The Nature Of The Conflict 1964-68 Flashcards
What was festures of a gurrila war tactics?
1 - Get the support of the people
(assasonate key figures - use propoganda - dressed like normall vietnamese people to show how they were alike)
2 - Weeken the enemy with hit and run tactics - assasonations, sabotaging roads, ambushes, stayed close to US facilities so they wouldn’t be bombed - used light weight weapons, made tunnels so it was easy to escape - use simple traps eg with sharp bamboo
Occasionaly they would have a suprising large battle to try and win a supprise victory
Where is a place just 25 miles from Saigon?
Cu Chi
How many miles of tunnel was built in Cu Chi?
Almost 100 miles on several levels
What would some tunnels contain?
Hospitals, fuel, weapons
How did American’s initial try to deal with VC tunnels?
Sending tunnel rats down to destory the tunnel eg by planting mines and blowing them up
What was a tunnel rat?
A US soldier that was small enough to fit into the VC tunnels and who would go down there explore them and destory them
What was the US’s eventual solution to VC tunnels?
Theu buldosed over any entrances that they found so they wouldn’t be secret
Why were the first advicers a problem?
Theu thought in terms of battles and not winning the hearts and minds of the people
Theu often caused a lot of damaged with a lot of collateral damage
By 1965 what was there no of in Vietnam?
US ground troops
There were advisers and Green berets but no acutual soldiers
When was operation Rolling thunder given the green light?
Febuary 1965
What happened in Febuary 1965?
Rolling thunder was given the green light
What was rolling thunder?
A bombing campaign over North Vietnam
It began slowly - didn’t target Hanoi or the Haiphong port or placed near the China boarder.
What was happening at the Haiphong port?
Where a lot of USSR and Chinese supplies was comming from
What did the Military in Vietnma want from Operation Rolling thinder?
Fast heavy bombin of the North Including Hanoi
What places did Rolling thunder target?
Ho Chi Minh trail
The little industry in North Vietnam
What did the planes in Rolling thunder drop?
Napalm
Pineapple bombs
What was Napalm?
A slow burning petrol mixture that sticks to skin, and forest that burns things (through the bone of people)
What was a pineapple bomb?
Canisters that expolde and shoot pellets everywhere, like bullets
When were the first bombs on rolling thunder dropped?
2nd March 1965
What day did Rolling Thunders stop for?
Christmas 1965
When did Rolling thunders stop of the first time?
January 1966 when the 2 sides were negotiating
When did Rolling thunder continue again?
After the negotiations failed
What happened to Operation Rolling Thunder after the negotiations failed?
The targets that could be bombed were increased
When did Rolling Thunder stop altogether?
the end of 1968
What demonstrates hiw well the VC tunnels were hiden?
A US base was made on top of one, there was an attack from inside with no sign of a break in, this would have scared american soldiers
What were the effects of Operation Rolling Thunder?
Caused damage to to Ho Chi Minh trail - but there were ways around it
Destroyed industry - but must supplies was made in China or the USSR
Caused a lot of destruction but it only made the US more unpopular in Vietnam and the whole world
Aid from China and the USSR wasn’t targeted
How much did aid sent by the USSR increase during Rolling Thunder?
1965-67 (Rolling thunder ended in 1968)
$210 million to $505 million
What was a byproduct of Rolling Thunder?
More airbases were built leading to more attacks on them by the VC
Who asked for US troops in Vietnam?
Why?
General Westmorland
To protect the US airbases
Who was General Westmorland?
The person in charge of the war in Vietnam
When did US troops start to arrive in Vietnam?
8-10 March 1965
Who was the first troops to land in Vietnam?
Where?
3,500 marrines
Landed at Danang
How did LBJ get troops to fight in Vietnam?
The draft
How many troops were there in Vietnam in 1964?
23,300
How many troops were there in Vietnam in 1965?
184,000
How many troops were there in Vietnam in 1966?
385,300
How many troops were there in Vietnam in 1967?
485,600
How many troops were there in Vietnam in 1968?
536,100
What was the US’s main counter-insurgency mission?
