What were the methods of fighting in the Vietnam War?

Answer:

III & IV Corps

The southern portion of South Vietnam (Mekong Delta area, III & IV Corps) was mostly hot, humid, swampy, resembling Louisiana and Florida in the United States. This area contained mostly Viet Cong (VC) guerrilla forces. It was too open and too soft to conduct conventional battle; and when the Communists tried to fight in that manner, it often resulted in their quick defeat. This was booby trap, land mine, and sniper, hit & run country.

II Corps

The Central Highlands (II Corps) of South Vietnam approached the terrain and weather of the Midwestern United States; Dry, hilly, hard wood tree forests, creeks & streams, etc. These areas had more organized VC forces, which would conduct the same hit & run ambush tactics, land mines, etc. But, worse, this was mainly NVA territory, where uniformed regular army forces from North Vietnam would establish bases and operations. Big conventional battles would occur in this AO (Area of Operations), “Hamburger Hill”, “Dak To”, “Chu Moor”, and the dreaded A Shau Valley. [Ed Note: This was the area of operations (AO) of Charlie Company]

I Corps

I Corps, was near the DMZ (17th Parallel), this was mainly US Marine Corp territory. They re-took the city of HUE in this AO, during the TET offensive of ’68. I Corps consisted of the Khe Sahn battles, and the first use of NVA tanks (PT-76’s) over-running of the US Green Beret (Special Forces) outpost at Lang Vei in ’68. Many fights in this area were small unit conventional slugging matches with regular NVA units. Small units meaning company sized firefights, (approximately) one hundred men per side.

 SOURCE: wiki.answers.com

It Don’t Mean Nuthin’

by Gary Jacobson © 2003

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“It Don’t Mean Nuthin’”
A phrase oft repeated in Vietnam, worn paper thin
By soldiers used an awful lot
When it’s gettin’ bricky hot…
Under pressure with lives on the line
Melancholy existence on a definite decline.

“It Don’t Mean Nuthin’, they say”
Turning stone-faced from fears to walk away
As though something’s stolen part of their soul
Left no way sorrow’s grief to console Led too far astray in hell’s battles darkning gray
Forever boyhood humanity to betray…
Staggering memories stored way down deep on the pile
Hidden from the light of day…for awhile!
“But It Don’t Mean Nuthin’” Continue reading →

During World War II, Japan invaded and occupied Vietnam, a nation on the eastern edge of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia that had been under French administration since the late 19th century. Inspired by Chinese and Soviet communism, Ho Chi Minh formed the Viet Minh, or the League for the Independence of Vietnam, to fight both Japan and the French colonial administration. Japan withdrew its forces in 1945, leaving the French-educated Emperor Bao Dai in control of an independent Vietnam. Ho’s Viet Minh forces rose up immediately, seizing the northern city of Hanoi and declaring a Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) with Ho as president.

Seeking to regain control of the region, France backed Bao and set up the state of Vietnam (South Vietnam) in July 1949, with Saigon as its capital. Armed conflict continued until a decisive battle at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954 ended in French defeat by Viet Minh forces. The subsequent treaty negotiations at Geneva split Vietnam along the latitude known as the 17th parallel (with Ho in control in the North and Bao in the South) and called for nationwide elections for reunification to be held in 1956. In 1955, however, the strongly anti-communist Ngo Dinh Diem pushed Bao aside to become president of the Government of the Republic of Vietnam (GVN).

Vietnam War: U.S. Intervention Begins

With the Cold War intensifying, the United States hardened its policies against any allies of the Soviet Union, and by 1955 President Dwight D. Eisenhower had pledged his firm support to Diem and South Vietnam. With training and equipment from American military and police, Diem’s security forces cracked down on Viet Minh sympathizers in the south, whom he derisively called Viet Cong (or Vietnamese Communist), arresting some 100,000 people, many of whom were tortured and executed. By 1957, the Viet Cong and other opponents of Diem’s repressive regime began fighting back with attacks on government officials and other targets, and by 1959 they had begun engaging South Vietnamese Army forces in firefights.

In December 1960, Diem’s opponents within South Vietnam–both communist and non-communist–formed the National Liberation Front (NLF) to organize resistance to the regime. Though the NLF claimed to be autonomous and that most of its members were non-Communist, many in Washington assumed it was a puppet of Hanoi. A team sent by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to report on conditions in South Vietnam advised a build-up of American military, economic and technical aid in order to help confront the Viet Cong threat. Working under the “domino theory,” which held that if one Southeast Asian country fell to communism, many would follow, Kennedy increased U.S. aid, though he stopped short of committing to a large-scale military intervention. By 1962, the U.S. military presence in South Vietnam had reached some 9,000 troops, compared with fewer than 800 during the 1950s.

Source: Vietnam War. (2012). The History Channel website. Retrieved 6:22, April 6, 2012, from http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war.