Guerrilla Tactics in the Vietnam War

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  • Guerrilla Tactics
    • Theory
      • Used in China by Mao 1949
      • Ambushes, booby traps, sabotaged empty US bases
      • Built 1000's km tunnels, complex shelters reduced casualty & avoids air raids
      • Supported by most villages, given shelter & food
      • Supplied by NV using HCM trail. USSR & China gave 6000+ tons of supplies every day
    • US Policy
      • Op. Rolling Thunder- 1965 Meant to destroy everything, blanket bomb (esp. HCM trail)  to flush out VC.
      • Started by LBJ when VC attacked US base, Pleiku, 9 killed, 100 wounded
      • Hearts & minds - built schools, health clinics & roads. Went ok in cities, but rural HATED them
    • US Response
      • Agent O - 2+ million hectares destroyed, carcinogenic
      • Napalm - Both Viet + world HATED US for using it, so more VC support
      • S&D - Zippo raids - US soldiers hated climate, & easily stood out, lots of civilians dead, VC ran off, US not trusted by Viet people
      • My Lai - 1968 covered up killing 500 civilians, no VC, then US soldier told the news, huge investigstion - US lost faith in the war
    • Pre-1964
      • Pre-1954 France got it back after WW2, Truman gave $3 million, Eisenhower gave money but not troops, Split into NV (Ho) & SV (Diem)
      • 1961-63 JFK hated Diem, but hated comm. more. 11000 advisors trained SV army, 16,000 in VC. Moved VC villages - they didn't like it. Diem killed in 63
      • 1954-1960 USA containment supported SV, $1.6bn in aid, lots of advisors, no more elections, HCM loved, Diem not.

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