They tended to avoid major face to face confrontations, due to the fact the US had superior weaponary. A secret underground force that was hardly ever seen was what the vietcong wanted to achieve, many deadly booby traps were set around jungles and villages often causing fatal tradegies, any amount of civilians could of ambushed the americans in a split second, attacking camps with mortars or working at night to catch them off thir guard.The development of thousands of different routes around the countryside was also essential to the Vietcong for moving equipment,weapons, food and men around the country. The most famous of these routes was the Ho Chi Minh Trail running from North Vietnam to the South.
An estimate of 40,000 people worked constantly at keeing the trail open. It was constantly attacked by US and ARVN bombing jets which made the trail very hazardous, nevertheless it was vital for moving supples to Vietcong forces around South Vietnam, most supplies were usually brought it from communist states such as China and the Soviet Union. The vietcong had a great network of tunnels, usually going through villages. An estimated 250 kilometres of tunnel are said to of been built throughout South Vietnam, with one tunnel being as long as 30 kilometres. The Americans believed that these tunnels were used as shelters as a result of american bombings, however they failed to realise the importance of them, how they were use for sleeping quarters, hospitals, weapon storage and even lecture theatres. They were often booby trapped with eplosives which were extremely dangerous for americans who were usually ordered to clear tunnels out, which caused great psychological fear for many troops which was an advantage for the Vietnamese forces.
The Vietcongs ingenius tunnel designs, usually placed under villages with secret entrances.
The use of Guerilla warfare against the invading US forces, contributed greatly to the withdrawal in 1973, due to the fact it caused dangerous psychologcal impact on many of the US troops, not knowing if civilians are VC or not, booby traps and ambushes caused troops to have breakdowns often going crazy out of fear, sometimes resulting in mass civilian shooting which caused outrage and may have also contributed to protests which was another factor o withdrawal.
US Tactics
The effectiveness of Vietcong guerrilla tactics persuaded the US military to find a way of combining the power of their high tehnology equipment with some form of geurrilla fighting. The US militay had been trained specifically for conventional warfare, they began using helicopters in search and destroy missions, the speed of which gave the VC very little warning of attack. The fact that troops could be deployed quickly and stealthily to nearby villages gave the VC very little time to organise themeselves and as a reult were sometimes caught off guard. Once a village was secured it was searched for any other presence of VC activity eg. weapons stash, tunnels, if there was any evidence of VC activity the whole village would be destroyed, usually burnt to the ground.
The changing nature of warfare by the US caused many uproars, the use of Agent Organe and Napalm which were both the most commonly used chemical weapons were dangerous and effective however most of the time many civilians were injured terribly rather than the VC. The US used these weapons originally to clear out sections of jungles where they knew the VC were hiding. Agent Orange was first used in 1962 as part of Operation Ranch Hand, in roughly ten years 86 million litres were dropped on 20 % of South Vietnam. Alot of vegetation and Trees were destroyed, and the air, rivers and soil were polluted. It was effective in terms of destroying natural cover for the VC however did little to change the way the war was being fought .
Napalm, a jellied petroleum, was first used in Operation Rolling Thunder in 1965. Napam is highly flammable and was used to stick to peoples skin and burn,it was used to attack large areas of the North and demolish enemy positions around the South. It was looked down on by those viewing the effects of chemical warfare at home, due to the fact it often injured and disfigured civilians.
America had dropped more bombs in Vietnam than was dropped in the whole of Europe during World War 2. American airmen managed to distance themeselves from their actions, but not all. Many ground troops had first hand experience of the bombings, and saw the true horror of what this caused to the landscape and human life. A tactic known as blanket bombing was used to wipe out vast majorities of landscape in a short amount of time. Literally hundreds of bombs were dropped across sections of land in order to destroy large enemy populations, however still did little to change the way the war was fought.
On the 16th of March 1968, an assualt as carried out on the village of My Lai. Three US platoons, each platoon with about 40 people, disembarked from heicopter and began a search and destroy mission. One platoon was led by Luitenant William Galley who ordered his men to kill the villagers who were suspected of supporting or being VC guerrillas.
Many innocent civilians including Women and Children were killed, wih an estimate of 175 to 500 people. It became known as the My Lai Massacre. Luitenant Galley was held responsable for the massacre and was sentenced to Life Imprisonment, however was released in 1974 after only serving 3 years. The massacre was a huge disgrace upon the US military, and media coverage of the situation sickened those who were watching at home.
Murdered civilians of the My Lai Massacre, many children and women were killed.
For those at home the television images of dead or injured civilians were confirmed by the letters from the battlefield and by stories of returning soldiers. For many americans it caused outrage and was enough to convince them that the US had to withdraw from the war, therefore the tactics used by the US can be seen as a contribution to eventual withdrawal.
The Protest Movement and Media Coverage
The anti-war movement in America began almost as soon as the war itself. The cronscription (draft) that was issued in 1965, was to raise the number of young men form 3000 to 33,000 a month. The same year it was issued, more young students were becoming apposed to the draft and were doing whatever they could to avoid it. Some got married, others fled to Europe or Canada, some claimed medical illness or disbility, and some went back to college. It was more likely for middle-class men to avoid the war, it was usually the poor black and white men to fight and die for their country.
Altogether in 1968, 15,000 men had died in Vietnam, which sparked more outrage in the protest movement, in October 1967 a poll revealed the 30% of Americans wanted to withdraw form Vietnam. Many vietnam veterans returning from the war formed groups protesting against the war, diabled veterans made speeches at demonstrations, usually making the symbolic gesture by throwing their medals away. A mass amount of Student protests were held around americato display their anger, many students opted out of american mainstream in the 1960's, to join hippie communities, preaching peace and love rather than war. They protested in a variety of different ways, which included Teach-ins to educate those about the vietnam war, sit-ins to disrupt draft offices, burning draft papers, huge publi demonstartions and so on. There were incidents however that turned out to be too dangerous for example at Kent State University on may 1970, where a large demonstration was held with about 1500 to 300 students. However protests were now against the law, and in result the nation guards were sent in. The demonstration ended in disaster when four students were shot dead and nine were wounded. It became clear frorm the evidence that the students were not part of the demonstration, events such as these pressured the government to consider withdrawing US troops.
One of the four dead students at Kent State University.
The Vietnam war was closely documented by newsreels and pictures, which showed american citizens the true horror of what was going on within this country. Battles and Massacres were recorded such as the My Lai massacre in 1968, where pictures of dead civilians outraged and disgusted many people who were against the war. Many belived that the war could not be won if events such as these would carry on, the fact there was so much media coverage of the war, helped to turn peoples views around, including demonstrators in other countries, for example: demonstrations that were held in London.
Many famous figures, also helped people change views on the war, such as Martin Luther King who made a speech against the war, Mohammad Ali's refusal to conscription and Martha Gellhorn's coverage of the war.
The protest movements and media coverage during the vietnam war, helped a great deal to the eventual withdrawal in 1973, media coverage led to a huge amount of protests and demonstrations which eventually pressured the american government to consider withdrawing troops.
The Peace Process