US Tactics

• • The US focused on winning through capturing land and killing the VC rather than gaining public support
• Operation Rolling Thunder:

  • Johnson wanted to bomb North Vietnam into surrender, rather than sending in US troops
  • It targeted the Ho Chi Minh trail and industry
  • 90,000 were killed, and it cost the US $4billion
  • However it failed because the VC used tunnels under the Ho Chi Minh trail to avoid the bombings
  • The USSR and China sent military supplies into the North
  • The USSR sent hundreds of millions in aid in 1967
  • High civilian death rates made the USA even more unpopular
• Search and destroy:

  • Small units of the US would hunt down and destroy VC villages in the South by bombing or using chemical weapons
• Agent Orange:

  • Agent Orange was a weed killer used to destroy jungle and farmland, clear out the jungle to find VC bases and stop villagers supplying the VC with food
  • It poisoned water supplies and sometimes caused fatal health problems
• operation Cedar Falls - 1967:

  • example of how search and destroy failed
  • took part in the “Iron Triangle” where VC were the strongest
  • village of Ben Suc was first burned and troops then moved through the Iron Triangle for next 3 weeks and burned rest of villages
  • after US troops cleared area, would become a “free-fire zone” that could be bombed without warning
  • Villages failed to understand free fire zones and returned home
  • Flyers were dropped in English which villagers could not read
• chemical warfare:

  • Kennedy was the first to agree to the use of chemical weapons
  • herbicides were used to kill plants and crops around villagers
  • This was to make VC bases easier to find and kill crops so villagers could not feed VC
• operation Ranch Hand:

  • between 1964-1970, over 24% of South Vietnam was sprayed with herbicide
  • one plane could spray 300 acres in four minutes
  • herbicides were 50% stronger than those used in USA
  • Agent Blue, as a fast acting herbicide used to kill crops
  • Agent Orange was used in jungles
  • over 3000 villages were sprayed and some villages were sprayed without removing villagers
• backlash to chemical warfare:

  • by 1970, there was proof that the herbicides used in Vietnam would poison crops and taint drinking water
  • there was public outrage in USA when the media found out that the USA was killing crops and causing health problems
  • the spraying stopped in late 1971, but by then, a huge amount of damage had been done