The common name "Vietnam War" or "Vietnam War" is the Second Indochina War, in which the main belligerents were the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the United States. For reference: The First Indochina War was France’s war to preserve its colonies in Indochina in 1946-1954.
The Vietnam War began around 1961 and ended on April 30, 1975. In Vietnam itself, this war is called the Liberation War, and sometimes the American War. The Vietnam War is often seen as the peak of the Cold War between the Soviet bloc and China, on the one hand, and the United States and some of its allies, on the other. In America, the Vietnam War is considered the darkest spot in its history. In the history of Vietnam, this war is perhaps the most heroic and tragic page. The Vietnam War was both a civil war between various political forces in Vietnam and an armed struggle against American occupation.
Beginning of the Vietnam War
After 1955, France withdraws from Vietnam as a colonial power. Half of the country north of the 17th parallel, or the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, is controlled by the Communist Party of Vietnam, the southern half, or the Republic of Vietnam, is controlled by the United States of America, which rules it through puppet South Vietnamese governments.
In 1956, in accordance with the Geneva Agreements on Vietnam, a referendum on the reunification of the country was to be held in the country, which subsequently provided for presidential elections throughout Vietnam. However, South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem refused to hold a referendum in the South. Then Ho Chi Minh creates the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (NSLF) in the South, which begins a guerrilla war with the goal of overthrowing Ngo Dinh Diem and holding general elections. The Americans called the NLF, as well as the government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the Viet Cong. The word "Vietcong" has Chinese roots (viet cong chan) and is translated as "Vietnamese communist". The United States provides assistance to South Vietnam and is increasingly drawn into the war. In the early 60s, they introduced their contingents into South Vietnam, increasing their numbers every year.
On August 2, 1964, a new stage of the Vietnam War began. On this day, the US Navy destroyer USS Maddox approached the coast of North Vietnam and was allegedly attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats. It is still unclear whether there was an attack or not. The Americans provided no evidence of damage to the aircraft carrier from attacks by Vietnamese boats. In response, US President L. Johnson ordered the American air force to strike North Vietnamese naval installations. Then other objects of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam were also bombed. Thus the war spread to North Vietnam. From this period, the USSR became involved in the war in the form of providing military-technical assistance to the DRV.
The US allies in the Vietnam War were the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN, that is, Army of the Republic of VietNam), contingents of Australia, New Zealand and South Korea. Some South Korean units (for example, the Blue Dragon brigade) turned out to be the most cruel towards the local population in the second half of the 60s. On the other hand, only the North Vietnamese Army (VNA, that is, the Vietnamese People's Army) and the NLF fought. On the territory of North Vietnam there were military specialists from Ho Chi Minh’s allies - the USSR and China, who did not directly participate in the battles, with the exception of the defense of DRV facilities from US military air raids at the initial stage of the war.
The Battle of Hue - US military glory
The victory at Hue is considered one of the memorable battles in US history along with the Battles of Guadalcanal (Solomon Islands), World War II, Chosin (Korea). The military leadership gained vast experience in conducting combat operations in the city. Previously, the Marines did not conduct them in large populated areas. It is believed that it was here that the Americans developed urban combat tactics, which they then successfully used during the assault on Fallujah in 2004 (Iraq). 3 battalions of Marines and 11 battalions of South Vietnamese forces took part in the battles of Hue.
Chronicle
Local hostilities between the NLF and the US Army occurred every day. Major military operations, in which a large number of personnel, weapons and military equipment were involved, were as follows.
In October 1965, the US Army launched a major offensive in South Vietnam against the NLF units. 200 thousand American soldiers, 500 thousand soldiers of the South Vietnamese army, 28 thousand soldiers of the US allies were involved. Supported by 2,300 aircraft and helicopters, 1,400 tanks and 1,200 guns, the offensive developed from the coast to the border with Laos and Cambodia and from Saigon to the Cambodian border. The Americans failed to defeat the main forces of the NLF and retain the territories captured during the offensive. The next major offensive began in the spring of 1966. 250 thousand American soldiers already took part in it. This offensive also did not bring significant results. The autumn offensive of 1966 was even larger and was carried out north of Saigon. 410 thousand American, 500 thousand South Vietnamese and 54 thousand allied soldiers took part in it. They were supported by 430 aircraft and helicopters, 2,300 large-caliber guns and 3,300 tanks and armored personnel carriers. On the other side, there were 160 thousand fighters of the National Front of South Ossetia and 90 thousand soldiers of the VNA. No more than 70 thousand American soldiers and officers participated directly in the battles, since the rest served in logistics units. The American army and its allies pushed part of the NLF forces to the border with Cambodia, but most of the Viet Cong managed to avoid defeat. Similar offensives in 1967 did not lead to decisive results. 1968 was a turning point in the Vietnam War. At the beginning of 1968, the NLF carried out a short-term Tet operation, capturing a number of important objects. Fighting even took place near the US Embassy in Saigon. During this operation, the NLF forces suffered heavy losses and, from 1969 to the end of 1971, switched to limited guerrilla warfare tactics. In April 1968, due to significant losses of American aviation over North Vietnam, US President L. Johnson ordered a cessation of bombing, except for a 200-mile zone in the south of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. President R. Nixon set a course for the “Vietnamization” of the war, that is, the gradual withdrawal of American units and a sharp increase in the combat capability of the South Vietnamese army. On March 30, 1972, the VNA, with the support of the National Front of South Vietnam, launched a large-scale offensive, occupying the capital of the Quang Tri province bordering North Vietnam. In response, the United States resumed massive bombing of North Vietnamese territory. In September 1972, South Vietnamese troops managed to recapture Quang Tri. The bombing of North Vietnam ceased at the end of October, but resumed in December and continued for twelve days almost until the signing of the Paris Peace Accords in January 1973.
