Anyone care to explain the Vietnam War?

wazza300 said:
You have to admit the viet cong were cunning,they dropped everything on them,including poison to clear the vegetation so that they could see the enemy,but they used to dig huge tunnel networks and hide (agent orange I think it was)

Its similar to north/south korea are today exept no war
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The tunnels were a particularly clever weapon.

The Vietnamese were physically much smaller than the Americans and the tunnels were dug so that they were only just big enough for the vietnamese to be able to get through.

The US forces were not able to clear the tunnels because they simply could not negotiate them
 
In a word communism. Or more correctly fighting it in every possible way that didnt end up taking the russians in a straight fight. Hence why they got into the habit of all these proxy wars.

Of course they got showed up as has been said above, the reality is that geurrilla tactics have been the bane of professional armies for as long as there have been professional armies and annoyed locals.
 
I think Nixon getting kicked out accelerated the end as Ford just rolled over really. The NV knew he would rain hell if they attacked but it would have just delayed the inevitable.
 
rubberduck said:
I'm not 100% convinced the Vietnam war really happened, certainly not in anything approaching the way it was reported. A phony war and fake news to control a population. For proof look where we are today.
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You are Donald Trump, AICMFP.

nightrider1470 said:
Just watched a first episode on netflix, about the war... Had a good few gins and seemed very complicated how it all came about.

The French and the Japanese? Wanted to take control.... How and why did America get so involved?

Did Vietnam atually win the war?.... Any Information you can give me is really appreciated!

I just can't get my head round how the USA didn't beat them so easily.

:)
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Don’t know if Netflix are showing the Ken Burns excellent Vietnam Documentary, but you can try History.com (Vietnam).

b00merang69 said:
They came to help the South and Guerrilla warfare so hard to tell who was friend or foe same as Britain early 20th century and then alter Russia (80-90's) found out in Afghanistan.
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You are bang in the ballpark, but it would have easier to decipher with punctuation marks.

nightrider1470 said:
Lots of Gin my friend:)
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Ease up on the laughing water, you’ll follow the story easier.

wazza300 said:
The viet cong were a formidable foe,the yanks lost because they were cack
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Bit of an over simplification, the NVA and VC were better used to jungle warfare, the US wasn’t.

mattyg said:
Yanks can't win without us Brits.
Despite what they and Hollywood say
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Well they had the Aussies and Kiwis there with them, they’re like Brits with different accents and attitudes, their brave input surely made up for our absence, but as good as the Antipodeans were, the North Vietnamese came out on top.
 
Otto:
You know your problem? You don't like winners.

Archie:
Winners?

Otto:
Yeah, winners.

Archie:
Winners, like North Vietnam?

Otto:
Shut up! We didn't lose Vietnam! It was a tie!

Archie:
[Cowboy-like drawl] I'm tellin' you, baby, they kicked your little ass there! Boy, they whooped yer hide real good!

Otto:
No they didn't!!

Archie:
Oh Yes they did!

Otto:
Oh no they... SHUT UP! Goodbye Archie.

Archie:
Gonna shoot me Otto?

Otto:
Er Yes. Yes 'fraid so old chap sorry.

:D:p
 
Dr.Eddie said:
Always makes me laugh, if you're going to do it you have to be very, very careful :p
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You’re right, I omitted “been”, my bad, but I remembered commas etc.
I wasn’t taking the P, I was doing what you did with my post, IMO I was pointing out his mistake.
Even if you write gibberish, (which he didn’t), it’ll be easier to read and understand with commas, full stops, and apostrophes.
 
VincentHanna said:
You watched Ken Burns documentary and couldn't follow episode 1?
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I've watched Ken Burns series on the Veitnam war twice and I intend to watch it a third time. There is an awful lot of information to absorb over the ten episodes but it covers everything in great detail from start to finish. The narrator is very good and keeps you from zoning out. There are a few other series By Ken Burns on Netflex covering other subjects like prohibition and the wild west I'm going to watch too.
 
I wish I could find the source material. Maybe someone else can find the details, but I've read that the SAS were out in Vietnam supporting the Americans covertly.
 
Orionaut said:
The tunnels were a particularly clever weapon.

The Vietnamese were physically much smaller than the Americans and the tunnels were dug so that they were only just big enough for the vietnamese to be able to get through.

The US forces were not able to clear the tunnels because they simply could not negotiate them
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I've watched a few interviews with Soldiers explaining in great detail how they'd be in incredibly tight narrow tunnels, in complete darkness and would've to kill VC with there bare hands so they wouldn't give away there position. The PTSD in there eyes is very real and disturbing.
 
Acrotomophilia said:
I wish I could find the source material. Maybe someone else can find the details, but I've read that the SAS were out in Vietnam supporting the Americans covertly.
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I remember this as well, I think it might have been a documentary on TV years ago.

Iirc, they weren't allowed to enter Vietnam but they did patrol along the Cambodia border, intercepting (or whatever the word is) supply routes.
 
The theory is the Vietnam war was lost in the Korean War previously

essentially the Americans could never push into Northern Vietnam due to the risk of Chinese intervention as happened in Korea, the best they would ever achieve is a holding action, imagine World War 2 where Germany couldn’t be invaded and they were free to pop over the border at will
 
Dr.Eddie said:
I remember this as well, I think it might have been a documentary on TV years ago.

Iirc, they weren't allowed to enter Vietnam but they did patrol along the Cambodia border, intercepting (or whatever the word is) supply routes.
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That's what I was trying to remember, nice one.
 
MikeB said:
The theory is the Vietnam war was lost in the Korean War previously

essentially the Americans could never push into Northern Vietnam due to the risk of Chinese intervention as happened in Korea, the best they would ever achieve is a holding action, imagine World War 2 where Germany couldn’t be invaded and they were free to pop over the border at will
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The US basically tried to fight Vietnam with one hand tied behind their own back. Other examples are things like countless aircraft getting shot out of the sky by SA-2 Guideline SAM missiles, but US Rules of Engagement prevented attacking most of the SAM sites, as it was highly likely there would be Soviet technicians present at them.

That said, a lot of people said that if Gen. Westmoreland had been appointed MUCH earlier, the US would have stood a much better chance...
 
American meddling followed by abruptly stopping support (familiar?) And then finally not telling the French to do one in the mid 40s caused it all. Had the French not been able to reinstate colonial rule Vietnam, you could speculate may have become a democracy. Even though Ho Chii Minh was backed by Russia and China and preferred a communist state he also held the "free man" civilisation of the US in high regard. He fell in bed with China because the US abandoned them because of French threats regarding Russia.

I really need to watch this documentary though, I find the Vietnam war brutally fascinating.
 
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JonnyT said:
Other examples are things like countless aircraft getting shot out of the sky by SA-2 Guideline SAM missiles, but US Rules of Engagement prevented attacking most of the SAM sites, as it was highly likely there would be Soviet technicians present at them.
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Wonder if that is why there are sporadic reports and some photos of Vulcan bombers operating deep in hostile territory in Vietnam despite never being officially acknowledged by the US and UK as they had an extensive countermeasure suite for the time including radar jammers which the US were slower adopting and would explain why they might be used rather than some of the other options such as the Canberra which the Australians had in theatre. Contrary to the claims by some it wasn't exclusively a strategic bomber with a small number converted to reconnaissance use and some as a refuelling platform.
 
 
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