Friday, March 30, 2018
The Vietcong
The Vietcong were Vietnamese Communists and the military branch of the National Liberation Front. They lived in South Vietnam. They consisted of thousands of South Vietnamese who enlisted to fight against the corruption and brutality of the Diem regime. The Vietcong consisted of recruited young teenagers, and many were pressured or even shamed into joining. In general, many had fear of the better armed American soldiers. The soldiers were given barely any infantry training, and then they were immediately handed AK-47's and LMG's and began to learn war tactics. Despite not receiving much training, the Vietcong were highly effective, using rocket grenades and advanced recoil-less rifles. They also had mortars and made booby traps and other explosives out of recycled material from American bombs and other explosive material that could be scavenged in the area. Many of the NLF's bombings, sabotage, and assassinations that were aimed at South Vietnamese government targets often killed innocent civilians and eventually they began to commit what was considered acts of terrorism. In 1965, eradication of the Vietcong became the number one goal for the US military. The Vietcong became the subject of American propaganda in press, and American soldiers began to hate the Vietcong. Even though they were lesser trained and armed than the American forces, their tactical war methods gave them a great fighting chance: they fought with stealth, hiding in crowds of civilians and in forests, laying booby traps for those who were unaware. Americans on the other hand used B-52 bombers, artillery, helicopters, and napalm. Squad patrols also took place.
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I enjoyed reading your blog because it presents many facts that I did not know about and was interested in. I think that the Vietnam war was very complicated and the goal of the United States was a lot less focused that North Vietnam, so I think that is part of the reason why we lost.
ReplyDeleteThe interesting contrast between the two armies shows the importance of strategy and tactic not just technological superiority. Even though we might consider our own army as being superior to most others and especially to third and second world countries, guerrilla warfare and political and diplomatic barriers kept the US from truly 'succeeding.' This also raised the question of America's justification for fighting in Vietnam at all.
ReplyDeleteWhile the US Army knew about the Vietcong, it was very hard for them to spot them since they didn't wear uniforms. When the US soldiers would go into villages, they would not know who was a threat to the military. Although the US soldiers had much better equipment, they did not have the same advantages the Vietcong had such as knowing the area and blending into crowds. This led to the US struggling to secure South Vietnam. The US wanted to somehow get out of Vietnam because of the little progress they had made while losing many troops.
ReplyDeleteYour blog described the strategy that Vietcong used. Since the Vietcong were hard to spot as you said they always tended to blend in with villagers it made it harder for Americans soldiers to tell who is who. You said the Vietcong were not trained as much and I agree based on what we learned in class they were very effective until the Tet Offensive, which we learned got most of the Vietcong killed.
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