Vietnam War

Vietnam War(Chin tranh Vit Nam)

Part of theIndochina Warsand theCold War

Clockwise, from top left: US combat operations inIa Drang, ARVN Rangers defendingSaigonduring the 1968Tet Offensive, twoDouglas A-4C Skyhawksenroute for airstrikes against North Vietnam after theGulf of Tonkin incident, ARVN recaptureQung Trduring the 1972Easter Offensive, civilians fleeing the1972 Battle of Qung Tr, burial of 300 victims of the 1968Hu Massacre.

DateDecember1956[A 1] 30April1975(18years,4months,4weeksand1day)

LocationSouth Vietnam,North Vietnam,Cambodia,Laos

ResultCommunistvictory Withdrawal of American-led anti communist forces Communist governments take power inSouth Vietnam,CambodiaandLaos South Vietnam is annexed by North Vietnam

TerritorialchangesUnification of North and South Vietnam into theSocialist Republic of Vietnam.

Belligerents

Anti-communistforces:South VietnamUnited StatesSouth KoreaAustraliaThailandNew ZealandKhmer RepublicKingdom of LaosSupported by:PhilippinesTaiwanSpainCommunistforces:North VietnamViet CongKhmer RougePathet LaoSupported by:ChinaSoviet UnionCuba[1][2]North KoreaCzechoslovakia[3][4]Bulgaria[5]

Commanders and leaders

Ng nh DimNguyn Vn ThiuNguyen Cao KyCao Vn VinNg Quang TrngJohn F. KennedyLyndon B. JohnsonRichard NixonWilliam WestmorelandCreighton AbramsRobert McNamaraPark Chung-heeChae Myung ShinRobert MenziesHarold HoltKeith HolyoakeThanom Kittikachorn...and othersHo Chi MinhLe DuanV Nguyn GipVan Tien DungLe Trong TanPhm Vn ngHoang Van ThaiTran Van TraNguyen Van LinhNguyn Hu Th...and others

Strength

~1,830,000 (1968)

South Vietnam: 850,000 (1968)1,500,000 (19745)[6]United States: 536,100 (1968)Free World Military Forces: 65,000[7][8]South Korea: 50,000[9]Australia: 7,672Thailand, Philippines: 10,450New Zealand: 552~461,000

North Vietnam: 287,465 (January 1968)[10]China: 170,000 (in 1965-69)[11][12][13]Soviet Union: 3,000North Korea: 300600

Casualties and losses

South Vietnam195,000430,000 civilian dead[14][15]220,357[16]313,000 military dead[17]1,170,000 wounded[citation needed]

United States58,220 dead;[A 2]303,644 wounded[A 2]South Korea5,099 dead; 10,962 wounded; 4 missingAustralia500 dead; 3,129 wounded[18]New Zealand37 dead; 187 wounded[19]Thailand351 dead;1,358 wounded[20]Philippines9 dead[21]Total dead: 480,538807,564Total wounded: ~1,490,000+[citation needed]North Vietnam & Viet Cong50,000[22]65,000[14]civilian dead400,000[14]1,100,000 military dead or missing[23]600,000+ wounded[24]

China~1,100 dead and 4,200 wounded[13]Soviet Union16 dead[25]Total dead: 455,4621,170,462Total wounded: ~608,200

Vietnamese civilian dead: 245,0002,000,000[26][27]

Cambodian Civil War dead: 200,000300,000*[28][29][30]Laotian Civil War dead: 20,000200,000*Total civilian dead:465,0002,500,000**Total dead: 1,102,0003,886,026Aircraft losses* indicates approximations, seeCasualtiesbelowFor more information seeVietnam War casualties** This figure includes all of the dead from the Laotian and Cambodian civil wars.

TheVietnam War(Vietnamese:Chin tranh Vit Nam), also known as theSecond Indochina War,[31]and known by the Vietnamese as theAmerican War, was aCold War-eraproxy warthat occurred inVietnam,Laos, andCambodiafrom December 1956[A 1]to thefall of Saigonon 30 April 1975. This war followed theFirst Indochina Warand was fought betweenNorth Vietnamsupported by the Soviet Union, China and othercommunistalliesand the government ofSouth Vietnamsupported by the United States and otheranti-communistallies.[36]TheViet Cong(also known as the National Liberation Front, or NLF), a lightly armed South Vietnamese communistcommon frontaided by the North, fought aguerrilla waragainst anti-communist forces in the region. ThePeople's Army of Vietnam(a.k.a. the North Vietnamese Army) engaged in a moreconventional war, at times committing large units into battle. As the war wore on, the part of the Viet Cong in the fighting decreased as the role of the NVA grew. U.S. and South Vietnamese forces relied onair superiorityand overwhelming firepower to conductsearch and destroyoperations, involvingground forces,artillery, andairstrikes. In the course of the war, the U.S. conducted a large-scalestrategic bombingcampaign against North Vietnam, and over time the North Vietnamese airspace became the most heavily defended airspace of any in the world.The U.S. government viewed American involvement in the war as a way to prevent a Communist takeover of South Vietnam. This was part of a widercontainmentstrategy, with the stated aim of stopping the spread of communism. According to the U.S.domino theory, if one state went Communist, other states in the region would follow, and U.S. policy thus held that accommodation to the spread of Communist rule across all of Vietnam was unacceptable. The North Vietnamese government and the Viet Cong were fighting to reunify Vietnam under communist rule. They viewed the conflict as acolonial war, fought initially against forces from France and then America, as France was backed by the U.S., and later against South Vietnam, which it regarded as a U.S.puppet state.[37]Beginning in 1950, Americanmilitary advisorsarrived in what was thenFrench Indochina. U.S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with troop levels tripling in 1961 and again in 1962.[38]U.S. involvement escalated further following the 1964Gulf of Tonkin incident, in which a U.S. destroyer clashed with North Vietnamese fast attack craft, which was followed by theGulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave the U.S. president authorization to increase U.S. military presence. Regular U.S.combat unitswere deployed beginning in 1965. Operations crossed international borders: bordering areas of Laos and Cambodia were heavily bombed by U.S. forces as American involvement in the war peaked in 1968, the same year that the Communist side launched theTet Offensive. The Tet Offensive failed in its goal of overthrowing the South Vietnamese government but became the turning point in the war, as it showed that South Vietnam was unable to fend for itself against the North, despite many years of massive U.S. military aid. As the point of U.S. victory was indeterminate, U.S. ground forces were gradually withdrawn as part of a policy known asVietnamization, which aimed to end American involvement in the war while transferring the task of fighting the Communists to the South Vietnamese themselves. Despite theParis Peace Accord, which was signed by all parties in January 1973, the fighting continued.In the U.S. and the Western world, a largeanti-Vietnam War movementdeveloped. This movement was both part of a largerCounterculture of the 1960sand also fed into it.Direct U.S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973 as a result of theCaseChurch Amendmentpassed by the U.S. Congress.[39]Thecapture of Saigonat the hands of the North Vietnamese Army in April 1975 marked the end of the war, and North and South Vietnam were reunified the following year. The war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities (seeVietnam War casualties). Estimates of the number of Vietnamese service members and civilians killed vary from 800,000[40]to 3.1 million.[23][41][42]Some 200,000300,000Cambodians,[28][29][30]20,000200,000Laotians,[43][44][45][46][47][48]and 58,220 U.S. service members also died in the conflict.[A 2]Background to 1949France began its conquest ofIndochinain the late 1850s, and completed pacification by 1893.[55][56][57]The1884 Treaty of Huformed the basis for French colonial rule in Vietnam for the next seven decades. In spite of military resistance, most notably by theCn VngofPhan nh Phng, by 1888 the area of the current-day nations of Cambodia and Vietnam was made into the colony ofFrench Indochina(Laos was later added to the colony).[58]Various Vietnamese opposition movements to French rule existed during this period, such as theVit Nam Quc Dn ngwho staged the failedYn Bi mutinyin 1930, but none were ultimately as successful as theViet Minhcommon front, which was founded in 1941, controlled by theIndochinese Communist Party, and funded by the U.S. and theChinese Nationalist Partyin its fight against Japanese occupation.[59][A 3]During World War II, theFrench were defeated by the Germansin 1940. For French Indochina, this meant that the colonial authorities becameVichy French, allies of the German-ItalianAxis powers. In turn this meant that the French collaborated with the Japanese forces after theirinvasion of French Indochinaduring 1940. The French continued to run affairs in the colony, but ultimate power resided in the hands of the Japanese.[59]The Viet Minh was founded as a league for independence from France, but also opposed Japanese occupation in 1945 for the same reason. The U.S. and Chinese Nationalist Party supported them in the fight against the Japanese.[61]However, they did not have enough power to fight actual battles at first. Viet Minh leaderHo Chi Minhwas suspected of being a communist and jailed for a year by the Chinese Nationalist Party.[62]Double occupation by France and Japan continued until the German forces were expelled from France and the French Indochina colonial authorities started holding secret talks with theFree French. Fearing that they could no longer trust the French authorities, the Japanese army interned the French authorities and troops on 9 March 1945[63]and created thepuppetEmpire of Vietnamstate, underBo iinstead.During 19441945, adeep faminestruck northern Vietnam due to a combination of bad weather and French/Japanese exploitation (French Indochina had to supply grains to Japan).[64]Between 400,000 and 2 million[40]people died of starvation (out of a population of 10 million in the affected area).[65]Exploiting the administrative gap[66]that the internment of the French had created, the Viet Minh in March 1945 urged the population to ransack rice warehouses and refuse to pay their taxes.[67]Between 75 and 100 warehouses were consequently raided.[68]This rebellion against the effects of the famine and the authorities that were partially responsible for it bolstered the Viet Minh's popularity and they recruited many members during this period.[66]On 22 August 1945, following theJapanese surrender,OSSagentsArchimedes PattiandCarleton B. Swift, Jr.arrived in Hanoi on amercy missionto liberate allied POWs and were accompanied byJean Sainteny, a French government official.[69]The Japanese forces informally surrendered (the official surrender took place on 2 September 1945 in Tokyo Bay) but being the only force capable of maintaining law and order theJapanese Imperial Armyremained in power while keeping French colonial troops and Sainteny detained.[70]During August the Japanese forces remained inactive as the Viet Minh and other nationalist groups took over public buildings and weapons, which began theAugust Revolution. OSS officers met repeatedly withHo Chi Minhand otherViet Minhofficers during this period[71]and on 2 September 1945 Ho Chi Minh declared theindependentDemocratic Republic of Vietnambefore a crowd of 500,000 inHanoi.[68]In an overture to the Americans, he began his speech by paraphrasing theUnited States Declaration of Independence: "All men are created equal. The Creator has given us certain inviolable Rights: the right to Life, the right to be Free, and the right to achieve Happiness."[68]The Viet Minh took power in Vietnam in theAugust Revolution.[68]According toGabriel Kolko, the Viet Minh enjoyed large popular support,[72]although Arthur J. Dommen cautions against a "romanticized view" of their success: "The Viet Minh use of terror was systematic....the party had drawn up a list of those to be liqudated without delay."[73]After their defeat in the war, theImperial Japanese Army(IJA) gave weapons to the Vietnamese, and kept Vichy French officials and military officers imprisoned for a month after the surrender. The Viet Minh had recruited more than 600 Japanese soldiers and given them roles to train or command Vietnamese soldiers.[74][75]

