Kháng Chiến chống Mỹ 

The 'Resistance War against America'

The North Vietnamese Strategy

The 'Vietnam War' is our name for what the North Vietnamese called the 'National Rescue Anti-American Resistance War' (Kháng chiến chống Mỹ cứu nước).  The name offers an insight into their aims and motives. 

In your textbook – indeed as in the textbook I wrote in 2008 – it is highly likely that the North Vietnamese tactic is described as 'guerrilla war', for example:

The Americans could easily win any pitched battle, but the Viet Cong avoided this and instead fought a guerrilla war. They came out of the jungle to carry out acts of sabotage and sudden ambushes, and then quickly returned into the jungle.

Kelly & Lacy (2001)

It is arguable that this is not just an oversimplification, but that it is downright wrong, and it seriously belittles the North Vietnamese military strategy.

Dau tranh

The Vietnamese called their war strategy dau tranh, which just means 'struggle'.  At its base was the Chinese leader Mao Zedong's theory of revolution – First: win the support of the people; Second: wear down the existing government by guerrilla warfare; Third: take power by a conventional war.  But dau tranh was much more sophisticated and flexible – what we might call 'war-by-all-means'.  It involved co-ordinated attacks on the diplomatic, psychological, economic and military fronts.  

On the military front, that meant a blend of guerrilla tactics and conventional warfare.  The regular North Vietnamese Army was the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN); the guerrilla organisation in the South was the Vietcong ... but the two liaised closely and could switch roles as necessary.  The aim was to fight only on their own terms.  When the enemy attacked, they tended to withdraw.  In attack, the aim was to take the war to the Americans at every opportunity, but the principle was 'one slow, four quick': plan and prepare meticulously, then quickly advance, attack strongly, clear the battlefield and withdraw ... leaving the enemy reeling.  There was no attempt to hold on to territory, and defeats were regarded as a learning opportunity.

Unlike the Americans, Vietnamese soldiers were taught to use their own initiative. 

Throughout the war, the Politburo was split on the best approach.  The 'Southern-firsters', urged on by the Chinese, believed they were in the final stage of the war and wanted to launch conventional attacks.  The 'Northern-firsters', taking their lead from the Soviet Union, preferred caution and diplomacy.  Vo Nguyen Giap tended to support the ''Northern-first' moderates; the influential politician Le Duan (who would become leader of Vietnam when Ho Chi Minh died) favoured the 'Southern-first' hawks. 

This tension determined the shape of the war:

Phase 1: In 1963, after the assassination of Diem, the 'Southern-firsters' convinced the Ninth Plenum of the Central Committee to 'go-for-broke', and in 1964 the PAVN defeated the ARVN at Ap Bac, just 44 miles from Saigon.  In 1965, however, the Americans arrived in Vietnam, and the PAVN suffered heavy casualties in the battle of Ia Drang. For the next two years, thereore, the North Vietnamese reverted to guerrilla tactics.

Phase 2: As the war settled down into stalemate, the 'Southern-firsters' again seized power in the Politburo; in the 1967 ‘Anti-Party Affair’, hundreds of pro-Soviet moderates were arrested, and the Central Committee approved a 'General Offensive and Uprising'.

Phase 3: The Tet Offensive of 1968, which was the result, is often described as the moment the U.S. lost the war ... but the PAVN and Vietcong sustained massive losses.  The result was that the North Vietnamese again was forced to revert to guerrilla tactics and small-scale 'sapper' attacks.

Phase 4: The collapse of U.S. resolve after 1969 encouraged another conventional attack (the Easter Offensive of 1972) ... which was again defeated.

Phase 5: After the U.S. withdrew altogether in 1975, the PAVN launched the final 'Ho Chi Minh Campaign' which captured Saigon and won the war.

Going Deeper

The following links will help you widen your knowledge:

Basic accounts from BBC Bitesize

Voices  - IWM

YouTube

Declaration of War

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 NB margin order: → Top; Right; Bottom; Left   

What did America contribute to the war effort? [ANSWER]

1. Consumer boom

   – growth . 

2. Innovation in production methods

   – especially. 

   

3. Synthetics

   – the . 

In March 1917

 Click here for the interpretation

the Native Americans

Try to explain how each of the following .

•  Weak
  • the League’s
•  Depression
  • the world-em.

Source B

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