The book I read was titled Here There are Tigers, The Secret Air War in Laos, 1968-69. It was written by Reginald Hawthorn and is his personal experience as a Major in the Air Force. I wanted to know an Air Force pilot’s perspective since I read about so much bombing going on during the Vietnam War. He was an FAC (Forward Air Controller) and flew an O-2 single prop airplane during Vietnam from 1968-1969. Major Reginald Hathorn was an instructor at Laughlin Air Force Base when he got the call on Friday of January 1968 that he would have to leave his wife and two daughters to fight in Vietnam.…
When America left Vietnam that South Vietnamese people were most likely feeling intimidated, scared, but at the same time relieved. In the “Doc-Lap at Last” section of the article, it states “ On April 30, 1975, columns of North Vietnamese soldiers entered Saigon, meeting little resistance for the demoralized South Vietnamese army.” The phrase, “columns of soldiers,”…
I think the vietnamese won this conflict because they played smarter than the US army. Everything that happened with the tunnels and many more things that they did so the americans will not figure who they are. They hid as regular farmers in the day so the US soldiers would not know who they are and then in the night they attacked them. The US army did the total difference they did everything so people will know they are there. They wanted to win that conflict they shot people boombed boombs and they did everything they could to win the conflict.…
The Americans used many tactics during the Vietnam War in an attempt to combat and defeat the Viet Cong and NLF fighters. These tactics included strategic hamlets, napalm, search and destroy and defoliants as well as several others. Some of these tactics were viewed as successful for combating the VC but others were not as most were not effective against guerrilla tactics. The first tactic used by the US to try and stop VC support was strategic hamlets.…
The US military methods failed, but still had an effect on the war. The main reason that they failed was because they couldn't find the enemies. The Viet Cong hid in under ground tunnels, in the jungle or in the villages with the normal innocent civilians, so the US couldn't differentiate between them. Napalm failed because it hardly killed any enemies, and burnt many innocent people alive, this made the Vietnamese civilians disapprove of the Americans. So they thought that they would use defoliants to destroy the jungle, they used a defoliant called 'Agent Orange'. But even after they had destroyed the jungle they still couldn't find the enemies, and because Agent Orange got into the water supplies and cause many birth defects this, again annoyed the civilians. Rolling Thunder failed because it was very expensive and would have been useful but they couldn't hit the target. Search and Destroy missions failed because they were always ambushed. Because of all of the methods used by the Americans, the Vietnamese had stopped supporting them and started to support the Viet Cong, this then made it harder for the US to fight the Viet Cong as they had more support. After the My Lai massacre on the 16 March 1968, the US had killed over 347 innocent civilians and raped and mutilated many of them.…
However, the Americans could have won, it was by no means an “unwinnable war”. All things considered, quite possibly the biggest reason out of the 3 points that caused America to lose the Vietnam war is that they attempted to fight a war of Attrition against the strategy of Guerilla warfare. Hypothetically, the U.S should have been incredibly knowledgeable about the tactics of Guerilla warfare because they have been against it before, however in Vietnam they struggled to find a way to deal with it. In addition, their unfamiliarity played a big role in their struggle to find a way to deal with Guerilla warfare as well, thus giving the North Vietnamese an incredibly significant…
"Johnson had miscalculated: Even the richest and most powerful nation in the world could not do it all" (Turbulent Years: The 60s 36). Lyndon B. Johnson is a president torn to pieces by war. He glows in the passage of bills benefiting American society. He is someone who has suffered through an entire generation of rebellious teens. What impact did Johnson 's foreign policies concerning Vietnam War have on American society?…
Vietnam war was the longest war in American History which fought between 1964 to 1975 and the most unpopular war for the American of the 20th century. This is the only one war that United States lost the war but no one knows the truth because the US government had not told about this war yet. The resulted in nearly 60,000 American deaths and in an estimated 2 million Vietnamese deaths. It seemed like the American won the war but actually they were not. The experience for the American soldier in Vietnam was long and painful one for the nation. During the war, the Vietnam is spilt in the two groups; the South which was Capitalism and the North which was Communism. To support the South Vietnam’s government, the American sent the soldiers…
