The Viet Cong Strategy Against the United States Military Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash The Viet Cong had a well developed strategy which the world would see employed in the decades after the Viet Nam war in every major conflict. The Vietnamese had a long standing history of the French occupying Vietnam since the mid 1800s which helped the Vietnamese to get an understanding of guerrilla tactics which would become the key to beating the US in the 1960s. The Vietnamese honed their skills and developed their strategies and tactics over the decades prior to the Vietnam war against the French, culminating in the French defeat to the Viet Minh’s during the siege of Din Bin Phu. Din Bin Phu had been surrounded by the Viet Minh and it was attacked perpetually until the French finally surrendered. It was at Din Bin Phu that the Vietnamese had learned how they could take their small scale guerrilla forces and mass them up to perform a large operational group to strike at a s...
If the Vietnam war began in 1955, does that mean it lasted 20 years, it ended in 1975?
If the Vietnam war began in 1955, does that mean it lasted 20 years, it ended in 1975?
No, the Vietnam War began in 1858 when the French first invaded the country. The war with the French then took a short break over 1941–1945 when Japan had invaded Vietnam and when Japan surrendered the territory went back to the French despite Ho Chi Minhs calls for support of Vietnam’s independence. As a result, in 1945 Ho Chi Minh created the Viet Minh which fought the French until the siege of 1954 when the French surrendered in Dien Bien Phu.
Americans, had a fear of communism spreading due to the stupid ‘Domino theory’ which had absolutely no basis in fact and might as well been a joke card pulled from a crackerjack box. The Americans decided that with the French pulling out of Vietnam, then with Ho Chi Minh by this time firmly with the Communists, the US had felt it prudent to ensure that Vietnam did not turn to communism.
Ultimately the US was scared spitless of having to fight Japan again.
The Pacific war scared the crap out of the President's office, the Generals and the high ranking officers because of the ruthlessness that Japan had fought with the ferocity of their attacks unlike anything they had seen before.
The Japanese had been throwing themselves time and time again, into suicide charges into the American fields of fire. Iin a mad Bamzai charge the Japanese would charge in a suicide mission to overwhelm the United States. The charge would lend itself to some of the most brutal hand-to-hand combat fighting ever seen in the war.
When the American’s thought they had beaten Japan down and that they would surrender, they were greeted with a surprise when they found that the Japanese had no intention of ever surrendering.
The Japanese would charge and just keep coming wave after wave. The fact that the Japanese had so readily fought to the last man and never surrendered scared the living hell out of the Americans.
On top of the Bamzai charge, one should consider the smoking heap of metal that had been chewed apart by a P-38s cannons and instead of gracefully pulling the canopy back to parachute to safety, the US found that the Japanese had turned their aircraft into cruise missiles and again — the pilots willfully threw their lives away to hit the US just one more time.
When considering the notion of fighting Japan again, the United States Generals were like, ‘oh hell no, we are not doing that EVER again’ so they decided they would stand and fight in Vietnam to prevent Japan from turning communism.
There was a flawed theory that the US leadership believed, that if one country fell to communism then all the countries around it would fall next, and so on and so on.
So the US picked up the war effort from the French to avoid losing South Vietnam to the northern communists.
In 1975 due to pressure at home the US pulled out of Vietnam unceremoniously. The ARVN that were protecting the Highlands and the city of Saigon were quickly overrun by the North Vietnams Regulars and the Viet Cong.
The ARVN troops were routed causing the populace to panic and start a mass exodus further South. As a result of this panic exodus, Saigon was lost and the rest of the country fell with little resistance. South Vietnam was overtaken by the Northern Regulars by force and after the south was officially united with the North, then the Vietnamese took a 2 year break.
Starting in 1977 the Chinese attempted to invade Vietnam but the Viet Cong held them at bay. Both countries declare themselves victors of the exchange but, it was Vietnam that had secured their military objectives and held the Chinese off long enough to get them to back away.
In 1978 or so Vietnam invaded Cambodia to the Chagrin of the world and they overthrew the government there occupying the country until 1991 or so.
So, the Vietnam, War for the Vietnamese was 117 years long where they took a short 2 year break, then 14 more years before they finally stood still and in peace.
I should add that Vietnam is yet to lose a war and they have fought some of the heaviest hitters.
China
United States
France
and then Cambodia
The Vietnamese are a tough and determined people that will grind the enemy out or anyone that tries to stand against them. They tirelessly stand there and keep coming wave after wave in the same manner as the Japanese had in the Pacific. Few things are more scary than human waves coming endlessly at you where you are fighting hand to hand for your life. No air support when they are among you. Very scary stuff.
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