What Were The Tactics Used By Both Sides To Win The Vietnam War?

What Were The Tactics Used By Both Sides To Win The War?

The war in Vietnam pitched one of the world’s biggest powers, the USA, against Vietnam, a small third world country. The Americans were in obvious favour to win the war. With the USA having such a great advantage in firepower the chances of the Vietcong winning the war were very slim, but they were assisted due to their experience in jungle warfare.

Due to the rapid spread of communism in Eastern Europe, the USA were hoping to end the war before communism had chance to increase in Asia. Many soldiers were taken to Vietnam by air transport. B52 were used by the USA to destroy many cities, which also caused the deaths of hundreds of civilians. More bombs were dropped on North Vietnam during this war than were dropped altogether in WW2. This tactic proved to be a key factor during the war between the USA and Vietnam. The defences carried out by the USA also involved defending the air bases from which the bombers departed, as well as protecting the places where troops and new supplies arrived. Agent Orange was used by the USA to terrorise the Vietcong during the war. The Vietnamese were scared of this weapon to a great extent, as if caused cancer and lead to pregnant women giving birth to deformed children. They were terrified even more by a weapon known as napalm, which is a jellied petrol. It stuck to its victim, causing their bodies to be seriously burnt.

Another tactic used by the USA was search and destroy. This meant searching for the large enemy forces and carrying out their destruction, which meant only the less trained guerilla forces remained. However, this tactic didn’t prove to decisive, and finding the enemy wasn’t always as easy as it sounded. Due to the frustration caused by this, the American soldiers settled on destroying Vietnamese Villages, which caused suffering upon innocent people, who were killed.

The Vietcong used their guerilla tactics to fight against the United States. This tactic involved the Vietcong soldiers not wearing their uniform, thus making ...

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The Vietcong used their guerilla tactics to fight against the United States. This tactic involved the Vietcong soldiers not wearing their uniform, thus making it harder for the Americans to spot them. The Vietcong tried to avoid pitched battles with the Americans. Alternatively they used ambushes and hit and run tactics. If they ever did have to fight them in any big battles, they attempted to stick to them and their bases. This was hoped to make it more difficult for the Americans to call in heavy artillery or air attacks, as they weren’t in the position that they could afford to destroy their own bases or soldiers. The Vietcong were experts at building underground tunnels. They called these tunnels the Ho Chi Minh trail and they used it to transport supplies and they were also useful as good defences from the American bombers, as they couldn’t be seen from underground. The Americans struggled to follow the tunnels; due to the mad directions and channels they had, which made them even more useful. Hiding in the forests was something else they were good at. The Vietcong were assisted by family and children who made booby traps in the forests for the Americans to fall into. They weren’t able to avoid these traps. One of the most effective tactics used by the Vietcong during the war was the American TV, newspapers and magazines. They used them to show the American public what it was like in Vietnam, the conditions that they had to put up with. They showed things like the Americans bombing towns, as well as things like the My Lai massacre.

The tactics used by the Vietcong, in my opinion, were more affective than those of the Americans. The Americans never knew where the Vietcong were likely to be, nor where they were hiding. The Vietcong were very good at hiding in trees and underground in their specially dug tunnels. They were also experts at hiding in forest, but the Americans were very poor at this. These tactics proved very useful, and this is my reasoning for the Vietcong proving the better force.

Mark Farragher