The methods used by the USA to keep control over the South Vietnamese people were teaching the children and adults to hate the Vietcong. The children were taught this in school. They also promised peace and happiness to the people in an attempt to stop them joining the Vietcong. The Americans gave the inhabitants military training in an attempt to force them into siding with America. They gave the people rewards for capturing Vietcong members. They also introduced a scheme called Pacification which was a scheme to “win the hearts and minds” of the people of South Vietnam. It involved providing clinics and schools and re-housing refugees. The USA built new roads, canals and drainage ditches. They also encouraged the farmers to improve methods of farming. The idea of pacification was to try to show the farmers what a democratic life would be like. The pacification scheme was on the whole successful because when the Tet offensive was launched in 1968 the South Vietnamese, as a whole didn’t support it
The Vietcong viewed the jungle as the perfect place for guerrilla warfare and a place to hide from the Americans. The dense canopy hid them from American aircraft and helicopters. They also had a vast knowledge of the jungle and could exploit that by using their expert knowledge of hiding in it and ambushes. They could mount surprise attacks and vanish using their local knowledge; this was used to their advantage and meant they lost few men. The Americans hated the jungle because the Vietcong were used to it and could utilise it. The jungle gave the Americans fungal infections because they wore boots and the Vietcong wore sandals. Also the Americans weren't used to the intensely humid weather, the large insects and leeches. But the main reason was that the jungle hid the Vietcong and exposed the Americans to their booby traps and snipers.
The Americans dealt with these problems by destroying the jungle. They used Napalm to burn it down, they bombed it or they used the herbicide Agent Orange to kill vegetation. They did this to expose and/or kill Vietcong members. By the end of the war the USA had destroyed 25,000 km² of vegetation in this way. With the dense canopy gone the Ho Chi Minh trails and the Vietcong were revealed. Also to cut down risks the USA used helicopters to transport troops rather than through the hazardous jungle. They also used gun ships to destroy enemy targets. These were useful as, unlike planes they could land without a runway. The Vietcong used the jungle to their advantage. They were sent weapons by North Vietnam through the jungle on the Ho Chi Minh trail. It was 80km wide in places and was protected by the dense rainforest. It carried: men, weapons and supplies and was 100km long. It had a workforce of over 40,000 people to maintain a constant supply line.
The USA would have preferred a traditional style war as they had the advantage on men and technology. They built a number of huge supply bases along the coast. Some of them such as Danang and Cam Rahn Bay were as large as small towns with an airport and harbour. These supported and fed the smaller firebases which were positioned in clearings in the jungle. They acted as local strongholds making venturing into the jungle less dangerous. America sent out search and destroy missions from these well-protected bases. The missions were to hunt down and kill Vietcong members. The Vietcong’s tactics were to fight a guerrilla style war. This was because they had limited access to weapons; few trained soldiers, a poorer military. Instead they used small units to attack enemy forces. They used snipers, traps and ambushes. They set booby traps like the tin can trap. This was a hand grenade in a tin can, which stoppped it being detonated. It was detonated when the enemy tripped over a wire in the jungle. These traps were lethal and frightened the USA’s soldiers. They also located isolated groups of American and ARVN soldiers and killed them. They called this find and kill, similar to the American, Search and Destroy missions. The USA started by bombing targets like bridges and railways in an attempt to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail. They also bombed Vietcong populated areas of South Vietnam. They also bombed selected targets in North Vietnam. These included industrial areas, military areas and cities. These methods were called Selective Bombing. In 1966 America changed to the Blanket/Saturation bombing method. This was a complete destruction method, which included the rainforest. They changed because selective bombing wasn’t as effective. To escape from the saturation bombing and fires the Vietcong dug a network of tunnels (by hand), which only they could fit through. By the end of the war the Vietcong had dug 250km of tunnels.
In 1965 the North Vietnamese Army invaded certain areas of South Vietnam. They now fought with tanks and hi tech weaponry and open, traditional style battles. The war was beginning to turn more traditional and the Vietcong now had strong backup to invade the cities and confront American tanks. On the date of the Tet festival 1968 the Vietcong and the NVA joined forces. They launched a traditional, non-guerrilla style attack on over 100 targets. They felt confident they could succeed because they were better equipped. They took a calculated risk and called it the Tet offensive. Fighting had now changed from guerrilla style warfare to out in the open, traditional war that left the Vietcong directly exposed to American fire. The NVA were also on the Vietcong’s side. The Tet offensive stunned the Americans. They had thought they were winning the war. As a result off the Tet offensive America responded by increasing the bombing of North Vietnam. Also their search and destroy missions got very violent. An example of this was on the village of Mylai where the USA destroyed all life in the village, massacring women and children and innocent men.