US Tactics
History: Cambridge International GCSE The Twentieth Century (Option B), topic 5.3.5
US Tactics
The US focused on winning the war through capturing land and killing the VC, rather than gaining public support.
Operation Rolling Thunder
- Johnson wanted to bomb North Vietnam into surrender, rather than sending US troops to Vietnam.
- It targeted the Ho Chi Minh trail and industry, but not the capital Hanoi and not the port where Soviet supplies arrived in the North.
- 90,000 were killed, and it cost the US $4billion.
Failures of Operation Rolling Thunder
- However it failed because the VC used tunnels under the Ho Chi Minh trail to avoid the bombings, so supplies continued.
- The USSR and China sent military supplies into the North, so the destruction of industry didn’t matter too much.
- The USSR sent $505 million in aid in 1967.
- Also, the high civilian death rates made the USA even more unpopular.
Napalm
- As well as conventional bombs, Operation Rolling Thunder used napalm.
- A highly flammable substance made from petrol thickened with soaps that stuck to skin and burnt through to the bone.
Pineapple bombs
- They also used pineapple bombs that sprayed pellets everywhere when they exploded, shooting into people like bullets.
US Tactics
The US focused on winning the war through capturing land and killing the VC, rather than gaining public support.
Search and Destroy
- In March 1965, 3500 US marines arrived in South Vietnam.
- Small units of them (supported by the ARVN) would hunt down and destroy VC villages in the South by bombing or using chemical weapons.
Operation Cedar Falls
- One example was Operation Cedar Falls in 1967 where the US burnt down villages for three weeks, killing 750 VC.
- Despite some early successes in finding and killing VC fighters, as soon as the US troops left the VC returned to the area.
- The attacks made 4 million South Vietnamese into refugees from the violence, making the US and South Vietnamese government even more unpopular.
Agent Orange
- Agent Orange was a weedkiller used to destroy jungle and farmland.
- It helped the US find VC bases and stop villagers from feeding the Viet Cong.
- From 1964 to 1971, Operation Ranch Hand sprayed chemicals across South Vietnam.
- Over 24% of the land and 3,000 villages were affected.
- It poisoned water supplies and caused serious health problems, sometimes fatal.
Test yourself on US Tactics
What was the Operation Johnson authorised in an attempt to bomb Vietnam into surrender?
Which American operation ran from 1964-1971 and involved the spreading of Agent Orange?
Operation Cedar Falls made how many South Vietnamese refugees?