Frances Perry Period II Guerrilla Tactics Frances Perry Period II

To analyze how guerrilla warfare crippled the U.S. Army. Thesis Statement To analyze how guerrilla warfare crippled the U.S. Army.

NLF (National Liberation Front) NFL rarely attacked the Americans head on they used Guerrilla Tactics. They would attack their enemy and then would disappear into the jungle. All members had to follow a strict code of conduct before attacking.

The VC troops then had to go underground once the US started to bomb them. They quickly learned how to survive underground and learned how to fight against an army that was clearly better and stronger than them. They then begun making sleeping areas, kitchens, hospitals, and bomb shelters underground in these tunnels. I like this quote because I can relate it to the Cu Chi town tunnels and how Americans tried to invade the unknowns of the tunnels. And the light is them making it through the tunnels alive.

"The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy camps, we harass; the enemy tires, we attack; the enemy retreats, we pursue.“ - Mao Zedong Soldier speaking of the way they fought in Vietnam.

Cu Chi Town Had 200 miles of tunnels through out the town. All buildings used by the guerrillas had underground access. Openings were under water in streams and canals. Deeper into the ground there was water supplies and gun factories.

Once the war against the South Vietnamese and the US, the North Vietnamese started to make the tunnels much longer. These tunnels soon went over 250 km from Saigon to the Cambodia border.

Cu Chi Town (Continued) Also in the deeper levels: hospitals/rice. On the upper part of these tunnels they were hidden firing post. These tunnels were used 24/7 they had sleeping chambers, kitchens. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11ivSD3gI6w

The building of the tunnels in Cu Chi town were being built before the Vietnam War in 1940s. This time period was during their war for independence from the French colonial authority. In the beginning the tunnels were being dug out by the soldiers hands and only went a short distance at this time.

“I see light at the end of the tunnel. ”--Walt W “I see light at the end of the tunnel.”--Walt W. Rostow, National Security Adviser, Dec. 1967

Punji Traps Most common booby trap used by the VC. Manufacturing Punji traps: Long nails that were hammered into blocks of wood. Side closing Punji traps: Very common/cheap. Small hole covered by grass, when stepped on soldiers foot would be nailed. Injuries: Penetrating and lacerating wounds.

Toe Popper A bullet placed into a small pipe on a trail, the top of the bullet barely on the surface. When stepped on the bullet would press a nail to the bottom on the pipe, making the bullet explode. Injuries: lost of a boot, broken ankle, or missing toes.

The VC in these tunnels made numerous of booby traps for the US and the South Vietnamese soldiers. They had trip wires so that grenades and bombs would be set off. Also one of their traps was a box of scorpions and posionous snakes and they would throw them on the heads of the enemy soldiers.

“Vietnam presumably taught us that the United States could not serve as the world's policeman; it should also have taught us the dangers of trying to be the world's midwife to democracy when the birth is scheduled to take place under conditions of guerrilla war.”--Jeane Kirkpatrick, 1979 This quote speaks on how as a country we should try to be the “world’s policeman” and go into unknown territory. This territory is where the guerrilla warfare had taken place.

Booby Traps Spike board Punji Trap: Used in a pit, one end of it has spikes on it. When soldier steps on the board it nails him in the face or chest. Door Trap: Lengths of bamboo with nails held above a door when wire is tripped bamboo swings down hitting the soldier. Grenade Trap: A grenade is tied to a stake underwater with the safety pin slightly removed waiting for a soldier to walk into the wire.

“The war was won on both sides: by the Vietnamese on the ground, by the Americans in the electronic mental space. And if the one side won an ideological and political victory, the other made Apocalypse Now and that has gone right around the world.” --Jean Baudrillard, 1986 The underlined part of the quote shows how strong the VC were on the ground, with the guerrilla tactics and underground tunnels.

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