|
Vietnam War History Site - Support Our Troops and Veterans
The Cu Chi Tunnels near Ho Chi Minh City are an
incredible destination for war and history buffs. During the Vietnam War it was the major battleground
between the U.S and Viet Cong. In the heart of the jungle,
200km of tunnels were well hidden from American soldiers. Originally built to protect the Vietnamese
from French air strikes in the lat 1940's to 1950's, they were re-used during the 60's
as a staging ground for attacks on American troops. Surprisingly,
the U.S. knew that the tunnels were there, they simply could not find them or destroy them.
They put everything they had into taking out the tunnels from dispersing agent orange and napalm to relentlessly dropping
bombs, but the caves remained in tact. The land didn't fare as well and the jungle was completely
destroyed along with everything in it. Today it is thriving once again however, showing that with time,
the earth can repair even the harshest results of destruction. If you are lucky, you may receive a first hand account from a former Vietnamese soldier.
Guides will tell you stories of their time in the war and can give you information on intimate details
of the war that took place in this jungle. If you listen carefully, you can learn a great deal
about history. The Viet Cong used the jungle
to their advantage. They could run through with ease, knowing their way around their own land and had several
cave entrances at the ready to disappear into. They were hidden well with termite hills placed
atop, or with leaves scattered above. Guide dogs could not follow their scent because they would
sprinkle cayenne pepper around the entrance confusing the dogs and making them turn in the opposite
direction. They could safely disappear into the 200 km system and if followed, the American soldiers
couldn't fit inside anyway. The entrances were tiny and made for a slight frame, for a large U.S.
soldier, fitting in would be almost impossible without blasting it. They knew their tunnels well, unlike the American soldier. They would enter the tunnel avoiding the booby traps
placed to kill or maim the enemy. Several different types of crude traps were laid in wait for
the poor soldier that had to follow them in or the soldier that was sent to investigate upon a discovery. There were other tactics besides the tunnels that offered the Vietnamese an
advantage against the United States. Surprisingly, foot rot was a major problem with U.S. soldiers.
The heat and humidity of the rain forest caused sores, rotting flesh and infection. When your major
form of battle is to walk through the jungle this can be a serious problem. Instead of wearing boots,
the Vietcong wore rubber sandals made from tires. They are well constructed and durable and you can see
them for yourself. If you want to try them out, buy a pair for a nominal fee. It is impossible to imagine how people managed to live in these tunnels for several years. The passageways were
very tight at less than a meter high and they were dark and filled with disease. They had to deal with
insects and venomous snakes and the fear of being found out. However, the Vietnamese managed to carve
out a way of life however building kitchens, living areas and first aid stations. Your tour will take you to all of the different types of
living quarters and rooms. It is a comfortable tour and the tunnel walls have even been blasted out
to make it larger and more comfortable for tourists. However, there are still some original entrances
available to be explored and you will have the opportunity to go into an original tunnel yourself and crawl for
150 meters experiencing what it was like during the war. Your guide will take you to an original entrance which is simply a very small hole in the
ground. He will show you how to enter and then you are on your own to squeeze through and make
your way to the other end. It can be frightening indeed, but be sure to give it a try. It is a
crazy experience to crawl through these tiny tunnels and imagine what it must have been like for its
inhabitants. After you
have thoroughly explored the caves, you will also learn other ways that the Vietnamese managed to defeat America. They
could track soldiers easily in the jungle by using plants. You will see how they cooked only during
the foggy mornings to hide their smoke and you will learn how farmers smuggled food to the Vietcong
Here you will find memories of the War in Vietnam brought to you by a Veteran of that war.