A Japanese naval officer surrenders his sword to a British Lieutenant in Saigon on 13 September 1945.However, the majorallied victors of World War II, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union, all agreed the area belonged to the French.[68]As the French did not have the means to immediately retake Vietnam, the major powers came to an agreement that British troops would occupy the south whileNationalist Chineseforces would move in from the north.[68]Nationalist Chinese troops entered the country to disarm Japanese troops north of the 16th parallel on 14 September 1945.[76]When the British landed in the south, they rearmed the interned French forces as well as parts of the surrendered Japanese forces to aid them in retaking southern Vietnam, as they did not have enough troops to do this themselves.[68]On the urging of the Soviet Union, Ho Chi Minh initially attempted to negotiate with the French, who were slowly re-establishing their control across the area.[77]In January 1946, the Viet Minh won elections across central and northern Vietnam.[78]On 6 March 1946, Ho signed an agreement allowing French forces to replace Nationalist Chinese forces, in exchange for French recognition of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam as a "free" republic within theFrench Union, with the specifics of such recognition to be determined by future negotiation.[79][80][81]The French landed in Hanoi by March 1946 and in November of that year they ousted the Viet Minh from the city.[77]British forces departed on 26 March 1946, leaving Vietnam in the hands of the French.[82]Soon thereafter, the Viet Minh began aguerrilla waragainst the French Union forces, beginning theFirst Indochina War.The war spread to Laos and Cambodia, where communists organized thePathet Laoand theKhmer Serei, both of which were modeled on the Viet Minh.[83]Globally, the Cold War began in earnest, which meant that therapprochementthat existed between theWestern powersand the Soviet Union during World War II disintegrated. The Viet Minh fight was hampered by a lack of weapons; this situation changed by 1949 when theChinese Communistshad largely won theChinese Civil Warand were free to provide arms to their Vietnamese allies.[83]Exit of the French, 195054In January 1950, thePeople's Republic of Chinaand the Soviet Union recognized Viet Minh'sDemocratic Republic of Vietnam, based inHanoi, as the legitimate government of Vietnam. The following month the United States and Great Britain recognized the French-backedState of VietnaminSaigon, led by former EmperorBo i, as the legitimate Vietnamese government.[84][85]The outbreak of theKorean Warin June 1950 convinced many Washington policymakers that the war inIndochinawas an example of communist expansionism directed by the Soviet Union.[86]

French soldiers fight off a Viet Minh ambush in 1952.Military advisors from the People's Republic of China (PRC) began assisting the Viet Minh in July 1950.[87]PRC weapons, expertise, and laborers transformed the Viet Minh from a guerrilla force into a regular army.[88]In September 1950, the United States created aMilitary Assistance and Advisory Group(MAAG) to screen French requests for aid, advise on strategy, and train Vietnamese soldiers.[89]By 1954, the United States had supplied 300,000 small arms and spent US$1 billion in support of the French military effort, shouldering 80 percent of the cost of the war.[90]There were also talks between the French and Americans in which the possible use of threetactical nuclear weaponswas considered, though reports of how seriously this was considered and by whom are even now vague and contradictory.[91][92]One version of the plan for the proposedOperation Vultureenvisioned sending 60 B-29s from U.S. bases in the region, supported by as many as 150 fighters launched from U.S. Seventh Fleet carriers, to bomb Viet Minh commanderV Nguyn Gip's positions. The plan included an option to use up to three atomic weapons on the Viet Minh positions. AdmiralArthur W. Radford,Chairmanof the U.S.Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave this nuclear option his backing. U.S. B-29s, B-36s, and B-47s could have executed a nuclear strike, as could carrier aircraft from the Seventh Fleet.[93]U.S. carriers sailed to theGulf of Tonkin, and reconnaissance flights overDien Bien Phuwere conducted during the negotiations. According to U.S. Vice-PresidentRichard Nixon, the plan involved the Joint Chiefs of Staff drawing up plans to use three small tactical nuclear weapons in support of the French.[91]Nixon, a so-called "hawk" on Vietnam, suggested that the United States might have to "put American boys in".[94]U.S. PresidentDwight D. Eisenhowermade American participation contingent on British support, but they were opposed to such a venture.[94]In the end, convinced that the political risks outweighed the possible benefits, Eisenhower decided against the intervention. Eisenhower was afive-star general. He was wary of getting the United States involved in a land war in Asia.[95]The Viet Minh received crucial support from the Soviet Union and PRC. PRC support in theBorder Campaign of 1950allowed supplies to come from the PRC into Vietnam. Throughout the conflict, U.S. intelligence estimates remained skeptical of French chances of success.[96]TheBattle of Dien Bien Phumarked the end of French involvement in Indochina. Giap's Viet Minh forces handed the French a stunning military defeat, and on 7 May 1954, theFrench Uniongarrison surrendered. Of the 12,000 French prisoners taken by the Viet Minh, only 3,000 survived.[97]At theGeneva Conference, the French negotiated a ceasefire agreement with the Viet Minh, and independence was granted to Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.Dim era, 195563

U.S. PresidentDwight D. Eisenhowerand Secretary of StateJohn Foster Dullesgreet presidentNg nh DimofSouth Vietnamin Washington, 8 May 1957.Insurgency in the South, 195460

