Stomping South Vietnam

General William Westmoreland’s strategy during the Vietnam war was to kill enemy soldiers faster than they could be replaced. American Generals attempted to win with massive aerial bombings, starving the rural population, and shooting anyone who seemed hostile. Large areas of South Vietnam were designated as “free fire zones” where everyone was presumed the enemy. American soldiers often laughed at this immorality and stated: “kill them all and let God sort them out.” As a result, roughly two million Vietnamese civilians were killed and several times more wounded by American weaponry. General William DePuy defined this strategy as: “more bombs, more shells, more napalm…We are going to stomp them to death.”

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Related Tale: “US Army Genocide in the Philippines”; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuUvmFK5B9k&t=20s

Related Tale: “The Illusion of South Vietnam” explains why Vietnamese viewed the Americans as colonial occupiers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B9BM8OTSB0&t=20s

By the time US military ground troops arrived in Vietnam, “They all hated us!” as this Marine Corps veteran explains: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tixOyiR8B-8

CBS News report from Vietnam; Aug 5, 1965; Morley Safer; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0AmOw06lA0&t=0s

“Law at War Vietnam 1964-1973”; US Army Vietnam Studies; https://history.army.mil/html/books/090/90-14/CMH_Pub_90-14.pdf

“Charlie Company and the Massacre”; PBS: a timeline of the My Lai Killings: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/my-lai-charlie-company-and-massacre/

“Peers Inquiry; Report of the Department of the Army Review of the Preliminary Investigations into the My Lai Incident”; Library of Congress; https://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/Peers_inquiry.html

Nick Turse Describes the Real Vietnam War: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7x6upOmdrw&t=0s

Related Tale: “American Aerial Massacres in Germany”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVee6taH0iw&t=20s