The main problem in Vietnam for the Americans was the geography of the country, Below the partion line, there are massive mountains which means USA cant use there mass fire power or tanks, so marines and helicopters are used in this area, bombing from planes is used but needs to be accurate if aiming for a specific target. The geography under the mountains is wide-open bush, they could use tanks for this area and any other unit they wished. In the towns and cities marines were used along with helicopters and tanks, below all the towns and cities are the Mekong delta which were swamps, very hard to fight in and tanks could not be used so marines and helicopters were used in this area, along with the paddyfields just below the Mekong delta, and also the rainforest on the bottom of south Vietnam. Although the geography did not suit them they used their technology to give them an advantage on the terrain they fought on. Different types of war were fought in Vietnam. First of all bombing was used at the start, both of the armies bombed places of importance in south and north Vietnam. Then USA started to use the marines, but the confusion was there was no front line, LBJ fought a war of attrition, he measured who was winning the war by the body counts. The front lines you could say were fortified villages, which the marines stayed at. From these villages marines were sent on search and destroy missions, which basically they had to wipe out a target at all costs. These were brutal missions and some resulted in murder of innocent victims. Like the My Lai incident where 400 hundred villagers were murdered by an American team on a search and destroy mission. As the war intensified so did LBJ’s tactics, saturation bombing was used instead of selective bombing, which was bombing anything as many times as possible over and over. Also operations of bombing were set up, like “Operation Rolling Thunder” which was an all out attack of planes on key targets in north Vietnam. Apart from bombing that wasn’t the only thing that got more intense in Vietnam, more young Americans were forced in Vietnam through conscription, more search and destroy missions were being undertaken and more bodies were building up each week, up to 583 bodies were coming in every week. Also the brutality, torture and interrogation of Vietnamese people were rising, more and more angry marines were killing more innocent villagers. Soon enough America started to use chemical weapons, which showed how desperate America was to combat communism. They used napalm mostly, which burnt the skin of the helpless victim subject to it, also agent blue and agent orange were used which was weedkiller which basically stripped leaves off the dense forest then bombs were dropped that splintered trees to tiny shreds then large mechanical ploughs would tear down the remaining part of the forest. These terror tactics were used, as America was getting very desperate for a win. The other war America fought was a physiological war, American soldiers were put through rigorous training before sent into Vietnam, heads were all shaved, all the timer they were instructed to kill communism they were taught god was on their side and killing communists would please god, humiliation was put on troops which were lacking. Basically the marines were brainwashed before sent to Vietnam so America had made sure their troops were killing machines.
The VC tactics were totally different to what the Americans liked. The VC firstly had a great advantage with the geography. As it’s their home country they know all the hiding places all the tricks in the geography of their land. They preferred battles in mountains, forests and swamps and fought mainly in these places at night to avoid as much casualties as possible. They would also use the geography to ambush a lot of American squads and would also lay booby traps in certain areas. The VC made great use of their geography and took it to the full advantage of knowing the terrain. What the Vietcong did a lot was infiltrate villages and get the villagers on their side, for new troops and food supply and to gain trust in the people. The warfare Vietcong fought was guerrilla warfare. The VC preferred this battle type, as they didn’t lose as much men. They operated in small groups laying booby traps and going on “find and kill missions” which are the same as “search and destroy missions” the VC are a stealthy army and can move in and out of towns ant cities and not be recognized, a American solider stated “ it is like trying to identify tears in a bucket of water” The Vietcong wore black uniforms and so did the Vietnamese people so identifying them was impossible. Because of the Vietcong are such a resourceful army, everything they use is used over and over, their weapons come from China and Russia, and they also use the dead Americans weapons. They use tin cans for explosive traps, a grenade is set in the can and when it is kicked or the trip wire is set off it explodes. Also another popular trap was the punji trap, a pit was dug and massive spikes are set in the hole tipped with poison, if a passing American fell into the hole they would either die of the spikes or the poison would finish them off. Also when America starts to bomb the Vietcong they go underground, there’s a hole network of tunnels underground built by everyone, each person is set 3 meters of tunnel a day, in the tunnels there are supply bases, hospitals restaurants and there’s also a sleeping quarters. Vietcong forces make the first move on America by sinking a US submarine; their first major bombing was on Pleiku. Which injured more then 100 marines and killed 13. As the war intensified the VC decided on a open warfare battle, this was called the TET offensive it was a attack on the capital city Saigon, it was the first time they decided to go out on a open warfare battle. This was a major mistake as 30,000 VC soldiers were killed compared to the 2500 American marines. They never recovered from this defeat and this led to peace talks with America.
It is clear that the US and VC used different tactics us tactics started off as general support then went into military action then into terror tactics as they started to become desperate for a win and a quick win.
While the VC tactics were more win the support of the people, then guerrilla warfare, but when they became desperate for a win like the US and their terror tactics, the VC decided on a open warfare battle, this went wrong the same as the terror tactics by America. Both of these tactics resulted in the ending of the war.
