1. VC Tactics
Lobj: to understand how the VC reacted to greater US involvement

2. RECAP WHY US GET INVOLVED? French had been driven out
Initially to support the Diem Govt
To stop the Communists (Ho Chi Minh)
To stop further communist successes (Domino Theory)
Once involved the US felt they had to escalate to try and defeat the VC

3. Neither NVA (in North) or NLF/VC (in the South) could beat the US in a direct fight
They decided to fight a Guerrilla War .

4. Viet Cong and guerrilla tactics.
In early 1965 the VC had 170,000 soldiers.
They were well supplied – from China/USSR – through the Ho Chi Minh Trail
No match for the US in open warfare – Nov’65 in La Dreng Valley, US forces killed 2000 VC for the loss of 300 troops.
Did not daunt Ho Chi Minh

6. Viet Cong and guerrilla tactics.
Example of guerrilla tactics – China by Mao Tse Tung . Ho Chi Minh also used them against France and Japan.
Guerrilla warfare was a nightmare for US forces – guerrillas did not wear uniform, no base or HQ.
Small groups with limited weapons – hard to tell difference between them and peasants.

7. Attacked and disappeared into the jungle, villages or tunnels (ambush tactics)
Aim = to wear down the enemy and wreck their morale – VERY EFFECTIVE.
US soldiers lived in constant fear of ambushes or booby traps – poisoned bamboo, landmines (bouncing betty).
Ho also knew it was important to keep the peasants onside – VC were respectful and courteous

8. VC could be ruthless – killed peasants and people who co-operated with the USA.
Campaign of terror against the police, teachers and tax collectors.
VC killed 27,000 civilians.
GREATEST STRENGTH – they refused to give up – whatever the casualties, there were replacement troops available.

9. Extract from the VC code of conduct:
Be polite
Be fair
Return anything borrowed
Do not damage crops
Do not flirt with women

10. WHY THE AMERICANS LOST THE VIETNAM WAR
The VC were expert Guerilla warfare fighters – the Americans had no answer to this.
VC Tactics can be summarized as:
The enemy attack, we retreat
The enemy camps, we raid
The enemy tires, we attack
The enemy retreats, we pursue!
Impossible to win a battle against a guerilla army – never find out where it was.

11. “The people are the water; our armies are the fish”
The only way to win against a Guerrilla army was to win the support of the local population.
To win – “hearts and minds”

12. Guerrilla warfare
Why were the Vietcong’s tunnel networks so successful?
How did it make the war harder for the USA?

13. The forces in Vietnam
By 1965, nearly 400,000 Americans, Australians and New Zealanders were fighting in Vietnam.