TheHo Chi Minh trailwas used to supply the Viet Cong.Between 1954 and 1957 there was large scale random dissidence in the countryside which the Dim government managed to successfully quell. In early 1957 South Vietnam had its first peace in over a decade. However, by mid-1957 through 1959 incidents of violence increased but the government "did not construe it as a campaign, considering the disorders too diffuse to warrant committing major GVN [Government of Vietnam] resources." By early 1959 however, Dim considered it an organized campaign and implemented Law 10/59, which made political violence punishable by death and property confiscation.[131]There had been some division among former Viet Minh whose main goal was to hold the elections promised in the Geneva Accords, leading to "wildcat" activities separate from the other communists and anti-GVN activists.[35]In December 1960, theNational Liberation Front(NLF, a.k.a. the Viet Cong) was formally created with the intent of uniting all anti-GVN activists, including non-communists. According to thePentagon Papers, the Viet Cong "placed heavy emphasis on the withdrawal of American advisors and influence, on land reform and liberalization of the GVN, oncoalition governmentand the neutralization of Vietnam." Often the leaders of the organization were kept secret.[35]The reason for the continued survival of the NLF was the class relations in the countryside. The vast majority of the population lived in villages in the countryside where the key issue was land reform. TheViet Minhhad reduced rents and debts; and had leased communal lands, mostly to the poorer peasants. Diem brought the landlords back to the villages. People who were farming land they held for years now had to return it to landlords and pay years of back rent. This rent collection was enforced by the South Vietnamese army. The divisions within villages reproduced those that had existed against the French:"75 percent support for the NLF, 20 percent trying to remain neutral and 5 percent firmly pro-government,"[132]The Kennedy years, 196163In the1960 U.S. presidential election, SenatorJohn F. Kennedydefeated sitting Vice PresidentRichard Nixon. Although Eisenhower warned Kennedy about Laos and Vietnam, Europe and Latin America "loomed larger than Asia on his sights."[142]In his inaugural address, Kennedy made the ambitious pledge to "pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and success of liberty."[143]In June 1961, he bitterly disagreed with Soviet premierNikita Khrushchevwhen theymet in Viennato discuss key U.S.-Soviet issues.The Kennedy administration remained essentially committed to the Cold War foreign policy inherited from the Truman and Eisenhower administrations. In 1961, the U.S. had 50,000 troops based in Korea, and Kennedy faced a three-part crisis the failure of theBay of Pigs Invasion, the construction of theBerlin Wall, and a negotiated settlement between the pro-Western government of Laos and thePathet Laocommunist movement.[144]These crises made Kennedy believe that another failure on the part of the United States to gain control and stop communist expansion would fatally damage U.S. credibility with its allies and his own reputation. Kennedy was thus determined to "draw a line in the sand" and prevent a communist victory in Vietnam. He told James Reston ofThe New York Timesimmediately after his Vienna meeting with Khrushchev, "Now we have a problem making our power credible and Vietnam looks like the place."[145][146]In May 1961, U.S. Vice PresidentLyndon B. Johnsonvisited Saigon and enthusiastically declared Dim the "Winston Churchillof Asia."[147]Asked why he had made the comment, Johnson replied, "Dim's the only boy we got out there."[130]Johnson assured Dim of more aid in molding a fighting force that could resist the communists.Kennedy's policy toward South Vietnam rested on the assumption that Dim and his forces had to ultimately defeat the guerrillas on their own. He was against the deployment of American combat troops and observed that "to introduce U.S. forces in large numbers there today, while it might have an initially favorable military impact, would almost certainly lead to adverse political and, in the long run, adverse military consequences."[148]The quality of the South Vietnamese military, however, remained poor. Poor leadership, corruption, and political promotions all played a part in weakening the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN). The frequency of guerrilla attacks rose as the insurgency gathered steam. While Hanoi's support for the Viet Cong played a role, South Vietnamese governmental incompetence was at the core of the crisis.[149]

South Vietnam, Military Regions, 1967One major issue Kennedy raised was whether the Soviet space and missile programs had surpassed those of the United States. Although Kennedy stressed long-range missile parity with the Soviets, he was also interested in usingspecial forcesforcounterinsurgencywarfare in Third World countries threatened by communist insurgencies. Although they were originally intended for use behind front lines after a conventional Soviet invasion of Europe, Kennedy believed that the guerrilla tactics employed by special forces such as theGreen Beretswould be effective in a "brush fire" war in Vietnam.Kennedy advisorsMaxwell TaylorandWalt Rostowrecommended that U.S. troops be sent to South Vietnam disguised as flood relief workers. Kennedy rejected the idea but increased military assistance yet again. In April 1962,John Kenneth Galbraithwarned Kennedy of the "danger we shall replace the French as a colonial force in the area and bleed as the French did."[150]By 1963, there were 16,000 American military personnel in South Vietnam, up from Eisenhower's 900 advisors.[151]TheStrategic Hamlet Programhad been initiated in 1961. This joint U.S.-South Vietnamese program attempted to resettle the rural population into fortified camps.The aim was to isolate the population from the insurgents, provide reeducation programs and health care, and strengthen the government's hold over the countryside. The Strategic Hamlets, however, were quickly infiltrated by the guerrillas. The peasants resented being uprooted from their ancestral villages. In part, this was because ColonelPham Ngoc Thao, a Dim favorite who was instrumental in running the program, was in fact a communist agent who used his Catholicism to gain influential posts and damage South Vietnam from the inside.[citation needed]On 23 July 1962, fourteen nations, including China, South Vietnam, the Soviet Union, North Vietnam and the United States, signed an agreement promising to respect the neutrality of Laos.[152]Lyndon B. Johnson's escalation, 196369

A U.S.B-66 Destroyerand fourF-105 Thunderchiefsdropping bombs onNorth VietnamduringOperation Rolling ThunderMain article:Joint warfare in South Vietnam, 196369Further information:Role of United States in the Vietnam War: AmericanizationSee also:Opposition to the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War,Gulf of Tonkin incident,1964 South Vietnamese coup,September 1964 South Vietnamese coup attempt,December 1964 South Vietnamese coupand1965 South Vietnamese coupLyndon B. Johnson(LBJ), as he took over the presidency after thedeath of Kennedy, initially did not consider Vietnam a priority and was more concerned with his "Great Society" and progressive social programs. Presidential aideJack Valentirecalls, "Vietnam at the time was no bigger than a man's fist on the horizon. We hardly discussed it because it was not worth discussing."[165][166]On 24 November 1963, Johnson said, "the battle against communism... must be joined... with strength and determination."[167]The pledge came at a time when the situation in South Vietnam was deteriorating, especially in places like the Mekong Delta, because of the recent coup against Dim.[168]Johnson had reversed Kennedy's disengagement policy from Vietnam in withdrawing 1,000 troops by the end of 1963 (NSAM 263on 11 October),[169]with his own NSAM 273 (26 November)[170][171]to expand the war.The military revolutionary council, meeting in lieu of a strong South Vietnamese leader, was made up of 12 members headed by GeneralDng Vn MinhwhomStanley Karnow, a journalist on the ground, later recalled as "a model of lethargy."[172]Lodge, frustrated by the end of the year, cabled home about Minh: "Will he be strong enough to get on top of things?" His regime was overthrown in January 1964 by GeneralNguyn Khnh.[173]However, there was persistent instability in the military as several coupsnot all successfuloccurred in a short space of time.

An alleged Viet Cong activist, captured during an attack on an American outpost near the Cambodian border, is interrogated.On 2 August 1964, theUSSMaddox, on an intelligence mission along North Vietnam's coast, allegedly fired upon and damaged several torpedo boats that had been stalking it in theGulf of Tonkin.[174]A second attack was reported two days later on theUSSTurner JoyandMaddoxin the same area. The circumstances of the attack were murky. Lyndon Johnson commented to Undersecretary of State George Ball that "those sailors out there may have been shooting at flying fish."[175]The second attack led to retaliatory air strikes, prompted Congress to approve theGulf of Tonkin Resolutionon 7 August 1964,[176]signed by Johnson, and gave the president power to conduct military operations in Southeast Asia without declaring war.[177]Although Congressmen at the time denied that this was a full-scale war declaration, the Tonkin Resolution allowed the president unilateral power to launch a full-scale war if the president deemed necessary.[177]In the same month, Johnson pledged that he was not "...committing American boys to fighting a war that I think ought to be fought by the boys of Asia to help protect their own land."[178]An undatedNSApublication declassified in 2005, however, revealed that there was no attack on 4 August.[179]It had already been called into question long before this. "Gulf of Tonkin incident", writes Louise Gerdes, "is an oft-cited example of the way in which Johnson misled the American people to gain support for his foreign policy in Vietnam."[180]George C. Herring argues, however, that McNamara and the Pentagon "did not knowingly lie about the alleged attacks, but they were obviously in a mood to retaliate and they seem to have selected from the evidence available to them those parts that confirmed what they wanted to believe."[181]"From a strength of approximately 5,000 at the start of 1959 the Viet Cong's ranks grew to about 100,000 at the end of 1964...Between 1961 and 1964 the Army's strength rose from about 850,000 to nearly a million men."[159]The numbers for U.S. troops deployed to Vietnam during the same period were quite different; 2,000 in 1961, rising rapidly to 16,500 in 1964.[182]By early 1965, 7,559 South Vietnamese hamlets had been destroyed by the Viet Cong.[183]