Chronicle of a disaster: how the United States lost the war in Vietnam in 1965–1975
Chronicle of a disaster: how the United States lost the war in Vietnam in 1965–1975. Part I
American helicopters fire from the air into the jungle before an infantry attack, March 1965. Photo: Horst Faas/AP
Main milestones of the Second Indochina War, which became the last direct military confrontation between two world superpowers - the USSR and the USA The Vietnam War, which is less commonly called the Second Indochina War, became the most striking and longest confrontation between the world's two largest political systems. On the one hand, the United States, which led the anti-communist world, directly participated in it, on the other, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, which represented the communist world, behind which stood Moscow and Beijing. Even the war in Afghanistan, comparable in duration to the war in Vietnam, was not such a clear demonstration of the willingness of the main Cold War opponents to defend their ideological maxims in open battle.
A colossal amount of research, volumes of history books and thousands of newspaper articles have been written about the causes of the war. By and large, both the economic and political interests of the United States could not help but drag the country into the massacre, which in many respects became the largest military operation of the American army in the twentieth century. And the longest one, that’s for sure.
Over the course of ten years (formally, the last American soldiers guarding the US embassy in Saigon left the country only in 1975) in the jungles of Vietnam and in the skies above them, as well as on the ground and in the air of Laos and Cambodia and in the seas around the peninsula, they managed to fight 3 403,100 US citizens. This is four times less than the number of Americans who took part in World War II: over 12 million US citizens fought in it. The ratio of losses in the Vietnam War turned out to be half that in World War II: over 10 “Vietnamese” years, the American armed forces lost 58,148 people (every fifty-eighth), while in all theaters of World War II in four years - 405,339 (that is there are every thirtieth). But the psychological losses turned out to be much more significant. The Vietnam War had such a colossal impact on American society and hit the international prestige of the United States so hard that it took almost ten years to restore domestic and foreign policy balance - until the Soviet Union, bogged down in Afghanistan, began to suffer similar losses.
It is impossible to describe in detail the entire history of the Vietnam War in a short article. Experienced researchers spend hundreds of pages on this - and still have to leave some details out of the scope of their work. But it is quite possible to look at the chronology and understand how the catastrophe gradually grew, which resulted in Washington’s decision to take part in the civil war between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and South Vietnam. Its first fires smoldered in 1960. 1965
The formal beginning of the direct participation of American armed forces in the war between North and South Vietnam is considered to be March 8, 1965. On this day, the first two battalions of US Marines began unloading in Da Nang, a port on the coast of the South China Sea. But the immediate cause of American military intervention in the Vietnamese Civil War dates back to 1964. These are two so-called Tonkin Incidents - attacks by North Vietnamese torpedo boats on American destroyers. And if the first incident was really organized by North Vietnam, which he himself admitted, then the second, which served as a formal reason for the start of the US military operation, as it turned out much later, was actually inspired by the American side, and the radio interception, which allegedly confirmed the guilt of the DRV, turned out to be a fake . Nevertheless, the very next day after the second Tonkin Incident, America bombed the bases of the North Vietnamese army and navy. This was the first such bombing and was codenamed "Piercing Arrow".
US Marines land in Da Nang, March 8, 1965. Photo: AP
In 1965, the bombing would resume and continue until October 31, 1968, receiving the general name “Rolls of Thunder.” Also in 1965, the first major military operation would unfold, in which for the first time not only the troops of South Vietnam and their main enemy, the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (Vietcong), but also American units would clash in ground combat. It was Operation Starlight, which the Marines carried out in the area of their Chu Lai base. Formally, the victory went to the Americans. In fact, they defeated the 1st Viet Cong Regiment, but the partisans also managed to seriously batter the enemy. In addition, in the same year, in July, Soviet S-75 air defense missile systems were used in combat for the first time in Vietnam, and a little earlier, in April, North Vietnamese pilots opened their combat account by shooting down two American F-105 fighters.
In the same year, the first major ground battle took place, in which the American and North Vietnamese armies came into direct combat contact. It went down in history as the Battle of Ia Drang Valley and became one of the most fierce and bloody battles of the Vietnam War. Both sides still consider the outcome of the battle a victory, although it would be more accurate to say that the massacre, which, according to various sources, claimed the lives of from one and a half to three thousand people, ended in practically nothing. 1966
Sixty-six was perhaps the calmest year in terms of ground fighting. But the war in the air did not stop, gradually becoming more global. This year, in December, for the first time, American aviation decided to go far to the north, much higher than the demilitarized zone that separated North and South Vietnam along the 17th parallel, and bomb the capital of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, Hanoi. The success of the bombing was little consolation for American pilots, who had experienced the so-called “Black Friday” a week and a half earlier. This day for the US Air Force was December 2, when in one single day they lost eight combat aircraft shot down by North Vietnam. This has never happened in the Vietnam War, either before or since.
