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U.S. vs Communist Military Strategy Essay
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U.S. vs Communist Military Strategy Essay A Level History the Cold War
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ParagraphU.S. Military strategy between 1965 and 1969 was made up of many tactics including bombing,
escalation, airborne calvary, technology and search and destroy missions. The bombing strategy they
used was known as Operation Rolling Thunder. The aims were to boost morale of the Saigon Regime
in South Vietnam; persuade the North to stop communist support without ground troops; planned
to destroy the North’s transport systems, industrial bases and air defence and finally they aimed to
halt the flow of men and material through the Ho Chi Minh Trail. They dropped around 8 million
tonnes of explosives (equivalent to 640 ‘Little Boy’ nuclear devices) and also used other weapons
including Napalm, White Phosphorus, Cluster Bombs and High Explosive Ordinance. Although it did
cause mass destruction, it caused long term impacts on the public. The operation was halted, and
the North Vietnamese people reacted oppositely to how the US expected. The operation was such a
failure that Johnson was forced by US public reaction to stop the offensive. The operation arguably
caused the complete adverse reaction that the US were hoping for. Communist ally relations were
strengthened between North Vietnam and China, USSR and North Korea and the North Korean
public united in anti-American sentiment, forcing them further into Communist hands. The next
tactic they use is ground forces as an escalation tactic. 2/3 of US ground forces volunteered for the
military and the other 1/3 were part of the forced conscription. Clear racial bias was shown as
African Americans constituted 13% of US ground troops and they were often assigned to dangerous
combat role rather than desk jobs. The discrimination often caused them to sympathise with the
racism the opposition faced. The peace symbol was often worn as a badge which undermined the US
effort. There were many problems with behaviour and trust in the US Army, the Marines were not
keen to follow orders and many service personnel distrusted and disliked the ARVN. The average age
of ‘grunts’ were 19 who lacked experience. There was a significant issue with drug and substance
abuse (in 1971 20,529 servicemen required treatment for drug abuse) also at least 25% of ground
troops had some sort of sexually transmitted disease. The US used Airborne Calvary as support. Due
to the mountainous terrain in Vietnam, huey helicopters and air support were necessary to transport
gunships and be used for medical evacuation. The helicopters worked well to transport troops,
medical aid and support the combat troops and showed signs of the US army adapting to the
mountainous terrain. However, the loud nature of the helicopters meant the Viet Cong were alerted
and could escape untouched. The Search and Destroy (ground offensive) tactic was where they sent
out platoons into the South Vietnamese countryside, locating and destroying elements of the Viet
Cong within South Vietnamese villages, troop withdrawal and evacuation from the target areas. US
patrols searched villages and hamlets, exposing them to ambush. In consequence, winning ‘Hearts
and Minds’ of the Vietnamese people was crushed and practically impossible. As the war became
more aggressive, the more the Vietnamese people turned against the US and the less effective their
missions were. The ‘destroy’ element of the offensive was futile as the guerrillas returned to
evacuated areas with more reinforcements and weapons. This strategy was not well planned,
thought out or adapted to the circumstances of the war. Westmoreland did not anticipate the reality
of the missions nor the aftermath. The mission backfired on all its aims and especially crushed the US
effort to win the ‘hearts and minds’ of the people of South Vietnam. The tactic was the technology
and weaponry. Most used was the M-60 machine gun which could fire up to 550 bullets in quick
succession with a range of 2,000 yards. Also used was the M-16 which often jammed, many saw it as
a death trap as well as ‘cluster bombs’. Some of the weaponry used by the US was slightly effective
however a lot the strategies had drawbacks which made them hard to use. The chemical warfare
had long-lasting and drastic impacts not only on the Vietnamese people but also on US servicemen
and their families. However, the potential of this huge technological advantage the US had over the
Viet Cong was in reality not very effective and impacted the South Vietnamese people the worst.
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