Westmoreland Strategy Of Attrition During The Vietnam War

Westmoreland Strategy of Attrition
One of the most controversial topics in American history today is still the Vietnam War. Some would argue that the fall of Saigon to the communist North was one of our country’s greatest failure. From 1950 to 1975, the United States was deeply involved in stopping the spread of communism in Vietnam. As North Vietnam increases hostility against South Vietnam, the US intensified its air and ground operations in Vietnam. It wasn’t until 1965, after the Gulf of Tokin Resolution that the United States was officially at war with North Vietnam. President Lyndon Johnson appointed General William Westmoreland as the top commander of US forces and to stop the North aggression. Many historians and analysts still debate

He believed with the use of America superior firepower and advance technology, the North would be easily defeated. He underestimated the North’s will to fight for their longed dream of a united Vietnam. His attrition strategy focused on killing the enemies quicker than they can be replaced, destroying their infrastructures, and making life as hard as possible on the North population. This strategy required expensive bombing operation, artillery strikes and massive defoliation. American ground units conduct “search and destroy” mission through the endless jungles and villages of Vietnam. These units would tirelessly hunt down NVA and NLF troops throughout Vietnam and try to engage them in traditional ground combat. The NVA and NLF knew that they could not beat the American in traditional combat so they adapted to using guerrilla tactics. Guerrilla warfare limited the effectiveness of American firepower, but it also allowed them to choose when to attack and retreat when they need to. Despite suffering defeat after defeat, setback after setback, the North rallied together, persevered through great hardship, and stayed devoted to their goal. They dragged out the war long enough for the American public to grow tired of the

Enemies body counts were used as a means to measure progress of the war. These numbers were at time greatly inflated in hope of increasing the wars popularity and to downplay the high number of US casualties. As Westmoreland continues to exaggerate the progress of the war, the North carried out one of their most ambitious and shocking attacks yet, the Tet Offensive. Tet Offensive not only caught the military by surprise, it stunned the President, Congress, and the American people. Americans support for war decreased dramatically after the battle. Throughout the US, there was huge protest and dissent to end the war as quickly as possible. The President and Congress lost confidence in General Westmoreland ability to beat the North. Number of enemies killed no longer justified the high cost to sustain the war and US troops