The losses were all the more painful for the United States if we remember that six months earlier, the “Hanoi Parade” was organized in Hanoi: 55 American pilots, shot down since the beginning of the war and captured, were paraded through the streets of the North Vietnamese capital. The DRV authorities did not dare to take such actions again: the parade almost ended in a lynching. The residents of North Vietnam had very large personal scores against the American pilots, who, although their country did not officially declare war on the DRV, literally incinerated the cities, villages and fields of the North Vietnamese.
The year began with a major US success in the air war. On January 2, as a result of Operation Bolo, the Americans managed to avenge the losses of Black Friday. Five of the newest Soviet MiG-21 fighters fell into the trap and were shot down at once - the largest losses of this type of aircraft during the Vietnam War.
But this year was also the first since the beginning of the war when the monthly losses of the American army exceeded 1,000 people. This happened in March, and the reason was Operation Junction City, which began at the end of February - the largest ground operation of US troops at that time. More than 25 thousand American soldiers and comparable units of the South Vietnamese army took part in it. Operation Junction Station went down in the history of the Vietnam War as the only case of an airborne drop—both before and after, paratroopers were only dropped from helicopters. But the US Army command failed to achieve its stated goal—liquidating the headquarters of the partisan movement and disrupting the movement of people and weapons along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Airborne drop during Operation Junction, February 1967. Photo: AP
The result of the Battle of Dakto that flared up in November 1967 was just as ambiguous. This name was given to a series of successive battles between the American and South Vietnamese armies, on the one hand, and units of the DRV army, on the other, that broke out on the Central Plateau of South Vietnam. In terms of scale and ferocity, the battle eclipsed even the battle that took place two years earlier in the Ya Drang Valley: according to officially confirmed data alone, the parties lost about 2,000 people in it, not counting twice as many wounded.
The American media tried to talk as little as possible about this bloody battle, and historians know it less well than the battle in the Ya Drang Valley. One of the main reasons for this was the sharp rise in anti-war sentiment in the United States in the fall of that year. The rapidly mounting losses, the chilling stories of the first returning Vietnam veterans, coupled with the rapidly spreading peace-loving views of the hippies - all this resulted in one of the most famous anti-war actions. In October, the first nationwide protest against the Vietnam War took place in America - the so-called March on the Pentagon. After him, the White House could no longer turn a blind eye to anti-war sentiments and continue its previous policy in Vietnam. And this most directly predetermined the events of the next year. 1968
The success of the anti-war campaign in the United States was natural: presidential elections were coming up next year, and none of the candidates could afford to brush aside the sentiments of a significant part of the voters. Moreover, the rapidly growing losses of the American army, the rapidly deteriorating image of the United States in the international arena and the clear superiority of the number of opponents of the war in society forced the current President Lyndon Johnson to announce in advance his refusal to run for a second term. And in order not to be remembered by voters as a categorical "hawk", Johnson, simultaneously with this announcement in March, gave the order to stop the bombing of the main part of North Vietnam. The United States will completely abandon them only on October 31, on the eve of the presidential elections.
But anti-war protests in America itself would not be enough to shake the positions of the “hawks” so much. Another reason was two large-scale Viet Cong offensives, one launched at the very end of January and the second in early May. Although both offensives did not bring strategic gains to North Vietnam, they clearly demonstrated that the strength and capabilities of opponents of the Saigon regime were growing, despite the best efforts of the US and South Vietnamese armies. It is no coincidence that it was after the second, May offensive in Paris that the preliminary stage of peace negotiations between Hanoi and Saigon began.
On November 5, Richard Nixon becomes the new President of the United States, defeating his rivals by relying on rhetoric around an “honorable peace in Vietnam.” It is Nixon who will go down in history as the man who, during the four years of his reign, managed to turn 180 degrees in politics and ended his career with the most notorious scandal in US political history.
The main milestones of the Second Indochina War, which became the last direct military confrontation between the two world superpowers - the USSR and the USA, 1969
This year was the year of the largest presence of the American army in Vietnam - and the year of the catastrophic increase in its losses. As of April, there were 543,400 U.S. Army soldiers in South Vietnam, and combat losses since the beginning of America's active involvement in the Vietnamese Civil War have exceeded those during the Korean War.
These data, widely disseminated in America amid growing anti-war sentiment, led the Nixon administration to announce the beginning of “Vietnamization” - the complete replacement of US ground troops with troops from South Vietnam. This was publicly announced on June 8, and exactly a month later, on July 8, American troops actually began to leave South Vietnamese territory. Which, however, did not at all prevent the remaining American air units from continuing massive raids on the territory not of Vietnam, but of neighboring Cambodia, where they tried to destroy the supply bases of the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese army.
