1. Tactics of the Vietnam War

2. America Exerts its Strength
Operation Rolling Thunder (Feb. 1965)
Massive bombing campaign of North Vietnam
Goals:
Boost morale of South
Get North to stop sending arms to Vietcong
Ia Drang Valley (Nov. 1965)
First major battle with NVA
American victory

3. Attempts & Failures 1965 – CIA’s Operation Phoenix:
Interrogating, torturing & killing suspected Vietcong
Later – Congressional hearings into the “state- sponsored murder program”

4. America’s High-Tech War
B52 bombers
Artillery
Helicopters

5. Agent Orange
Defoliant: To remove unwanted foliage which provided cover for enemy
20 million gallons used in Vietnam
Exposure causes harm– both Vietnamese & U.S. vets
Risk of cancer & genetic defects

6. Napalm “Jellied gasoline” - a flammable liquid
A thickener; when mixed with gasoline, makes a sticky incendiary gel
Used to clear helicopter landing zones
“Anti-personnel" weapon: sticks & burns skin

9. "Napalm is the most terrible pain you can imagine
"Napalm is the most terrible pain you can imagine. Water boils at 100˚ C. Napalm generates temperatures of 800˚ to 1,200˚ C."

10. Patrols
American troops were sent on patrols, then supported by air and artillery when attacked.
This demoralised the soldiers, who realised they were being used just as bait.

11. Search & Destroy Missions
Conquer villages to weed out Viet Cong & support network
Led to violence

12. Why Search & Destroy Failed
Killed many innocent civilians
Forced the peasants to leave Vietcong-controlled areas
This created immense opposition, and allowed Vietcong infiltrators into loyal areas.
Broader Tactical failure
NVN willing to endure many losses
Viet Cong not easily identified
Easy to ambush

13. Vietcong Tactics They fought a guerrilla war
Ambushing US patrols
Setting booby traps and landmines
Planting bombs in towns
Mingled in with the peasants
Supplied with rockets/weapons by China and Russia
They used the Ho Chi Minh Trail - through Laos and Cambodia

14. Land Mines and Booby Traps
Cheap and Effective

15. Tunnels
“Search & Destroy” clips

16. Tet Offensive
Jan 30 - Jun 8, 1968
Series of Viet Cong & NVN offensives
“Tet Offensive” clips

17. 1968 – A Defining Year Almost 525,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam
Tet Offensive (Jan)
My Lai Massacre (Mar 16)
President Johnson orders halt to U.S. bombing of NVN (Oct 31)
SVN and Viet Cong join U.S. and NVN in Paris peace talks