Equipment for the NVA was, by necessity, as cheap and a simple as possible. NVA soldiers were equipped with the minimum possible amount of equipment to wage war in South Vietnam. A ballistic helmet was not considered to be absolutely essential to winning the war. This was due to the limited resources of the North; the supply of equipment being provided as foreign aid, and the size and role of the forces being equipped. It was also, in part, due to the political structure of the NVA.

The Pith Helmet was useful as a sun helmet, and was part of the military uniform of the North. Because of the helmet the NVA soldiers were colloquially known as ‘non coi’ or ‘hard hats’, and the helmet is still issued today. When exposed to tropical sunshine, the helmet stops heat being transferred to the head and allows air flow around the head allowing evaporation and cooling in humid conditions, making it useful in South Vietnam. The helmet is cheap to make, does not use strategic materials and is lightweight. The Japanese and the French had used similar hats in the previous conflicts in Vietnam and a similar Pith style helmet, was adopted by the North in the 1950's.

During the Second Indo-China war the North was conducting a political war, a concept they call dau tranh, or ‘struggle’. In dau tranh, all citizens are considered soldiers. Dau tranh was separated into two types: Armed dau tranh and Political dau tranh, both were intertwined. The NVA military force must always be viewed in this political context. Politically, the NVA was the people and not a separate entity. The pith helmet was part of the symbolic uniform of the political struggle, which included the entire population, it was even sometimes issued to children.

The war was not a conventional war, and the tenets of the type of guerrilla war undertaken by the North were focused on simplicity. General Giap states: “One must avoid suffering losses by trying to hold one's ground at all costs. Our troops must never be wasted merely for the sake of the defence or occupation of territory.” The Pith Helmet represented the ability to move quickly, and not remain in a defensive or static attitude. The North would vary from ‘protracted war’ to ‘regular war’. Protracted war meant that the forces were lightly equipped for smaller operations, Regular Force Strategy required fielding the maximum number of units. Broadly, the North was conducting Political dao tranh until 1968, when it switched to Armed dao tranh for the Tet Offensive. After this, the USA switched to ‘Vietnamization’ and the North had to try and ‘not lose’ the war until the US had withdrawn, by using protracted warfare.

The NVA force in the South was an expeditionary force sent from the North over thousands of kilometres, on foot, through hazardous terrain, risking illness and death. Keeping the soldiers load simple and lightweight was important. Supply of food and ammunition soldiers was also critical as was keeping the material demands of soldiers small.

Russian Ballistic helmets were used in North Vietnam, mainly for stationary anti-aircraft positions supplied by Russia. Manoeuvre forces would generally use the Pith Helmet, or a jungle hat. Russian and Chinese Ballistic helmets were seen in the south, but were not issued formally in great numbers. The North was largely an agrarian society with little in the way of military manufacturing. The North relied on military aid from Communist Bloc countries, with China and Russia being the two main suppliers. At the start of the war there were three supply routes feeding the Hi Chi Minh Trail, the overland route from China, the sea transport route into Haiphong and the Sihanouk route from the sea, through Cambodia. The US closed the two sea transport routes and the China overland route became the main supply route, feeding the Hi Chi Minh Trail. China and Russia were political rivals, with an interest in the outcome of the war in Vietnam. The supply route system meant that Russia had to Supply North Vietnam through China. This meant that the North had to appease both China and Russia to maintain supply to continue the war. It also meant that supply was sometimes restricted to the barest of essentials, in an expanding conflict. It has been stated that the North managed to match the escalation in the south, despite the logistical limitations. It has also been stated that the North could maintain their entire operation in the south with just 15 trucks per day. The North was also wary of being colonised by yet another power, and tried to limit the influence of both the Chinese and the Russians to technical assistance only, despite their best efforts.

It could be argued that by the NVA expeditionary adopting the helmet of the Russians or the helmet of the Chinese, while in the South, they would be adopting the military uniform of a foreign power. One of the few things military items that the North could make were the pith helmets (actually phenolic resin and fibre helmets) and a central part of the teachings on Guerrilla warfare by Yu Chin Chan, who influenced the North’s General Giap states: “In order to maintain high morale in guerrilla forces, all the clothing and equipment mentioned should be furnished by the representatives of the government stationed in each guerrilla district”. This broadly means that the force should be equipped locally with locally made equipment, in this example the Pith Helmet.

The conditions of the war also meant that a ballistic helmet had limited value depending on the mission. Ballistic helmets of the time, were hot, bulky and heavy. Most helmet types were effective only against the effect of artillery, such as blast waves and shell fragments. Photographs of the time often show NVA just wearing jungle hats instead of the Pith Helmets, while in combat. Some allied forces did not wear ballistic helmets, except where necessary. These include units that could choose their equipment and were usually operating in long range conditions, such as the LRRP, SASR units and MACV SOG. Regular units in the Australian Army, which had had considerable experience fighting counter insurgency in jungle conditions prior to the Vietnam war, generally wore jungle hats called ‘giggle hats’. The Australian Army did wear American M1 helmets where needed. The USMC also issued Pith Helmets to an Engineer unit, early in the war.

The NVA would consider a luxury what a GI might consider essential kit. The Pith Helmet was part of the uniform of the North and had value as a visual identifier and as protection against environmental conditions encountered in the south. It was the part of the national uniform symbolising the Political Struggle of the people. Contradictions are part of the idiosyncrasies of guerrilla and asymmetric war. You could argue that the North was contradicting itself by arming its citizens with equipment from a foreign power, and also that the morale effect of issuing a ballistic helmet in a war in which artillery and aerial bombardment were large factors, would be greater than the morale effect of issuing a locally made sun hat. But this would be overlooking a central learning from the war. The North had been at war with the Japanese, the French and then the US and its allies. It knew that is was in a state of Total War, for its very survival. The attitude to the war was described by General Giap in this statement: “In war, there are two factors: human beings and weapons. Ultimately though, human beings are the decisive factor”.

Sources: North Vietnamese Army Soldier 1958-1975, by Gordon L Rottman

The Soviet-Chinese-Vietnamese Triangle in the 1970s, by Stephen J. Morris

North Vietnam’s Military Logistics System, by Lance J Burton

Military Manpower and Equipment in North Vietnam. CIA report 1968.

The Logistical Supply of Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Forces. CIA report. Approved for release 2009.

How the North Vietnamese Won the War: Operational Art Bends But Does Not Break In Response to Asymmetry, by Major Dale S Ringer.

Conversations with NVA and VC Soldiers: a Study of Enemy Motivation and Morale, by Konrad Kellen.

The War for the Ho Chi Minh Trail, by Major Gregory T Banner.

An Analysis of Wound Statistics in Relation to Personal Ballistic Protection, by Christopher G Brady 

The Transfer of Heat Through Sun Helmets, by P S H Henry and W H Rees.