But while in Vietnam the fighting subsided by the end of the year, in the United States political battles flared up with renewed vigor. In mid-November, details of the war crime committed by the American military in My Lai became known for the first time. This tragedy, which immediately became famous throughout the world with the shooting of half a thousand civilians, organized on the orders of Lieutenant William Kelly, three days later turned into a kind of catalyst for the long-planned second national protest march against the Vietnam War. Moreover, in America itself, “Vietnamization” was considered a path not to de-escalation, but to escalation of the war, since, although US ground troops were indeed withdrawing from Vietnam, the air force only intensified its actions. 1970
The negative impact “Vietnamization” had on the course of the war in Vietnam became clear already in April 1970, when the US Army, together with the South Vietnamese army, launched an invasion of Cambodia. The formal purpose of the operation was to destroy the bases of the Viet Cong and the DRV army on Cambodian territory. In reality, the main objective of the offensive was the desire of the United States to support the anti-communist Cambodian government of General Lon Nol, which had recently overthrown the neutral cabinet of Norodom Sihanouk. The 8,000-strong American contingent left Cambodia only at the end of July, but the South Vietnamese remained, continuing to control virtually the entire territory of the country with active air support from the Americans. As a result, the Vietnamese civil war also engulfed the neighboring state, and Washington's political games ultimately led to one of the worst humanitarian disasters of the 20th century - the establishment of the Khmer Rouge regime of Pol Pot in Cambodia.
The bodies of dead Khmer Rouge fighters after Cambodian government soldiers broke a 52-day siege northwest of the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. November 16, 1973. Photo: AP
In the same year, but already at the end of November, one of the most carefully prepared American intelligence operations - a raid on the Son Tay prisoner of war camp near Hanoi - ended with an extremely high-profile failure.
Having destroyed fifty North Vietnamese soldiers and without losing a single soldier, American special forces were unable to free a single compatriot. Simply because there had been no American prisoners of war in the camp for several months by that time. This high-profile fiasco became a symbol for many years of the incompetence of the leadership of American intelligence and special forces, but ultimately led to a simplification and improvement of the system of command and planning of special operations. 1971 The
year, which began relatively peacefully, went down in the history of the war as the time of the beginning of the occupation of Laos. Although the US Congress prohibited the use of ground troops in Operation Lam Son 719, US aviation and artillery actively supported the invasion of South Vietnamese forces. They spent a month and a half on Laotian territory, which became one of the bloodiest in the history of the small country. As in the situation with the invasion of Cambodia, the formal reason was the desire to eliminate Viet Cong bases and supply routes. But there was no pro-American government in Laos, and as a result, the South Vietnamese army, despite all the American support, had to retreat.
American artillerymen on the border in Laos. February, 1971. Photo: AP
These events led to a further increase in anti-war sentiment in America, which ended with the famous action of Vietnam veterans refusing their military decorations.
Several hundred people hurled their medals onto the steps of the Capitol, protesting the aims and methods of the war in which they had been forced to fight. But even these radical methods could no longer throw the Nixon administration off the course of “Vietnamization.” As a result, at the end of the year, American aviation received an order to carry out several bombing strikes on the territory of North Vietnam - and carried it out. 1972
It was in 1972 that the peak of Nixon’s “Vietnamization” occurred - a policy that began as a peacekeeping policy, quickly degenerated into an escalation one, and ultimately, despite the efforts of its initiators, led to the end of the war much faster than could have happened without it. In 1972, the American army, trying to cope with the large-scale offensive of the Viet Cong with the support of the DRV army, resumed regular massive bombing of North Vietnamese territory. In addition to this, America decides to mine the ports of North Vietnam from the air - a step that no one dared to take at the beginning of the war due to fears of the reaction of the Eastern Bloc.
Against the background of a sharp intensification of hostilities in the air and at sea, the last ground unit of the US Army is being evacuated. But even this peaceful step could not convince the North Vietnamese leadership to abandon direct support for the Viet Cong. And then America decides to take a radical measure: on Washington's orders, carpet bombing of the largest North Vietnamese cities - Hanoi and Haphon - using strategic bombers begins. 1973
This year has gone down in the history of the war as a turning point - the time of the complete withdrawal of the United States from hostilities. This step was formally confirmed by the signing of the Paris Agreement to end the war and restore peace in Vietnam. It was signed by representatives of the four main participants in the war: North Vietnam and the Viet Cong, on the one hand, and the United States and South Vietnam, on the other.
Signing of the Paris Peace Agreement, January 27, 1973. Photo: Wikipedia.org
The agreement provided for the immediate cessation of US military operations in Vietnam and the complete withdrawal of US troops from South Vietnam within two months, with the simultaneous liquidation of all US military bases. In addition, the parties were obliged to exchange prisoners of war, and South Vietnam accepted the obligation to hold free democratic elections. In reality, it all ended only with America ceasing direct participation in the Vietnam War and, by the end of March, receiving back all its prisoners handed over by North Vietnam. No elections were ever held, and the ceasefire was constantly violated by both sides - both Saigon and Hanoi.
In August of the same year, the US Congress made a crucial decision: from now on, any use of American armed forces in Indochina in hostilities was prohibited. But the departure of the American army did not mean the end of Washington’s political and military-economic support for the regime in Saigon. 1974 January 1974 was the moment when periodic violations of the ceasefire resulted in the actual resumption of hostilities. Moreover, in fairness, it should be noted that this time the initiator was the Viet Cong. More precisely, Hanoi: the North Vietnamese army was not considered foreign in the DRV, whose presence on the territory of South Vietnam was prohibited by the Paris Agreement. Accordingly, his government had no intention of withdrawing the North Vietnamese army.
