Why Were Vietcong So Difficult To Defeat Flashcards
Reason 1 committed forces
Committed:dedicated communists. Despised US intervention from indoctrination and utter loyalty. Desire to reunite the country which was divided in 1954
Expert:they knew the terrain and were used to heat humidity and rainfall. Experience from fighting Japanese and French
Terrain is jungle,swamps,rivers,ravines
Reason 2 effective tactics
Guerrilla tactics: used terrain to their advantage with surprise ambushes and AK 47s which are Soviet built. Over 50 percent of US deaths were caused by ambushes. They didn’t wear uniforms to hard to distinguish from peasants. They followed ARVN forces (hanging on their belts)
They used booby traps like the punji trap with sharpened bamboo stakes and faeces. 10 percent of US deaths caused by booby traps. Snake pits also one.
Tunnel systems: they travelled in the ho chi Minh trails underground. 300km dug. Made it hard for them to be bombed. They had hospitals and dorms and schools in there.
Reason 3 plenty of support
PAVN supplied vietcong through ho chi Minh trail that stretched 15000km. These were paths trackway and roads across North Vietnam Laos and Cambodia into South vietnam. 60 tonnes of stuff supplied per day.
Vietcong trained to be polite to peasantry and tend crops. Propaganda painted them out to be local heroes fighting against US aggression. Painted out that all on vietcongs side by literature showing women and children. However they could also be ruthless as they slaughtered 30,000 South Vietnamese critics to silence complaints.
