hnkst2@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Hanhwe N. Kim) (01/21/91)
From: Hanhwe N. Kim <hnkst2@unix.cis.pitt.edu> In article <1991Jan17..27510@cbnews.att.com> pierce@bcstec.boeing.com (Greg Pierce) writes: > >I read statistics derived from the Vietnam War which made >the conclusion that the bulk (65-70%) of enemy >casualties were a direct result of the grunt in >the field with his M-16/M-60. > >I only got this from one source, if anyone has different >stats please feel free to provide them. > I thought the 65-70% casualties-due-to-infantry meant that 65-70% of US casualties were due to Viet-cong and North vietnamese infantry (grunts armed with AK-47's and RPG's and (captured) M-16/M-60's, claymore mines and various booby traps), NOT that 65-70% of VC and NVA casualties were due to US/ARVN/allied infantry. I believe that most VC/NVA casualties were from US air and artillery. The VC/NVA, I remember hearing/reading from somewhere tried hard to 'cling on to the belts' of the US/ARVN/allied units, meaning to engage in close quarters to negate the overwhelming firepower advantage of the US/ARVN/allied forces. The idea was to get the units intermingled so that the Americans and their allies would not be able to call in arty and air for fear of hitting their own units and apply their numerical superiority. Meanwhile, the US/ARVN/allied forces tried hard to 'pin down' numerically superior VC/NVA infantry formations, and attack them with arty and air, and use airlift to 'vertically envelope' them, ie. reinforce rapidly through helicopters. Both sides tried to apply their relative strengths upon their enemy's relative weaknesses. I believe this would be the general case of any conflict. So both casualties suffered and inflicted will differ largely according to the different means of the opposing parties. In conflicts where each side has very different force compositions (Vietnam, Afghanistan), the casualties sustained/inflicted will be very different. In conflicts where both sides have homogenous forces( eg. Arab-Isreal circa 1967-1973, India-Pakistan 197?, ) that include air-arty-armour-infantry, the general case will be mostly infantry being killed by mostly artillery. -Han Kim