50 Facts About Vietnam War

50. In the region, the Vietnam War was known as the second Indochina War, and only one in the series
of conflicts between Indochinese Communists and the US, France, China and others

49. The North Vietnamese Army was supported financially and with war materials by the Soviet Union,
China and other communist allies, while the South Vietnamese was supported by the USA, South Korea,
the Philippines, Australia, Thailand and other anti – communist allies.

48.The War lasted 19 years and also caused the Laotian Civil War and the Cambodian Civil War, despite
the US’s best effort would result in all 3 countries becoming communist states in 1975.

47. Called Viet Cong by English language sources, these guerilla fighters were actually formally known as
the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam.

46. US participation in Vietnam formally began to support for a French effort to reconquer its former
colony in Vietnam, after the nation declared independence shortly after the World War 2.

45.When the Japanese invaded during World War 2, the Viet Minh, led by Ho Chi Minh, resisted the
invaders and were supported by the US, the Soviet Union, and China. After the Japan’s surrender, Ho Chi
Minh initiated an insurgency against French rule.

44. In January 1950, China and the Soviet Union recognized the Viet Minh’s Democratic Republic of
Vietnam, based in Hanoi, as the legitimate government of Vietnam, while the US and Great Britain
recognized the French – backed State of Vietnam based in Saigon. The stage for war between north and
south was set.

43. Seeing it as an expansion of communism at the direction of the Soviet Union, the United States
feared the domino effect after the Korean War that would see nations around the world fall to
communism.

42. The French Military effort in Vietnam went very poorly, and by 1954, the US had spent $1 billion
dollars in support of the French, shouldering 80% of the cost of the war.

41. Facing mounting defeats, the French requested the US use three tactical nuclear weapons against
North Vietnamese forces, although there is no indication the US took the proposal seriously.

40. US President Dwight D. Eisenhower was reluctant of getting involved in yet another land war in Asia,
and made any American participation in the conflict contingent on British support but the British
remained opposed.

39. On May 7th, 1954 the French Garrison at Dien Bien Phu surrendered, and France negotiated a
ceasefire agreement with the Viet Minh, granting to Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.

38. 1954, Geneva Peace conference, Vietnam was partitioned temporarily at the 17th parallel. Ho Chi
Minh wanted to continue his military push into the south but the Chinese convinced him he could win
by electoral means instead.

37. Around 1 million northerners – mostly minority Catholics – fled south during the temporary peace.
The CIA enacted a psychological warfare campaign which exaggerated anti – Catholic sentiment among
the Viet Minh and even planted false rumors that the US was going to drop atomic bomb on Hanoi.
36. US funded a $93 million relocation program to ferry refugees to the south. The end result was a
South Vietnam full of anti – communist Vietnamese.

35. While 1 million fled Communism in the north, only about 52, 000 moved from the south to the
north.

34. Soon the insurgency in the South broke out, threatening to tear South Vietnam apart. President John
F. Kennedy’s advisor suggested that US special forces troops be sent to South Vietnam disguised as flood
relief workers

33. The South Vietnamese military was largely ineffective due to massive corruption, low at the battle of
Ap Bac on January 2nd, 1963, 350 Viet Cong Guerillas defeated 1,500 Vietnamese forces.

32. Believing the current regime led by Ngo Dinh Diem to be effective and making the South’s civil war
worst by representing Buddhist Minorities, the US backed a coup attempt by senior South Vietnamese
leaders. Though the coup was successful, South Vietnam fell into disarray as one military government
after another one is enacted and then toppled.

31. On August 2nd, 1964, the American destroyer USS Maddox was on the intelligence mission inside the
Gulf of Tonkin when it fired on several torpedo boats its captain claimed had been stalking it. Two days
later the second attack was reported against the USS Turner Joy and the Maddox again in the same area.

30. The second attack against the USS Maddox and the Turner Joy prompted congress to approve the
Gulf of Tonkin Resolutions which informally began the US’s was against North Vietnam.

29. In 2005 a declassified NSA publication revealed that there had never been a second attack on August
4th, and its likely that the US fabricated the entire event to have a reason to declare war against a North
Vietnam that was arming and training the guerillas fighting in the South Vietnamese civil war.

28. Between March 1965 and November 1968, Operation Rolling Thunder dropped a million tons of
missiles, rockets and bombs on North Vietnam, with the goal of forcing the North to cease its support
for the guerillas in the south. Ho Chi Minh, who saw the opportunity to bring the entire country under
his rule, refused.

27. The used of the Ho Chi Minh trail through Laos by North Vietnamese forces to avoid US bomb
sparked the civil war in Laos, with Laotian government forces backed by the US fighting against the
Pathet Lao communist guerillas and their North Vietnamese allies.

26. Trying to deny the use of Ho Chi Minh trail to North Vietnam, and to prevent the collapse of the
Laotian government, the US dropped 2 million tons of bombs on Laos – almost equal to the 2.1 million
tons dropped by the US during the entire second World War.

