Sunday, October 16, 2016

Research Writing Activity by Nick Sansone

For my Vietnam research topic I had the battle of Khe Sanh, known as one of the longest and bloodiest battles throughout the entire Vietnam War. Khe Sanh is a town located in northwest South Vietnam near the Laotian border, and was a military base used by marines. leading up to January of 1968, the North Vietnamese forces had been planning a massive assault on key strongpoints in South Vietnam and needed a point of distraction for the estimated 6,000 U.S soldiers stationed in Khe Sanh. On January 21st of 1968 a group of NVA soldiers 20,000 strong launched their attack on the outnumbered marines, leaving them surrounded and cut off. the battle lasted for 77 long days and finally ended on July 9th when U.S soldiers were ordered to withdraw for Khe Sanh. after the battle had ended, multiple counts of KIA were taken. One saying that 205 American soldiers, and 1,602 NVA were KIA. Another saying that 1,000 American soldiers, and 5,500 NVA were KIA. With no clear answer from either side, the amount of controversy surrounding this battle and the true number of deaths on each side is unclear. Although, the total estimated death count for the NVA is somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 soldiers, and 1,000 American soldiers. It is also unclear as to who won the battle with both sides claiming victory. in a statement from Ho Chi Minh, he says "You can kill ten of my men for every one I kill of yours, but even at those odds, you will lose and I will win." Following this logic, there is a ratio between 50:1 and 75:1 going from NVA deaths to American deaths meaning the U.S military walked out of Khe Sanh the victors. Still to this day historians aren't quite sure how many actual casualties there were throughout the 77 day battle of Khe Sanh.


http://www.historynet.com/battle-of-khe-sanh-recounting-the-battlescasualties.htm





Image result for the battle of Khe Sanh

1 comment:

  1. Nearing the end of the battle the U.S. marines must have been very stressed for resources.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.