The actual advance of Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces earlier in the year was stopped with relative success by South Vietnamese forces. This was largely determined by the presence in their ranks of a twenty-thousand-strong group of American military advisers: according to the peace treaty, Saigon had the right to use their services. But this was the last success of Saigon, whose political stability was weakening every day. In addition, the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam, formed back in June 1969, was active both in the domestic and international arena, gaining more and more political weight and sympathy. After all, it was this political structure that represented the Viet Cong at the peace negotiations in Paris - and now it was it that was increasingly perceived as the real power in the near future in the territory of South Vietnam. This was also facilitated by the crisis that erupted in the South Vietnamese economy, overheated by military spending and the consistent tightening of the political course.
It is not surprising that the second half of the year became the time of the final turning point in favor of the Viet Cong and North Vietnam. A fundamentally important moment came in August, when, as a result of the Watergate scandal - the most notorious political exposure in US history - Richard Nixon, Saigon's main ally overseas, was forced to resign. And already in December, the armed forces of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam and the army of the DRV launched a decisive offensive, very quickly establishing control over Phuoc Long province. 1975
Formally, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops began to fully control Phuoc Long only on January 6, 1975. But the most important result of the operation was not the territorial success, but the fact that the offensive did not provoke any significant reaction from the United States. Convulsed by political crises and anti-war demonstrations, America was forced to comply with the requirements of the Paris Agreement more strictly than anyone else. This means that Hanoi and its allies had a free hand.
On March 1, the largest offensive of the troops of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam began in the entire history of the war. The attackers literally rolled south from the slopes of the central mountain range of South Vietnam. By the beginning of April, they managed to completely liberate 12 provinces with a total population of about 8 million people. By that time, the South Vietnamese army had lost over a third of its personnel, including the most combat-ready units, and half of its weapons. The collapse of Saigon was inevitable, and the United States began to fulfill its last duty to its losing ally: Washington organized the evacuation of everyone who did not want to fall under the rule of the Viet Cong. Called Operation Gusty Wind, it began at dawn on April 29, and in just 18 hours, over a thousand American citizens and almost 7,000 refugees fled Saigon by American planes and helicopters. At half past five on the morning of April 30, two American Marines were killed in a rocket attack at Saigon's Tan Son Nhut Airport - the last American casualties of the Vietnam War. And at a quarter to noon, a North Vietnamese T-54 tank burst into the lawn in front of the presidential palace in Saigon, knocking down the gate: this famous photograph became a symbol of the end of the Vietnam War. A few hours later, in the same palace, the complete surrender of South Vietnam was signed, and a new state appeared on the political map of the world - the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, which united and liberated the country, which had remained a colony for a century and a half.
A North Vietnamese T-54 tank, having knocked down the gate, bursts into the territory of the presidential palace in Saigon: this famous photograph has become a symbol of the end of the Vietnam War.
Photo: AP Vietnam-Afghan transit
Of course, the victory of the opponents of South Vietnam was as impossible without the active support of the largest communist powers in the world - the USSR and China, as the long resistance of Saigon without US intervention. But neither Soviet nor Chinese troops took direct part in the fighting on South Vietnamese territory. Despite the fact that the Soviet Union sent 6,359 generals and officers and more than 4,500 conscript soldiers and sergeants to Vietnam from July 1965 to December 1974, none of them, contrary to popular legends, participated in battles with the Americans or South Vietnamese. Although Soviet missilemen actually shot down American planes over the territory of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and Soviet technicians and mechanics served the latest Soviet MiG-21 fighters and their “big brothers” MiG-17 and MiG-15, at the controls of which Vietnamese pilots sat.
Alas, the Soviet military and, more importantly, politicians failed to timely analyze the lessons of the Vietnam War that America had learned at such a high cost. Many of the mistakes made by the American command and the US administration during the Vietnam War, the USSR would begin to make just four years later - in December 1979, when Soviet troops entered Afghanistan. But that will be a completely different story...
Ending
On January 27, 1973, the Paris Agreements on a ceasefire in Vietnam were signed. In March 1973, the United States finally withdrew its troops from South Vietnam, with the exception of 20 thousand military advisers. America continued to provide enormous military, economic and political assistance to the South Vietnamese government.
Vietnamese and Russian Vietnam War veterans
In April 1975, as a result of the lightning-fast Operation Ho Chi Minh, North Vietnamese troops under the command of the legendary General Vo Nguyen Zap defeated the demoralized South Vietnamese army left without allies and captured all of South Vietnam.
In general, the world community's assessment of the actions of the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) and the US Army in South Vietnam was sharply negative (the ARVN was superior to the Americans in cruelty). Massive anti-war demonstrations were held in Western countries, including the United States. The American media in the 70s were no longer on the side of their government and often showed the senselessness of the war. Because of this, many conscripts sought to avoid service and deployment to Vietnam.
Public protests to a certain extent influenced the position of President Nixon, who decided to withdraw troops from Vietnam, but the main factor was the military-political futility of further continuing the war. Nixon and Secretary of State Kissinger came to the conclusion that it was impossible to win the Vietnam War, but at the same time they “turned the dial” on the Democratic Congress, which formally decided to withdraw troops.
