Search and Destroy: Vietnam War Tactics 1965-1967 (Documentary)

In 1965, tens of thousands of US troops are heading for war in Vietnam. Backed up by B-52 bombers, helicopters and napalm, many expect the Viet Cong guerillas to crumble in the face of unstoppable US firepower. Instead, in the jungles and swamps of Vietnam, the Americans discover combat is an exhausting slog in which casualties are high and they rarely get to fire first.

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» SOURCES
Anderson, David L. The Vietnam War, (Basingstoke : Palgrave MacMillan, 2005)
Appy, Christian G. Working-Class War: American Combat Soldiers and Vietnam, (Chapel Hill, NC : University of North Carolina Press, 1993)
Appy, Christian G. Patriots: The Vietnam War Remembered From All Sides, (New York, NY : Viking, 2003)
Blasiot, Leonard A., Dawson, David A., Shulimson, Jack & Smith, Charles R., U.S. Marines in Vietnam: The Defining Year 1968, (Washington DC : History and Museums Division HQ, US Marine Corps, 1997)
Bluhm Jr. Raymond K. (ed), The Vietnam War: A Chronology of War, (New York, NY : Universe Publishing, 2010)
Caputo, Philip, A Rumor of War, (New York, NY : Ballantine Books, 1977)
Department of the Army, Report of the M16 Rifle Review Panel, (Washington, DC : Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Research, Development, and Acquisition, 1968)
Ehrhart, W.D. Vietnam-Perkasie: A Combat Marine Memoir, (Jefferson NC : McFarland, 1983)
Gettleman, Marvin E. (ed), Vietnam: History, Documents and Opinions on a Major World Crisis, (Harmondsworth : Penguin Books Ltd, 1967)
Hayslip, Ly Le & Wurts, John, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: A Vietnamese Woman’s Journey from War to Peace, pp. X-xiv, in Ruane, Kevin (ed.), The Vietnam Wars, (Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2000)
Kearns, Doris, “Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream pp. 251-3" in Ruane, Kevin (ed.), The Vietnam Wars, (Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2000)
Langer, Howard J. The Vietnam War: An Encyclopedia of Quotations, (Westport, CT : Greenwood Press, 2005))
Lawrence, Mark Atwood, The Vietnam War: A Concise International History, (Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2008)
Longley, Kyle, Grunts: The American Combat Soldier in Vietnam, (Armonk N.Y. : M.E. Sharpe, 2008)
Rotter, Andrew J. “Chronicle of a War Foretold: The United States and Vietnam, 1945-1954" in Lawrence, Mark Atwood & Logevall, Fredrik (eds), The First Vietnam War: Colonial Conflict and Cold War Crisis, (Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, 2007)
Ruane, Kevin (ed.), The Vietnam Wars, (Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2000)
Thee, Marek, “The Indochina Wars: Great Power Involvement - Escalation and Disengagement”, Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 13, No. 2 (1976)
Tiu Bin, Following Ho Chi Minh: the Memoirs of a North Vietnamese Colonel, (Honolulu, HI : University of Hawaii Press, 1995)
Tovy, Tal, The Gulf of Tonkin: The United States and the Escalation in the Vietnam War, (New York, NY : Routledge, 2021)

»CREDITS
Presented by: Jesse Alexander
Written by: Mark Newton, Jesse Alexander
Director: Toni Steller & Florian Wittig
Director of Photography: Toni Steller
Sound: Above Zero
Editing: Toni Steller & Philipp Appelt
Motion Design: Philipp Appelt
Research by: Mark Newton
Fact checking: Jesse Alexander, Florian Wittig

Channel Design: Simon Buckmaster

Contains licensed material by getty images and AP
Maps: MapTiler/OpenStreetMap Contributors & GEOlayers3
Music Library: Epidemic Sound
All rights reserved - Real Time History GmbH 2024

[vutruong]

At this period, my grandfather was a Vietnamese college student in Hải Phòng. Once day some military guys showed up at school and told him to go with them, they said they had looked into grandpa profile and he was fitted to be a pilot. And he nearly completed the training, flying a Mig from Hải Phòng to Hà Nội himself but then he was outed from the pilot program because he got diarrhea. He later became a SAM air defenses missiles operator. He was injured during Rolling Thunder, an air to ground radar seeking missile flew in the operator mobile cabin. He described getting a sudden blast, falling unconscious and then waking up in a devastated scene. All his comrades lying lifelessly, their bodies either twisted by shock waves or pierced with shrapnel, grandpa miraculously survived but losing his teeth, shattered by shock wave, nevertheless continue serving for the rest of war.