The Cu Chi Tunnels near Ho Chi Minh City
are an incredible destination for war and history buffs. During the Vietnam War it was the major battleground between the
U.S and Viet Cong. In the heart of the jungle, 200km of tunnels were well hidden from American soldiers. Originally
built to protect the Vietnamese from French air strikes in the lat 1940's to 1950's, they were re-used during the
60's as a staging ground for attacks on American troops. Surprisingly, the U.S. knew that the tunnels were there, they
simply could not find them or destroy them. They put everything they had into taking out the tunnels from dispersing
agent orange and napalm to relentlessly dropping bombs, but the caves remained in tact. The land didn't fare as
well and the jungle was completely destroyed along with everything in it. Today it is thriving once again however, showing
that with time, the earth can repair even the harshest results of destruction. If you are lucky, you may receive a first hand
account from a former Vietnamese soldier. Guides will tell you stories of their time in the war and can give you information
on intimate details of the war that took place in this jungle. If you listen carefully, you can learn a great deal about
history. The Viet Cong used the jungle to their advantage. They could run through with ease, knowing their way around
their own land and had several cave entrances at the ready to disappear into. They were hidden well with termite hills
placed atop, or with leaves scattered above. Guide dogs could not follow their scent because they would sprinkle cayenne
pepper around the entrance confusing the dogs and making them turn in the opposite direction. They could safely disappear
into the 200 km system and if followed, the American soldiers couldn't fit inside anyway. The entrances were tiny and
made for a slight frame, for a large U.S. soldier, fitting in would be almost impossible without blasting it. They knew their
tunnels well, unlike the American soldier. They would enter the tunnel avoiding the booby traps placed to kill or maim the
enemy. Several different types of crude traps were laid in wait for the poor soldier that had to follow them in or the
soldier that was sent to investigate upon a discovery.
There
were other tactics besides the tunnels that offered the Vietnamese an advantage against the United States. Surprisingly, foot
rot was a major problem with U.S. soldiers. The heat and humidity of the rain forest caused sores, rotting flesh and infection.
When your major form of battle is to walk through the jungle this can be a serious problem. Instead of wearing boots, the
Vietcong wore rubber sandals made from tires. They are well constructed and durable and you can see them for yourself. If
you want to try them out, buy a pair for a nominal fee. It is impossible to imagine how people managed to live in these tunnels
for several years. The passageways were very tight at less than a meter high and they were dark and filled with disease. They
had to deal with insects and venomous snakes and the fear of being found out. However, the Vietnamese managed to carve out
a way of life however building kitchens, living areas and first aid stations. Your tour will take you to all of the
different types of living quarters and rooms. It is a comfortable tour and the tunnel walls have even been blasted out to
make it larger and more comfortable for tourists. However, there are still some original entrances available to be explored
and you will have the opportunity to go into an original tunnel yourself and crawl for 150 meters experiencing what it was
like during the war. Your guide will take you to an original entrance which is simply a very small hole in the ground.
He will show you how to enter and then you are on your own to squeeze through and make your way to the other end. It
can be frightening indeed, but be sure to give it a try. It is a crazy experience to crawl through these tiny tunnels and
imagine what it must have been like for its inhabitants. After you have thoroughly explored the caves, you will also
learn other ways that the Vietnamese managed to defeat America. They could track soldiers easily in the jungle by using plants.
You will see how they cooked only during the foggy mornings to hide their smoke and you will learn how farmers smuggled food
to the Vietcong Reflections, Memories, and Images of Vietnam Past
The
Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, and in Vietnam as the American War, occurred from 1959 to April 30, 1975.
The term Vietnam Conflict is often used to refer to events which took place between 1959 and April 30, 1975. The war was fought
between the communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam and its communist allies and the US supported Republic of Vietnam. It
concluded with the defeat and dissolution of South Vietnam. For the United States, the war ended with the withdrawal of American
troops and failure of its foreign policy in Vietnam.
Over 1.4 million military personnel were killed in the war only
6% were members of the United States armed forces), while estimates of civilian fatalities range up to 2 million. On April
30, 1975, the capital of South Vietnam, Saigon fell to the communist forces of North Vietnam, effectively ending the Vietnam
War.
Various names have been
applied to the conflict, and these have shifted over time, although Vietnam War is the most commonly used title in English.
