Gulf of Tonkin Incident August 2 nd 4

Gulf of Tonkin Incident • August 2 nd - 4 th 1964 • North Vietnam attacks two US ships

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution President Johnson gets permission from Congress for FULL-ON war!

Operation Ranch Hand • Jungle = too thick and difficult to locate enemy • Solution = destroy the jungle forest • How = using Agent Orange

Agent Orange Legacy • This chemical dioxin killed off millions of acres of jungle • The dioxin got into the food chain causing chromosome damage to humans. • For years even after the war, there were hundreds of children born with deformities.

• New warfare needed a new weapon. • Helicopters never really used in battle before. • Best used for dropping off and picking up platoons on battlefields • They were Helicopters

North Vietnamese Weapons • Their weapons were cheap and reliable. – AK 47 assault rifle outperformed the M 16 – Recycled dud US bombs – Deadly booby-traps http: //www. 5 rar. asn. au/weapons /boobytraps. htm

Tunnel Complexes • Protected them from bombings • Secret base of attack

Tunnel Rats • This is the nickname for the US soldiers who went into the tunnels to attack the Viet Cong.

Viet Cong prisoner awaits interrogation by US Special Forces

Search & Destroy Tactics • In areas where we thought the NLF was operating… • US troops went into villages and checked for weapons. • If weapons were found, US troops rounded up the villagers and burned the village down. • This caused Vietnamese villagers to hate American soldiers. • “If they weren’t Vietcong before we got there, they sure as hell were by the time we left”. • The NFL often helped the villager’s re-build their homes and bury their dead.

The Tet Offensive • January 1968 - Tet holiday in Vietnam • North Vietnam and NLF launched coordinated attacks against major southern cities. • This “Tet Offensive” was designed to force the US into a treaty.

Ho Chi Minh Trail • Why was the US unable to stop the Viet Cong in the South? • Constant flow of supplies and troops to the NLF.