Pomeroy, Jim Alliances & Armor

Communist Diplomacy and Armored Warfare during the War in Vietnam

The decision by the Vietnamese People's Army to use tanks as part of its warfare strategy was the result of various geopolitical factors surrounding Hanoi during different phases of the Vietnam War. During the First Indochina War, the People's Republic of China proved to be North Vietnam's most important communist supporter. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, remained largely inactive. Although Hanoi was concerned about the behaviour of China and the Soviet Union during the 1954 Geneva Conference, it nevertheless felt compelled to maintain good relations with both countries. This was reinforced when the split between China and the Soviet Union occurred in 1956, forcing Hanoi to walk a tightrope between Beijing and Moscow. When the United States escalated its war in Vietnam, Moscow (now under new leadership) attempted to increase its material support for Hanoi. As the war progressed, Hanoi sought to engage in larger battles against the Americans and their South Vietnamese allies. In order to fight larger battles, the PAVN needed more modern military equipment, which only the Soviet Union could supply. This, combined with the chaotic conditions during the Cultural Revolution in China, led Hanoi to lean more heavily on Moscow in the final years of the Vietnam War. As part of these newly blossoming relations, Moscow began to equip the PAVN with more modern weapons, including Soviet tanks. Initially, the PAVN's use of tanks in Lang Vei (1968) and Laos (1971) was crowned with some success. But in 1972, Hanoi panicked when the United States began to bring about a détente with Beijing and Moscow. This led to fears of another Geneva and prompted Hanoi to launch a hasty Easter Offensive in March 1972, in which poorly trained PAVN tank crews fell victim to poor planning and strategy. This changed in 1975 when, following the Paris Peace Accords and subsequent combined weapons training in the Soviet Union, the PAVN sent its Soviet tanks to Saigon, where they entered victoriously.