Air Power-
- US bombing Campaigns, such as Operation Rolling Thunder, were campaigns made in hope of destroying the Vietcongs supply routes to the south.
- Successes of this was that it damaged Vietnam’s war effort and disrupted its supply routes. It also caused significant damage to cities and towns in North Vietnam
- Failures were that North Vietnam only had a few factories to bomb, the countryside was mostly affected. It encouraged more support for North Vietnam. It did not stop supplies to the Vietcong and it was very expensive (it was calculated that it took 75 bombs and 400 artillery shells to kill one Vietcong soldier, an expense of $400,000.
- Attacks with Napalm and Agent Orange were used. Napalm was a strong weapon that burned you to the bone. It burned vigorously and was very sticky and couldn’t be scraped off. It also burned underwater, and if it still didn’t kill you, you could die of phosphorus poisoning as it contained phosphorus to make it burn better. Agent Orange was a chemical used on the jungles that hid their enemies and food supplies. It was a highly toxic weed killer that would kill the jungle. It also had drastic effects afterwards, such as making unborn babies handicapped.
- Successes were that it killed the jungle and lessened the power of the Vietcong’s guerilla tactics.
- Failures were that it caused massive unpopularity with the people and many switched to supporting the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong. It made peasants more likely to hide Vietcong as they would side with them.
Ground tactics-
- The USA got their troops to defend their air bases instead of fighting aggressively.
- Successes were that it was more popular with the US public as this way there would be fewer casualties and they could face the North Vietnamese in a pitched battle where the US’s advanced weapons would be stronger. This was proven in their first fight at Ia Drang Valley, when the North Vietnamese lost 1800 men and the USA had 240 casualties.
- Failures were that the US could not follow the North Vietnamese into neutral Cambodia and the Vietnamese were not so much affected by the losses since they were so dedicated to their cause. However, if the US had this amount of deaths, the US public would not be able to stand it.
Search and Destroy-
- Search and Destroy was when the US and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) forces would descend on a village suspected of supporting the Vietcong forces and annihilate it.
- Successes were that they would kill a number of Vietcong guerrilla fighters.
- Failures were that inexperienced US troops often walked into traps, inadequate information often meant that innocent villages were destroyed and there were a lot of civilian casualties, and this made the USA and the ARVN extremely unpopular with the peasants. The peasants would probably support the Vietcong after stuff like this.
- US bombing Campaigns, such as Operation Rolling Thunder, were campaigns made in hope of destroying the Vietcongs supply routes to the south.
- Successes of this was that it damaged Vietnam’s war effort and disrupted its supply routes. It also caused significant damage to cities and towns in North Vietnam
- Failures were that North Vietnam only had a few factories to bomb, the countryside was mostly affected. It encouraged more support for North Vietnam. It did not stop supplies to the Vietcong and it was very expensive (it was calculated that it took 75 bombs and 400 artillery shells to kill one Vietcong soldier, an expense of $400,000.
- Attacks with Napalm and Agent Orange were used. Napalm was a strong weapon that burned you to the bone. It burned vigorously and was very sticky and couldn’t be scraped off. It also burned underwater, and if it still didn’t kill you, you could die of phosphorus poisoning as it contained phosphorus to make it burn better. Agent Orange was a chemical used on the jungles that hid their enemies and food supplies. It was a highly toxic weed killer that would kill the jungle. It also had drastic effects afterwards, such as making unborn babies handicapped.
- Successes were that it killed the jungle and lessened the power of the Vietcong’s guerilla tactics.
- Failures were that it caused massive unpopularity with the people and many switched to supporting the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong. It made peasants more likely to hide Vietcong as they would side with them.
Ground tactics-
- The USA got their troops to defend their air bases instead of fighting aggressively.
- Successes were that it was more popular with the US public as this way there would be fewer casualties and they could face the North Vietnamese in a pitched battle where the US’s advanced weapons would be stronger. This was proven in their first fight at Ia Drang Valley, when the North Vietnamese lost 1800 men and the USA had 240 casualties.
- Failures were that the US could not follow the North Vietnamese into neutral Cambodia and the Vietnamese were not so much affected by the losses since they were so dedicated to their cause. However, if the US had this amount of deaths, the US public would not be able to stand it.
Search and Destroy-
- Search and Destroy was when the US and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) forces would descend on a village suspected of supporting the Vietcong forces and annihilate it.
- Successes were that they would kill a number of Vietcong guerrilla fighters.
- Failures were that inexperienced US troops often walked into traps, inadequate information often meant that innocent villages were destroyed and there were a lot of civilian casualties, and this made the USA and the ARVN extremely unpopular with the peasants. The peasants would probably support the Vietcong after stuff like this.