It has been variously called the Second Indochina War, the Vietnam Conflict, the Vietnam War, and, in Vietnamese, Chin tranh
Vit Nam (The Vietnam War), Kháng chin chng M (Resistance War against America) or The American War.
As dictated by
the Geneva Conference of 1954, the partition of Vietnam was meant to be only temporary, pending national elections on July
20, 1956. Much like Korea, the agreement stipulated that the two military zones were to be separated by a temporary demarcation
line (known as the Demilitarized Zone or DMZ). The United States, alone among the great powers, refused to sign the Geneva
agreement. The President of South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem, declined to hold elections. This called into question the United
States' commitment to democracy in the region, but also raised questions about the legitimacy of any election held in
the communist-run North. President Dwight D. Eisenhower expressed U.S. fears when he wrote that, in 1954,80 per cent of the
population would have voted for the Communist Ho Chi Minh over Emperor Bao Dai. However, this wide popularity was expressed
before Ho's disastrous land reform program and a peasant revolt in Ho's home province which had to be bloodily suppressed.
In June 1961,
John F. Kennedy bitterly disagreed with Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev when they met in Vienna over key U.S.-Soviet issues.
Cold war strategists concluded Southeast Asia would be one of the testing grounds where Soviet forces would test the USA's
containment policy - begun during the Truman Administration and solidified by the stalemate resulting from the Korean War.
Although Kennedy
stressed long-range missile parity with the Soviets, he was also interested in using special forces for counter insurgency
warfare in Third World countries threatened by communist insurgencies. Originally intended for use behind front lines after
a conventional invasion of Europe, Kennedy believed that the guerrilla tactics employed by special forces such as the Green
Berets would be effective in a "brush fire" war in Vietnam. He saw British success in using such forces in Malaya
as a strategic template.
On August 2,
1964, the USS Maddox, on an intelligence mission along North Vietnam's coast, started a gunfight with torpedo boats in
the Gulf of Tonkin. However, the Maddox claimed that it was attacked. A second attack was reported two days later on the USS
Turner Joy and Maddox in the same area. The circumstances of the attack were murky. Lyndon Johnson commented to Under-secretary
of State George Ball that "those sailors out there may have been shooting at flying fish." The second attack led
to retaliatory air strikes, prompted Congress to approve the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, and gave the president power to conduct
military operations in South East Asia without declaring war. In the same month, Johnson pledged that he was not "...committing
American boys to fighting a war that I think ought to be fought by the boys of Asia to help protect their own land."
Escalation of
the Vietnam War officially started on the morning of January 31, 1965 when orders were cut and issued to mobilize the 18th
TAC Fighter Squadron from Okinawa to Danang air force base (AFB). A red alert alarm to scramble was sounded at Kadena AFB
at 3:00 a.m. F-105's, pilots and support were deployed from Okinawa and landed in Vietnam that afternoon to join up with
other smaller units who had already arrived weeks earlier. Preparations were under way for the first step of Operation Flaming
Dart. The mission of Operation Flaming Dart, to cross the Seventeenth Parallel into North Vietnam, was already planned and
in place before the attack on Pleiku. The attack on Pleiku occurred on February 6, 1965. On February 7, 1965 forty nine F-105
Thunderchiefs flew out of Danang AFB to targets located in North Vietnam. From this day forward the war was no longer confined
to South Vietnam. It took almost an hour to get all forty nine of the F-105's in the air. On that morning, the continuous
loud roar of the F-105 engines going down the runway, one following another, was described by the ground crew as a "rolling
thunder". At this time the Marines had not landed and Danang AFB was unprotected.
After several
attacks, it was decided that U.S. Air Force bases needed more protection. The South Vietnamese military seemed incapable of
providing security. On March 8, 1965, 3,500 United States Marines were dispatched to South Vietnam. This marked the beginning
of the American ground war. U.S. public opinion overwhelmingly supported the deployment. Public opinion, however, was based
on the premise that Vietnam was part of a global struggle against communism. In a statement similar to that made to the French,
almost two decades earlier, Ho Chi Minh warned that if the Americans "want to make war for twenty years then we shall
make war for twenty years. If they want to make peace, we shall make peace and invite them to afternoon tea." As former
First Deputy Foreign Minister Tran Quang Co noted, the primary goal of the war was to reunify Vietnam and secure its independence.
