The Fight For Vietnam - The Big Picture

the story you are about to see is real and deeply concerns every American take an area the size of New England shift it more than 10,000 miles away put dense jungles high mountains narrow coastal plains large swamps and a broad River Delta on it there you have the setting some 15 million people with ancient culture 95% are lowlanders of Northern origin were intermingled with other immigrants from the surrounding areas and the balance Islanders have confused racial mixtures there you have the caste and the time is now but what is America's part in this story perhaps we may find the answer in the ringing words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt there is a mysterious cycle in human events to some generation much is given of other generations much is expected this generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny and we have come to another rendezvous this time in Vietnam the origin of this rendezvous is complex it begins perhaps in 1863 when the first province of what is now Vietnam was annexed by France within 20 years the whole of modern Vietnam had become a French protectorate the urge for national independence which never die emerged in force towards the end of World War two and the Communists took advantage of it thus the returning French army found itself engaged in another war but this was a war without frontlines and too many soldiers seemingly a war without end but on May 7th 1954 with a fall of Gen bien phu the so called Indochina war did come to an end a termination which left the new nation divided between a communist north and an anti-communist south as the military forces of the communist north the Vietcong began to infiltrate the South in ever-increasing numbers the situation call for a major decision by the United States here was a government on our side ruling a country with some of the world's richest rice fields and a strategic location affecting the whole of Southeast Asia what began as a revolution for national independence had been converted into another battlefield of the Cold War through the coercive terror and false promises of communism 1961 was the critical year and our decision was that the anti-communist portion of Vietnam must get our full support and so we came to Vietnam Americans from the Army the Air Force the Navy the Marine Corps and civilians to to advise and assist the government of South Vietnam we faced a rugged environment harboring an invisible enemy swamps mountain and jungle provide the Communists with an almost impregnable fortress the native population persuaded by false promises or stricken with terror becomes the enemy's human shield and too often the stolen fruits of their hard labor become the enemy's principal line of supply this is a war being fought in fragments an attack here an ambush there yet like a broken mirror each fragment reflects the enemy's total plan a war fought in the territory of our friends the Vietnamese with supplies and conscripts drawn from their own people to last as long as necessary to exhaust them from within and then when the time is right a massive assault from without to furnish the kuda grass what we are trying to do here is rest back the initiative from the enemy we must teach the Vietnamese to out guerrilla the guerrillas with skills and tactics developed by United States Special Forces experts at Fort Bragg in the United States Vietnamese Rangers now can match the enemy at his own game guerilla warfare and terrain like this creates an enormous problem of communication we are training the Vietnamese Signal Corps and equipping them with modern instruments making it possible to maintain constant liaison between operating units and command posts there are many here Americans and Vietnamese will believe that better communications are the key to the problem their improvement is gradually depriving the Vietcong of opportunities to apply overwhelming force to isolated villages and outposts unable to summon health half a dozen of these small Hamlet's make up a strategic village each of which will soon be equipped with its own two-way radio facilitate improved communications are thus an important part of the plan to make every Vietnamese Hamlet and village strategic and by strategic they mean capable of resisting armed attack with speedy communication retaliatory action against Vietcong surprise attacks can be swift and pinpointed tanks are at present of only limited usefulness in Vietnam but their presence helps keep roads open and provides protection for convoys guerrilla Wars have a habit of growing into full-scale national Wars while fighting the very different tactics of guerrillas no new nation can afford to neglect the strategy and tactics of conventional warfare an error which the Vietnamese are careful to avoid the moment conventional science and tactics are neglected gorillas with Poland based communist sources of supply are quick to convert to full-scale modern warfare to prevent this the Vietnamese with American advice and equipment maintain a well-trained well-equipped conventional force while dealing with the immediate problem of the elusive jungle base gorilla the different types of terrain in Vietnam have made the war into three wars each is fought on its own terms first in the Mekong River Delta south of Saigon second on a high plateau and alone below coastal strips of central Vietnam and third in the jungles of northern mountains which run into the area held by the red regime of Ho Chi Minh the rich and fertile land of the Mekong Delta is a flat country with 2,500 miles of waterways criss-crossing vast tracts of rice paddies and mangrove swamps American trained and equipped Vietnamese naval units patrol the canals and rivers to bring security to remote villages on broader waterways larger and faster vessels are employed for such duty the long coastline of Vietnam presents a standing invitation to communist infiltrators the seas of Southeast Asia are alive with junks any one of which may be attempting to land communist agents or supplies an extensive junk fleet of its own is maintained by the government of Vietnam to intercept and inspect all suspicious vessels the Vietnamese Navy though small is also equipped with fast modern naval vessels man by well-trained cruise Vietnamese Marines increasingly well-versed in United States military tactics coordinate their power and skill with land and air forces in attack and pursuit the vietnamese air force has been built up into sizeable strength with american aid their fighters support ground actions and control the sky their transport craft dropped troops and supplies to keep the Vietcong on the run