I can't speak for all Vietnamese but in my province, Hải Phòng, at that time people was like " high on ideologies". Many kinds of ideologies not communist alone that commonly described as "Lý tưởng" which motivated people to do all sorts of crazy thing. Hai Phong is the most strategic port of North VN so its ports often mined by USAF. For ship caring aids from Soviet able to enter, naval mines must be cleared from port so they did it by driving small high speed boats over the area. Some dudes were selected/volunteered, then their close relatives would be invited to attend "living funeral" for those "dead men walking". Finally they hopped on boats, cruised them around, stimulated mines to explode and just hope the deadly blast wouldn't catch up with their speed. For you to imagine the sacrifice, throughout the war with American, not a single day the port of Hai Phong ceased from operating.

Those are undoubtedly the greatest generation of Vietnam.

[Joe-puqi]

My dad was in AirForce during 60s. He was offered 2 choices: Vietnam medic or nurse in NORAD Alaskan radar station.My dad sent me nice pictures of polar bears in 1968.

[umjackd]

My parents were both born in 1956, which meant that this war defined their childhoods. Their families are from different parts of Vietnam, but because of the partition, both families moved south to Saigon, where they both mostly grew up. It wasn't until much later after evacuations and the end of the war did they both happen to meet at a university party for Vietnamese students in Boston.

Life got pretty interesting for them ever since then, but it's very hard sometimes to watch this footage and not think of what they went through.

[MeLancer]

This post brings back numerous memories of my service in Vietnam during 1965. My ship arrived in March and our patrols ran from the DMZ, south along the coast to the Gulf of Thailand then north to Phu Quoc Island just south of Cambodia. We had several roles. Most common was boarding suspicious merchant vessels, junks and sampans. In addition, we provided gun fire support at the request of friendly forces. That gunfire was directed by an observer in a helicopter or light aircraft who observed our rounds and made recommendations for correction.

[BellsWatson]

Arrived in Vietnam on Nov 1, 1965 - assigned to an Infantry platoon of the 1st 503rd 173rd Abn Bdg - hard to believe it was almost 60 years ago - ancient history.

[quandoanminh]

My grandfather was a medic for 10th battalion garrison in Tay Ninh jungle. My grandmother was a commissioner. During one American’s S&D mission half of my grandma’s platoon members were killed, she was shot in her leg by a Huey, her company left her behind and the whole battalion have to move backwards 10km. At that time only my Grandpa left, he decide to carry her 10km through the dense jungle, back to the base.
Imagine the level of suffering and enduring of guirrela fighter in such hard condition, fight with an enemy who have supreme firepower.
Those are the greatest generation in my country.
After the war my grandfather agree Vietnam War was unnecessarily and could be avoided, many lifes were lost.

[Sinn]

I know I always posted but....The M-16 was problematic at the beginning of the war for five reasons.

1. The belief that the rifle was self-cleaning and didn't require any maintenance to work was hugely problematic. Many of the first M-16's didn't even come with cleaning kits.
2. The barrels were not chromed. This caused corrosion to build-up in the rifles chamber.
3. The build-up of unspent powder in the ejector mechanism caused many jams.
4. This one is almost as bad as the first...the ammunition that was sent to the frontlines in Vietnam were not compatible with the rifle itself. The rounds were under-powdered causing them to jam up, refuse to eject, and basically a liability until the jam was fixed.
5. They (US military nor Colt) gave any training on the M16's use until it was fixed a couple of years later. Once the men were trained, had chromed barrels, and proper ammunition the weapon more than proved itself worthy.