A Marine from 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, moves an alleged Viet Cong activist to the rear during a search and clear operation held by the battalion 15 miles (24km) west ofDa Nang Air Base.TheNational Security Councilrecommended a three-stage escalation of the bombing of North Vietnam. On 2 March 1965, following an attack on aU.S. Marinebarracks atPleiku,[184]Operation Flaming Dart(initiated when Soviet PremierAlexei Kosyginwas on astate visittoNorth Vietnam),Operation Rolling ThunderandOperation Arc Lightcommenced.[185]The bombing campaign, which ultimately lasted three years, was intended to force North Vietnam to cease its support for the Viet Cong by threatening to destroy North Vietnam's air defenses and industrial infrastructure. As well, it was aimed at bolstering the morale of the South Vietnamese.[186]Between March 1965 and November 1968, "Rolling Thunder" deluged the north with a million tons of missiles, rockets and bombs.[187]Bombing was not restricted to North Vietnam. Other aerial campaigns, such asOperation Commando Hunt, targeted different parts of the Viet Cong and NVA infrastructure. These included theHo Chi Minh trailsupply route, which ran through Laos and Cambodia. The objective of stopping North Vietnam and the Viet Cong was never reached. As one officer noted "this is a political war and it calls for discriminate killing. The best weapon... would be a knife... The worst is an airplane."[188]TheChief of Staff of the United States Air ForceCurtis LeMay, however, had long advocated saturation bombing in Vietnam and wrote of the communists that "we're going to bomb them back into the Stone Age".[189]Escalation and ground war

Universal Newsreelfilm about an attack on U.S. air bases and the U.S. response. 1965

Peasants suspected of being Viet Cong under detention of U.S. army, 1966After several attacks upon them, it was decided thatU.S. Air Forcebases needed more protection as the South Vietnamese military seemed incapable of providing security. On 8 March 1965, 3,500U.S. Marineswere dispatched to South Vietnam. This marked the beginning of the American ground war. U.S. public opinion overwhelmingly supported the deployment.[190]In a statement similar to that made to the French almost two decades earlier, Ho Chi Minh warned that if the Americans "want to make war for twenty years then we shall make war for twenty years. If they want to make peace, we shall make peace and invite them to afternoon tea."[191]As former First Deputy Foreign Minister Tran Quang Co has noted, the primary goal of the war was to reunify Vietnam and secure its independence.[citation needed]Some have argued that the policy of North Vietnam was not to topple other non-communist governments in South East Asia.[192]However, thePentagon Paperswarned of "a dangerous period of Vietnamese expansionism....Laos and Cambodia would have been easy pickings for such a Vietnam....Thailand, Malaya, Singapore, and even Indonesia, could have been next."[193]The Marines' initial assignment was defensive. The first deployment of 3,500 in March 1965 was increased to nearly 200,000 by December.[194]The U.S. military had long been schooled in offensive warfare. Regardless of political policies, U.S. commanders were institutionally and psychologically unsuited to a defensive mission.[194]In December 1964, ARVN forces had suffered heavy losses at theBattle of Bnh Gi,[195]in a battle that both sides viewed as a watershed. Previously communist forces had utilized hit-and-run guerrilla tactics, however at Binh Gia they had defeated a strong ARVN force in a conventional battle.[196]Tellingly, South Vietnamese forces were again defeated in June 1965, at theBattle of ng Xoi.[197]

U.S. soldiers searching a village for Viet CongDesertion rates were increasing, andmoraleplummeted. GeneralWilliam Westmorelandinformed AdmiralU. S. Grant Sharp, Jr., commander of U.S. Pacific forces, that the situation was critical.[194]He said, "I am convinced that U.S. troops with their energy, mobility, and firepower can successfully take the fight to the NLF [National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam a.k.a. the Viet Cong]."[198]With this recommendation, Westmoreland was advocating an aggressive departure from America's defensive posture and the sidelining of the South Vietnamese. By ignoring ARVN units, the U.S. commitment became open-ended.[199]Westmoreland outlined a three-point plan to win the war: Phase 1. Commitment of U.S. (and other free world) forces necessary to halt the losing trend by the end of 1965. Phase 2. U.S. and allied forces mount major offensive actions to seize the initiative to destroy guerrilla and organized enemy forces. This phase would end when the enemy had been worn down, thrown on the defensive, and driven back from major populated areas. Phase 3. If the enemy persisted, a period of twelve to eighteen months following Phase 2 would be required for the final destruction of enemy forces remaining in remote base areas.[200]The plan was approved by Johnson and marked a profound departure from the previous administration's insistence that the government of South Vietnam was responsible for defeating the guerrillas. Westmoreland predicted victory by the end of 1967.[201]Johnson did not, however, communicate this change in strategy to the media. Instead he emphasized continuity.[202]The change in U.S. policy depended on matching the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong in a contest ofattritionandmorale. The opponents were locked in a cycle ofescalation.[203]The idea that the government of South Vietnam could manage its own affairs was shelved.[203]

Soviet PremierAlexei Kosyginwith U.S. PresidentLyndon B. Johnsonat theGlassboro Summit Conferencewhere the two representatives discussed the possibilities of a peace settlement.The one-yeartour of dutyof American soldiers deprived units of experienced leadership. As one observer noted "we were not in Vietnam for 10 years, but for one year 10 times."[188]As a result, training programs were shortened.South Vietnam was inundated with manufactured goods. As Stanley Karnow writes, "the main PX [Post Exchange], located in the Saigon suburb ofCholon, was only slightly smaller than the New YorkBloomingdale's..."[204]The American buildup transformed the economy and had a profound effect on South Vietnamese society. A huge surge in corruption was witnessed.

The Ho Chi Minh Trail running through Laos, 1967Washington encouraged itsSEATOallies to contribute troops. Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines[205]all agreed to send troops. Major allies, however, notablyNATOnations Canada and the United Kingdom, declined Washington's troop requests.[206]The U.S. and its allies mounted complex operations, such as operationsMasher,Attleboro,Cedar Falls, andJunction City. However, the communist insurgents remained elusive and demonstrated greattacticalflexibility.Meanwhile, the political situation in South Vietnam began to stabilize with the coming to power of prime minister Air MarshalNguyen Cao Kyand figurehead Chief of State, GeneralNguyn Vn Thiu, in mid-1965 at the head of a military junta. This ended a series of coups that had happened more than once a year. In 1967, Thieu became president with Ky as his deputy, after rigged elections. Although they were nominally a civilian government, Ky was supposed to maintain real power through a behind-the-scenes military body. However, Thieu outmaneuvered and sidelined Ky by filling the ranks with generals from his faction. Thieu was also accused of murdering Ky loyalists through contrived military accidents. Thieu, mistrustful and indecisive, remained president until 1975, having won a one-candidate election in 1971.[207]The Johnson administration employed a "policy of minimum candor"[208]in its dealings with the media. Military information officers sought to manage media coverage by emphasizing stories that portrayed progress in the war. Over time, this policy damaged the public trust in official pronouncements. As the media's coverage of the war and that of the Pentagon diverged, a so-calledcredibility gapdeveloped.[208]Vietnamization, 196972Nixon Doctrine / Vietnamization

