Why Were Vietcong So Difficult To Defeat Part 2 Flashcards
Uncommitted forces
Average American GI was 19. Only 16 weeks of training. Terrain unfamiliar. Tours of duty lasted a year so if a GI was expericed he’d get sent home and be replaced.
Not dedicated to war effort as many were conscripts fighting for an abstract political ideal rather than protecting their families.
Terrorised by Vietcong. 500,000 cases of desertion. Instances of fragging. 50 percent used marijuana. 30 percent used heroin.
Ineffective tactics
6 million tons of bombs dropped on North Vietnam.
Operation rolling thunder.
Cluster bombs and new bombs developed
Hoe chi Minh trail sheltered soldiers so bombs just killed civilians
Jungle hid vietcong. Twenty million galleons of agent orange dropped to destroy foliage.
400,000 tons of napalm used to destroy undergrowth.
Agent orange caused cancer and birth deformities.
Search and destroy: US burned villages they thought harbored the enemy bc they couldn’t tell the difference between peasants and vietcong. Attacks known as zippo raids. Vietcojg support rocketed. South vietnam afraid of army supposedly protecting them.
Little support
Strategic hamelt program put off lots of South Vietnamese before 1965
Bombing defoliation and village burning put off south vietnamese
What was the main reason
Tactics because it meant US forces couldn’t cope or land a decisive blow
Forces weren’t because altho vietcong were dedicated, the US were well armed.
Support wasn’t because US was well funded even tho vietcong had support.
