The+War+In+Vietnam-JH



In 1940, the Japanes people invaded Vietnam and the occupation was only the latest example of foreigners ruling the Vietnames people. The Vietnamese people didn'twant to be ruled by these foreigners. Ho Chi Minh, who was an advocate of Communism, became a wanted man so he fled to the Soviet Union and in China. He later returned to Vietnam where he organized a nationalist group called the Vietminh. This group united the Communists and Non-Communist people in the struggle against the Japanese. The U.S. began to aid the Vietminh in their war effort.When Japan Surrendered to the Allies, they gave up control of Indochina.

The Viet Cong, a lightly-armed South Vietnamese communist-controlled group, largely fought a guerilla war against anti-communist forces in the region. The North Vietnamese Army engaged in a more conventional war, at times committing large units into battle. U.S. and South Vietnamese forces relied on air support and overwhelming firepower to conduct search and destroy operations, involving ground forces, artillery and airstrikes. The United States entered the war to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam as part of their wider strategy of containment. Military advisors arrived beginning in 1950. U.S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with U.S. troop levels tripling in 1961 and tripling again in 1962. U.S. ground units were deployed beginning in 1965. Operations spanned borders, with Laos and Cambodia heavily bombed. Involvement peaked in 1968 at the time of the Tet Offensive. After this, U.S. ground forces were withdrawn as part of a policy called Vietnamization.