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Essay on the impact of the vietnam war
Essay on the impact of the vietnam war
Essay on the impact of the vietnam war
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The Tet Offensive was a series of battles which took place during the Vietnam War. It was a major offensive by the North Vietnamese Army, and the Viet Cong, beginning on the night of January 30-31, of 1968, which was the Chinese New year. The objective of the 1968 Tet Offensive was to take the Nationalist and the US armies by surprise since North Vietnam's government proposed a ceasefire for the celebration of the Lunar New Year.
There were three major battles of the offensive, which we discussed in class. The battle of Hue City was one of these major attacks. The city of Hue was attacked by ten NVA battalions and almost completely overrun. Thousands of civilians believed to be potentially hostile to Communist control, including government officials, religious figures, and expatriate residents, were executed in what became known as the Massacre at Hue. The city was not recaptured by the US and ARVN forces until the end of February. The US and ARVN lost 482 men and the NVA around 7,500.
The second major battle of the offensive was the battle of Khe Sanh. The fighting began on January 29 as a number of Vietnamese units began their attacks prematurely. The rest of the NLF/NVA attacks began on the night of 30-31st. It was in Huế, the ancient capital, and Saigon that the NVA had significant success. The morale of the ARVN was being badly eroded.
The third major battle of the Tet Offensive took place in and around the city of Saigon. Around five battalions of NLF had infiltrated the city. The headquarters of the ARVN was attacked by around 700 men and there was heavy fighting but only 110 American casualties. The Vietnamese casualties in this assault and other actions in Saigon were over 1,100 men but aided in their gained control of large parts of the city. Fighting lasted almost a week and some sections of the city were in ruins due to US airstrikes and artillery.
General Giap's plan was divided into three phases. In the first phase, the PAVN would launch attacks on the border regions of South Vietnam to draw American forces away from South Vietnamese cities. Giap knew this could be a risky move, but reasoned that it would be worth the cost. Phase two saw widespread attacks by the Viet Cong all over South Vietnam's cities, which would prod the civilians into full fledged revolt against the 'hated' Americans and the South Vietnamese government.
Introduction The Battle of Hue is one of the longest battles within the realms of the Vietnam War. The United States sent two Army battalions and three under strength US Marine Corps battalions, which together with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) defeated ten North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and the Viet Cong (VC). The battle highlighted the challenges the U.S. Marines faced in an urban battlefield. The NVA and VC forces entered the city of Hue under the cover of darkness on January 30, 1968. Under a unified front, they seized most of the city except two strategic locations: ARVN 1st Division Headquarters and the U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) compound.
The North Vietnamese Communist leadership's ability to reassess and adapt during the Vietnam War was reflected in how well they combined guerilla and conventional operations to achieve their strategic goal of unifying Vietnam under communist rule. Throughout the conflict, the Viet Cong (VC) were employed to conduct guerilla operations while North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and VC "main force" units were used to transition to conventional operations. Guerilla operations enabled Hanoi to inflict a steady flow of casualties on US forces which increased anti-war sentiment in America. NVA and VC main force conventional operations reinforced the US Army's conventional approach to the fight which caused the Americans to alienate the people of South Vietnam. By alienating the South Vietnamese people, the Americans enhanced the VC's ability to conduct guerilla operations and control rural population centers which weakened the credibility of the Government of South Vietnam (GVN). The combined effects of guerilla and conventional operations supported the North Vietnamese strategy of a protracted conflict that was sure to weaken the resolve of the United States and eventually defeat the GVN.
During every battle and war, there are different divisions. These elements could be anything. One component could be on a ground assault, or air attack, or even a covert strike. The Battle of Khe Sanh is no different. Khe Sanh had many portions that made up the battle. The North Vietnamese Army (NVA) attacked first on January 21, 1968 in a ground assault. Throughout the whole battle, however, the Americans had superior fire power. They were able to win any frontal assault that the NVA could perform. To accommodate for this, the NVA’s leader, General Giap, had the NVA use a guerilla style of combat. The NVA would patrol the surrounding area in small units. The g...
Three units were American (the 1/506th, 2/501st, and 3/187th Infantry) and two came from the 1st Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) Division (the 2/1st and 4/1st ARVN). Colonel Joseph Conmy, Commander of the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne, controlled and led the main effort of the attack. His plan called for each of the five battalions to "air assault" into the valley by helicopter on 10 May 1969 and to search its assigned sector for enemy troops and supplies.... ... middle of paper ... ... Only Honeycutt's drive and fortitude kept his battalion fighting despite heavy losses, sagging morale, bad press, and deafening pressure from his chain of command.
The battle started when the British sixth air born division went in at ten minutes after midnight. They were the first troops to go into action. The second attack was by the eighty second in the one hundred and first division of air born attacks. They were less successful than the first division.
