Vietnam War Military Tactics Essay

In the post-World War II era, the Army had been training for another sophisticated, force-on-force war, like that in Europe, by developing new techniques and weapons based on lessons learned fighting the Germans. However, there were tensions building in Vietnam over the spread of communism beginning in the mid-1950s, leading to a proxy war between the United States and Russia. In a conventional ground war, maneuver forces were usually dispersed along a “line” facing the enemy. Combat support activities, including the field artillery, were located in the rear where they were used to engage the enemy forward of this “front line”. Due to the unconventional nature of the conflict in Vietnam, it was clear that new field artillery techniques would need to be developed yet again due to insufficient numbers and lack of mobility. The field artillery would not be

The Vietcong or Vietnamese Communists used a utilized a fighting strategy called Guerrilla Warfare. Instead of fighting head to head with the Americans they would hit and run. The Americans were walking into a war they were sure to lose. In The Things They Carried O’Brien talks about being scared, “I was afraid of him—afraid of something—and as he passed me on the trail I threw a grenade that exploded at his feet and killed him”.(Bloom) O’Brien is a kid walking through a haunted house, terrified of anything that might pop out. In the military they tell you to never keep your finger on the trigger, O’Brien is a scared kid walking through an unknown land with his finger on the trigger, or in this case a finger on the pin. Vietnam has some of the most rugged jungle terrain in the world.

According to Tim O 'Brien, the Viet Cong 's and United States ' fighting tactics were a waste of people 's lives. The Viet Cong used guerrilla warfare tactics which resulted in Americans being killed and in turn caused innocent civilians to die. The Viet Cong planted mines along the paths and in the jungles to injure American soldiers. The Viet Cong were never out in the open and had the sympathy of the Vietnamese living there. Many young Vietnamese children and women planted mines, spied, and killed American soldiers. The American soldiers could not tell the difference between the enemy and the innocent, so the soldiers indiscriminately killed everybody. The American strategy was to find the Viet Cong and kill them. The American soldiers walked from village to village in search of the Viet Cong. As they went from place to place, soldiers would

It extended for 1500 km from NV, south along the border of Laos and terminated at the frontier of SV and Cambodia in a region called the “Iron Triangle”. From here, the Trial went underground into the Cu Chi tunnel network and connected up with the storm water drains and sewer pipes of Saigon. Binh Trams (staging depots) provided shelter, infirmaries, and storage areas and weapons assembly points. But its main purpose was to infiltrate soldier, weapons and supplies into SV.

“We were told, ‘it’s totally safe and it won’t hurt you at all,” he added. “We were told you can drink it, you can brush your teeth with it, or you can bathe in it. It won’t hurt you. Those were lies.” (“U.S. Soldiers Sprayed Agent Orange across Korea” 1) Agent Orange was an herbicide used by the United States military forces in Vietnam between 1962 and 1971 to destroy their enemies’ food supply, land, and protection. Twelve million gallons of this toxin were sprayed. (Department of Preventive Medicine 1) It affected the Vietnamese and the American troops who were fighting in the same jungle. Little did the United States military know the effects of this dangerous herbicide. It caused many long-term complications, including health problems

In the story, “The Things They Carried”, author Tim O’Brien described specific items that each of his soldiers carried with them to the Vietnam War front. The items that the soldiers carried were for mental protection; they believed that the things they carried would take their minds off all the terror and violence that was going on around them. The protagonist, Lieutenant Jimmy cross, carries out letters from a girl named Martha, which leads to him losing his focus for the war and a lack of protection for his fellow soldiers. The death of Ted Lavender tested Lieutenant Cross’ loyalty to his men, his imagination of Martha, and the significance relating to each of the items the soldiers’ carry.

