US Warfare Tactics in the Vietnam War (Edexcel GCSE History): Revision Note

Summary

The United States was far more technologically advanced than Vietnam and the wealthiest nation in the world. It used its enormous wealth and advanced technology to try to bring about victory. This involved a relentless aerial bombing campaign, the use of helicopters to search for and destroy Vietcong (VC) fighters and the use of toxic chemicals to burn and poison the jungles of South Vietnam

What was Operation Rolling Thunder in 1965?

• Operation Rolling Thunder was the name of an enormous American strategic bombing campaign that ran from March 1965 to November 1968

  • It had two main intentions: 

    • To stop factories in North Vietnam from making weapons and supplies

    • To prevent weapons and supplies travelling down the Ho Chi Minh Trailto the Vietcong

The impacts of Operation Rolling Thunder

What was ‘search & destroy’?

• Unlike the French and the Japanese who had fought in Vietnam, the Americans had large numbers of helicopters

  • US generals believed that helicopters would give them a huge advantage as they would be able to move troops around the jungle quickly in pursuit of the VC

• US soldiers would quickly descend on villages and search for any evidence of VC activity or supplies

  • If they found any, they would destroy the village and move the villagers to a strategic hamlet

The impacts of ‘search & destroy’

• The US soldiers were still vulnerable to booby traps and ambushes as soon as they left their helicopters

• It made over three million South Vietnamese homeless

• It turned many South Vietnamese people against the Americans

• The VC went into hiding when they heard the helicopters arriving and reemerged to take control of the area once the Americans left

• Television footage of American soldiers burning the villages of poor Vietnamese farmers damaged the USA’s reputation

What was Operation Cedar Falls in 1967?

• Operation Cedar Falls was an enormous search and destroy mission that was launched in January 1967

• A large area near the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon had been identified as containing large numbers of VC fighters, tunnels and supply depots

• Thousands of Innocent villagers were forcibly removed from their homes to create ‘free fire’ areas

• Around 30,000 US and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) soldiers then swept the area, destroying tunnels, capturing supplies and searching for VC

The impacts of Operation Cedar Falls

• The majority of VC soldiers were able to escape the area before the operation was launched

  • Although around 700 guerilla fighters were killed and many tonnes of supplies captured, it did not greatly impact the VC’s ability to fight and control the area

Chemical warfare: Napalm & Operation Ranch Hand

• Napalm is a highly flammable chemical liquid jelly

  • When dropped in bombs, the burning jelly sprays out over a large area

  • It sticks to anything it hits, including people, and is extremely difficult to extinguish

• American forces used around 400,000 tonnes of napalm throughout the Vietnam War leading to many civilian deaths and injuries

• Operation Ranch Hand ran from 1962 to 1971 and was designed to destroy the jungle and crops that hid and fed the VC

  • It involved spraying 19 millions of gallons of powerful herbicides such as Agent Orange and Agent Blue over huge areas of South Vietnam

• The poisonous chemicals stayed in the soil for years after the war and led to cancer, birth defects and miscarriages among the people who lived there