WHAT WAS THE IMPACT OF TREES IN THE VIETNAM WAR?

Kate McKeough (WHS)

The Vietnam War of 1955-1975 was a clash of ideologies between the USSR-backed Communist North Vietnam and the USA-backed South Vietnam. It is seen as one of the most violent and expensive conflicts of the Cold War, with well over one million deaths at a cost of nearly $850 billion in 2019 dollars. The war was a crushing loss for the USA. While the guerrilla tactics used by the North Vietnamese army (also known as the Viet Cong) were widely credited for this defeat, the dense and unforgiving jungles of Vietnam also played a critical role in the war. Nearly half of Vietnam is covered in thick jungle – it is nearly impenetrable to those who are unexperienced in navigating it. Vietnam’s heavy cover of trees gave the Viet Cong troops an inherent advantage. The trees hid the Ho Chi Minh trail from American planes so the Viet Cong could transport food, medical supplies, and aid without constant air attacks. On the ground, the Viet Cong knew how to use the jungle cover for camouflage and laying traps. These traps led to unexpected and bloody setbacks for American soldiers, allowing the Viet Cong to gain and hold precious territory. As General William C. Westmoreland (the commander of US military forces in Vietnam) said in 1967, “We are fighting a war with no front lines, since the enemy hides among the people, in the jungles and mountains, and uses covertly border areas of neutral countries. One cannot measure [our] progress by lines on a map.” The trees of Vietnam also guarded against the dropping of US bombs during their massive and unrelenting Rolling Thunder campaign. With Viet Cong troop movements shrouded by the trees, bomber pilots were forced to choose volume over precision. Moreover, the thick canopy rendered these bombs nearly useless as the shock of the blasts was absorbed by empty and uninhabited jungles. Frustrated American forces began using chemical weapons such as Agent Orange and napalm to burn and defoliate the jungle leaves and canopies that bombs couldn’t penetrate. After spraying 73 million litres of chemical agents between 1961 and 1971, the environmental effects are tragically still being felt today. US aircrafts targeted 4.5 million acres of jungle with herbicides, devastating ecosystems and habitats that are still recovering. Chemicals seeping into soil and groundwater severely affected tree growth and the overall ecosystem, polluting every aspect of Vietnam’s jungles. One of the biggest casualties was a 50% destruction of coastal mangroves, which naturally protected Vietnam from tsunami and typhoon damage. Alongside the Viet Cong’s guerrilla warfare advantage, Vietnam’s trees played a critical role in the USA’s humiliating defeat. Because trees were a defining part of the Viet Cong arsenal during the war, war was waged against them. Beyond the war’s human tragedies, its environmental damage remains a lasting and painful legacy.

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