vietcong

• When was the Vietcong formed?

  December 1960
• What were the Vietcong's aims?

  -replace diem

  - unify Vietnam

  - promote peasant rights
• What groups were in the Vietcong?

  - A dozen political + religious parties

  - communists + nationalists

  - peasants
• What were the Vietcong forbidden to do?

  Damage land or crops
• What must the Vietcong do?

  - Help peasants

  - buy from local markets

  - educate children on the resistance
• 3 features of a Vietcong fighter -

  - No uniform

  - AK - 47 soviet rifles

  - familiar with jungles
• What was the Ho Chi Minh Trail?

  supply trail for Vietcong through Laos and Cambodia ; allowed North Vietnam to send troops and supplies to South Vietnam
• Why was the Ho chi Minh trail effective?

  Americans struggled to find + destroy
• What was guerrilla warfare?

  hit-and-run war technique
• What was hanging on the belts of Americans?

  Vietcong camps along the trail which helped guerrilla attacks
• why was hanging on the belts of Americans effective?

  - Avoided bomb raids

  - ambushed the Americans

  - caused 51% of us casualties
• What were Vietcong tunnels?

  Underground bunkers for 3000 km
• Why were tunnels effective?

  - Avoided air strikes

  - booby trapped us soldiers if discovered
• What were punji traps?

  Sharp bamboo sticks covered by leaves / his in pits
• Why were punji traps effective?

  - Caused 10% of us deaths

  - pierced through army boots + damaged limbs

  - were smeared with excrement for infection