Propaganda leaflet urging the defection of Viet Cong and North Vietnamese to the side of the Republic of VietnamSevere communist losses during the Tet Offensive allowed U.S. PresidentRichard Nixonto begin troop withdrawals. His plan, called theNixon Doctrine, was to build up the ARVN, so that they could take over the defense of South Vietnam. The policy became known as "Vietnamization". Vietnamization had much in common with the policies of the Kennedy administration. One important difference, however, remained. While Kennedy insisted that the South Vietnamese fight the war themselves, he attempted to limit the scope of the conflict.Nixon said in an announcement, "I am tonight announcing plans for the withdrawal of an additional 150,000 American troops to be completed during the spring of next year. This will bring a total reduction of 265,500 men in our armed forces in Vietnam below the level that existed when we took office 15 months ago."[229]On 10 October 1969, Nixon ordered a squadron of 18B-52sloaded with nuclear weaponsto race to the border of Soviet airspaceto convince the Soviet Union, in accord with themadman theory, that he was capable of anything to end the Vietnam War.Nixon also pursued negotiations. Theater commanderCreighton Abramsshifted to smaller operations, aimed at communist logistics, with better use of firepower and more cooperation with the ARVN. Nixon also began to pursuedtentewith the Soviet Union andrapprochement with China. This policy helped to decrease global tensions. Dtente led to nuclear arms reduction on the part of both superpowers. But Nixon was disappointed that China and the Soviet Union continued to supply the North Vietnamese with aid. In September 1969, Ho Chi Minh died at age seventy-nine.[230]The anti-war movement was gaining strength in the United States. Nixon appealed to the "silent majority" of Americans who he said supported the war without showing it in public. But revelations of theMy Lai Massacre, in which a U.S. Armyplatoonraped and killed civilians, and the 1969 "Green Beret Affair" where eight Special Forces soldiers, including the 5th Special Forces Group Commander were arrested for the murder[231]of a suspected double agent[232]provoked national and international outrage.Beginning in 1970, American troops were being taken away from border areas where most of the fighting took place, and instead put along the coast and interior, which is one reason why casualties in 1970 were less than half of 1969's totals.[229]1972 election and Paris Peace AccordsThe war was the central issue of the1972 U.S. presidential election. Nixon's opponent,George McGovern, campaigned on a platform of withdrawal from Vietnam. Nixon's National Security Advisor,Henry Kissinger, continued secret negotiations with North Vietnam'sLe Duc Tho. In October 1972, they reached an agreement.

Operation Linebacker II, December 1972However, South Vietnamese president Thieu demanded massive changes to the peace accord. When North Vietnam went public with the agreement's details, the Nixon administration claimed that the North was attempting to embarrass the president. The negotiations became deadlocked. Hanoi demanded new changes.To show his support for South Vietnam and force Hanoi back to the negotiating table, Nixon orderedOperation Linebacker II, a massive bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong 1829 December 1972. The offensive destroyed much of the remaining economic and industrial capacity of North Vietnam. Simultaneously Nixon pressured Thieu to accept the terms of the agreement, threatening to conclude a bilateral peace deal and cut off American aid.On 15 January 1973, Nixon announced the suspension of offensive action against North Vietnam. TheParis Peace Accordson "Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam" were signed on 27 January 1973, officially ending direct U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. A cease-fire was declared across North and South Vietnam. U.S. prisoners of war were released. The agreement guaranteed the territorial integrity of Vietnam and, like theGeneva Conferenceof 1954, called for national elections in the North and South. The Paris Peace Accords stipulated a sixty-day period for the total withdrawal of U.S. forces. "This article", noted Peter Church, "proved... to be the only one of the Paris Agreements which was fully carried out."[240]Opposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War: 19621973

Protests against the war in Washington, D.C. on 24 April 1971

Anti-Vietnam War demonstration, 1967.

The 14-year-oldMary Ann Vecchiokneels over the dead body ofJeffrey Millerwho was shot by the Ohio National Guard during theKent State shootingsMain article:Opposition to the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam WarDuring the course of the Vietnam War a large segment of the American population came to be opposed to U.S. involvement in South Vietnam. Public opinion steadily turned against the war following 1967 and by 1970 only a third of Americans believed that the U.S. had not made a mistake by sending troops to fight in Vietnam.[241]Nearly a third of the American population were strongly against the war. It is possible to specify certain groups who led the anti-war movement and the reasons why. Many young people protested because they were the ones beingdraftedwhile others were against the war because the anti-war movement grew increasingly popular among thecountercultureand drug culture in American society and its music.[242]Some advocates within the peace movement advocated aunilateralwithdrawal of U.S. forces from Vietnam. One reason given for the withdrawal is that it would contribute to a lessening of tensions in the region and thus less human bloodshed. Early opposition to U.S. involvement in Vietnam drew its inspiration from theGeneva Conference of 1954. American support of Dim in refusing elections was seen as thwarting the very democracy that America claimed to be supporting. John F. Kennedy, while Senator, opposed involvement in Vietnam.[182]Opposition to the Vietnam War tended to unite groups opposed to U.S. anti-communism andimperialism[243]and, for those involved with theNew Leftsuch as theCatholic Worker Movement. Others, such asStephen Spiroopposed the war based on the theory ofJust War. Some wanted to show solidarity with the people of Vietnam, such asNorman Morrisonemulating the actions ofThch Qung c. In a key televised debate from 15 May 1965, Eric Severeid reporting for CBS conducted a debate betweenMcGeorge BundyandHans Morgenthaudealing with an acute summary of the main war concerns of the U.S. as seen at that time stating them as: "(1) What are the justifications for the American presence in Vietnam -- why are we there? (2) What is the fundamental nature of this war? Is it aggression from North Vietnam or is it basically, a civil war between the peoples of South Vietnam? (3) What are the implications of this Vietnam struggle in terms of Communist China's power and aims and future actions? And (4) What are the alternatives to our present policy in Vietnam?"[244][245]High-profile opposition to the Vietnam War turned to street protests in an effort to turn U.S. political opinion. On 15 October 1969, theVietnam Moratoriumattracted millions of Americans.[246]Riots broke out at the1968 Democratic National Conventionduring protests against the war.[247]After explosive news reports of Americanmilitary abuses, such as the 1968My Lai Massacre, brought new attention and support to the anti-war movement, some veterans joinedVietnam Veterans Against the War. Thefatal shootingof four students atKent State Universityin 1970 led to nation-wide university protests.[248]Anti-war protests ended with the final withdrawal of troops after theParis Peace Accordswere signed in 1973. South Vietnam was left to defend itself alone when the fighting resumed. Many South Vietnamese subsequently fled to the United States.[249]Exit of the Americans: 197375

Anti-war protestsThe United States began drastically reducing their troop support in South Vietnam during the final years ofVietnamization. Many U.S. troops were removed from the region, and on 5 March 1971, the United States returned the5th Special Forces Group, which was the first American unit deployed toSouth Vietnam, to its former base inFort Bragg,North Carolina.[250][A 4]Under theParis Peace Accords, between North Vietnamese Foreign MinisterL c Thand U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and reluctantly signed by South Vietnamese presidentThiu, U.S. military forces withdrew from South Vietnam and prisoners were exchanged. North Vietnam was allowed to continue supplying communist troops in the South, but only to the extent of replacing expended materiel. Later that year theNobel Peace Prizewas awarded to Kissinger and Th, but the Vietnamese negotiator declined it saying that a true peace did not yet exist.The communist leaders had expected that the ceasefire terms would favor their side. But Saigon, bolstered by a surge of U.S. aid received just before the ceasefire went into effect, began to roll back the Viet Cong. The communists responded with a new strategy hammered out in a series of meetings in Hanoi in March 1973, according to the memoirs ofTrn Vn Tr.[253]As the Viet Cong's top commander, Tra participated in several of these meetings. With U.S. bombings suspended, work on the Ho Chi Minh trail and other logistical structures could proceed unimpeded. Logistics would be upgraded until the North was in a position to launch a massive invasion of the South, projected for the 197576 dry season. Tra calculated that this date would be Hanoi's last opportunity to strike before Saigon's army could be fully trained.[253]

Calling for immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Vietnam, George McGovern's 1972 Presidential Campaign lost 49 of 50 states to Richard Nixon.In the November 1972 Election, Democratic nomineeGeorge McGovernlost 49 of 50 states to the incumbent PresidentRichard Nixon. On 15 March 1973, President Nixon implied that the United States would intervene militarily if the communist side violated the ceasefire. Public and congressional reaction to Nixon's trial balloon was unfavorable and in April Nixon appointedGraham Martinas U.S. ambassador to Vietnam. Martin was a second stringer compared to previous U.S. ambassadors and his appointment was an early signal that Washington had given up on Vietnam.[citation needed]During his confirmation hearings in June 1973,Secretary of DefenseJames R. Schlesingerstated that he would recommend resumption of U.S. bombing in North Vietnam if North Vietnam launched a major offensive against South Vietnam. On 4 June 1973, the U.S. Senate passed theCaseChurch Amendmentto prohibit such intervention.[254]Theoil price shock of October 1973following theYom Kippur WarinEgyptcaused significant damage to the South Vietnamese economy. The Viet Cong resumed offensive operations when the dry season began and by January 1974 it had recaptured the territory it lost during the previous dry season. After two clashes that left 55 South Vietnamese soldiers dead, President Thieu announced on 4 January that the war had restarted and that the Paris Peace Accord was no longer in effect. There had been over 25,000 South Vietnamese casualties during the ceasefire period.[255]Gerald Fordtook over as U.S. president on 9 August 1974 after president Nixon resigned due to theWatergate scandal. At this time, Congress cut financial aid to South Vietnam from $1 billion a year to $700 million. The U.S. midterm elections in 1974 brought in a new Congress dominated by Democrats who were even more determined to confront the president on the war. Congress immediately voted in restrictions on funding and military activities to be phased in through 1975 and to culminate in a total cutoff of funding in 1976.The success of the 197374 dry season offensive inspired Tr to return to Hanoi in October 1974 and plead for a larger offensive in the next dry season. This time, Tr could travel on a drivable highway with regular fueling stops, a vast change from the days when the Ho Chi Minh trail was a dangerous mountain trek.[256]Gip, the North Vietnamese defense minister, was reluctant to approve Tr's plan. A larger offensive might provoke a U.S. reaction and interfere with the big push planned for 1976. Tr appealed over Gip's head to first secretaryLe Duan, who approved of the operation.Tr's plan called for a limited offensive from Cambodia intoPhc Long Province. The strike was designed to solve local logistical problems, gauge the reaction of South Vietnamese forces, and determine whether U.S. would return to the fray.

