Artillery In The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a conflict between North and South Korea that took place between November 1, 1955 and April 30, 1975, although the United States did not enter the war until March 8, 1965. The main reason that the United States entered the war was to ensure that the Communism did not spread in the region, fearing that Vietnam would be another North Korea. Although our entry into the war was not popular with the American people, it proved to have a major role in an allied victory. There were many major battles throughout the war, and the use of artillery fires was prevalent. Throughout the war the use of artillery fire was a major force that aided not only the United States, but our allies as well. Although American artillery shells

The United States was on the side of South Vietnam and their defense against Communism. The United States fought for nineteen years. Our country chose to enter the war in 1954 and fought until a treaty was signed in 1973. During their time spent in Vietnam, “more than 3 million people (including over 58,000 Americans) were killed in the Vietnam War, and more than half of the dead were Vietnamese civilians”(History.com, 2009). There were many major conflicts throughout the Vietnam War that the United States participated in. Each of these major conflicts directly relied upon the use of Artillery to help win the fight against the North Vietnamese. “The Battle of Ap Bac was the first major battle during the Vietnam War. It was fought by the Army of the Republic of Viet Nam (ARVN) and the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (NLF/Viet Cong) at Ap Bac, a village in the Dinh Tuong province, approximately 50 miles southwest of Saigon on January 2, 1963” (Major Battles of Vietnam War, 2013). Nearing the end of this battle the North was badly wounded. This part of the country decided to regroup in order to retreat with their wounded soldiers. The commander of the South Vietnamese army, Colonel Cao, ordered that artillery rounds would be fired every hour on the hour while the North retreated through rice fields to try and cut them off. “The

“About two hours later, an NVA artillery barrage scored a hit on the main ammunition dump at Khe Sanh Combat Base” (Brush, 2007). This large artillery attack was the follower of NVA 6th, BN, who attacked our Soldiers on a hill of Khe Sanh. This began the long 11 week battle in what was described as “all hell broke loose” with hundreds of 82mm mortars, artillery shells, and 122mm rockets slamming into the base. The Marines dove for cover in trenches and bunkers while a mess hall was flattened, the regimental commander’s quarters was hit, fuel storage areas were set ablaze, and several helicopters and trucks were destroyed” (Burke, 2014). While defending an offensive from the North Vietnamese for 77 days, the Soldiers of the Marines and South Vietnam, had to watch the NVA begin digging trenches and tunnels around and towards the base at Khe Sanh. To begin to combat this, the first patrol was set out on the 25 February of the same year. It was known as the “Ghost Patrol” only one Soldier would come back to base from that patrol. During the battle, the Soldiers had to be resupplied with food, ammo, and other equipment. “Colonel Davis E. Lownds ordered a series of resupply of ammunition in order to keep the Marines fighting, and the only way Americans could access the area was by aircraft or helicopters” (Militarybattle, 2015). But with