Guerrilla Warfare

The Vietnam War was a war that changed the perspective of battle. It was a civil war between Communist North Vietnam, who had help from other Communist countries like China, and South Vietnam, an anti-communist country that had support from other countries like the U.S. Vietnam used to be one country but it was split up into communist and non-communist countries. The Vietnam War was holds the record for having the most bombs dropped in a single war, and it destroyed a fourth of the Vietnamese forests. One reason that the war was so long was because of the war tactics that the North Vietnamese used. One of the tactics was the use of non-soldiers to attack and ambush a stronger foe, raid them and then retreat before they could be counter-attacked. This was called Guerrilla Warfare. The Vietnam War was one of the most effective wars that used Guerrilla Warfare. The Vietnamese Guerrillas used many tactics to kill their foe and one of the best tactics they used was the use of traps.

The traps the Vietnamese used were very successful in two ways; not only did these traps kill their enemy without having to put one of their own soldiers in danger, but they also put fear into their foes that witnessed the cruelty of their traps. The enemy always had to be cautious and never knew where a trap might be. They also feared the possibility of being in pain from an attack, or being paralyzed, or even losing a limb because most of the traps didn’t kill immediately. These traps frequently resulted in very agonizing deaths or at least taking an enemy soldier out of battle. Many of the traps that the Vietnamese used contained spikes that had poison on them to kill people. These traps killed over a thousand people. One of the most infamous traps was the Tiger trap. It was a trap that had a bamboo floor and only part of it was safe to walk on. If someone took one wrong step, they would fall two feet into the poisoned spikes and then die. When the victim slid into the trap, it would “reset” and go back to how it looked before. These traps were excellent for guarding bases and it made soldiers afraid to attack bases in fear of falling into one of these Tiger traps. There were a lot of other traps that were efficient in killing and striking fear into soldiers’ hearts. Two examples would be the pit of spikes covered beneath leaves, or a branch with spikes that would swing out and hit some unlucky soldier. There were also a lot of other traps that contained explosives, but these were harder to make and more expensive. This changed combat because people needed very little resources but would still be as effective as other countries that spent tons of money and equipment on warfare.

If a guerrilla didn’t use a trap to kill his foe, he would typically do a hit-and-run on enemy patrols. They would rarely attack in the open unless they had a huge advantage. Just the fear of having someone shoot at you and then disappear would drive many soldiers mad. If a soldier didn’t always keep up their guard, they could walk straight into an enemy guerrilla and be shot. Therefore, most soldiers had to keep their guard up at all times, which wore them down, slowed their advances and added to their stress levels.

The average Guerrilla was a village member who was forced to attack a larger army unit. Most of them were fanatics for defending their country and would die for their country if they needed to, otherwise, they would just run away. Today, military forces must view civilians as a potential enemy. Countries face many problems when they shoot a civilian mistaking them as a foe and then later realizing that they are innocent. Countries have to train their soldiers to recognize the difference from a threat and an innocent civilian. Military forces have to pay attention to the enemy’s army and to civil unrest because civil unrest can lead to the civilians becoming guerrillas, who could attack them and make their job even harder. Guerrilla Warfare makes it harder for countries to take over each other because the guerrillas would rather die than surrender in order to defend their country. Guerrillas are probably one of the most effective defenses for a country and show what side the civilians are taking. Even today, Guerrillas are “defending” their own country. An example of this is the Taliban in Afghanistan.
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