Start
All forces of the North were united into the Viet Cong organization. Hence the name “Vietcong”, which was synonymous with the word “communists” for Western countries.
In 1961, the United States sent its instructors and military personnel to the region. The first US losses appeared in Vietnam. However, America did not conduct full-scale hostilities. Her participation was in training the southerners. However, the US leadership understood that the Viet Cong forces with the support of the socialist camp were incomparable.
In 1963, the North destroyed almost the entire army of the south at the Battle of Apbak. There were already about 8 thousand Viet Cong partisans on enemy territory. By 1964, the United States was transferring a large contingent of 25 thousand people here. Before this, there were only 800 specialists and fighters here. Military conflict was inevitable.
Vietnam War figures
Total US combat losses - 47,378 people, non-combat - 10,799. Wounded - 153,303, missing - 2,300. About 5 thousand US Air Force aircraft were shot down. Losses of the army of the puppet Republic of Vietnam (US ally) - 254 thousand people. Combat losses of the Vietnamese People's Army and partisans of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam - more than 1 million 100 thousand people. Vietnamese civilian casualties - more than 3 million people. 14 million tons of explosives were detonated, which is several times more than during World War II in all theaters of combat. US financial costs - 350 billion dollars (in current equivalent - more than 1 trillion dollars). Military-economic assistance to the DRV from China ranged from $14 billion to $21 billion, from the USSR - from $8 billion to $15 billion. There was also assistance from Eastern European countries, which at that time were part of the Soviet bloc.
Causes of the war
The war was associated with the division of the world after World War II into two systems: capitalist and socialist. The Korean War ended, dividing the once united country into two camps. It was Vietnam's turn. By 1954, it was already divided along the 17th parallel into North (socialist) and South (capitalist under French rule). The North was actively advancing with the support of the PRC and the USSR, trying to create a unified state under its flag. The question of unification was only a matter of time. The South, of course, did not want to put up with this state of affairs, and the capitalist states led by the United States were not going to give up another bridgehead under the banner of the socialist camp.
Political and economic reasons
On the US side, the main stakeholder in the war was US arms manufacturing corporations. Despite the fact that the Vietnam War is considered a local conflict, a lot of ammunition was used in it, for example, 14 million tons of explosives were detonated, which is several times more than during the Second World War in all theaters of combat. During the Vietnam War, the profits of US military corporations amounted to many billions of dollars. It may seem paradoxical, but US military corporations, in general, were not interested in a quick victory for the American army in Vietnam. Indirect confirmation of the negative role of large US corporations in all politics are statements in 2007. one of the Republican presidential candidates, Ron Paul, who stated the following: “We are moving towards a softer fascism, not a Hitler type - expressed in the loss of civil liberties, when corporations run everything and ... the government lies in the same bed with big business.” . Ordinary Americans initially believed in the justice of America's participation in the war, considering it a fight for democracy. As a result, several million Vietnamese and 57 thousand Americans died, and millions of hectares of land were scorched by American napalm. The political necessity of US participation in the Vietnam War was explained by the American administration to the public of its country by the fact that a “falling domino effect” would supposedly occur and after Ho Chi Minh’s conquest of South Vietnam, all the countries of Southeast Asia would come under communist control one after another. Most likely, the United States was planning a “reverse domino.” Thus, they built a nuclear reactor in Dalat for the Ngo Dinh Diem regime to carry out research work, built capital military airfields, and introduced their people into various political movements in countries neighboring Vietnam. The USSR provided assistance to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam with weapons, fuel, and military advisers, especially in the field of air defense due to the fact that the confrontation with America was carried out completely, on all continents. China also provided assistance to the DRV, fearing the strengthening of the United States at its southern borders. Despite the fact that the USSR and China were almost enemies at that time, Ho Chi Minh managed to receive help from both of them, showing his political skill. Ho Chi Minh and his entourage independently developed a strategy for waging war. Soviet specialists provided assistance only at the technical and educational levels. There was no clear front in the Vietnam War: the South Vietnamese and the United States did not dare to attack North Vietnam, since this would cause the dispatch of Chinese military contingents to Vietnam, and the USSR would take other military measures against the United States. The DRV front was not needed, because the NLF, controlled by the North, actually surrounded the cities of South Vietnam and at one favorable moment could take possession of them. Despite the partisan nature of the war, all types of weapons were used in it, except nuclear ones. The fighting took place on land, in the air and at sea. Military reconnaissance of both sides worked intensively, sabotage attacks were carried out, and troops landed. The ships of the US 7th Fleet controlled the entire coast of Vietnam and mined the fairways. A clear front also existed, but not for long - in 1975, when the DRV army launched an offensive in the South.
"Burning Spear"
In 1965, American army positions were attacked. There were US losses in Vietnam in people and equipment. President Johnson announced the start of Operation Burning Spear. Its purpose was to carry out air strikes on Viet Cong positions. However, this did not have much effect.
Full scale intervention, Operation Rolling Thunder. Conventional airstrikes had no effect. In dense jungle conditions, it is very difficult to find objects to destroy. Then the United States develops Operation Rolling Thunder. Its essence is carpet bombing of vast territories using ground forces. The number of personnel was increased to 180 thousand people. Over the next three years, the American group grew to half a million.