Vietnam was an actual war, not just a singular battle such as Verdun, therefore, it lasted much longer. The campaigns and battles fought during the Vietnam War lasted from a couple of years to several months with the war itself lasting nearly two decades (“Operation Rolling Thunder” 2010). Operation Rolling Thunder was planned as a bombing campaign against North Vietnam. The first round of the bombs were dropped in March of 1965 and lasted until late 1968. This operation produced three years of continuous bombing on the North Vietnamese in hopes of crippling their ability to wage war against the US and South Vietnam (“Operation Rolling Thunder” 2010). This is nearly identical to what was done to the French at Verdun. One of the differences is that the Germans wanted to drain France of their soldiers, while capturing Verdun was secondary. Without any kind of public eye looking at Verdun, both sides were free to carry out necessary actions to gain victory. The Vietcong used the dense jungle to transport small arms, munitions, and soldiers to the front line of the war. One of the trails that the Vietcong heavily used during the war was the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which consisted of multiple routes as well as fake trails to confuse the United States and other enemies. It was vital that the U.S. destroy the hidden trails in order to prevent more weapons from being transported (Trueman, “Ho Chi Minh Trail”). Cutting off the enemy’s supply lines are top priority in any kind of war or battle. One of the main reasons why the Battle of Verdun lasted almost a year and was able to use an excessive amount of amunitions was that both sides had stable supply lines deploying necessary troops to the front lines. Instead of trenches, Vietnam had a dense jungle that offered a source of great camouflage for the Vietcong and hindered the United States ability to…
The North Vietnamese were miles ahead of the United States in terms of readiness and knowledge of the terrain. When fighting in the jungles of Vietnam, the heavy leafage and overhead coverage made it difficult for American…
During the time of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union fought together being allies against the Axis powers. However they had a tense bond, Americans were aware of Joseph Stalin’s communism and were concerned about his possible motives to completely rule as he does his own country. As for the Soviets, they resented that the Americans did not treat the USSR as a legitimate part of the international community. The Cold War was the name given to the relationship of the USSR and the United States that built after World War II. The Cold War existed in order to dominate international affairs for decades, however many crises occurred such as the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Berlin Wall being created. For many of the people,…
The art of the Vietnamese warfare was extremely threatening to the United States Army. The Vietcong used tactics such as ambushing and booby traps. These tactics were unusual and unexpected to the United States army leaving them at a disadvantage. Another aspect that contributed to the Vietcong advanced warfare was their ability to blend in with Vietnam civilians. Because of their ability to blend in, many innocent civilians were murdered by the United States Army.…
(This Question is not answered in this essay at all so please answer it in some detail using and use examples.)…
In this paper it will explore lessons learned when dealing with diplomatic negotiations, presidential leadership, and cultural/social contexts. During the Vietnam War the United States did not realize the high level of intelligence that the Vietnamese people had and how much their culture and nationalism meant to them. They did not want the United States interfering with their country but some of the leaders in charge felt that the United States could help since they were offering monies and military advisors in regard to the conflicts between North and South Vietnam.…
The Vietnam War is truly one of the most unique wars ever fought by the Unites States of by any country. It was never officially declared a war . It had no official beginning nor an official end. It was fought over 10,000 miles away in a virtually unknown country. The enemy and the allies looked exactly the alike, and may by day be a friend but by night become an enemy. It matched the tried and true tactics of World War Two against a hide, run, and shoot technique known as "Guerrilla Warfare." It matched some of the best trained soldiers in the world against largely an untrained militia of untrained farmers. The United States' soldiers had at least a meal to look forward to unlike the Communist Vietnamese soldiers who considered a fine cuisine to be cold rice and, if lucky, rat meat. The Vietnam War matched the most technically advanced country with one of the least advanced, and the lesser advanced not only beat but humiliated the strongest military in the world. When the war was finally showing signs of end, the Vietnamese returned to a newly unified communist country while the United Stated soldiers returned to be called "baby killers", and were often spat upon. With the complexities of war already long overdrawn because of the length of the war it is no wonder the returning solders often left home confused and returned home insane.…