The U.S.-made M-16 rifle was redesigned in 1966 to perform better in the wet, dirty conditions that prevailed in ground combat during the Vietnam War, and it … Guerrilla warfare - Guerrilla warfare - Strategy and tactics: The broad strategy underlying successful guerrilla warfare is that of protracted harassment accomplished by extremely subtle, flexible tactics designed to wear down the enemy. The allies (New Zealand, America and Australia) faced a very distinct style of war called guerrilla warfare. The strategy of guerrilla warfare involves one side using a less traditional style of war to defeat a … During the early years of the Vietnam War, insurgency and guerrilla warfare was the Viet Cong’s main tactics. Guerrilla Tactics In December 1965, Ho Chi Minh and the North Vietnamese leadership ordered a change in a way the war in the South was to be fought. The Viet Cong would construct vast amounts of tunnels under the ground and actually often had openings very cleverly concealed--so cleverly in fact that sometimes Americans would build their base camps right on top of them. Guerrilla warfare is basically hit and run under cover, so the Vietcong during the Vietnam war used guerrilla warfare to combat American soldiers. Guerrilla warfare and attrition warfare are two war strategies that were used in the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War: From the late 1940s to the early 1970s, the communist North Vietnamese fought the militaries of the French, the South Vietnamese, and the United States for control of the country. Accordingly, guerrilla strategy aims to magnify the impact of a small, mobile force on a larger, more-cumbersome one. It was used, first of all, because guerrilla warfare is one expression of the mass struggle. Guerrilla warfare is a very unconventional style of warfare; it refers to small conflicts where groups of stealthy combatants use the element of surprise to eliminate the opponent. With the most advanced efforts of the U.S., these primitive tactics still proved effective in combat. and uses the terrain to their advantage. This is when at least one side uses small combat groups and creates traps, ambushes etc. This tactic was widely used by the North Vietnamese Communists, also called the Vietcong. How effective were the guerrilla tactics of the Viet Cong – History Plan * What tactics the Viet Cong used against US/ARVN troops. * How guerrilla tactics were better than those used by the US troops. * How the Viet Cong dealt with the decisions made by the US troops. One cannot conceive of guerrilla war when it is isolated from the people. Vietnam was simply "guerrilla" warfare on a larger scale over a larger area, done more often, using more lethal weapons than had occurred during the Civil War. Simply put, guerrilla warfare forced the United States government into conducting bombings against the enemy, which in turn caused the American public to further criticize the military. (5) Che Guevara, People's War, People's Army (1964) Mass struggle was utilized throughout the war by the Vietnamese communist party. During some ambushes the Vietcong guerrilla fighters would sneak up on unaware U.S. troops, attack them, and leave before risking capture. Guerrilla warfare is a type of asymmetric warfare: competition between opponents of unequal strength. Strategy. Did you know? As I explained in my previous posts, this constant political pressure heavily influenced the United States’ ultimate decision to withdraw. a group of Vietnamese Communists responsible for many guerrilla attacks on unsuspecting American troops North Vietnamese General, Võ Nguyên Giáp used Vietcong like a proxy war mostly consisted of young teen boys used many weapons to ambush the troops when they got on to the Guerrilla warfare The Vietcong had experience of doing this while fighting the Japanese and the French after World War Two - they were very familiar with the terrain and the climate. The impact of guerrilla warfare in Vietnam was immense. It is also a type of irregular warfare: that is, it aims not simply to defeat an enemy, but to win popular support and political influence, to the enemy's cost.