The soldiers carried the individual items necessary for individual jobs and sentimental mementoes from home, such as Rat Kiley, the

“If the tiger ever stands still, the elephant will crush him with his mighty tusks. But the tiger does not stand still. He lurks in the jungle by day and emerges by night. He will leap upon the back of the elephant, tearing huge chunks from his hide, and then he will leap back into the dark jungle. And slowly the elephant will bleed to death.” This quote by Ho Chi Minh emphasises his belief that Guerrilla tactics would be what would result in a win for the Vietcong. The Vietcong made use of tunnels, known as the Cu Chi Tunnels , which was a network of underground tunnels that the Vietcong resided in, and used to store supplies and care for the sick and injured. The use of underground hiding places meant that the US was unaware of the Vietcong’s whereabouts from ground level, allowed them to be

plenty of forests to hid in. As Rosenberg wrote “Since Viet Cong hid in the dense brush, U.S.

Attacks stretched as far as the northern U.S. military installation, Chu Lai, down to the primary objective in the south, Saigon. The launch of such an intricate and fierce attack caught many U.S. commanders off guard because at the time, the potential of the Northern fighters was severely underestimated. In the years before, Saigon acted as a safe haven for many refugees trying to escape the horrors of war. The comfort of the city soon vanished when the North Vietnamese sent 35 battalions to seize six objectives in the capital. A few of these enemy fighters took over a government radio station with the intention of spreading pro-communist propaganda. The North Vietnamese believed that if they could control the transmitting tower, they could convince the citizens of the South to riot against the U.S. forces. Fortunately for the U.S. troops, this plan was stopped by a Lieutenant of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) who previously decided to cut all transmission to and from the government radio tower. As the Viet Cong were waiting for reinforcements, ARVN troops

Agent Orange is a herbicide that was used to defoliate the jungles, meaning the United States military was trying to kill off the trees in Vietnam in order to take away places for North Vietnamese military men could hide (1). The Viet Cong did not fight conventionally against the American military, they could not do so and expect to win. This caused them to resort to guerilla warfare in order to strike and weaken parts of a division or unit. The Americans used Agent Orange as a defense strategy in order to take away hiding places for the Viet Cong to run to after hitting the American units (2). What is especially harmful to those who were around Agent Orange and where it was sprayed was the dioxin, which is a byproduct of one of the chemicals components. People still worked and breathed even with the residue of the toxin still in the air and in the soil, civilians and military personnel alike. The toxin carried in it a carcinogen that got its way into the water and in the soil. Slowly as the years have passed and Vietnam has been hit with a lot of monsoons clean water has washed away the toxic water, but not before it entered into the food chain and then started to accumulate into body fat and tissue in humans that was able to passed from a mother to their child threw breast milk. The American military, by word of the American government, dumped millions of gallons of Agent Orange onto the southern half of

Khe Sanh, a plateau in the northwest corner of South Vietnam, was a U.S. Marine Corps base and airstrip. Located where North Vietnam, South Vietnam, and Laos came together, the Khe Sanh base was important for American forces, as it enabled troops to gather information about the traffic on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. However, the Communists also admired the region around Khe Sanh, since it could act as an avenue into Southern Vietnam. General Westmoreland, who would come to play a major role in the future battles, immediately felt this “crucial importance” (Brush) of Khe Sanh when he first arrived there.

As the Vietnam War progressed, People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) generals led by General Giap reassessed and adapted their strategy to fit the circumstances. This enabled the VC revolutionaries, supported by North Vietnamese regular forces, to achieve success without ever defeating US forces on the battlefield. For instance, the Tet Offensive in 1968 represented an operational failure in Stage Three of the Dau Tranh strategy but was considered a success for the North since it weakened American public support for the war. As a result the defeat on the battlefield, Giap adapted Dau Tranh to avoid concentration of forces and the effects of superior US firepower by transitioning back to Stage Two. The return to guerilla operations ensured sustained US casualties and the continued erosion of public support between 1968 and 1971. At the same time, main force units that were decimated during Tet could withdrawal and reconstitute. (Pike, 229)

Heavy metal gate usually dropped from above to prevent the advance of the attacking units

My grandpa told me, that I soon looked up that the Special Forces placed many of their defense groups in villages. First the goal was to protect, however the goal surely shifted to focus on the surveillance on the North Vietnam, giving inside missions to detect and interdict enemy infiltration routes.