The policy of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) was not to topple other non-communist governments in South East Asia.
During the 1968 presidential election, Richard M. Nixon promised "peace with honor". His plan was to
build up the ARVN, so that they could take over the defence of South Vietnam (the Nixon Doctrine). The policy became known
as "Vietnamization", a term criticized by Robert K. Brigham for implying that, to that date, only Americans had
been dying in the conflict. Vietnamization had much in common with the policies of the Kennedy administration. One important
difference, however, remained. While Kennedy insisted that the South Vietnamese fight the war themselves, he attempted to
limit the scope of the conflict. In pursuit of a withdrawal strategy, Richard Nixon was prepared to employ a variety of tactics,
including widening the war.
The Paris Peace
Accord, agreed between communist Le Duc Tho, Henry Kissinger and reluctantly signed in January 1973 by President Thieu, produced
a ceasefire and allowed for the exchange of prisoners of war. Later that year the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Henry Kissinger
and Le Duc Tho but the Vietnamese negotiator declined it saying that a true peace did not yet exist in Vietnam. Gerald Ford
took over in 1974 after President Nixon, who resigned the presidency on August 9 due to the Watergate scandal.
The U.S. midterm elections in 1974 brought in a new Congress dominated by Democrats who were much more willing to confront
the President on the war. Congress immediately voted in restrictions on funding and military activities to be phased in through
1975 and to culminate in a total cut off of funding in 1976. On December 13, 1974, North Vietnam violated the Paris peace
treaty by attacking into the South. When North Vietnam violated the 1973 cease-fire agreement and invaded the South again
in 1975, Ford desperately asked Congress for funds to assist and re-supply the South before it was overrun. Congress refused.
The U.S. had promised Thieu that it would use airpower to support his government. But, having been forbidden by law to assist
South Vietnam, Ford was unable to act. The balance of power thus shifted decisively in North Vietnam's favour.
On April
30, 1975, VPA troops overcame all resistance, quickly capturing key buildings and installations. A tank crashed through the
gates of the Presidential Palace and at 11:30 a.m. local time with the NLF flag raised above it. Thieu's successor, President
Duong Van Minh, attempted to surrender, but VPA Colonel Bui Quang Than informed him that he had nothing left to surrender.
Minh then issued his last command, ordering all South Vietnamese troops to lay down their arms.
The Communists
had attained their goal: they had toppled the Saigon regime. But the cost of victory was high. In the past decade alone, one
Vietnamese in every ten had been a casualty of war. Nearly a million and a half killed, three million wounded. Vietnam had
been a tormented land, and its ordeal was not over.
|
In the 1950's the United States began to send troops
to Vietnam. During the following 25-years the ensuing war would create some of the strongest tensions in US history. Almost
3 million US men and women were sent thousands of miles to fight for what was a questionable cause. In total, it is estimated
that over 2,5 million people on both sides were killed.
This site does not try to document the entire history of
the Vietnam War, but is intended as a picture essay illustrating some of the incredible conditions under which soldiers from
both sides lived, fought, played and ultimately died. The legendary combat photographer, Tim Page, took almost all of the images shown on this site and they are nothing short of stunning.
In 1950, the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam and China recognized each other diplomatically. The Soviet Union quickly followed suit. U.S.
President Harry S. Truman countered by recognizing the French puppet government of Vietnam. Washington feared that Hanoi was
a pawn of Communist China and, by extension, Moscow. This flew in the face of the long historical antipathy between the two
nations, of which the U.S. seems to have been completely ignorant. As Doan Huynh commented,Vietnam a part of the Chinese expansionist
game in Asia? For anyone who knows the history of Indochina, this is incomprehensible.Nevertheless, Chinese support was very
important to the Viet Minh's success, and China largely supported the Vietnamese Communists through the end of the war.
The outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 marked a decisive turning point. From the perspective of many in Washington,
D.C., what had been a colonial war in Indochina was transformed into another example of communist expansionism directed by
the Kremlin.
In 1956 one of
the leading communists in the south, Le Duan, returned to Hanoi to urge the Vietnam Workers' Party to take a firmer stand
on the reunification of Vietnam under Communist leadership. But Hanoi (then in a severe economic crisis) hesitated in launching
a full-scale military struggle. The northern Communists feared U.S. intervention and believed that conditions in South Vietnam
were not yet ripe for a people's revolution. However, in December 1956, Ho Chi Minh authorized the Viet Minh cadres still
in South Vietnam to begin a low level insurgency. In North Vietnamese political theory, the action was a subset of "political
struggle" called "armed propaganda," and consisted mostly in kidnappings and terrorist attacks.
Four hundred
government officials were assassinated in 1957 alone, and the violence gradually increased. While the terror was originally
aimed at local government officials, it soon broadened to include other symbols of the status quo, such as school teachers,
health workers, agricultural officials, etc. One estimate purports that by 1958, 20% of South Vietnam's village chiefs
had been murdered by the insurgents. What was sought was a method of completely destroying government control in South Vietnam's
rural villages in order to be replaced by an NLF shadow government. Finally, in January 1959, under pressure from southern
cadres who were being targeted by Diem's secret police, the north's Central Committee issued a secret resolution authorizing
an "armed struggle." This authorized the southern Viet Minh to begin large scale operations against the South Vietnamese
military. In response, Diem enacted tough new anti-communist laws. However, North Vietnam supplied troops and supplies in
earnest, and the infiltration of men and weapons from the north began along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
The Kennedy administration
remained essentially committed to the Cold War foreign policy inherited from the Truman and Eisenhower administrations. In
1961, Kennedy faced a three-part crisis - the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion, the construction of the Berlin Wall, and
a negotiated settlement between the pro-Western government of Laos and the Pathet Lao communist movement made Kennedy believe
another failure on the part of the United States to gain control and stop communist expansion would fatally damage U.S. credibility
with its allies and his own reputation. Kennedy determined to 'draw a line in the sand' and prevent a communist victory
in Vietnam saying, "Now we have a problem making our power credible and Vietnam looks like the place" to James Reston
of the New York Times (immediately after meeting Khrushchev in Vienna)
The National
Security Council recommended a three-stage escalation of the bombing of North Vietnam. On March 2, 1965, following an attack
on a U.S. Marine barracks at Pleiku, Operation Flaming Dart and Operation Rolling Thunder commenced. The bombing campaign,
which ultimately lasted three years, was intended to force North Vietnam to cease its support for the National Front for the
Liberation of South Vietnam (NLF) by threatening to destroy North Vietnam's air defenses and industrial infrastructure.
As well, it was aimed at bolstering the morale of the South Vietnamese. Between March 1965 and November 1968, "Rolling
Thunder" deluged the north with a million tons of missiles, rockets and bombs. Bombing was not restricted to North Vietnam.
Other aerial campaigns, such as Operation Commando Hunt, targeted different parts of the NLF and People's Army of Vietnam
(PAVN) infrastructure. These included the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which ran through Laos and Cambodia. The objective of forcing
North Vietnam to stop its support for the NLF, however, was never reached. As one officer noted "this is a political
war and it calls for discriminate killing. The best weapon would be a knife The worst is an airplane." The Chief of Staff
of the United States Air Force Curtis LeMay, however, had long advocated saturation bombing in Vietnam and wrote of the Communists
that "we're going to bomb them back into the Stone Age"
The anti-war
movement was gaining strength in the United States. Nixon appealed to the "Silent Majority" of Americans to support
the war. But revelations of the My Lai Massacre, in which U.S. forces went on a rampage and killed civilians, including women
and children, provoked national and international outrage.
