Vietnam War, Tactics & Weapons Used by Both Sides

The Americans had many tactics and many weapons that they used one of the most famous tactics that they used was a little something that called “Search and Destroy” The commander in charge described said this about this mission: “Our mission is not to win ground or seize positions but simply to kill. To kill communists and kill as many of them as possible” This tactic was in response to the Vietcong tunnels which meant that they couldn’t see them, They were described as an “Unseen army”, What the Americans had to do was to invade villages that may have had Vietcong weapons or troops hidden in them, the Americans would firstly evacuate most of the villagers and then burn the whole village down to the ground, though this was seen as an ineffective as it had a very low success rate. Another Tactic that the Americans used was something called “operation rolling thunder”. Operation rolling thunder was meant to last only 8 weeks, this was conducted by the 2nd Air division. There were two main objectives to the operation: 1. To make the Vietnamese stop receiving help from the south side, 2. To destroy their transportation paths, industrial bases, and to stop their material transport into south Vietnam. When the plan was executed it became the most intense air/ground battle in the Cold War, North Vietnam had 8 million tons of bombs dropped on them, this was more than 3 times the amount dropped in the whole of WW2. During the Vietnam war America had used many different tactics, though it was not the tactics that did so much damage it was the weapons that they used. The first weapon that they used was something called Napalm. This was widely used in the search and destroy mission, this was a chemical weapon that would stick to any clothes and skin then burn them alive. It was first used in U.S Flamethrowers to burn down sections of the forest to uncover any places that Vietcong soldiers could hide and later B-52 bombers napalm bombs. Another chemical weapon that the U.S used was “agent orange”. Once again used in the Search and destroy mission this was a defoliant the destroyed that destroyed one million hectares of forest. This was used in “operation ranch hand” which was meant to deprive the Vietnamese farmers and guerrilla fighters of clean water. 20 million gallons of defoliants and herbicides were sprayed over forests and fields in this time (Agent orange was decided to be a violation of the “Geneva treaty”)

Now the Vietnamese would not have won the war if they did not have tactics and weapons of their own. One of the most effective of these was “Guerrilla warfare”. This combat uses raids, ambushes and sabotage, it requires a small group of men of inexperience soldiers attacking a large group of people taking advantage of the element of surprise, what the Vietcong soldiers would do is that they would ambush the U.S soldiers when they least expected it. The ways that they hid were either in the trees or just in the woods, though the DRV wanted a 200-mile-long tunnel so that the Vietcong could go from place to place. Another factor that aided the Vietnamese victory was the support from the peasants. The south Vietnamese were not having a great time under U.S rule though when the North Vietnamese came and gave them respect and aid with crops, they gained the support of the peasants, they needed the peasants to give them food, shelter and hiding places, to persuade the peasants even more than they already have they promised them land, freedom and wealth under Ho Chi Minh and communists. But they also had some more traditional weapons of their own, for example they used something called “Punji traps”. These were medium sized wooden sticks that were usually either dipped or smeared with something that would cause an infection(Urine, faeces) if it punctures someone’s skin, these would be put inside a huge hole that the Vietcong have dug up and stuck in, then they would have a frame covered up with some leaves or grass so that it would be disguised, then when someone steps into it they should die of an infection. Another weapon that the Vietcong used were “Bouncing Betties” these were landmines that were buried underground that had three prongs which when disturb would shoot itself up using its black power to propel itself up (the three prongs were usually disguised by nearby grass or vegetation.