One of the sides in the Vietnam War was The Viet Cong.
The Việt Cộng ( [ vîət kə̂wŋmˀ ] ) , also known as the National Liberation Front , was a political organization with its own army -- People 's Liberation Armed Forces of South Vietnam ( PLAF ) -- in South Vietnam and Cambodia , that fought the United States and South Vietnamese governments , eventually emerging on the winning side . Vietnam War . The Viet Cong ( also known as the National Liberation Front , or NLF ) , a South Vietnamese communist common front aided by the North , fought a guerrilla war against anti-communist forces in the region , while the People 's Army of Vietnam , also known as the North Vietnamese Army ( NVA ) , engaged in more conventional warfare , at times committing large units to battle . As the war continued , the military actions of the Viet Cong decreased as the role and engagement of the NVA grew . The North Vietnamese government and the Viet Cong were fighting to reunify Vietnam .