Though a "misunderstood event" in US history,
the Vietnam War was a time when the US had the most powerful air force. Air force advisors were even sent to South Vietnam
with a variety of planes on which to train the South Vietnamese Air Force in aerial tactics and techniques.
In 1965, jet aircraft arrived in South Vietnam with the Republic F-105
Thunderchiefs, large fighter-bombers with limited maneuverability as the first. They were soon replaced by McDonnell F-4 Phantom
IIs which descended from the McDonnell FH-1 Phantom.
When
electronic warfare became extremely important in Vietnam, the United States used numbers of laser and television-guided bombs
to hit difficult targets. So when the North Vietnamese began to build a massive surface-to-air missile (SAM) arsenal in 1965,
America's response was the Wild Weasels. Originally modified F-100 Super Sabres but later F-4Gs, the Wild Weasels carried
equipment to detect electromagnetic energy in order to identify and destroy SAM sites.
Wiith airborne warning and controls system (AWACS) planes becoming an essential component of the air war, the Lockheed
EC-121s were used. While in Vietnam, EC-121's mission changed to finding enemy fighters, through radar and interrogating
radio transponders, to determine location and nationality of each plane. EC-21s also directed U.S. aircraft to aerial refueling
tankers and guided rescue planes to downed pilots.
These
air crafts that served varied purposes like search and rescue mission, infantry support, and bombing campaigns are relived
through model replicas by many companies like Master craft Collection. Bringing these air crafts to life honours the many
brave men who piloted them and saved lives.
The civilian
cost of the war was again questioned, when the U.S concluded operation Speedy Express with a claimed body count of 10,889
NLF (vietcong) guerillas with only 40 U.S losses, Kevin Buckley writing in news week estimated that perhaps 5,000 were civilians.
The invasion of Cambodia sparked nationwide U.S. protests. Four students were killed by National
Guardsmen at Kent State University during a protest in Ohio, which provoked public outrage in the United States. The reaction
to the incident by the Nixon administration was seen as callous and indifferent, providing additional impetus for the anti-war
movement.
In 1971 the Pentagon Papers were leaked to the New York Times. The top-secret history of U.S. involvement
in Vietnam, commissioned by the Department of Defense, detailed a long series of public deceptions. The Supreme Court ruled
that its publication was legal.
The ARVN launched
Operation Lam Son 719, aimed at cutting the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos. The offensive was a clear violation of Laotian neutrality,[104]
which neither side respected in any event. Laos had long been the scene of a Secret War. After meeting resistance, ARVN forces
retreated in a confused rout. They fled along roads littered with their own dead. When they ran out of fuel, soldiers abandoned
their vehicles and attempted to barge their way on to American helicopters sent to evacuate the wounded. Many ARVN soldiers
clung to helicopter skids in a desperate attempt to save themselves. U.S. aircraft had to destroy abandoned equipment, including
tanks, to prevent them from falling into enemy hands.
Chaos, unrest,
and panic ensued as hysterical South Vietnamese officials and civilians scrambled to leave Saigon. Martial law was declared.
American helicopters began evacuating South Vietnamese, U.S. and foreign nationals from various parts of the city and from
the U.S. embassy compound. Operation Frequent Wind had been delayed until the last possible moment, because of U.S. Ambassador
Graham Martin's belief that Saigon could be held and that a political settlement could be reached. "Frequent Wind"
was arguably the largest helicopter evacuation in history. It began on April 29, in an atmosphere of desperation, as hysterical
crowds of Vietnamese vied for limited seats. Martin pleaded with Washington to dispatch $700 million in emergency aid to bolster
the regime and help it mobilize fresh military reserves. But American public opinion had long soured on this conflict halfway
around the world.