Carpet bombings lead to large casualties among civilians. I would like to note that the doctrine of bombing, adopted by England back in 1920, was adopted by the United States. It was actively used in Dresden during the Second World War. Its goal is to terrorize the entire population. In this case, the killing of civilians is considered part of the overall plan.
Ho Chi Minh Trail
The Ho Chi Minh Trail is a system of mostly camouflaged narrow dirt roads that was built and used by North Vietnam during the Vietnam War to supply weapons, food, and fuel to the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam. Officially, it was called the Truong Son Strategic Road or Highway No. 559. Both the Vietnamese and the Americans began to call it the Ho Chi Minh Trail. It first passed through North Vietnam, then, not far from the 17th parallel, it went to Laos, and continued on the territory of Cambodia (Ho Chi Minh had a strong position in these countries, since from 1930 to 1951 there was a single Communist Party of Indochina, of which he was the leader appeared). From the territory of these countries there were already several branches to South Vietnam.
Vietnam War Poster
The Cooper-Church Amendment prohibited American ground forces from crossing the border into Laos and Cambodia. Despite this, the US army and intelligence agencies carried out raids in Cambodia and waged a so-called “secret war” in Laos.
At first, a stream of porters moved along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, delivering not only light weapons, but also dismantled artillery pieces and mortars. Then elephants tamed by the locals appeared. Subsequently, they began to attach loads to bicycles, and then cars and tanks walked along it. By 1965, the Ho Chi Minh Trail was a system of several parallel roads. More and more complex engineering structures appeared on it: crossings, bridges, fords invisible from airplanes. Where the road passed through treeless areas, trees were planted for camouflage. Telephone communication was established for 6 thousand subscribers.
The NLF (Viet Cong) could not operate without supplies from the North, which were carried along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Realizing this, the command of the American contingent in Vietnam considered the destruction of the “Trail” to be one of its main tasks. American reconnaissance planes and helicopters flew over it around the clock, and the bombing did not stop for a day. The US Air Force made 800 thousand sorties and dropped 3 million tons of bombs. Seismic sensors were dropped to record the movement of trucks along the road, as well as ball and fragmentation bombs, and magnetic bombs to destroy moving vehicles. The jungle through which the road passed was watered with defoliants. The most important crossroads were attacked by paratroopers of the American 1st Airborne Division and the South Korean White Horse Division. Hundreds of helicopters took part in the attacks. Over five years, the US Air Force flew 2,602 missions only to drop 47,409 containers of silver iodide onto the clouds in order to cause rain and flood the Trail, as well as cause rivers to rise and destroy crops. This project was called "Spinach". It is no coincidence that in the late 60s and early 70s, that is, at the very height of the war, the greatest precipitation was recorded for the entire period of observation. After American bombers raided the “Trail,” teams of Vietnamese repairmen (mostly girls) quickly filled up the craters.
The United States lost 2,545 aircraft of various types over the Ho Chi Minh Trail (in total, 5 thousand aircraft and countless helicopters were shot down). Because of the “Trail”, part of which passed through the territory of Laos, this country also suffered. The Americans bombed its territory very intensively. In addition, the huge B-52s, which took off from Clark Field, the largest US Air Force base in the Philippines at that time, by their very design were not suitable for landing with a full load of ammunition. In rainy weather, when they had no targets in North Vietnam, the Flying Fortresses simply disposed of the bombs over Laos before landing in Thailand, not caring where they landed. From 1964 to 1972, 2.5 million tons of bombs were dropped on Laos, more than on Nazi Germany in World War II.
By the beginning of the final offensive on Saigon in 1975, the construction of an oil pipeline to the South was even completed to quickly supply combat vehicles with fuel.
Since 1961, a secret shipping line called the Ho Chi Minh Trail to the Sea has operated. Along it, weapons and other military equipment for the partisans were also delivered to the South on cargo ships. For its operation, a separate fleet was created, consisting mainly of medium-tonnage vessels. In addition to transporting goods, this fleet participated in the liberation of the islands and even transported political prisoners who managed to escape from the prison of Con Dao Island. There were no numbers or names on the sides of the ships. Some even disguised themselves as foreign ships.
Currently, some parts of the Ho Chi Minh Trail are a tourist attraction, others are used for travel by car and motorcycle, and others, remote ones, are covered with jungle and wild animals roam through them again.
"Christmas Bombings" and the end of the war
In 1972, the North attempted another major offensive using armored forces. However, with the help of American aviation, the southerners repelled this attack.
After this, the United States carried out serious carpet bombing of major cities of the North: Hanoi and Haiphong. The operation was called "Christmas Bombing". North Vietnam had to sit down at the negotiating table, after which the Americans quickly withdrew their troops. It is difficult to calculate US losses in Vietnam year by year. This war is a record for the number of American soldiers killed. Desertion in the army flourished, all cities were frightened by passing military men who handed out flags. This meant the death in battle of a close relative. US losses in Vietnam (photos of war correspondents are given in the article) range from 40-60 thousand people. This does not include the Puerto Ricans who were recruited into the army to gain citizenship, as well as the wounded and maimed. They were not included in this figure, but they were also lost to society.
