Vietnam: Weapons and Battle Tactics

Weapons of the Vietnam War

Paul Duris

Nick Gdantz

Due Date: 12/23

Vietnam

Mr. Flanagan

In late 1961, America took physical force in the Vietnam War. War is a complex series of political events that leads to physical involvement in the form of armed combat. Technology is a major deciding factor in war, along with the battle tactics used, terrain, experience and professionalism of the opposing forces. By 1961 both the United States and Vietnam had developed a broad array of guns and weapons to fight off one another. Coupled with battle tactics this provides a deadly and extremely hostile environment.

In the beginning of the war the weapon of choice for the support troops was the M1 Carbine. The carbine was half the weight and held a less powerful cartridge than its brother, the M1 Garand. They M1 carbine later evolved into the M2 Carbine, to support the fully automatic needs of the Vietnam War. The Carbines were mainly used by support troops, and other infantry not directly involved in combat. Staff NCO's and officers carried the carbine until later in the war when it was replaced with the M-16 Rifle.

Until the induction of the M-16 rifle, the M-14 rifle was the standard issue for the United States Armed Forces. The M-14 was the par for the Army in 1957 as the successor to the M1 Garand. The M-14 used a gas system and a twenty round detachable cartridge. It was only semi-automatic and could be fitted with a grenade launcher and bipod. Maximum range was 460 meters fired from the shoulder and 700 meters fired with the bipod. A sniper version was fitted with a silencer and gas suppressor, which made identification extremely difficult as the enemy only heard snaps of the bullets around them and no noise of the gun.

The M-16 succeeded the M-14 as standard military issue. Despite early problems and malfunctions the M-16 was the most common weapon used by the United States. The M-16 was lighter and more accurate than the M-14. The M-16 is infamous for its accuracy on the battlefield especially at longer ranges. Both assault rifles share the same 5.56mm projectiles, which provides significant stopping power.

The M-203 grenade launcher was a muzzle-loaded grenade that fit under the barrel of assault rifles such as the M-16. The 40mm grenade was used to provide additional fire support in a gunfight. The high explosive had a range of 400m and a blast radius of 5m.

Before the M-203, infantry used a weapon called the M-79 grenade launcher. Which largely resembled a sawn off shotgun. The M-79 was designed to take up the gap between maximum hand grenade distance, and minimum mortar fire distance. It could fire an array of projectiles which included darts, buck shots, smoke, gas and flares. The M-79 was ideal in Vietnam terrain.

Although the M-16 was very easy to use in the field, some of the U.S. Armies Special Forces used a gun very similar to the M-16. The XM-177E2 or more commonly the "colt commando" or the CAR-15, had telescoping stock for easy handling and could be used more like an SMG instead of an assault rifle which made the CAR-15 a great choice for combat situations where fighting would be extremely close. Although it was popular with Special Forces the CAR-15 saw very limited use with normal battalion units.

Infantry used the M-67 recoilless rifle to destroy bunkers. It was a breach-loaded single shot rifle (much like a bazooka and other rocket launchers). It took three men to operate the M-67. It was capable of firing 1 round every six seconds with a well-trained crew however normal fire rate was about one round per minute. The M-67 could only be fired five times before needing a fifteen-minute cooling period.

The M-72 light anti-tank gun was used in place of the M-67 for a few reasons. The M-72 was Very light and telescoping, also it only needed one man to fire. However, the M-72 could only be fired once before being discarded. The M-72 was slightly more dangerous because the rocket fuel that was used is completely burned up before the projectile even leaves the tube, resulting in a very large back blast. Commonly one person from a particular squad would carry either one or two of these and they were used against enemy armor, entrenched enemies and bunkers.

The M-20 rocket launcher was yet another used in Vietnam. It had a 4kg very high explosive and was often referred to as the "super-bazooka." The M-20 was on its way out of service in Vietnam, yet still was useful in demolishing enemy strongholds. It was a cross between the M-72, and the M-67. It was not disposable, yet had a telescoping tube. Six rounds could be fired in one minute, and took a two-man team to operate. This particular rocket also left an abnormally large black blast due to the open-end breach loading.

The Browning M2 .50 cal machine gun. This gun came from the WWII era and provided short amounts of fire, over a wide area in shot distances. It was ideal for support troops, and entrenched troops fighting off enemy attacks. The tripod like platform provided an excellent base of firing which made the machine gun very accurate. The guns could be used 24/7. At night they used starlight night vision. This severely limited an enemy's movement within 900m of the gun.

The .30 cal Browning was a transportable machine gun. The pros; the machine gun could be transported, provided reasonable firepower. The cons; overheated fairly quickly and was not the most accurate gun.

The M-60 light machine gun was the ultimate in field combat. The M-60 was belt fed 7.62mm rounds and spit them out at a practical rate of 200rmp (550rmp max). It had a quick-change barrel to counter-act over heating. This gun was the main firepower within support squads. The M-60 was also used in helicopters and vehicles.

Helicopters played a large role in Vietnam. But they were not invincible, and they were shot down. Helicopter pilots carried a small SMG known as the "Grease gun." The M3A1 was used in WWII and Korea. Outside of helicopter