25. Relative to its population, Laos is the most heavily bombed country in the world.

24. between 1961 and 1964 the Viet Cong grew from around 5,000 to 100,000, the North army went
from 850,000 to nearly 1 million, but US forces only grew from 2,000 to 16,500.

23. The American ground war began on March 8, 1965, with the deployment of 3,500 US Marines to
South Vietnam, increasing to 200,000 by December.
22. US troops were initially dispatched on a defensive mission, but the US military had for decades been
trained to act as an offensive force and observers believed that US commanders were institutionally and
psychologically unsuited to a defensive mission.

21. IN 1965, US General William Westermoreland engineered, and pushed for a plan to shift the US from
its defensive operations to full – fledged offensive against the Vietcong and its North Vietnamese
supporters. He predicted victory by 1967 and the plan was approved by President Johnson.

20. Seeking International aid, the US’s South East Asia allies to include Australia, New Zealand, Thailand,
and the Philippines all agreed to send military troops. Most NATO nations however did not.

19. The first major battle against the North Vietnamese army came in November of 1965 during the Ia
Drang. It would be the first large scale helicopter assault in history.

18. The battle involved two separate engagements at two helicopter landing zone LZ – Xray and LZ –
Albany. US forces totaled at around 1,000 and North Vietnamese were nearly three times as many at
2,500.

17. The battle at LZ X- ray saw far outnumbered US troops still achieve a 10:1 kill ratio with the fire
support, and resulted in an overwhelming American victory.

16. However the LZ Albany battle saw US forces ambushed at close quarters, and thus denied their fire
support. The fighting took place without any air or artillery support from either side and resulted in a
US’s forces suffering an over 50% casualty rate.

15. The US suffered between 499 and 1,700 casualties and North Vietnam suffered between 1,070 and
1,753 casualties. Because of the two separate engagements, both sides claimed victory.

14. The battle of the Ia Drang valley would later become Mel Gibson led film, “We were Soldiers Once”.

13. Throughout the war the Vietcong and NVA forces would initiate 90% of large firefights with 80% of
them being clear and well – planned operations. Despite overwhelming US force and firepower, the NVA
and Vietcong retained strategic initiative throughout the war.

12. trying to avoid US air power, the NVA and Viet Cong both dug hundreds of miles of underground
tunnels, which had to be cleared by the combat engineers nicknamed ‘tunnel rats’

11. Tunnel rats were made upof volunteer soldiers from the Australian. New Zealand, and US armies,
and their motto Non Gratus Anus Rodentum translates from latin to English as “not worth a rat’s ass”.

10. Viet Cong Tunnel complexes were so massive they included hospitals, training areas, storage
facilities, headquarters, and barracks.

9. Tunnel rats often had to clear tunnels of enemy soldiers armed only with a flashlight, bayonet, and a
pistol.

8. The intense muzzle blast of the standard – issue 45 caliber pistol would leave tunnel rats temporarily
deaf when fired in a tunnel, so tunnel rats took using their own personal weapons ranging from 25
caliber automatic rifles to sawed – off shotguns with the most in demand weapon being a 22 automatic
pistol made in World War 2.
7. Tunnels were dangerous environments and were often poorly constructed, leading to frequent cave –
ins for tunnel rats. These brave soldiers also had to deal with bobby traps such as hand grenades, anti –
personnel mines, punji sticks, and even venomous snakes left behind as living bobby traps. Tunnels were
also constructed with U – bends that could be flooded easily to drown tunnel rats and poison gases
were sometimes used to asphyxiate them.

6. Planned US attacks against Viet Cong and NVA forces made up only 14.3 % of all engagements, a
shocking statistics that proves how poorly US commanders performed during the war and how the Viet
Cong and NVA routinely outmaneuvered them.

5. 9, 087, 000 total military personnel served on active duty in the US armed forces during the Vietnam
era, with 2, 709, 918 serving in Vietnam.

4. 240 men were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War, the highest honor a US
serviceman can achieve and given only in extreme cases of heroism, gallantry, and self- sacrifice.

3. The first soldier to die in Vietnam was James Davis in 1961, serving with 509th Radio Research Station,
a US cryptologist leading a team of South Vietnamese soldiers which were ambush.

2. Four US soldiers killed in Vietnam were only 16 years old, the oldest US soldier killed in Vietnam was
62 years old.

1. 58, 141 soldiers were killed in Vietnam, and 75, 000 were severely disabled. Of those killed, 61% were
younger than 21.

The war in Vietnam was a disastrous affair for the United States, and marked a rare low point in the
performance of its armed forces. Conscription and a war waged poorly defined objectives, along with
great nation resistance against the conflict led to a US military crippled for years after by Vietnam by
incompetent leadership and poor morale, despite its best effort the war would see the North triumph
and communism reign – yet the dreaded domino effect theory would never come to be. In the end, the
war is mostly remembered as a pointless, costly affair.