Bonus-
While I have always loved the AR platform why Armalite and Colt went with a direct impingement system is a mystery to me? I have owned 4 AR-15 rifles in my life (no, not at once). I had them all (but one) converted to piston operated.

[letstalkcrypto]

This was a first class doco…….the best short film explaining war I’ve ever seen…..and I watch everything. Trust me this is first class.

[fredaaron]

I am really appreciating this latest series. As an American born in the 60s, the Vietnam War informed my early childhood. However, most of my understanding was from the American perspective and it is valuable to hear how the Vietnamese saw the conflict, something you are doing an excellent job covering. One of my closest friend's father was a chopper pilot who was shot down during the war. Sadly, he has very few memories of his late father.

[MadAdventure]

We won the battles and lost the war in Vietnam and at home. We came back with 60k body bags hundreds of thousands injured, physiological problems, suicides etc. The violence was unacceptable with almost 2 million vietnamese deaths, people suffer till today from the orange agent and undetonated bombs.

[PaulMcCartGuitarTracks]

That pic of the black soldier with an M60 machine gun looks like my old Sargent Campbell, best guerilla fighter in the US Army. As anyone in the big red One will tell you.

[Kabutoes]

Can you do the conventional war in Vietnam of 1971-75? It’s probably the most destructive and game changing that is often ignored because it didn’t involve US ground troops at the same levels as 1965-70

[FenderBender]

Yeah, yeah President Johnson bought a lot of Huey stock, and then magically Huey was the #1 weapon in Viet Nam and then Magically Johnson Became very, very rich. Funny how these things work like that.

[codyjohnson]

I worked with a guy at AutoZone here in my hometown. He is a Vietnam vet. He had purple heart and a bunch of medals that I've seen. This guy was a medic in the corps they were flyin in to get some guys In the Viet Kong shot down their helicopter and the guy broke his back in multiple places, his neck, his arm and his ribs and had a puncture lung he didn't say a lot about what happened while he was there but what he did tell me I could vividly see like I was reading a story and you can see it in your head and what he went through was just terrifying

[huytran]

my father born in the south and my mother born in the north all live in the same war with differents perspective, its bone chilling when hear stories of both side

[charlessaint]

My Grandfather a supply sergeant in the US Army, and was stationed in Saigon in 1968, arriving a few months after the Tet Offensive started. As a supply sergeant, he was able to make friends all over the place. According to him, he hitched rides with the Brown Water Navy in the Mekong Delta. They let him fire their weapons into the jungle, but he doesn't know if he hit anything, or anyone. There's an audio recording of my grandfather while sitting the roof of a bar in Saigon. Grandpa's drinking beer and in the background there's a firefight going on! That's pretty much all I ever got out of my Grandpa about his time in Vietnam. The man was always proud of his service. He even encouraged me to join the Army, but when it came to asking him stories, he would give some vague answers and change the subject. For the longest time I thought Grandpa had done something he was ashamed of.

It took me going to Iraq to understand why he didn't talk about Vietnam.

[rafanifischer]

When I entered the Army in 1968 we trained with the M-14. When I first held an M-16 I thought it was a toy rifle! It was so light it was really hard to correctly move it because of the weight difference. But of course there were three ways of dealing with the problem, the right way, the wrong way, and the Army way. Guess which way we used?

[PiNKMuDSimGaming]

10:25 the Ak shown there is an ak-74 5.45mm variant made in 1974 & not fielded by the VC or NVA in the American war in Vietnam, main way to tell the calibre is if the mag is bent more than this one shown that's the 7.62mm variant, the more straighter mag shown here is 5.45mm, the ak-74 has the flash hider as shown, the early ak-47 had no flash hider or muzzle device, the akm which is a later "modernised" version of the ak47 has the classic looking slanted muzzle brake. Main ak's fielded in Vietnam would be the ak-47, akm & the Chinese variant; type 52 all of those were 7.62mm.

[DavidJones-hhov]

Concise quality analysis as military history buff who has friends who were airmobile this is excellent.

[randbarrett]

Amazing how willing people are to believe that “their troops just aren’t real fighting men like we have”