viet cong

    Cards (9)

    • supplies
      • trails were hard to find and destroy, any damaged could just be diverted or repaired
      • 60 tonnes of supplies delivered daily into s. vietnam
      • used to take 6 months to travel the trail, by the end, 6 weeks
    • guerrilla tactics
      • fought in cells (small units of 3-10 soldiers)
      • blended with local population as they rarely wore uniform
      • attacked when enemy was outnumbered or unaware
      • ambushed small army patrols or poorly guarded positions
      • did short, aggressive surprise attacks to wear down the enemy; hanging on the belts of the enemy
      • ambushes responsible for 51% of US causalities
    • tunnels and traps
      • used underground bases to avoid us airpower
      • tunnel systems made it hard to find and destroy
      • ambushes at close range meant US could not bomb vietcong soldiers in fear of getting their own troops
      • tunnels had booby traps and false tunnels making it costly to get vietcong out
      • punji stakes had smeared faeces to spread infection
      • bouncing betty launch 1 metre into air before exploding
      • over 10% of US deaths came from traps
    • establishment
      • ho chi minh agreed to support when he sent le duan to observe resistance groups
      • le duan said that n. vietnam must do more to support those groups or unification would never occur
    • popularity
      • appealed to working & middle class as they contained many political and religious groups within
      • peasants = supporting vietcong meant they'd get their land back
      • popular in rural areas due to their respectful approaches
      • everyone could become involved even women and children
    • peasant support
      • had support of local peasants
      • between 1966 and 1971 they killed 27,000 people for working with the s. vietnamese government; could be ruthless
    • 40,000 vietnamese worked to keep the ho chi minh trail running despite heavy bombing by US
    • advantages
      • easily hide from US forces
      • ambushes lowered morale - scared & frustration
      • easier to supply and perform guerilla tactics
      • US airpower and superior tech hard to use
      • generally smaller than US and could fit through the tunnel systems
      • disguised as normal civilians
      • women & children could participate
      • respect from the working class
    • disadvantages
      • innocent civilians killed as mistaken for the vietcong
      • still couldn't in decisive battles against massed US forces