Duong Van Duc

Lieutenant General Dương Văn Đức (; 1927–2000) was a Vietnamese army officer. He is best known for leading a coup attempt against General Nguyễn Khánh on 14 September 1964. and the VNA became the Army of the Republic of Vietnam.

Đức was promoted to major general in 1956 and served as an officer in the Airborne Brigade. He was sent abroad to act as the minister to South Korea from 1956 to 1957. During the later years of Diệm's rule, Đức was in exile in France. The arrest and assassination of Diệm after a November 1963 coup allowed Đức a chance to return to Vietnam. and became an assistant to General Lê Văn Kim, the chief of the junta's general staff. At the time, there was a coup plot against the ruling junta of General Dương Văn Minh, and Đức was recruited by a group including Khánh, Đỗ Mậu and Trần Thiện Khiêm.

At the time, the French President Charles de Gaulle wanted Vietnam to become a neutralist country, with the Americans out of the region. This was controversial among the anti-communist South Vietnamese and the plotters wanted to milk the furore by implicating their junta enemies. Đức had years of experience in France, which had given him a good feel of what the French might be up to and what their relations with Francophile members of the ARVN were. He used this to concoct some plausible sounding and incriminating documents for Mậu. They purported to show that three prominent members of the junta: Generals Minh, Kim and Trần Văn Đôn had been bought by French agents and were on the brink of declaring South Vietnam's neutrality and sign a peace deal to end the war with the North. Some of the documents were leaked to some senior U.S. officials.

On the night of 29 January 1964, Mậu and Khiêm alerted their troops to assume their positions around Saigon. At 15:00 the next day, Khánh took over the Joint General Staff Headquarters and seized power in a bloodless coup, having caught the junta off guard. Khánh rewarded Đức by giving him an important command. Duc served as the commander of IV Corps,

Attempted coup against Nguyễn Khánh (September 1964)

The removal was due to Buddhist lobbying, who accused Khánh of accommodating too many Catholics regarded as Diệm supporters in leadership positions. This come after Khánh made an attempt to augment his power in August by ordering a state of emergency and introducing a new constitution, which resulted in mass unrest and calls for civilian rule, forcing Khánh to make concessions in an attempt to dampen discontent. Meanwhile, General Lâm Văn Phát was dismissed as Interior Minister. as well as tanks. The coup was supported by Catholic and Đại Việt Quốc Dân Đảng elements. General Khiêm, a member of the ruling triumvirate along with Khánh and Minh, but a rival of the dominant Khánh, was also believed to have supported the plot. the plotters put rebel sentries in their place to seal off the capital from incoming or outgoing traffic. They then captured communication facilities in the capital including the post office to prevent messages from being sent in or out. Appearing on national radio, and claiming to represent "The Council for the Liberation of the Nation", Phát proclaimed the deposal of Khánh's junta, and accused Khánh of promoting conflict within the nation's military and political leadership. He further promised to capture Khánh and pursue a policy of increased anti-communism, Phat said that he would use the ideology and legacy of Diệm to lay the foundation for his new junta. There was little reaction from most of the military commanders. Đức claimed that the coup attempt was prompted by "the transfer to the capital of some neutralist elements, and by some pro-communists in the government".

When he learned he had been tricked into thinking that the plotters had great strength, he soon defected. After a further meeting between Phát and Đức and Kỳ, the rebels withdrew as Kỳ put on another show of force. The officers contended that the events in the capital were misinterpreted by observers, as "there was no coup". Kỳ claimed Khánh was in complete control and that the senior officers involved in the stand-off, including Đức, "agreed to rejoin their units to fight the Communists".

Trial In mid-October, Đức and Phát were among 20 put on trial in a military court. Đức told the assembled media that the trial was unfair, stating "I believe in the supreme court of conscience". He then pointed to his subordinate officers and called them "national heroes". Đức denied media speculation he had backed down during the coup to avoid being bombed by Kỳ, claiming "I wanted to avoid bloodshed ... I am very proud of my decision". Phát's lawyers started by moving for the charges against the conspirators to be dismissed, claiming the rebels had not been captured "red-handed"; this motion was denied. The accused officers claimed they had only intended to make a show of force, rather than overthrow Khánh. Đức claimed that the objective of his actions was to "emphasize my ideas" and said that his actions did not constitute a coup attempt. Đức claimed that if he was truly intending to overthrow the government, he would have arrested public servants or military officials and denied that he had done so. However, he admitted to being concerned by Khánh's policies. Khánh then gave Đức and Phát two months of detention for indiscipline; their subordinates were given shorter periods of detention.