to trap them in an end a new element of mobility has recently come into being the increasing use of American transport helicopters has made the enemy reluctant to travel or attack in large numbers with the elusive Viet Cong moving stealthily through the swamps from concealed bases speed is of utter importance in tracking down the attackers helicopter operations depend for their success on close coordination between Vietnamese regular army personnel local intelligence sources and American pilots American pilots and helicopters came into use in Vietnam as one part of the response to the hit-and-run tactics employed by guerrillas the Americans mission is not a combat mission but one of transporting officers and fighting men of the Vietnamese Army to places of sudden emergency often helicopters are used to lift hundreds of Vietnamese troops from their field headquarters to the scene of the crime it is often a hazardous form of flying but if remote villages are to be protected from guerrilla terrorists it's a job which must be done although the Communists can vanish by hiding in villages or submerging in canals with bamboo tubes in their mouths quick action has often resulted in their capture communist agents and guerrillas are adept at concealing themselves some remote villages are literally honeycombed with secret tunnels and concealed caches of arms and ammunition a thorough search may require many hours of careful detective work with something new turning up every minute helicopters also deliver supplies to isolated defenders in their mountain readouts the helicopter makes possible the frequent rotation of men stationed in remote areas and for men in lonely outposts baskets of chickens ducks and pigs dropped from heaven make all the difference between bare existence and a reasonable life a most important function of helicopters and other aircraft he's not only transport but reconnaissance for Viet Cong positions throughout the country must be continuously sought out and destroyed in such probing operations the casualties suffered by the Vietnamese have averaged only a fraction of those inflicted upon the enemy as one American advisor has said everywhere in Vietnam the main problem is mobility as the Vietnamese Civil Guard becomes increasingly well-trained they are able to free the regular forces for action in the field by taking over many of the static defense jobs they guard bridges rivers and roads and generally keep order and security in rear areas in central Vietnam nearly 40,000 square miles of sharp slopes and rugged mountains are some 10,000 square miles of flat farmland of it none is more important than the Central Highlands the Communists general gap has said to seize and control the Highlands is to solve the whole problem of South Vietnam it is a region which has been the object of a furious and incessant communist attacks today however American help in planning Vietnamese counter-offensives and an intensive program of psychological warfare to win the peasants has begun to slow the Communist momentum Americans are teaching both Vietnamese soldiers and volunteers from the villages techniques for patrolling surrounding jungles flushing out the Viet Cong guerrillas before they can mount an attack in the jungles of Vietnam guerrillas do not depend entirely on smuggled or stolen weapons using local materials and primitive traps they can make life extremely dangerous for the unwary traveler the Vietnamese and American advisers have initiated a vast program of relocation moving isolated tribes had especially constructed and protected strategic villages the arguments are strong enough for the defenseless fall easy prey to communist terrorism in the strategic villages houses are enclosed by bamboo spikes and fields are cultivated under the protective eyes of armed colleagues such methods deter the Communists from attack and make infiltration extremely difficult these newcomers are being trained by teams of Vietnamese and Americans both military and civilian to both rule and defend themselves as the word spreads thousands of these mountain people come down voluntarily they burn their old houses and bring with them their livestock and personal belongings because they are tired of Viet Cong extortion today even a number of Vietcong guerrillas originally dragoon from the peasantry have deserted and returned after learning that their homes are now secured against guerrilla terrorism but security alone is not enough the people must also have something to live for some expectation of a better life so American advisers and the American trained Vietnamese civic action teams are also involved in teaching such matters as hygiene and providing basic medical care for intelligence work the eyes and ears of the mountain tribesmen are invaluable as American Vietnamese teams win them over to active collaboration with the free world the situation of the communist guerrillas becomes ever more precarious our largest ever however remains the technical military advice we give to troops in the field and to the faculty and students of yet Nam's excellent military schools and training centers this is the Dalat Academy for officers in its four-year course the cadets learn not only tactics but also science mathematics and the humanities the Natron naval centers The Fountainhead of the future of Vietnamese Navy the nat rung air training center for training pilots navigators and ground crews the high command and General Staff College for senior officers perhaps the American military assistance program will leave its permanent mark by helping in establishing modern military schools in this country through these schools it would help the government weld a defense force capable of coupling security with welfare of building a nation as well as defeating the enemy what leads us to our rendezvous with destiny in Vietnam is our deep concern with friendly nations everywhere whenever they face communist subversion and aggression as they continue their fight we also help them to build so that they will emerge out of their presence struggle a strong and independent member of the free world

Channel: Nuclear Vault

Views: 5,589,192

Keywords: Boeing, Europe, #airboyd, WWII, Big, war, korea, WWI, Picture, World War, #nuclearvault, Atomic, States, jet, United, korean, luftfahrt, The, Nuclear, education, Vietnam, bowl, Propaganda, airline, Fight, the, aviation, Untold, For, airplane, History, prop, vietnam, propaganda, airboyd, Germany, documentary, War, Korea, Airbus, yt:quality=high, of, history, super, world, II, military, Turning Point

Id: sy4dDb3NmhY

Length: 28min 11sec (1691 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 31 2012