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vietnam
increasing american involvement
viet cong
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Created by
iggythegizmogoat
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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