Vietcong

• Vietcong - guerrilla tactics


  o Retreat when your enemy attacks

  o Attack when your enemy retreats

  o Raid enemy camps

  o Don't wear uniforms

  o Work in small groups
• Ho Chi Minh Trails


  o It was a vital supply route that ran through Laos and Cambodia from North Vietnam

  o It ran through the thick jungle, so it was hard to spot

  o If the enemy destroyed one side, a new track would open, so it was impossible to destroy completely

  o By the end of the war, a porter could travel from North Vietnam to Saigon in 6 weeks, which at the start of the war would have taken 6 months
• Why did the Vietcong dress lightly?


  To blend in with the peasants
• What tactic did the Vietcong use to ambush the Americans?


  Staying close to them and disappearing into the jungle afterwards
• Why was the tactic of 'hanging on the belts' mentally draining for the Americans?


  Because they did not know where the Vietcong were
• What was the purpose of 'hanging on the belts'?


  To reduce the number of bombing campaigns
• Creating a tunnel system

  o The Vietcong moved underground to make it even harder for the US soldiers to find them

  o It stretched over 300km under the jungle

  o It was easier to ambush and had its own community inside
• Booy traps

  o Punji sticks were sharpened bamboo stakes hidden under shallow pits and covered with leaves

  o They would often be covered with human or animal excrement which cause infection to the wounds

  o The booby traps created difficult condition for US soldiers
• Violence and Propoganda


  o The Vietcong attacked the government and public workers in South Vietnam - between 1966 and 1971 - killed 27000 civilians

  o Propaganda posters were distributed - many soldiers showed the Vietcong overpowering the enemy - or women and children supporting them.
• US response to Vietcong - Search and destroy


  o It was hard to tell a villager and Vietcong fighter apart, so US soldiers searched villages in South Vietnam.

  o They burnt and destroyed who villages if anyone was suspected of being a fighter in it

  o Called Zippo raids because of the lighters used to start the fires

  o They removed any Vietcong bases they discovered
• US response to Vietcong - Bombing


  o Operating Rolling Thunder was a period of continuous bombing

  o Some of these bombs were cluster bombs and they were designed to explode and release 600 smaller bombs
• US response to Vietcong - Chemical Warfare


  o The USA used chemical weapons such as Agent Orange and Napalm to destroy huge area of forest

  o It also burned through skin and bones

  o Caused cancer and deformities in unborn children
• US response to Vietcong - Conscripted troops


  o The US troops were called GI's

  o Average age was 19 and they were conscripted for one-year duty and refusal to join up meant a prison sentence

  o Their rifles easily jammed if they became wet or dirty and troops were killed because of mines and booby traps in the ground

  o Many of the US troops mistakenly killed many Vietnamese civilians because they were unable to tell them apart from the Vietcong
• Impact of US tactics


  o Supply routes along the Ho Chi Minh trail were disrupted for a long time but never long enough for the US to get the upper hand

  o Few Vietcong were captured and most of the tunnel systems remained intact

  o The USA became unpopular with the peasants of Vietnam

  o Support for the Vietcong increased as a direct result of US tactics