Khe Sanh Battle Analysis
On January 21 1968, the People's Army of North Vietnam (PAVN) initiated a large-scale attack against U.S. forces stationed at Khe Sanh Airbase. The battle lasted a total of 77 days ending on April 8 1968. This critical battle in the Vietnam War helped limit the advance of North Vietnamese forces from seizing the eastern Vietnamese coastline, spreading communist influence throughout northern South Vietnam, and maintaining the security along the demilitarized zone (DMZ). The purpose of this paper is to analyze the battle of Khe Sanh and to discuss how the use of unmanned ground sensor support could have drastically changed the course of the battle, and shaped the outcome of Vietnam.
By 1968, U.S troop strength in Vietnam was at 549,500 in …show more content…
Friendly forces comprised, of both South Vietnamese and Americans, sustained 703 killed in actions, 2,642 wounded in action, and 7 missing in action. The operation was hailed as an American victory because the base was sustained however, the amount of support that was required to do so left locations in South Vietnam vulnerable during the Tet Offensive. The high cost of the battle, both human and material loss, appeared negatively in the press, straining public support for the war. To the North Vietnamese the battle was a temporary setback. The CVNA withdrew back into Laos and across the DMZ where they refit and staged for future attempts against locations near the …show more content…
CVNA forces would have been able to plan their attacks in conjunction with poor weather allowing them to gain closer proximity of U.S. defensive positions without fear of aerial attacks. U.S. static positions would have been reliant solely on human intelligence that can be both late and inaccurate. This would enable the CVNA to move large amounts of forces undetected in the poor weather that could have overwhelmed the much smaller numbered U.S. positions. A breach of any of the positions would have been a domino effect any likely lead to the inevitable retrograde of over watch positions back to the
By 1968, U.S troop strength in Vietnam was at 549,500 in …show more content…
Friendly forces comprised, of both South Vietnamese and Americans, sustained 703 killed in actions, 2,642 wounded in action, and 7 missing in action. The operation was hailed as an American victory because the base was sustained however, the amount of support that was required to do so left locations in South Vietnam vulnerable during the Tet Offensive. The high cost of the battle, both human and material loss, appeared negatively in the press, straining public support for the war. To the North Vietnamese the battle was a temporary setback. The CVNA withdrew back into Laos and across the DMZ where they refit and staged for future attempts against locations near the …show more content…
CVNA forces would have been able to plan their attacks in conjunction with poor weather allowing them to gain closer proximity of U.S. defensive positions without fear of aerial attacks. U.S. static positions would have been reliant solely on human intelligence that can be both late and inaccurate. This would enable the CVNA to move large amounts of forces undetected in the poor weather that could have overwhelmed the much smaller numbered U.S. positions. A breach of any of the positions would have been a domino effect any likely lead to the inevitable retrograde of over watch positions back to the