Surch and destroy
Describe search and destroy mission?
Small group of men surched through the jungle for VC camos and supplies, if they found stuff they would call in helicopers to prey the area to destroy it
Normally missions were on the ground - so there were a lot of booby-traps
No full scale battles
Why were search and destory missions normally faliuors?
During the first wave 1000 VC were killed, 100US killed - US though it was a good attack as they destoryed a lot of their supplies and soldiers
But afterwards the VC moved right back into the destroyed areas - the VC didn’t care about the body count
Spraying areas with de-folients caused damage to orginary violagers, this caused US aproval from the Vietnamese to drop
How many South Vietnamese refugees were ther from search and destory missions
4 million
When was Operation Cedar Falls?
1967
How many soldiers were ther is Operation Cedar Falls?
30,000 US and ARVN troops
Where did Operation Cedar Falls focus on?
The Iron Triangle (where the VC were the strongest)
What happened in Cedar Falls?
Vilages were burned
Villagers were out into refugee camps
What was the result of Operation Cedar Falls?
People?
750 VC dead
450 US and ARVN dead
3,500 refugees from Ben Suc alone
What happened to the Iron Triangle after Operation Cedar Falls?
It became a “free-fire zone”
It would be bombed without warning at any time
Why did Operation Cedar Falls end badly?
It became a free fire zone but the villagers didn’t understand this and therefore went back
Sometimes they were warned theough leaflets (but they wouldn’t read them)
What type of mission was Cedar Falls?
Search and destory mission
Who was the first president to autherise the use of herbicides?
JFK
What was the defoliation programme called?
Operation Ranch Hand
When did Operation Ranch Hand start?
10 August 1961
Why was the use of chemcial weapons so bad?
Many villagers were killed or burned
Theu could kill crops
They could get into the water supplies and kill people
They caused a lot of problems in women giving birth causing the next generation to have disibilities
If the defolients got into the ground it could make the soil infertile for decades to come
Some IS and ARVN soldiers were effected
How much of South Vietnam was sprayed with some sort of defolient?
Between 1964-70
24%
How much herbicide could 1 plane spray?
300 acres in 4 minutes
How strong were the defolients?
They were 50% stronger than thise used in the US
What was Agent Blue?
A defolient which was fast acting and used to kill crops
What was Agent Orange?
A defolient which was stronger and was used on the forest
How mnay villages were sprayed?
Over 3000
Somethimes the villagers wern’t goten out first
When was spraying of defolients stopped?
October 1971
Who stopped the spraying of defolients?
The US’s Defense Department
What are the Vietnameses Red Cross estimates of the effects of using defolients?
150,000 children born with health defect
What was the Ted Offensive?
A series of atatcks on 26 cities amd US bases in South Vietnam
When did the Tet Offensive start?
The beginning of the Ted Lunar New year
30th January 1968
Why was staging the Tet Offesnsive on the Lunar New Year smart?
Nomally there was a ceasfire
ARNV was court off guard
Many ARVN was off-duty for the holiday
How did the VC try to catch the US offguard at the Tet offensive?
Late 1967 - attacks in the DMZ to try and lure US troops away from their targets
- North Vietnam suggested it may be ready to negotiate
20th January 1968 there was an attack at Khe Sanh which got 6,000 troops and bombers redeployed
Who was in charge of Vietnam?
General Westmorland
Who was in charge in Vietnam?
General Westmorland
What was the result of the Tet offensive in Saigon?
The VC got into the US embassy although it was soon recaptured
What city was captures during the Tet offensive?
The old city of Hue
How long did it take for the US and ARVN to win back Hue?
3 weeks of fighting in the streets
Why was the Tet Offensive significant?
The cities were suppost to be safe
The US embassy itself was lost
Huge scale - 84,000 troops
VC were almost wiped out as there were heavy losses
The revolution which they hoped this would triggor didn’t happen
Huge propoganda victory for the VC
US public saw Tet and a uge defeat
What was US involvment like in 1968?
$26,266 million
536,100 soldiers
16,899 dead
