What different tactics did both sides use in an attempt to win the conflict in Vietnam between 1956 and 1968?

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Jimmy Hardman

What different tactics did both sides use in an attempt to win the conflict in Vietnam between 1956 and 1968?

        During 1956 and 1968, different tactics were used by both sides of the Vietnam War that seemed to have evolved during the 12 years of war.

        In 1956, it had been agreed at the Genena Peace Conference that foreign troops would leave Vietnam and there would be elections for the whole country.  In the north HO CHI MINH was in charge and in the south NGO DINH DIEM.  America was already giving Diem heavy financial support to keep the Communists out of the south of Vietnam.  Diem refused to set up elections due to fear of communist success.  America was desperate to keep the communists out of Vietnam as she was under the impression that Vietnam was the first domino in the domino theory, which meant that once one country fell under communist control, others would follow.  America was continuously supporting Diem’s harsh regime with financial help and began to train the South Vietnamese Armed Forces.  Ho Chi Minh was leading the North of Vietnam and he knew that Diem was never going to allow the elections to take place so to obtain power the Vietnamese people had to fight back.  The Viet Cong began armed resistance against Diem’s South Vietnamese Government, the Vietcong were recruited from men and women who lived in or had come from South Vietnam and supported Ho Chi Minh by 1956 and therefore in 1960, America started sending military advisers over to Vietnam due to the lack of progress South Vietnam had over North Vietnam and a total of over 4000 advisers were assigned to Vietnam by 1961 which was after the first Vietcong attacks took place in the south of Vietnam.  The Vietcong were poorly equipped to start off with and were desperate for weapons and on every ambush they fought, they would take all the ammunition and guns from the Americans thus boosting their arms count and lowering the Americans.  The Vietcong would have Punji traps all other the jungles, these consisted of a hole in the ground covered by bamboo sticks and leaves, when a soldier stud upon this bamboo, the bamboo would be unable to hold the weight of the soldier and crash into the hole.  The floor of the hole would have spikes facing upwards so to pierce through the soldiers fleshes causing wounds, but also the spikes were covered in human excrement that caused infection within the wound and medical attention to the soldier was needed immediately.  These injuries caused soldiers to be out of action for long periods of time, which was a great advantage to the Vietcong and stretched America’s supplies to the limits. A similar method was booby traps, these were usually a piece of trap wire connected to a grenades and once cut, the grade exploded and shot shrapnel across the jungle mobilising units that got hit by the bits of metal. These tactics were known as guerrilla tactics and are used by one side when it is greatly outnumbered by the other side or is inferior to them in weapons.  Both points applied to the Vietcong and they didn’t wear uniforms but normal clothes and couldn’t be identified by the South Vietnam military as they looked and dressed like the normal Vietnamese civilians.  The Vietcong blended into the jungle undergrowth in small groups and took out soldier by soldier till a whole American party was eliminated then disappear without a trace of anybody being there. This was extremely affected as the American soldiers had never been trained to cope with these ambushes and many Americans became paranoid due to the constant unknowing if the Vietcong were watching them and if they were going to get ambushed.  The Vietcong were very successful in their attacks and began to become more and more powerful matching Americans weapons aided by the extensions of the Ho Chi Minh trail throughout to all of Vietnam.  Weapons could be successfully distributed between the Vietcong and be passed to the front line of action where they were most needed. America therefore decided to step up their actions and military power.

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Ho Chi Minh introduced 8 reminders on how the Vietcong were to behave, a code of conduct strictly adhered to and enforced by the Vietminh:

1.Be polite

2.Be fair

3.Return anything borrowed

4.Pay for anything damaged

5.Do not bully

6.Do not damage crops

7.Do not flirt with women

8.Do not ill-treat prisoners

         This introduced discipline to the Vietcong that was the key to keeping the Vietcong organised. The eight rules helped the Vietcong earn the trust of the Vietnamese villagers and in return the villagers gave the Vietcong food and hideouts for when American soldiers patrolled the area.  This ...

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