Post by jgaffney on Sept 28, 2011 14:34:18 GMT -5
I just finished reading A Better War by Lewis Sorley. This is an excellent recap of the Vietnam War from 1968 to the end in 1975.
Sorley describes how Gen. William Westmoreland, the first commanding general in Vietnam, was fighting the wrong war. Westmoreland tried to fight the VC and NVA in a "big war," with division-sized tactics and pushing the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) aside. Westmoreland was relieved by LBJ shortly after the 1968 Tet offensive, and replaced with Gen. Creighton Abrams. Abrams brought a completely different tactic to the war, similar to how Gen. David Petraeus re-aligned the war in Iraq. Abrams built up the ARVN, scaled back American operations to company-sized maneuvers, employed more airpower, and put in place a "clear-and-hold" tactic to pacify the countryside. Abrams denied the VC access to the South Vietnamese population - and rice crop - and interdicted the NVA supply routes in Laos and Cambodia. By 1972, Abrams had the NVA basically in retreat, with massive casualties and their supply lines cut.
However, the battle that Abrams could not win was the anti-war sentiment that built up in America. As was revealed by the North Vietnamese after the war, the communists actively supported the anti-war movement in the US, and considered it their greatest triumph that they got Nixon to not only sign the Paris Peace Accords but to withdraw all of the American troops and cut support for the South Vietnamese government. Starting with Walter Chronkite's famous "This war is lost" assessment of the 1968 Tet offensive, then Jane Fonda's famous scripted visit to Hanoi, and ending with Ted Kennedy's campaign in the Senate to cut off all aid for the war in Vietnam, we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
Sorley has interesting insights into the Paris Peace Accords. North Vietnam never had any intention of seeking peace in South Vietnam. In fact, they saw the peace process as a way to drag out the war while they continued to build anti-war sentiment in America. Kissinger made side deals with the North Vietnamese that allowed them to keep their personnel in South Vietnam after the signing of the accords, even though all American forces were withdrawn. President Thieu of South Vietnam was shocked when he learned that the American negotiators, led by Averell Harriman, basically sold out the South Vietnamese rather than face the wrath of the anti-war crowd at home. America promised the South Vietnamese air power and materials, and never delivered on either.
North Vietnam basically re-started their invasion of South Vietnam the day after the Peace Accords were signed. The ARVN fought valiantly but, with dwindling supplies, no American air support, no re-supply from the US, and the massive inflow of materials into North Vietnam from Russia and China, South Vietnam didn't stand a chance. The rest is history.
Sorley describes how Gen. William Westmoreland, the first commanding general in Vietnam, was fighting the wrong war. Westmoreland tried to fight the VC and NVA in a "big war," with division-sized tactics and pushing the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) aside. Westmoreland was relieved by LBJ shortly after the 1968 Tet offensive, and replaced with Gen. Creighton Abrams. Abrams brought a completely different tactic to the war, similar to how Gen. David Petraeus re-aligned the war in Iraq. Abrams built up the ARVN, scaled back American operations to company-sized maneuvers, employed more airpower, and put in place a "clear-and-hold" tactic to pacify the countryside. Abrams denied the VC access to the South Vietnamese population - and rice crop - and interdicted the NVA supply routes in Laos and Cambodia. By 1972, Abrams had the NVA basically in retreat, with massive casualties and their supply lines cut.
However, the battle that Abrams could not win was the anti-war sentiment that built up in America. As was revealed by the North Vietnamese after the war, the communists actively supported the anti-war movement in the US, and considered it their greatest triumph that they got Nixon to not only sign the Paris Peace Accords but to withdraw all of the American troops and cut support for the South Vietnamese government. Starting with Walter Chronkite's famous "This war is lost" assessment of the 1968 Tet offensive, then Jane Fonda's famous scripted visit to Hanoi, and ending with Ted Kennedy's campaign in the Senate to cut off all aid for the war in Vietnam, we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
Sorley has interesting insights into the Paris Peace Accords. North Vietnam never had any intention of seeking peace in South Vietnam. In fact, they saw the peace process as a way to drag out the war while they continued to build anti-war sentiment in America. Kissinger made side deals with the North Vietnamese that allowed them to keep their personnel in South Vietnam after the signing of the accords, even though all American forces were withdrawn. President Thieu of South Vietnam was shocked when he learned that the American negotiators, led by Averell Harriman, basically sold out the South Vietnamese rather than face the wrath of the anti-war crowd at home. America promised the South Vietnamese air power and materials, and never delivered on either.
North Vietnam basically re-started their invasion of South Vietnam the day after the Peace Accords were signed. The ARVN fought valiantly but, with dwindling supplies, no American air support, no re-supply from the US, and the massive inflow of materials into North Vietnam from Russia and China, South Vietnam didn't stand a chance. The rest is history.