Recently released American POWs from North Vietnamese prison camps, 1973On 13 December 1974, North Vietnamese forcesattacked Route 14 in Phc Long Province. Phuoc Binh, the provincial capital, fell on 6 January 1975. Ford desperately asked Congress for funds to assist and re-supply the South before it was overrun. Congress refused. The fall of Phuoc Binh and the lack of an American response left the South Vietnamese elite demoralized.The speed of this success led the Politburo to reassess its strategy. It was decided that operations in the Central Highlands would be turned over to GeneralVn Tin Dngand that Pleiku should be seized, if possible. Before he left for the South, Dng was addressed by L Dun: "Never have we had military and political conditions so perfect or a strategic advantage as great as we have now."[257]At the start of 1975, the South Vietnamese had three times as much artillery and twice the number of tanks and armored cars as the opposition. They also had 1,400 aircraft and a two-to-one numerical superiority in combat troops over their Communist enemies.[258]However, the rising oil prices meant that much of this could not be used. They faced a well-organized, highly determined and well-funded North Vietnam. Much of the North's material and financial support came from the communist bloc. Within South Vietnam, there was increasing chaos. Their abandonment by the American military had compromised an economy dependent on U.S. financial support and the presence of a large number of U.S. troops. South Vietnam suffered from the global recession that followed theArab oil embargo.Campaign 275

Captured U.S. armored vehiclesOn 10 March 1975, General Dung launched Campaign 275, a limited offensive into the Central Highlands, supported by tanks and heavy artillery. The target wasBun Ma Thut, ink Lk Province. If the town could be taken, the provincial capital ofPleikuand the road to the coast would be exposed for a planned campaign in 1976. The ARVN proved incapable of resisting the onslaught, and its forces collapsed on 11 March. Once again, Hanoi was surprised by the speed of their success. Dung now urged the Politburo to allow him to seize Pleiku immediately and then turn his attention toKon Tum. He argued that with two months of good weather remaining until the onset of the monsoon, it would be irresponsible to not take advantage of the situation.PresidentNguyn Vn Thiu, a former general, was fearful that his forces would be cut off in the north by the attacking communists; Thieu ordered a retreat. The president declared this to be a "lighten the top and keep the bottom" strategy. But in what appeared to be a repeat ofOperation Lam Son 719, the withdrawal soon turned into a bloody rout. While the bulk of ARVN forces attempted to flee, isolated units fought desperately. ARVN General Phu abandoned Pleiku and Kon Tum and retreated toward the coast, in what became known as the "column of tears".As the ARVN tried to disengage from the enemy, refugees mixed in with the line of retreat. The poor condition of roads and bridges, damaged by years of conflict and neglect, slowed Phu's column. As the North Vietnamese forces approached, panic set in. Often abandoned by the officers, the soldiers and civilians were shelled incessantly. The retreat degenerated into a desperate scramble for the coast. By 1 April the "column of tears" was all but annihilated.On 20 March, Thieu reversed himself and ordered Hu, Vietnam's third-largest city, be held at all costs, and then changed his policy several times. Thieu's contradictory orders confused and demoralized his officer corps. As the North Vietnamese launched their attack, panic set in, and ARVN resistance withered. On 22 March, the NVA opened the siege of Hu. Civilians flooded the airport and the docks hoping for any mode of escape. Some even swam out to sea to reach boats and barges anchored offshore. In the confusion, routed ARVN soldiers fired on civilians to make way for their retreat.On 25 March, after a three-day battle, Hu fell. As resistance in Hu collapsed, North Vietnamese rockets rained down onDa Nangand its airport. By 28 March 35,000 VPA troops were poised to attack the suburbs. By 30 March 100,000 leaderless ARVN troops surrendered as the NVA marched victoriously through Da Nang. With the fall of the city, the defense of the Central Highlands and Northern provinces came to an end.Final North Vietnamese offensive

CapturedUSAFwarplanes inNorth VietnamMuseumFor more details on the final North Vietnamese offensive, seeHo Chi Minh Campaign.With the northern half of the country under their control, the Politburo ordered General Dung to launch the final offensive against Saigon. The operational plan for theHo Chi Minh Campaigncalled for the capture of Saigon before 1 May. Hanoi wished to avoid the coming monsoon and prevent any redeployment of ARVN forces defending the capital. Northern forces, their morale boosted by their recent victories, rolled on, taking Nha Trang, Cam Ranh, and Da Lat.On 7 April, three North Vietnamese divisions attackedXun Lc, 40 miles (64km) east of Saigon. The North Vietnamese met fierce resistance at Xun Lc from theARVN 18th Division, who were outnumbered six to one. For two bloody weeks, severe fighting raged as the ARVN defenders made alast standto try to block the North Vietnamese advance. By 21 April, however, the exhausted garrison were ordered to withdraw towards Saigon.An embittered and tearful president Thieu resigned on the same day, declaring that the United States had betrayed South Vietnam. In a scathing attack, he suggested U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had tricked him into signing the Paris peace agreement two years ago, promising military aid that failed to materialize. Having transferred power toTrn Vn Hng, he left forTaiwanon 25 April. At the same time, North Vietnamese tanks had reachedBin Haand turned toward Saigon, brushing aside isolated ARVN units along the way.By the end of April, the ARVN had collapsed on all fronts except in theMekong Delta. Thousand of refugees streamed southward, ahead of the main communist onslaught. On 27 April 100,000 North Vietnamese troops encircled Saigon. The city was defended by about 30,000 ARVN troops. To hasten a collapse and foment panic, the NVA shelled the airport and forced its closure. With the air exit closed, large numbers of civilians found that they had no way out.War crimes

