What different tactics were used by both sides in an attempt to win the conflict in Vietnam between 1956 and 1968?

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What different tactics were used by both sides in an attempt to win the conflict in Vietnam between 1956 and 1968?

The Vietcong and the USA used very different tactics. This was mainly because of the difference in the way the two sides were equipped; the VC were a small poorly equipped group who had to use weapons they had acquired. The Americans were the most industrialized nation in the world and therefore had access to the most advanced weaponry of the time. While the Americans had the advantage of having the most advanced weaponry the VC had the advantage of knowing and being used to the area they were fighting in and whilst the Americans needed to win the war quickly the VC could go on fighting for as long as it took.

The two sides did change their tactics throughout the war to adapt to what the other side was doing. Although the sides changed tactics their principal methods of engaging the enemy remained the same; the VC used guerrilla warfare and the Americans used open warfare.

        The concept of guerrilla warfare is to gradually wear down the enemy. The tactics included; retreating when the enemy attacks, raiding when the enemy camps, attacking when the enemy tires and pursuing when the enemy retreats. The VC used guerrilla tactics because they weren’t strong enough to fight an open war against the Americans, Also the Americans were not used to guerrilla tactics, which gave the VC another tactical advantage. The guerrilla tactics used by the VC proved successful because as the Americans could not find them they could not destroy them.

        The Americans initially did not want to combat troops to Vietnam. They initially sent advisors to try and show the south the South Vietnamese how to fight for themselves. The advisors even learned how to speak Vietnamese.

        As the VC were trying to win over the peasants because they needed the peasants support to function properly “the people are the water our armies are the fish” said one Vietcong leader, the Americans decided that they needed to win over the peasants so in 1962 they decided to move the peasants into strategic hamlets away from areas of Vietcong activity so the peasants could supply information equipment and food to the VC and the VC could not operate. If this had been a success then the USA would not have to have had as much further involvement. The strategic hamlet programme was a failure; the Vietcong heavily infiltrated the camps and Diem made himself more unpopular by charging the peasants for the material to rebuild their homes.

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        As the strategic Hamlet programme hadn’t worked the USA decided that they would bomb the north to try and stop the north supplying the VC. Initially the targets were military installations and munitions factories but as the supplies were still getting through the Americans decided to try and persuade the Vietnamese into taking part in peace talks through blanket bombing the north using B52 bombers. The bombing only strengthened the Resolve of the North Vietnamese and the VC were still obtaining supplies from the north Via the Ho Chi Minh trail. The bombing was a failure the VC even made ...

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