It was then that the famous boxer Muhammad Ali became a Muslim and adopted a new name, as it gave him protection from conscription. Many emigrated from the country. More than 1 million Vietnamese people died in this war, including women and children.
Direct combat between the US and USSR militaries in Vietnam
During the Vietnam War, there were isolated episodes of direct conflict between the USA and the USSR, as well as the death of civilians from the USSR. Here are some of them, published in the Russian media at different times, based on interviews with direct participants in the hostilities.
The first battles in the skies of North Vietnam using surface-to-air missiles against US aircraft that bombed without declaring war were carried out by Soviet military specialists.
In 1966, the Pentagon, with the approval of the US President and Congress, authorized the commanders of carrier strike groups (AUG) to destroy Soviet submarines detected within a radius of one hundred miles in peacetime. In 1968, the Soviet nuclear submarine K-10 in the South China Sea off the coast of Vietnam for 13 hours, unnoticed at a depth of 50 meters, followed under the bottom of the aircraft carrier Enterprise and practiced simulated attacks on it with torpedoes and cruise missiles, at risk of destruction. Enterprise was the largest aircraft carrier in the US Navy and carried the most aircraft to bomb North Vietnam. Correspondent N. Cherkashin wrote in detail about this episode of the war in April 2007.
During the war, radio intelligence ships of the USSR Pacific Fleet actively operated in the South China Sea. There were two incidents with them. In 1969, in the area south of Saigon, the Hydrophone ship was fired upon by South Vietnamese (US ally) patrol boats. A fire broke out and some of the equipment failed. In another episode, the Peleng ship was attacked by American bombers. Bombs were dropped along the bow and stern of the ship. There were no casualties or destruction.
On June 2, 1967, American planes fired at the motor ship "Turkestan" of the Far Eastern Shipping Company in the port of Kamfa, which was transporting various cargoes to North Vietnam. 7 people were injured, two of them died. As a result of the competent actions of Soviet representatives of the merchant fleet in Vietnam and employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Americans were proven guilty of their guilt in the deaths of civilians. The US government has appointed lifelong benefits to the families of the deceased sailors. There were cases of damage to other merchant ships.
North Vietnamese offensive
I would immediately like to dispel the myth that the Viet Cong waged a defensive war, and the Americans waged an offensive war. Actually this is not true. All the main actions were initially carried out by partisan detachments precisely on the territory of South Vietnam. The actual aggressor was the Viet Cong.
On "Tet Day", January 30, the North launched a large-scale offensive in 1968. This was unexpected, since according to the agreement no military operations should be conducted on these days. US losses in Vietnam have increased significantly these days.
All attacks were successfully repulsed, but the city of Hue was lost to the Americans. Only in March did the offensive finally fizzle out. After this, the southerners and Americans launched a counteroffensive in order to recapture Hue. The bloodiest battle in the history of the entire war unfolded.
The city was of strategic importance. It is one of the three major centers of South Vietnam along with Saigon and Da Nang. The main highway connecting the northern territories with the capital passed through it. The army north of Hue was cut off from supplies by land. In the 19th century, this city was the capital of a single state. Therefore, it also had a symbolic meaning.
American losses in the Battle of Hue numbered about 200 killed. Southerners - about 400. However, the losses of the Viet Cong were much more serious - about 5 thousand people. It is believed that it was this defeat that finally undermined their military potential.
Consequences
The greatest losses in this war were suffered by the civilian population of Vietnam, both its southern and northern parts. South Vietnam was flooded with American defoliants; in northern Vietnam, as a result of many years of bombing by American aircraft, many residents were killed and infrastructure was destroyed.
After the US withdrawal from Vietnam, many American veterans subsequently suffered from mental disorders and various types of illnesses caused by the use of dioxin contained in Agent Orange. The American media wrote about an increased suicide rate among Vietnam War veterans compared to the US average. But official data on this matter have not been published. Representatives of the American political elite fought in Vietnam: former Secretary of State John Kerry, many senators at different times, including John McCain, presidential candidate Al Gore. At the same time, shortly after returning from Vietnam to the United States, Kerry participated in the anti-war movement. One of the former presidents, George W. Bush, avoided Vietnam because he served in the National Guard at the time. His campaign opponents portrayed it as a way of shirking his duty. However, this biographical fact rather indirectly served him well. Some American political scientists have concluded that any participant in the Vietnam War, regardless of his qualities, has no chance of becoming president - the negative image of this war is so entrenched in the voter.
Since the end of the war, quite a lot of films, books and other works of art have been created based on it, most of them in America.
US losses in Vietnam: aviation
The help of the USSR and China was invaluable for North Vietnam. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam received 340 million rubles from the Union alone, which at that time was a very significant amount. Soviet instructors helped to master complex equipment. The allies also supplied weapons, including the latest air defense systems. US technical losses in Vietnam (aircraft, not counting other equipment) - more than 4 thousand units. The Americans reported that this is approximately 0.5 per 1000 sorties. In war conditions this figure is small. However, when crossing the border of North Vietnam, losses immediately increased. Soviet air defense systems protected the sky with a reliable shield. Do not forget about the losses of South Vietnamese aircraft. Before the war, their aviation ranked fourth in number in the world after the USA, USSR and China. And here the losses are huge - about 10 thousand aircraft.