Victims of the My Lai massacreMain articles:List of war crimes 19541975: Vietnam WarandVietnam War casualtiesA large number ofwar crimestook place during the Vietnam War. War crimes were committed by both sides during the conflict and included rape, massacres of civilians, bombings of civilian targets,terrorism, the widespread use of torture and the murder ofprisoners of war. Additional common crimes included theft, arson, and the destruction of property not warranted bymilitary necessity.[296]Allied war crimesMain articles:Tiger ForceandVietnam War Crimes Working GroupIn 1968, theVietnam War Crimes Working Group(VWCWG) was established by thePentagontask forceset up in the wake of theMy Lai Massacre, to attempt to ascertain the veracity of emerging claims ofwar crimesbyU.S. armed forcesin Vietnam, during the Vietnam War period.The investigation compiled over 9,000 pages of investigative files, sworn statements by witnesses and status reports for top military officers, indicating that 320 incidents had factual basis.[297]The substantiated cases included 7 massacres between 1967 and 1971 in which at least 137 civilians were killed; seventy eight further attacks targeting non-combatants resulting in at least 57 deaths, 56 wounded and 15 sexually assaulted; one hundred and forty-one cases of US soldiers torturing civilian detainees or prisoners of war with fists, sticks, bats, water or electric shock.[297]Over 800 alleged atrocities were investigated but only 23 soldiers were ever convicted on charges and most served sentences of less than a year.[298][unreliable source?]A Los Angeles Times report on the archived files concluded that the war crimes were not confined to a few rogue units, having been uncovered in every army division that was active in Vietnam.[297]In 2003 a series of investigative reports by the Toledo Blade uncovered a large number of unreported American war crimes particularly from theTiger Forceunit.[299]Some of the most violent war criminals included men such asSam Ybarra[300]and Sergeant Roy E. "the Bummer" Bumgarner, a soldier who served with the 1st Cavalry Division and later the 173d Airborne Brigade.[301]In 1971 the later U.S. presidential candidate,John Kerry, testified before theU.S. Senateand stated that over 150 U.S. veterans testified during theWinter Soldier Investigationand described war crimes committed in Southeast Asia."They told the stories of times that they had personally raped, cut off the ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country."John Kerrytestifying before the U.S. Senate in 1971[302]According to political scientistR.J. Rummel, U.S. troops murdered about 6,000 Vietnamese civilians during the war.[303]From 1964 to 1975, Rummel estimated 1,500 persons died during the forced relocations of 1,200,000 civilians, another 5,000 prisoners died from ill-treatment and about 30,000 suspected communists and fighters were executed by ARVN forces. 6,000 civilians died in the more extensive shellings. This totals, from a range of between 42,000 and 118,000 deaths caused by South Vietnam, excluding NLF/North Vietnamese forces killed by the ARVN in combat.[304]Nick Turse, in his 2013 book,Kill Anything that Moves, argues that a relentless drive toward higher body counts, a widespread use of free-fire zones, rules of engagement where civilians who ran from soldiers or helicopters could be viewed as Viet Cong, and a widespread disdain for Vietnamese civilians led to massive civilian casualties and endemic war crimes inflicted by U.S. troops.[305]One example cited by Turse isOperation Speedy Express, an operation by the 9th Infantry Division, which was described byJohn Paul Vannas, in effect, "many My Lais".[305]In more detail,Air force captain, Brian Wilson, who carried out bomb-damage assessments in free-fire zones throughout the delta, saw the results firsthand. "It was the epitome of immorality...One of the times I counted bodies after an air strikewhich always ended with two napalm bombs which would just fry everything that was leftI counted sixty-two bodies. In my report I described them as so many women between fifteen and twenty-five and so many childrenusually in their mothers' arms or very close to themand so many old people." When he later read the official tally of dead, he found that it listed them as 130 VC killed.[306]South Korean forces were also culpable of war crimes as well. One of the massacres was theTy Vinh MassacrewhereROK Capital Divisionof theSouth Korean Armykilled 1,200 unarmed citizens between February 12, 1966 and March 17, 1966 in Bnh An village, today Ty Vinh village,Ty Sn DistrictofBnh nh Provincein South Vietnam.[307]Another example was theG Di massacrewhere ROK Capital Division of the South Korean Army killed 380 civilians on 26 February 1966 in G Di hamlet, in Bnh An commune,Ty Sn District(today Ty Vinh District) ofBnh nh Provincein South Vietnam.[307]North Vietnamese, Viet Cong, and Khmer Rouge war crimesMain article:Viet Cong and PAVN strategy, organization and structure VC/NVA use of terror

Victims of the Hu MassacreViet Conginsurgents reportedly sliced off the genitals of village chiefs and sewed them inside their bloody mouths, cut off the tongues of helpless victims, rammed bamboo lances through one ear and out the other, slashed open the wombs of pregnant women, machine gunned children, hacked men and women to pieces with machetes, and cut off the fingers of small children who dared to get an education.[183][unreliable source?][308][unreliable source?]According to a U.S. Senate report, squads were assigned monthly assassination quotas.[309]Peer De Silva, former head of the Saigon department of the CIA, wrote that from as early as 1963, Viet Cong units were using disembowelment and other methods of mutilation for psychological warfare.[310]According to Guenter Lewy, Viet Cong insurgents assassinated at least 37,000 civilians in South Vietnam and routinely employed terror on a daily basis.[311]Ami Pedahzur has written that "the overall volume and lethality of Viet Cong terrorism rivals or exceeds all but a handful of terrorist campaigns waged over the last third of the twentieth century".[312]Notable Viet Cong atrocities include the massacre ofover 3,000 unarmed civiliansatHuduring theTet Offensiveand the incineration of hundreds of civilians at thek Sn massacrewith flamethrowers.[313]Up to 155,000 refugees fleeing the final North VietnameseSpring Offensivewere killed or abducted on the road toTuy Hain 1975.[314]According to Rummel, North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops murdered between 106,000 and 227,000 civilians in South Vietnam.[303]North Vietnam was also known for its inhumane and abusive treatment of American POWs, most notably inHa L Prison(aka theHanoi Hilton), where severe torture was employed to extract "confessions".[315]Khmer Rougeinsurgents also reportedly committed atrocities during the war. These include the murder of civilians and POWs by slowly sawing off their heads a little more each day,[316]the destruction of Buddhistwatsand the killing of monks,[317][unreliable source?]attacks on refugee camps involving the deliberate murder of babies and bomb threats against foreign aid workers,[318][unreliable source?]the abduction and assassination of journalists,[319]and the shelling ofPhnom Penhfor more than a year.[320][unreliable source?]Journalist accounts stated that the Khmer Rouge shelling "tortured the capital almost continuously", inflicting "random death and mutilation" on 2 million trapped civilians.[321]The Khmer Rouge forcibly evacuated the entire city after taking it, in what has been described as adeath march: Franois Ponchaud wrote: "I shall never forget one cripple who had neither hands nor feet, writhing along the ground like a severed worm, or a weeping father carrying his ten-year old daughter wrapped in a sheet tied around his neck like a sling, or the man with his foot dangling at the end of a leg to which it was attached by nothing but skin";[322]John Swain recalled that the Khmer Rouge were "tipping out patients from the hospitals like garbage into the streets....In five years of war, this is the greatest caravan of human misery I have seen."[323]Weapons

Marines complete construction ofM101 howitzerpositions at a mountain-topfire support base, 1968Communist forces were principally armed with Chinese[336]and Soviet weaponry[337]though some Viet Cong guerrilla units were equipped with Western infantry weapons either captured from French stocks during the first Indochina war or from ARVN units or requisitioned through illicit purchase.[338]The ubiquitous SovietAK-47was often regarded as the best assault rifle of the war, due to its ability to continue to function even in adverse, muddy conditions. It was not uncommon to see U.S.special forcesfighting with captured AK-47s.[citation needed]Other weapons used by the Viet Cong included the World War II-eraPPSh-41submachine gun (both Soviet and Chinese versions), thekorpion vz. 61submachine gun, theDShKheavy machine gun and theStechkin APSmachine pistol.

Bicycles carried up to 400 pounds of weight and were thus effective transport vehicles.While the Viet Cong had bothamphibious tanks(such as thePT-76) andlight tanks(such as theType 62), they also used bicycles to transport munitions.The AmericanM16, which replaced theM14, was considered more accurate and was lighter than the AK-47 but was prone to jamming. Oftentimes the gun suffered from a jamming flaw known as "failure to extract", which meant that a spent cartridge case remains lodged in the action after a round is fired.[339]According to a congressional report, the jamming was caused primarily by a change in gunpowder which was done without adequate testing and reflected a decision for which the safety of soldiers was a secondary consideration.[340]TheM60 machine gunGPMG (General Purpose Machine Gun) was the main machine gun of the US army at the time and many of them were put on helicopters, to providesuppressive firewhen landing in hostile regions. The MAC-10machine pistolwas supplied to many special forces troops in the midpoint of the war. It also armed many CIA agents in the field.Two of the aircraft which were prominent in the war are theAC-130 "Spectre"Gunship and theUH-1"Huey" gunship. The AC-130 is a heavily armedground-attack aircraftvariant of theC-130 Herculestransport plane; it was used to provideclose air support,air interdictionandforce protection. The AC-130H "Spectre" was armed with two 20mmM61 Vulcancannons, oneBofors 40mmautocannon, and one 105mmM102 howitzer. The Huey is amilitary helicopterpowered by a single,turboshaftengine, with a two-bladed main rotor and tail rotor. Approximately 7,000 UH-1 aircraft saw service in Vietnam.TheClaymore M18A1, an anti-personnel mine, was widely used during the war. Unlike a conventional land mine, the Claymore is command-detonated and directional, meaning it is fired by remote-control and shoots a pattern of metal balls into thekill zonelike ashotgun.The aircraft ordnance used during the war includedprecision-guided munition,cluster bombs, andnapalm, athickening/gellingagent generally mixed withpetroleumor a similar fuel for use in anincendiary device, initially against buildings and later primarily as an anti-personnel weapon that sticks to skin and can burn down to the bone.AftermathEffect on the United States

