Methods of warfare
The Americans in Vietnam were able to draw on a vast supply of different types of weapons and associated technology:
Helicopters were widely used by the Americans. They were used to transport troops quickly and at short notice. They were also used to remove soldiers from the jungle if the
fighting became too difficult, or if they were injured. Between 1965 and 1973, helicopters carried 406,022 injured US soldiers to hospitals.
Throughout the war, the American Seventh Fleet, made up of 125 ships and 64,000 men, controlled the seas around Vietnam. From their aircraft carriers, they sent fighter planes and bombers
to attack the North. From offshore, battleships shelled Vietcong positions. They also tried to stop supplies reaching the Vietcong from the sea by blockading the coast. Hundreds of ships were stopped and searched
but there were so many that some supplies slipped through.
The Americans fighting in Vietnam made considerable use of anti-personnel bombs. Pineapple bombs were made up of about 250 metal pellets inside a small canister. When they were dropped, thousands
of pellets were thrown horizontally over the ground hitting everything and everyone around. Plastic and metal needles, rather than metal pellets, were sometimes used in anti-personnel bombs. The advantage was that plastic
could not be detected on X-rays. Anti-personnel bombs injured rather than killed civilians. Injured people put greater pressure on hospitals and created more disruption.
The great problem facing the Americans in Vietnam was actually finding the Vietcong in the thick, tropical jungle. For this reason, in 1962, President Kennedy approved 'Operation Ranch Hand'. This involved spraying
chemicals from aircraft over the jungle to try and destroy the vegetation and reveal guerrilla hiding places. The chemical used was 'Agent Orange', which contained traces of the most toxic forms of dioxin (a chemical which can
destroy the brain and central nervous system). In 1969, 1,034,300 hectares of forest were destroyed. Not only did Agent Orange destroy thousands of trees but it was later found to have caused birth deformities in children. It also caused
cancers in soldiers fighting in the war.
Chemicals were also sprayed on all crops. Between 1966 and 1969, the chemical 'Agent Blue' was sprayed over 278,640 hectares. The aim was to deprive the guerrillas of food. In fact, the ordinary peasants suffered most from the poor rice harvests
that followed the spraying. They also suffered because the land that they and their ancestors had farmed for generations was polluted by the chemicals and remained unworkable for many years. Between 1962 and 1971, the Americans sprayed about 72 million litres
of herbicide, including more than 42 million litres of Agent Orange, on the jungles of Vietnam to destroy the Vietcong's cover.
As well as dropping explosive bombs and chemicals on Vietnam, the Americans also used bombs containing chemicals that caught fire. Of those used, Napalm is the best known. Napalm is a mixture of petrol and chemical thickener. It produces a
tough sticky gel that attaches itself to the skin. The chemical within it, white phosphorus, goes on burning for a considerable time. Three-quaters of all napalm victims in Vietnam were through to the muscle and bone. The pain alone often caused death because it was
so intense. Photographs of Vietnamese civilians, particularly children, burnt by napalm, were seen throughout the world, and did much to damage the reputation of the Americans and their cause in Vietnam.
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