Killing and counting of unarmed civilians Gunter Lewy estimated that 1/3 of those killed and counted as "enemy KIA" killed by US/ARVN forces were civilians. He estimates around 220,000 civilians were counted as "enemy KIA" in battlefield operations reports during battles against VC/NVA. Lewy estimated the use of free-fire zones was an important factor in this. For official US military operations reports on free-fire zones, there are no distinctions between enemy KIA and civilian KIA since it was assumed by US forces that all individuals killed in an area declared a free-fire zone, regardless of whether they were combatants or civilians, were considered enemy KIA. Since body counts was a direct measure of operational success, this often caused US battle reports to list civilians killed as enemy KIA. The inclusion of civilians killed led to the enormous discrepancy between weapons seized . Official "enemy KIA" body count during Operation Speedy Express, with nearly 10,000 enemy KIA with just 748 weapons recovered. A US Army Inspector General estimated that there were 5,000 to 7,000 civilian casualties from the operation. The My Lai Massacre and Son Thang massacre both initially reported women and children killed as "enemy combatants".
Killing and counting of unarmed civilians Gunter Lewy estimated that 1/3 of those killed and counted as "enemy KIA" killed by US/ARVN forces were civilians. He estimates around 220,000 civilians were counted as "enemy KIA" in battlefield operations reports during battles against VC/NVA. Lewy estimated the use of free-fire zones was an important factor in this. For official US military operations reports on free-fire zones, there are no distinctions between enemy KIA and civilian KIA since it was assumed by US forces that all individuals killed in an area declared a free-fire zone, regardless of whether they were combatants or civilians, were considered enemy KIA. Since body counts was a direct measure of operational success, this often caused US battle reports to list civilians killed as enemy KIA. Author Alex J. Bellamy wrote that the inclusion of civilians killed led to discrepancies between weapons seized and official body counts, noting that the official "enemy KIA" body count during Operation Speedy Express, was over 10,000 enemy KIA with only 748 weapons recovered. A US Army Inspector General estimated that there were 5,000 to 7,000 civilian casualties from the operation. The My Lai Massacre and Son Thang massacre both initially reported women and children killed as "enemy combatants".
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