Vietnam War protests at the Pentagon, October 1967In the post-war era, Americans struggled to absorb the lessons of the military intervention.[368]As GeneralMaxwell Taylor, one of the principal architects of the war, noted, "First, we didn't know ourselves. We thought that we were going into anotherKorean War, but this was a different country. Secondly, we didn't know our South Vietnamese allies... And we knew less about North Vietnam. Who wasHo Chi Minh? Nobody really knew. So, until we know the enemy and know our allies and know ourselves, we'd better keep out of this kind of dirty business. It's very dangerous."[369][370]PresidentRonald Reagancoined the term "Vietnam Syndrome" to describe the reluctance of the American public and politicians to support further international interventions after Vietnam.Some have suggested that "the responsibility for the ultimate failure of this policy [America's withdrawal from Vietnam] lies not with the men who fought, but with those in Congress..."[371]Alternatively, the official history of theUnited States Armynoted that "tacticshave often seemed to exist apart from larger issues, strategies, and objectives. Yet in Vietnam the Army experienced tactical success and strategic failure... The...Vietnam War...legacy may be the lesson that unique historical, political, cultural, and social factors always impinge on the military...Success rests not only on military progress but on correctly analyzing the nature of the particular conflict, understanding the enemy's strategy, and assessing the strengths and weaknesses of allies. A new humility and a new sophistication may form the best parts of a complex heritage left to the Army by the long, bitter war in Vietnam."[159]

A youngMarineprivate waits on the beach during the Marine landing,Da Nang, 3 August 1965U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger wrote in a secret memo to president Gerald Ford that "in terms of military tactics, we cannot help draw the conclusion that our armed forces are not suited to this kind of war. Even the Special Forces who had been designed for it could not prevail."[372]Even Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara concluded that "the achievement of a military victory by U.S. forces in Vietnam was indeed a dangerous illusion."[373]Doubts surfaced as to the effectiveness of large-scale, sustained bombing. AsArmy Chief of StaffHarold Keith Johnsonnoted, "if anything came out of Vietnam, it was that air power couldn't do the job."[374]Even General William Westmoreland admitted that the bombing had been ineffective. As he remarked, "I still doubt that the North Vietnamese would have relented."[374]The inability to bomb Hanoi to the bargaining table also illustrated another U.S. miscalculation. The North's leadership was composed of hardened communists who had been fighting for thirty years. They had defeated the French, and their tenacity as both nationalists and communists was formidable. Ho Chi Minh is quoted as saying, "You can kill ten of my men for every one I kill of yours...But even at these odds you will lose and I will win."[375]

Marine gets his wounds treated during operations in Hu City, 1968The Vietnam War called into question the U.S. Army doctrine. Marine Corps GeneralVictor H. Krulakheavily criticised Westmoreland'sattritionstrategy, calling it "wasteful of American lives... with small likelihood of a successful outcome."[374]In addition, doubts surfaced about the ability of the military to train foreign forces.Between 1965 and 1975, the United States spent $111 billion on the war ($686 billion in FY2008 dollars).[376]This resulted in a large federalbudget deficit.More than 3 million Americans served in the Vietnam War, some 1.5 million of whom actually saw combat in Vietnam.[377]James E. Westheider wrote that "At the height of American involvement in 1968, for example, there were 543,000 American military personnel in Vietnam, but only 80,000 were considered combat troops."[378]Conscription in the United Stateshad been controlled by the president since World War II, but ended in 1973.By war's end, 58,220 American soldiers had been killed,[A 2]more than 150,000 had been wounded, and at least 21,000 had been permanently disabled.[379]The average age of the U.S. troops killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years.[380]According to Dale Kueter, "Of those killed in combat, 86.3 percent were white, 12.5 percent were black and the remainder from other races."[381]Approximately 830,000 Vietnam veterans suffered symptoms ofposttraumatic stress disorder. An estimated 125,000 Americans left for Canada to avoid the Vietnam draft,[382]and approximately 50,000 American servicemen deserted.[383]In 1977, United States presidentJimmy Cartergranted a full and unconditional pardon to all Vietnam-eradraft dodgers.[384]TheVietnam War POW/MIA issue, concerning the fate of U.S. service personnel listed asmissing in action, persisted for many years after the war's conclusion.As of 2013, the U.S. government is paying Vietnam veterans and their families or survivors more than 22 billion dollars a year in war-related claims.[385][386]Effects of U.S. chemical defoliation

U.S. helicopter spraying chemicaldefoliantsin theMekong Delta, South VietnamOne of the most controversial aspects of the U.S. military effort in Southeast Asia was the widespread use of chemicaldefoliantsbetween 1961 and 1971. They were used todefoliatelarge parts of the countryside to prevent the Viet Cong from being able to hide their weapons and encampments under the foliage. These chemicals continue to change the landscape, cause diseases and birth defects, and poison the food chain.[387][388]Early in the American military effort, it was decided that since the enemy were hiding their activities under triple-canopy jungle, a useful first step might be to defoliate certain areas. This was especially true of growth surrounding bases (both large and small) in what became known asOperation Ranch Hand. Corporations likeDow Chemical CompanyandMonsantowere given the task of developing herbicides for this purpose. American officials also pointed out that the British had previously used2,4,5-Tand2,4-D(virtually identical to America's use in Vietnam) on a large scale throughout theMalayan Emergencyin the 1950s in order to destroy bushes, crops, and trees in effort to deny communist insurgents the cover they needed to ambush passing convoys.[389]Indeed,Secretary of StateDean RusktoldPresidentJohn F. Kennedyon November 24, 1961, that "[t]he use of defoliant does not violate any rule ofinternational lawconcerning the conduct of chemical warfare and is an accepted tactic of war. Precedent has been established by the British during the emergency in Malaya in their use of aircraft for destroying crops by chemical spraying."[390]The defoliants, which were distributed in drums marked with color-coded bands, included the "Rainbow Herbicides"Agent Pink,Agent Green,Agent Purple,Agent Blue,Agent White, and, most famously,Agent Orange, which includeddioxinas a by-product of its manufacture. About 12 million gallons (45,000,000L) of Agent Orange were sprayed over Southeast Asia during the American involvement.[citation needed]A prime area of Ranch Hand operations was in theMekong Delta, where the U.S. Navy patrol boats were vulnerable to attack from the undergrowth at the water's edge.In 1961 and 1962, the Kennedy administration authorized the use of chemicals to destroy rice crops. Between 1961 and 1967, the U.S. Air Force sprayed 20 million U.S. gallons (75,700,000L) of concentrated herbicides over 6 million acres (24,000km2) of crops and trees, affecting an estimated 13% of South Vietnam's land. In 1965, 42% of all herbicide was sprayed over food crops. Another purpose of herbicide use was to drive civilian populations into RVN-controlled areas.[391]Vietnamese victims affected by Agent Orange attempted a class action lawsuit against Dow Chemical and other US chemical manufacturers, butDistrict CourtJudgeJack B. Weinsteindismissed their case.[392]They appealed, but the dismissal was cemented in February 2008 by theCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit.[393]As of 2006, the Vietnamese government estimates that there are over 4,000,000 victims ofdioxinpoisoning in Vietnam, although the United States government denies any conclusive scientific links between Agent Orange and the Vietnamese victims of dioxin poisoning. In some areas of southern Vietnam, dioxin levels remain at over 100 times the accepted international standard.[394]

The U.S. Veterans Administration has listedprostate cancer,respiratory cancers,multiple myeloma,Diabetes mellitus type 2,B-cell lymphomas,soft-tissue sarcoma,chloracne,porphyria cutanea tarda,peripheral neuropathy, andspina bifidain children of veterans exposed to Agent Orange.[395]Although there has been much discussion over whether the use of these defoliants constituted a violation of the laws of war, the defoliants were not considered weapons, since exposure to them did not lead to immediate death or incapacitation.[citation needed]CasualtiesMain articles:Vietnam War casualtiesandOutline of the Vietnam WarEstimates of the number of casualties vary, with one source suggesting up to 3.8 million violent war deaths.[396]195,000430,000 South Vietnamese civilians died in the war.[14][15]50,00065,000 North Vietnamese civilians died in the war.[14][22]The Army of the Republic of Vietnam lost between 171,331 and 220,357 men during the war.[14][397]The official US Department of Defense figure was 950,765 communist forces killed in Vietnam from 1965 to 1974. Defense Department officials believed that these body count figures need to be deflated by 30 percent. In addition, Guenter Lewy assumes that one-third of the reported "enemy" killed may have been civilians, concluding that the actual number of deaths of communist military forces was probably closer to 444,000.[14]A detailed demographic study calculated 791,0001,141,000 war-related deaths for all of Vietnam.[40]Between 200,000[28][30]and 300,000[398]Cambodians died during the war. About 60,000 Laotians also died,[399]and 58,220 U.S. service members were killed.HistoriographyHall, Simon, "Scholarly Battles over the Vietnam War",Historical Journal52 (September 2009), 81329.