Describe the Military Tactics Used By Both the Usa and Viet Cong Forces In Vietnam In the 1960’S.

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Lewis Tunnicliffe        History        GCSE

Describe the military tactics used by both the USA and Viet Cong forces in Vietnam in the 1960’s.

When America went to Vietnam many people thought that it would be an easy victory for America, they were fighting a poor country and it would seem that compared to Vietnam America was a “Superpower”. The two sides were bound to use different tactics; the American’s were going into unknown terrain, whereas the Vietcong knew the terrain, so really they would have the advantage on America. America had a technological advantage over the Vietcong, but they had a geological advantage- over America, as they knew the terrain.

In the early stages of the war the Vietcong were using guerrilla warfare against Diem, this meant that a few members of the Vietcong who were dressed as civilians would usually ambush a target most of the time at night, they would kill the target or targets and then mix into the crowd.

“The Strategic Hamlets Policy” was a complete failure as they tried to separate the Vietcong from the civilians and put them into fortified areas where they would be protected from the Vietcong, this failed because the- Vietcong would be mixed into the villages so when they were separating they would just be moving the Vietcong.

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On the 13th of February 1965 Johnson ordered the start of “Operation Rolling Thunder” basically this meant that the Americans would drop a very large amount of bombs on the North of Vietnam, they thought if they bombed the north they wouldn’t be able to help the Vietcong in the south they also hoped that the north would surrender or negotiate peace talks with America-. Before “Operation Rolling Thunder” it looked like the Americans were failing in Vietnam.

After all the bombing America decided that the airbases needed protection so the American soldiers were told to protect the land ...

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