In the U.S., South Vietnam was perceived as doomed. President Gerald Ford gave a televised
speech on April 23, declaring an end to the Vietnam War and all U.S. aid. "Frequent Wind" continued around the clock,
as North Vietnamese tanks breached defenses on the outskirts of Saigon. The song "White Christmas" was broadcast,
as the final signal for withdrawal. In the early morning hours of April 30, the last U.S. Marines evacuated the embassy by
helicopter, as civilians swamped the perimeter and poured into the grounds. Many of them had been employed by the Americans
and were left to their fate.
The Vietnam War, which lasted from 1945-1975, was the longest conflict that
the United States participated in. The war cost the lives of almost 60,000 Americans and almost 2 million Vietnamese. The
participation of the US in the said war resulted to the enactment of the War Power Acts of 1973, which required Congressional
approval before the President can deploy US forces overseas. Here we will try to find the answer to the question: Why Did
the US Enter the Vietnam War?
The
primary reason for the participation of the United States in the Vietnam War was to prevent the spread of communism in South
Vietnam as part of their widescale strategy of containment. Following the defeat of the French Armada, peace talks were held
in Geneva resulting to the granting of independence to Laos and Cambodia and the division of Vietnam into North and South.
The spread of Communism was becoming evident
in both local and international front. In the United States, majority of the 1950s saw Americans experiencing the so-called
Red Scare, spearheaded by Sen. Joseph McCarthy, who was very much opposed to communism.
Meanwhile, on the international scene, every country in Eastern Europe had started
to embrace communism after the end of World War II. It began with China followed by countries in Latin America, Africa, and
Asia. From there, the US began to implement the philosophy of containment as they felt that they were losing the Cold War.
With that in mind, the United States began sending
its first batch of military advisers to assist France in its war against Communism in North Vietnam. Simultaneously, the United
Nations and the US had launched operations against North Korean and Chinese forces in the Korean War.
For France, their battle against North Korea was not to stop
the spread of communism, like what the Americans did, but for the maintenance of colonial power and to re-establish their
national pride after being humiliated during the Second World War. When it became obvious to the French that any attempts
to keep Indochina as a colony in the expense of blood was futile, France pulled out its troops in 1954.
On the other hand, the United States saw the need for it to
consolidate its forces in its desire to rid Vietnam of Communism. It intensified its efforts of sending increased amounts
of war ammunitions and also bolstered its sending of military advisers in support of South Vietnam. Slowly but surely, the
Americans were dragged into an all-out shooting war. They even allowed military advisers to fire back on anyone who fired
at them.
In 1965, deployment of US
troops commence and by April 1969, a total of 543,000 soldiers were dispatched in Vietnam. The United States became involved
in the conflict until 1975, when the southern city of Saigon fell into the hands of the Communist North Vietnam. To this very
day, the answers to the question why did the US enter the Vietnam War is still a puzzle and if the deployment of the US forces
was justifiable.
The Soviet Union was responsible for supplying North
Vietnam with military apparatus – in the form of tanks, helicopters, planes, arms and artillery. They also provided
medical supplies. The Soviet union suffered minimally, in terms of human life, when compared with other countries that played
a role in the conflict. It's estimated that the number of deaths of Soviet Union citizens would have been in the single
digits. After the Soviet Union collapsed, Russian government officials made a statement acknowledging that 3,000 troops were
stationed in Vietnam during the conflict.
China
China's interests in the Vietnam War began in the
late 1940's when the communists managed to gain control. The CPC, which stands for the Communist Party of China, assisted
Vietnam communists through providing materials and support because of the similar political beliefs that they felt they had.
In 1962 their somewhat intangible assistance changed shape when they provided ninety thousand guns and rifles to Hanoi –
this was done without charge. China also played a role in rebuilding and defending the infrastructure of North Vietnam, opting
to provide anti-aircraft and engineering resources. They repaired roads, railways and undertook other engineering initiatives.
In doing this, it is said they freed up troops to pursue the conflict in the South. Over the duration of the war around one
third of a million Chinese troops served in Vietnam of which, it's estimated, 1,500 died.
|