Senior Leaders have analyzed wars for years in hopes of finding the most efficient way to conduct war. This paper explores the events of that took place during the Battle of Bien Hoa in 1968. Research was conducted through internet and non-internet sources to provide the most accurate facts concerning this battle. The 29th of January 1968 was the beginning of Battle of Bien Hoa when the Bien Hoa Air Base went under attack. On 31 January the first Tet Offensive began by the National Liberation Front for South Vietnam in order to shift the invading army and regain control by the Vietnamese. A total of 39 encounters were recorded in this battle fought by brave Soldiers from the 17th Calvary, the 11th Armored Calvary, the 101st Airborne Division, the 47th Infantry Division (Mechanized), the 199th Infantry Brigade, the Air Force, Marines, and the South Vietnamese Army, against enemy forces (North Vietnamese Army, and the Viet Cong). Pleiku, Phan Theit, Ban Me Thuot, Thu Duc, An My, and Kontum are some of the cities near the Saigon area where the encounters took place. (Starry, 1931) Before the battle begun there was a huge dilemma about engaging armored vehicles in Vietnam; however once fully engaged the results created an atmosphere of change, innovation, power, and confidence that changed the strategies of war forever.
The following month, the French would fight hard, but would lose a major battle to Minh's forces (North Vietnam) in Dien Bien Phu.
The battle was over. The NVA forces had suffered hundreds of casualties and were no longer capable of a fight. U.S. forces had suffered 79 killed and 121 injured and had been reinforced that would guarantee their safety the safety of all the companies as they medivacd all the wounded and dead, and resupplied.
The political and societal ramifications of Vietnam's Tet Offensive indubitably illustrate the historical oddity of 1968. 1967 had not been a bad year for most Americans. Four years after the profound panic evoked by the assassination of John Kennedy, the general public seemed to be gaining a restored optimism, and even the regularly protested Vietnam War still possessed the semblance of success (Farber and Bailey 34-54). However, three short weeks following the eve of 68, Americans abruptly obtained a radically different outlook. The Tet Offensive, beginning on January 30, 1968, consisted of a series of military incursions during the Vietnam War, coordinated between the National Liberation Front's People's Liberation Armed Forces (PLAF), or "Viet Cong," and the ...
Because of the desperation felt by the Japanese forces leading up to the battle and American forces making steady advances toward Japan, the Japanese forces felt the battle could not be won. They were ordered to by time for Japan to build its defenses around the homeland. Japanese were not only dying for their county but taking their own lives as ... ... middle of paper ... ... 6 wounded.
In fact, the Tet Offensive broke out on the Tet's Eve - in the early
... casualties in Okinawa were the highest experienced in any campaign against the Japanese forces. The American battle casualties were 49,151 of which were killed or missing and 36,631 wounded. The Army lost 4,693 killed and missing, Marines lost including the Tactical Air Force were 2,938 killed and missing and 13,708 wounded; Navy lost 4,907 killed and missing and 4,824 wounded. Non-battle casualties totaled 26,211 combined of all the American forces. The Japanese forces cost of the battle was even higher; approximately 110,000 Japanese lost their lives depending the island of Okinawa.
The sun had not set and PAVN commanders made the tactical blunder of sending a select few of the units that were being utilized to capture Hue to their positions in advance to disperse the movement of the following units. While the American bombing was effective, it didn’t even put a dent in the PAVN fighting force. There was no BDA or “battle damage assessment” conducted after the bombing nor were ground troops sent to search the surrounding area for additional PAVN troops. On the morning of 30 January 1968 the PAVN units surrounding Hue were in position and awaiting the order to attack and liberate the ancient Buddhist stronghold from the Americans and their puppet South Vietnamese Christian president. The PAVN soldiers were briefed by their PAVN officers that the citizens of Hue desperately longed to be freed from American occupation. PAVN forces held this belief to such an extent that they wore their best uniforms and ensured they were neatly groomed so they would look presentable in the parade that would follow inside Hue after they effectively captured the city. As the ARVN and American forces inside the city walls of Hue rested with very little concern of the thought of being attacked especially since the holiday of Tet or the lunar New Year had begun. As customary at the time during Vietnam there was a 7 day ceasefire during Tet to allow both sides of Vietnam to celebrate with their families. PAVN senior officers knew that tens of thousands of civilians in North and South Vietnam would be traveling long distances to visit family during the country’s largest holiday. They used this opportune time to transport supplies, equipment, and soldiers to strategic positions surrounding Hue. Apart from the very minor setback that the American bombing caused PAVN forces
The Tet Offensive was a major turning point in the Vietnam War for both North Vietnam and the United States. The offensive caught the United States and South Vietnam by surprise and really called into question the claims of the Johnson administration that the United States was winning the war: “The North Vietnamese appeared so bloodied by the campaigns of 1967 that the Americans did not conceive they could bounce back and deliver a blow of the magnitude of Tet” (Herring, 237). Tet also had an impact on the opinion of the American public regarding the war. The confidence many Americans had in their government was already on shaky ground prior to the offensive, but I believe Tet was a reality check for anybody who believed that the Vietnam War
Vietnam was a struggle which, in all honesty, the United States should never have been involved in. North Vietnam was battling for ownership of South Vietnam, so that they would be a unified communist nation. To prevent the domino effect and the further spread of communism, the U.S. held on to the Truman Doctrine and stood behind the South Vietnamese leader, Diem.