have been immortalized in Vietnam War popular culture and tourist tours of Cu Chi, they were not as frequent as the use of mines. Regular mines, hidden in roads frequented by American soldiers alongside of control detonated mines (to hit specific targets) were perhaps more frequently faced than the actual enemy itself. Other booby traps included grenades (hidden in items which soldiers were known to kick, such as empty cans or clay mud balls), smaller explosive devices and bullets put into a bamboo tube which was triggered by the push of a foot (known as "toe popper") as well as larger explosives such as duds from bombs that had been dropped over South or North Vietnam and rigged in the field by the VC/NVA as well as artillery rounds. These devices had a tremendous effect on the psychological (not to mention physical) well being of soldiers in the field. Men would constantly be anxious and stressed due to the random nature of the booby traps; they could be the unlucky ones to step onto a "toe popper" or trigger a bouncing betty next.
Lastly, snipers were a constant fear as well. The enemy could once more not be seen and the shots seemed to come out of nowhere. I'm certain most people familiar with the Vietnam War has heard the ageless story of the worthless Vietnamese sniper that never seemed to hit his target. Reality was different. Officers and NCO's in the field were prime targets as well as RTO's (radiomen), but the importance of a sniper hit was the fact that beyond the casualty it caused, it increased the feelings of futility that the average soldier felt, knowing that they were not able to strike back. By the time they would call in a few artillery rounds, the sniper would be gone.
