Weapons of the vietnam war

• The VC also relied on stolen weapons and ammo, first from the French in the 1950s, then in the 1960s, from the Americans • The most common weapon used by the NVA and VC was the reliab

Weapons and Tactics of the

Vietnam War

1965 to 1972

VC/NVA Weapons

• The North Vietnamese Army and the southern

communist Vietcong relied heavily on supplies sent

from communist China and the USSR AK-47 and RPG 7 were most common weapons supplied

• The VC also relied on stolen weapons and ammo, first from the French in the 1950s, then in the 1960s, from the Americans

• The most common weapon used by the NVA and VC

was the reliable Russian designed AK-47 assault rifle

It was a cheap, easy to use rifle but inaccurate rifle

which required little cleaning or maintenance: Perfect for the wet jungles of Vietnam.

VC Booby traps

• The communist guerillas in the south (VC) also

became masters of digging tunnels and setting

up mines and booby traps along jungle trails the

Americans and ARVN would patrol.

• A common tactic was to sharpen bamboo sticks (called PUNJI sticks) dip them in feces and place

them point up in pits along the trail A GI would step on the punji sticks, get injured so he could not walk and have to be evacuated (evaced) to safety, thus reducing the men out on patrol while the VC never had to fire a shot!

Additional VC traps/mines

• Trip wires attached to a grenade pin

Was a simple VC trap often using

Captured US grenades!

* The VC would booby-trap anything they thought the Americans might pick up or walk by:

• Traps were even set deep inside their

Tunnels, causing even more casualties

U.S vs V.C Tactics

• When the Americans arrived in Vietnam in 1965 they

only really controlled the cities and towns along the

coast , the VC controlled the interior mountains and jungles

• Each night the VC guerillas would lay land mines,

traps and ambushes along the roads and trails that

connected those American held towns and cities

• Each day the Americans would send out patrols to clear these roads and trails and they would conduct search and destroy operations: looking for the enemy and

trying to kill enough of him so they would quit (war of attrition strategy)

Special Forces In Vietnam:

Navy Seals with South Vietnamese Green Berets

US weapons

• To fight the VC (and the regular NVA who fought the US up

by the 17th parallel), the US brought in overwhelming

firepower including jets/ bombers, (B 52s) napalm (jellied

gasoline) to burn the VC out of their tunnels and jungles

• We used lots of artillery and some tanks They even used

the chemical Agent Orange* to destroy jungle plant life

thus trying to deny VC hiding places near US held towns

• US soldiers were at first issued with the heavy but reliable

M-14 rifle then quickly switched to the lighter and highly accurate M-16 which required a lot of cleaning each day to

make sure it fired…

Weapons the USA used in Vietnam:

• To fight the VC in the jungles, the US would use helicopters (most common ones: Bell UH 1’s nicknamed Hueys) in large

numbers to fly out troops and equipment and set up “fire

bases” on jungle hilltops from which they could send out patrols and shell the enemy with artillery fire.

• Vietnam was the first war in which helicopters were used not just as transports or for medical evacuations, but also were set up with machine guns and rockets and used for

attack!

US Equipment

• A Huey landing in a rice paddy field:

• B-52 bombers would carry out huge bombing missions high

over VC strongholds dropping tons of bombs:

• M113 APC carried troops in semi safety around Vietnam:

• Napalm strike:

M 60 Machine Gun

B 52s:

A Napalm Strike:

• US never lost a major battle in Vietnam but due to constant casualties and protests at home the US was forced to

withdraw all combat troops by 1972

• South Vietnam fought on until it fell to the NVA in 1975,

remaining poor and communist to this day

US wins but loses?

Evacuation of US Embassy in

Saigon…

U.S Embassy Saigon, April 29, 1975.

Vietnam War Memorial