With the fall of Diem in 1963 Ho Chi Minh sent troops into South Vietnam down the commonly known ‘Ho Chi Minh trail’ in December. President Lyndon B Johnson realised that American involvement needed to be escalated after the ARVN were seen not entirely committed to the fight.
On the 2nd of August 1964 NVA gunboat attack the American warship the ‘Maddox’ and ‘Turner Joy’. This incident became known as the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. And after the attack on the US base in Pleiku. After these attacks, tension and escalation of the conflict grew with great intensity. President Johnson sent in the first US combat troops on the 8th of February 1965.
The American strategy in Vietnam mainly consisted of violent search and destroy missions, patrols into suspected enemy villages and the jungle, mass bombings of the North (Rolling Thunder 1965, boat patrols, stale mates and secret missions into North Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, against an unseen enemy hiding in the jungle. An enemy determined who were ‘willing to fight 100 years for the Communist people of Vietnam.’-Unknown NVA fighter. The American forces backed by Anti-Communist forces of South Vietnam, America, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand, Khmer Republic and Kingdom of Laos all fighting alongside in Vietnam.
However on the North Vietnamese side, the war was fought with guerrilla tactics. Fought by the VC and NVA (Viet cong, North Vietnamese Army). The Viet Cong mainly made up of everyday men, women and children. Working by day and a thirst for blood by night, killing American soldiers. The Vietnamese forces avoiding any confrontation in an open field of battle or conventional warfare. Not able to compete with American military might in the field of conventional warfare. The Communist Forces backed by the Khmer Rouge, The USSR Chine and North Korea.
On the 2nd of August 1964 NVA gunboat attack the American warship the ‘Maddox’ and ‘Turner Joy’. This incident became known as the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. And after the attack on the US base in Pleiku. After these attacks, tension and escalation of the conflict grew with great intensity. President Johnson sent in the first US combat troops on the 8th of February 1965.
The American strategy in Vietnam mainly consisted of violent search and destroy missions, patrols into suspected enemy villages and the jungle, mass bombings of the North (Rolling Thunder 1965, boat patrols, stale mates and secret missions into North Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, against an unseen enemy hiding in the jungle. An enemy determined who were ‘willing to fight 100 years for the Communist people of Vietnam.’-Unknown NVA fighter. The American forces backed by Anti-Communist forces of South Vietnam, America, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand, Khmer Republic and Kingdom of Laos all fighting alongside in Vietnam.
However on the North Vietnamese side, the war was fought with guerrilla tactics. Fought by the VC and NVA (Viet cong, North Vietnamese Army). The Viet Cong mainly made up of everyday men, women and children. Working by day and a thirst for blood by night, killing American soldiers. The Vietnamese forces avoiding any confrontation in an open field of battle or conventional warfare. Not able to compete with American military might in the field of conventional warfare. The Communist Forces backed by the Khmer Rouge, The USSR Chine and North Korea.