Failure of Search and Destroy (My Lai Massacre): Search and Destroy missions were often based on poor military intelligence. The brutal tactics used by US troops often drove more Vietnamese civilians to support the Vietcong.
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What was the main cause of failure for the US in Vietnam?
America “lost” South Vietnam because it was an artificial construct created in the wake of the French loss of Indochina. Because there never was an “organic” nation of South Vietnam, when the U.S. discontinued to invest military assets into that construct, it eventually ceased to exist.
What was the search and destroy strategy Vietnam?
NARRATOR: In Vietnam, General Westmoreland’s strategy was to fight a war of attrition. He called it “search and destroy.” American forces would search out the enemy, make contact, and then, with superior numbers and firepower, destroy him.Just finding and identifying the enemy became frustrating and deadly.
Why did the US find it impossible to defeat the Vietcong?
The Vietcong had an intricate knowledge of the terrain. They won the hearts and minds of the South Vietnamese people by living in their villages and helping them with their everyday lives. Their tunnel systems, booby-traps and jungle cover meant they were difficult to defeat and hard to find.
Why did the US lose the Vietnam War quizlet?
The high inflation, civil protest (concentrated at universities) split the nation regarding public support of the Vietnam War.
Why was search and destroy a failure?
Failure of Search and Destroy (My Lai Massacre)
Search and Destroy missions were often based on poor military intelligence.This was made worse by the fact the American army tried to cover up the events of the massacre until it was revealed by journalists a year after the event.
Was search and destroy successful in the Vietnam War?
The tactics of search and destroy and defoliation were very ineffective in the Vietnam War. There was some element of success to the US tactics, but not enough for them to win the war overall.They usually resulted in American and Vietnamese casualties, so it was ineffective.
Why did the South Vietnamese lose?
Both sides were entirely dependent on outside sources for the wherewithal needed to conduct operations. The war was lost because Congress drastically reduced aid to South Vietnam while North Vietnam was receiving greatly increased support from its communist patrons.
Why did the USA fail to defeat the North Vietnamese in the Vietnam War?
The Amercians bombed strategic targets in North Vietnam to stop the supply of troops and weapons to the South. There were not many industrial targets in the North so this was ineffective – bombs often missed targets and hit schools and hospitals.
How did the US plan to defeat the Vietcong?
The USA’s tactics under President Johnson
President Johnson ordered the bombing of strategic military targets in North Vietnam, including air raids on the capital city, Hanoi, and bases and supply routes for the Vietcong. This was code-named Operation Rolling Thunder.
Why was it so difficult for the US to win in Vietnam?
Explanation: Firstly most of the war was fought as a guerrilla war. This is a type of war which conventional forces such as the US army in Vietnam, find notoriously difficult to fight.The Americans, laden down with conventional weapons and uniform were not equipped to fight in the paddy fields and jungles.
Why did the US strategy of search and destroy fail in Vietnam quizlet?
Terms in this set (11)
The bombing campaign failed because the bombs often fell into empty jungle, missing their targets. The North Vietnamese guerrillas knew the jungle and made use of elaborate underground bases and tunnels to shelter fro m US bombs, and often re-used unexploded American bombs against US soldiers.
Which factors contributed to the US failure in Vietnam quizlet?
Terms in this set (5) – US bombed military and industrial sites in North Vietnam, cities in North and South Vietnam, the Ho Chi Minh trail, and Vietnam’s neighbors-> Cambodia and Laos (who were sympathetic to the VietCong). – This lead to the failure of the US as it forced Cambodia and Laos to turn Communist.
How effective was US bombing in Vietnam?
Between 1965 and 1975, the United States and its allies dropped more than 7.5 million tons of bombs on Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia—double the amount dropped on Europe and Asia during World War II. Pound for pound, it remains the largest aerial bombardment in human history.
Was Westmoreland’s search and destroy strategy a mistake?
Westmoreland as choosing the wrong way and argue that if he had eschewed a big unit ‘search and destroy’ strategy, the war might have turned out differently. However, this article argues that this is untrue. Westmoreland could not have done much differently than he actually did given the realities on the ground.
What is the objective of search and destroy?
Search & Destroy is an objective Game Mode in Call of Duty Black Ops III’s Multiplayer. Two teams of four to six players face off against each other in this round-based mode. The objective of this game is to destroy one of two objectives on the map using a single bomb, or to kill all enemy players.
What was the impact of search and destroy?
The whole strategy of search and destroy had negative impacts on everyone from the Vietnamese people to the American soldiers. It also had a negative impact on America’s ability to win the war. Search and destroy was hard on soldiers. It forced them to try to distinguish between normal civilians and guerrillas.
Why were the Vietcong tactics so effective?
They were also in fear of ambushes from the Vietcong or North Vietnamese Army since that was how they fought. They were extremely successful because they had very good and vital knowledge of the forests and jungles and were able to protect their supplies from damage by using the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
What military strategies did the United States employ in Vietnam How successful were these strategies?
What military strategies did the U.S. employ in Vietnam? How successful were these strategies? The U.S. used bombing, dropping chemicals, search and destroy missions, and burning houses, etc…
Why was the South Vietnamese army weak?
Despite this, by 1975, the SVA was in tatters and the North had defeated the South.Whereas the forces of the North – and their supporters in the South – had become masters of guerrilla warfare, the SVA were trained to use conventional tactics. In the physical environment of South Vietnam this proved to be a weakness.
What happened in Vietnam after the United States withdrew?
What happened after the United States withdrew from the war? After the U.S. had withdrawn all its troops, the fighting continued in Vietnam.South Vietnam officially surrendered to communist North Vietnam on April 30, 1975. On July 2, 1976, Vietnam was reunited as a communist country, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
