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* [[Uk vz. 59]] general purpose machine gun
* [[Uk vz. 59]] general purpose machine gun
* [[DShK]] heavy machine gun
* [[DShK]] heavy machine gun
* [[PM M1910]] heavy machine gun
* [[MP40]] submachine gun (captured by the Soviets during [[World War Two]] and provided to the VPA and the NLF as military aid)
* [[MP40]] submachine gun (captured by the Soviets during [[World War Two]] and provided to the VPA and the NLF as military aid)
* [[PPS-43]] submachine gun
* [[PPS-43]] submachine gun

Revision as of 01:01, 27 February 2011

MiG-17 fighter used by the People’s Army of Vietnam

A wide variety of weapons were used by the different armies operating in the Vietnam War. Combatants included the opposing armies of both the Republic of South Viet Nam (ARVN) (South Vietnamese Army);... the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN), commonly known as the North Vietnamese Army (NVA); the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (NLF), better known as the Viet Cong (VC); all services of the U.S. military; their allies South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, and Philippine armies; and a variety of irregular troops. Nearly all allied forces including the ARVN and Australians were armed with U.S. weapons, some of which, such as the M1 Carbine, were substitute standard weapons dating from World War II. The NVA, although having inherited a miscellany of American, French, and Japanese weapons from WWII and the First Indochina War (aka French Indochina War), were largely armed and supplied by Red China, the Soviet Union, and its Warsaw Pact allies. In addition, some weapons—notably anti-personnel explosives, the K-50M (a PPSh-41 variant), and “home-made” versions of the RPG-2—were manufactured in Vietnam. By 1969 the US Army had identified 40 rifle/carbine types, 22 machine gun types, 17 types of mortar, 20 recoilless rifle or rocket launcher types, 9 types of antitank weapons, and 14 anti-aircraft artillery weapons used by ground troops on all sides. Also in use, primarily by anti-communist forces, were the 24 types of armored vehicles and self propelled artillery, and 26 types of field artillery & rocket launchers.[1]

Weapons of the ARVN, US, South Korean, Australian, and New Zealand

Chemical weapons

In 1961 and 62 the Kennedy administration authorized the use of chemicals to destroy vegetation and food crops in South Vietnam. Between 1961 and 1967 the US Air Force sprayed 12 million US gallons of concentrated herbicides, mainly Agent Orange (a dioxin) over 6 million acres (24,000 km²) of foliage, trees and food crops, affecting an estimated 13% of South Vietnam's land. In the year 1965, 42% of the herbicide used was allocated to food crops. The herbicide use was also intended to drive civilians into RVN-controlled areas.[2] In 1997, an article published by the Wall Street Journal reported that up to half a million children were born with dioxin related deformities, and that the birth defects in South Vietnam were fourfold those in the North. The use of Agent Orange may have been contrary to international rules of war at the time. It is also of note that the most likely victims of such an assault would be small children. A 1967 study by the Agronomy Section of the Japanese Science Council concluded that 3.8 million acres (15,000 km²) of land had been destroyed, killing 1000 civilians and 13,000 livestock.

Small arms

The KA-BAR knife was the most famous edged weapon of the war.

1. * M6 bayonet

2. Pistols & Revolvers

3. Shoulder arms

4. Sniper Rifles

The Winchester Model 70 was used by U.S. Marine Corps snipers

5. Machine guns

6. Grenades and Mines

Claymore anti-personnel mine in use in Vietnam

7. Grenade Launcher

8. Flamethrower

Infantry support weapons

File:Burning Viet Cong base camp.jpg
U. S. soldier carries a M67 recoilless rifle past a burning Viet Cong base camp in Mỹ Tho, South Vietnam, 1968

Artillery

Self-propelled Howitzer M109 in Vietnam

Artillery ammunition

  • Beehive rounds
  • White phosphorus (marking round) "Willy Peter"
  • HE, general purpose (High Explosive)
  • Canister

guns ammo

Combat aircraft

Spotter's silhouette of the RAAF Canberra B.20 medium bomber

Support aircraft

File:Garrett County AGP-786.jpg
USS Garrett County at anchor in the Mekong Delta with two UH-1B Iroquois helicopters on deck.

Aircraft Ordnance

See also: List of Bombs in the Vietnam War

Aircraft weapons

A minigun being fired from a gunship in Vietnam.

Vehicles

  • M38A1 1/4 ton jeep
  • Ford M151 MUTT 1/4 ton Military Utility Tactical Truck (jeep)
  • Dodge M37, 3/4 ton (pick-up truck)
  • Kaiser Jeep M715 1 1/4 (Pickup Truck)
  • Truck, cargo/troops, 2 1/2 ton (deuce and a half)
  • Truck, cargo/troops, 5 ton
  • M520 Goer Truck, Cargo, 8-ton, 4x4
  • Land Rover short and long wheelbase Australian and New Zealand forces.

Armoured fighting vehicles

Tanks

M48 Patton tank in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, 1969.

Army and USMC vehicles

Naval craft

Fast Patrol Craft
  • Monitor, heavily gunned riverine craft
  • Swift Boat, (PCF) Patrol Craft Fast
  • ASPB, Assault Support Patrol Boat, (known as Alpha boats)
  • PBR, Patrol Boat River, (all fiberglass boats, propelled by twin water jets)

Gunship Vehicles (commonly cargo), armed with automatic weapons.

  • Gun trucks, 2 1/2 ton (deuce an a half), and 5 ton cargo trucks with quad .50 cal machine guns mounted in the back
  • M3 Halftracks with quad .50 cal machine guns in the back
  • Gun jeeps, 1/4 tons with mounted M-60 machineguns
  • Land Rover, short and long wheelbase, with single and twin M60 machineguns. Aust. and NZ forces

Weapons of the PAVN/NLF

Main article: Viet Cong and PAVN logistics and equipment

NVA (North Vietnamese Army) and the Southern communist guerrillas NLF, or Viet Cong as they were commonly referred to during the war, largely used standard Warsaw Pact weapons. Weapons used by the North Vietnamese also included Chinese Communist variants, which were referred to as CHICOM's by the US military.

Artillery

North Vietnamese SAM crew in front of a SA-2 launcher.

Aircraft

Small arms

A U.S. Army M.P. inspects a Soviet AK-47 recovered in Vietnam in 1968.

Infantry support weapons

North Vietnamese troops with RPG-2 (B-40) in 1968.

Flamethrowers

  • LPO-50 Flamethrower (Limited Use)

Vehicles

File:Nvatransportcorps.jpg
Bicycles carried up to 400 pounds of weight and were thus effective transport vehicles.

Substitute standard weapons used by irregular forces

Small arms

Hand combat weapons

A wide variety of anti-personnel landmines and booby traps were used in the Vietnam war, including punji stakes.

Other ways of obtaining weapons

The Vietcong were not always able to be supplied by the PAVN. They sometimes took weapons from US soldiers after an attack or raided US or South Vietnamese weapon stockpiles. This increased the number of weapons available and gave balance against the US arsenal.

Citations and notes

  1. ^ Department of Army Pamphlet 381-10, Weapons and Equipment Recognition Guide Southeast Asia, March 1969
  2. ^ Anatomy of a War by Gabriel Kolko, ISBN 1-56584-218-9 pages 144-145

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Weapons of the Vietnam War.
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