Michał Duch

Vietcong - The Guerrilla Fighters

The Vietnam War was extremely specific conflict. The Americans possessed enormous army, huge amounts of money to spare and latest technology inventions. Vietcong, on the other hand fought using underground tactics with an underground army without modern equipment and air support. Here comes up following issue, namely, why Americans had so many difficulties with defeating Vietcong?

To begin with, Vietcong fought using specific strategy called “guerilla war” (it is a warfare based on military actions where small mobile forces prepare ambushes and fight using unexpected tactics).

Vietnamese used different tricks to surprise and eliminate American troops and vehicles. They ambushed US patrols using booby traps and landmines, civilian towns were often full of skillfully planted bombs. Common practice used by Vietcong soldiers was mingling with peasants to confuse Americans. US soldiers had serious difficulties with identifying who was real enemy.

Another commonly used Vietcong tactic was called “hanging onto the belts”. The aim of this method was to stay in short distance with Americans. As a result US soldiers could not call an artillery backup because there was a risk of killing ally units.

Vietcong troops were significantly supplied by Russia and China. Both countries provided them with weapons and rockets. In order to transport equipment safely Vietnamese used The Ho Chi Minh trail – legendary jungle route. It was used mainly by the North Vietnamese as a route to south, but also as a way to transport all necessary supplies. The trail ran along Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam borders almost all paths were naturally hidden and camouflaged by jungle. The Ho Chi Minh was about one thousand kilometers length and sometimes 80km (50miles) wide. [pic]