THE TACTICS OF THE VIETCONG DURING THE VIETNAM

THE TACTICS OF THE VIETCONG DURING THE VIETNAM WAR. Conor Bulman

The Vietnamese People � Vietnam was invaded by the French in 1859. � By the end of the Vietnamese conquest (1888) most Vietnamese were rice farmers. � The French separated Vietnam into three different districts for administrative purposes. � The capital of the north was Hanoi, the centre capital was Hue and the south capital was Saigon � Vietnam at the time was spilt in to the native Vietnamese and the colonial French.

The Effect of WW II on the Vietnam Conflict. There was a power vacuum left. The Vietnamese were left with the weapons The French troops were released without weapons The Japanese left Vietnam

The Truman Doctrine � President Harry S. Truman presented the Truman Doctrine to congress. � It was an anti-communist declaration that would shape American foreign policy for four decades. � It committed America to step in and support the Greece government against communist pressure. � The same mindset was shown when the communist Vietcong started to fight the democratic government.

Why America Intervened � The Americans invaded Vietnam because they thought the communists were going to “win” by taking over a country. � The ruling class of America pushed for the invasion because communist’s opposed their very existence. � Troops were sent to help bolster the French troops.

The Vietcong � The People’s Liberation Armed Forces, more commonly known as the Vietcong, was the military arm of the National Liberation Front. � They were established at the end of 1960. � They were organized in to three different levels, regular forces, full time guerrillas and a part time self defence militia.

Guerrilla Warfare � Guerrilla warfare is used by armies to fight armies that are much bigger than themselves. � The term guerrilla comes from a Spanish word meaning “little war”. � It originated from small bands of Spanish soldiers fighting Napolean’s army in the peninsular war (1807 -1814)

Guerrilla Tactics � The tactics date back to Sun Tzu, the Chinese strategist who lived 2000 years ago. � They were adapted by Mao Zedong, the leader of the communist china. � The National Liberation Front (NLF) based their tactics on Mao.

The Effect of the peasants One of the Vietcong's first actions was to gain the favour of the peasants � They gained the favour by following a certain set rules. � This included working for their food and repairing the houses. � The peasants thus helped the Vietcong by hiding them and some even joined them to fight for the future of equality they were promised. �

The Cu-Chi Tunnels. � The famous tunnels used by the Vietcong were the Cu-Chi tunnels. � They are located approximately 70 KM from Ho Chi Minh city. � They were dug in the late 1940’s. � They allowed the Vietcong to travel must easier then they would above ground.

Weapons used by the Vietcong � Between 1950 and 1960 America supplied south Vietnam with weapons used during the second world war. � These included the M-1 Garand, hand grenades, Thompson submachine guns and the M-1 Carbine. � The Vietcong largely supplied themselves with stolen south Vietcong weapons.

The CHICOM influence. � The CHICOM were a group of Chinese communists. � The CHICOM supplied a small amount of the Vietcong’s weapons. � Some of the communist issued weapons were SKS Semi-automatic carbines, potato masher style grenades and the well known rocket propelled grenades (RPG)

Bibliography � 1) “The American War: Vietnam” by Jonathan Neale. � 2) Battlefield: Vietnam. com � 3) Topdocumentary. com/the-cu-chi-tunnels/