Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known as Second Indochina War or American War in Southeast Asia) lasted from 1955 to 1975. It was fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. North Vietnam was supported by the USSR, China and North Korea, while South Vietnam was supported by the United States with its allies, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines. This conflict between pro-communist and pro-Democratic countries was part of the Cold War.
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[change] Background and causes
Before World War II, Vietnam was part of the French colony of Indochina. During World War II, the Japanese occupied Indochina. At the end of World War II, the Japanese surrendered. After this, the French attempted to take back control. But the French were opposed by a Vietnamese army called the Viet Minh. The Viet Minh had been founded in 1941 by the communist party and was led by Hồ Chí Minh. In July 1954, France and the Viet Minh signed the Geneva Peace Accord. The Viet Minh became the government of North Vietnam while anti-communist Vietnamese, especially Catholics, "regrouped" in the South under the leadership of Bao Dai, a former emperor of Vietnam who had abdicated in 1945.
The United States backed the anti-communist government in South Vietnam. It began to send military advisers to help train and support the South Vietnamese army. The South was fighting against the Viet Cong, a communist party based in South Vietnam which was allied with North Vietnam. The Viet Cong began a campaign of assassination in 1957. In 1959, North Vietnam dramatically increased its military assistance to the Viet Cong, which then began attacking South Vietnamese military units.
[change] Escalation
The U.S. responded by sending more assistance to South Vietnam and also sent soldiers as military advisors. But Soviet support for North Vietnam also increased and the communist forces in the South continued to grow stronger. In 1965, the first United States combat troops entered Vietnam. There would be half a million of them by 1968.
Land battles were fought throughout South Vietnam. Thousands of North Vietnamese Army troops were sent to fight in South Vietnam. There were also thousands of communist soldiers from South Vietnam called Vietcong. Because of this it was often hard for American and South Vietnamese troops to tell friendly civilians from dangerous ones. A tragic example of this mistrust was the My Lai Massacre in March 1968, in which U.S. Army troops killed hundreds of people in a South Vietnamese village. The large number of communist fighters throughout the country meant that American bases were often attacked.
The North Vietnamese and Vietcong were supplied by a vast network of hidden trails, known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Supplies and soldiers from North Vietnam were sent through Laos to communists forces in South Vietnam. America subjected the Ho Chi Minh Trail to extremely heavy bombing and three million bombs were dropped on Laos.
Severe communist losses during the 1968 Tet Offensive made it possible for the U.S. to withdraw many soldiers, a policy called "Vietnamization." South Vietnamese troops were trained and equipped to replace the Americans who left. By 1973, 95 percent of the American troops were gone.
A peace treaty was signed in Paris in January 1973 by all the parties, but fighting continued until 1975.
[change] Vietcong tactics
The Vietcong used mines and booby traps. Many of them were homemade.[1] Although most traps were non-explosive, there were a few explosive traps which all used grenades. A trip wire was placed and if a soldier tripped over the wire, a grenade pin was pulled out and the grenade would blow and kill the soldier.
Another style of trap was nicknamed “Venus Flytrap”. It had about eight barbs attached to a rectangular frame sitting on a small hole. The barbs were facing down so when the soldier’s leg got caught in it, it wouldn’t hurt until he pulled his out. When he pulled his leg out the barbs would rip through his leg.
Another Vietcong trap was the Punji trap. Two wooden platforms were placed and covered with leaves to camouflaged it. There were spikes on the inside of the wood. When a soldier came along and walked on the wood, it caved in and the spikes would go through the soldier’s foot. These traps were the most common because they were the cheapest and very effective. They also were often contaminated so that the soldier would also become infected.
Besides hurting or killing people, these traps were good at causing fear and lowering soldier morale.
Although the traps were very effective and lethal, the Vietcong sometimes fell into their own trap. However, Ho Chi Minh had once said, "You can kill ten of my men for every one I kill of yours, but even at those odds you will lose and I will win". Even with some Vietcong falling into the traps, they still helped the Vietcong. [2] Today, most of the traps are inactive but tourists visiting the Cu Chi tunnels are warned to stay on the paths in case they fall into an undiscovered trap. Replicas and recovered traps can be seen at the Cu Chi tunnels just outside of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.
[change] Related pages
[change] References
- ↑ "Battlefield:Vietnam | Guerrilla Tactics". pbs.org. 2011 [last update]. http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/guerrilla/index.html. Retrieved March 13, 2011.
- ↑ "Vietnam Passage. The City: Colonial Saigon | PBS". pbs.org. 2011 [last update]. http://www.pbs.org/vietnampassage/City/city.colonial.html. Retrieved March 13, 2011.
[change] Other websites
