The People's Liberation Armed Forces (PLAF), better known as the Viet Cong, was the armed wing of the National Liberation Front in South Vietnam from 21 July 1954 to 2 July 1976. The Viet Cong was established in 1954 as the southern successor to the Viet Minh, while, in North Vietnam, former Viet Minh guerrillas formed the core of the regular People's Army of Vietnam. The Viet Cong was recognized as the official military force of the NLF on 15 February 1961, and most of the Viet Cong's early soldiers were South Vietnamese communists opposed to Ngo Dinh Diem's regime.
At the end of 1961, the Viet Cong had a strength of 24,500 soldiers and 100,000 militants, and it numbers went up to 64,000 soldiers in 1963. Following the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the United States' escalation of the Vietnam War in 1964, North Vietnam began to supply volunteers to the Viet Cong, which essentially became the irregular wing of the PAVN in South Vietnam. The Viet Cong suffered heavy losses during the Tet Offensive of 1968, leading to the NVA assuming a leading role in the war as the Viet Cong was confined to rural areas.
By December 1974, the Viet Cong had 200,000 fighters, including 90,000 North Vietnamese. In 1976, following the reunification of Vietnam as the result of a general election, the Viet Cong was merged into the PAVN.