Vietnam – The Ten Thousand Day War (1980) [Part 2]

Country: Canada
Stars: Joseph B. Anderson, Anthony Astuccio, Peter Braestrup

Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War, a 26-part Canadian television documentary on the Vietnam War, was produced in 1980 by Michael Maclear. The series aired in Canada on CBC Television, in the United States and in the United Kingdom on Channel 4. Maclear visited Vietnam during the production of the series and had access to film material there. He was the first Western journalist allowed to visit that area since the war. The documentary series was consolidated into 13 hour-long episodes for American television syndication. The series was released on videocassette format by Embassy and won a National Education Association award for best world documentary. Series writer Peter Arnett was an Associated Press reporter in Vietnam from 1962 to 1975. CBC aired only 18 of the episodes during the 1980-81 season because the series production was incomplete. The remaining episodes were broadcast during CBC's 1981-82 season. British audiences saw the series during Channel 4's 1984-85 season.

Episodes:

-Episode 6. Days of Decision
Episode Six chronicles LBJ's decisions to bomb the north and send US combat troops into the south. South Vietnam is given weapons and the most advanced equipment available and American personnel to operate it. 1964, the US Airforce starts flying secret bombing missions out of Laos and Cambodia. For six weeks secret CIA naval missions were being run into North Vietnam in the lead up to the Gulf of Tonkin incident. North Vietnamese gunboats had attacked a US Navy destroyer operating in the gulf of Tonkin, the next day, two destroyers entered the gulf and it was reported…

-Episode 7. Westy's War
Episode Seven chronicles the tactics and strategies used by General William Westmoreland. LBJ calls the war the most complex war ever fought. The overall US strategy is a war of attrition kill as many enemy as possible. March 1965 the first US combat troops arrive in Vietnam. South Vietnam is losing the war, it has a 500,000 man army, but it was poorly lead and motivated. By the end of '65 the north controls the country and the south the cities. Westmoreland's tactics are "Search & Destroy" The north's tactics were to "Ambush" the better trained and equipped Americans…

-Episode 8. Uneasy Allies
Episode Eight covers the society in the south during the war. Saigon is a party town. American aid pours into the country, fight during the day live it up at night. in 1965 Premier Ky is in power, the 10th government in 20 months and Americans feel they have a solid ally finally. Ky goes to meet LBJ in Washington to obtain more economic aid. LBJ enthusiastically agrees. Within a month Vietnam has an operating TV station to promote social reforms to the population. The US commits $750,000,000 in aid to Vietnam. Vietnam is corrupt, much of the aid provided goes straight…

-Episode 9. Guerilla Society
The ninth volume of The Ten Thousand Day War covers North Vietnamese society at war. Being at war for 30 years, the people of the north develop a Guerrilla society. Everyone is a combatant and a member of the army or the citizen militia. During the bombing campaign, where the US drops four times as many bombs as it dropped during the entirety of WWII, Northern cities and town move underground completely to escape the bombing. Women are an integral part of the defense society they work the fields during the day, go to school at night, all the while carrying their gun …

-Episode 10. The Trail
Episode Ten covers the creation of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Created in 1959 when the north decides to fight, it stretches from the ocean just north of the 17th parallel to the Mekong delta in the south. A collection or network of footpaths and animal trails would take six months to traverse from north to south. By the end of the war it had been improved to dirt roads with filling stations and repair depots and traversing it takes six weeks by truck. US forces tried to cut this by extensive bombing but failed. It was thought to difficult to launch a land attack estimated…

-Episode 11. Firepower
Episode Eleven covers the application of military hardware on a massive scale from artillery to bombing. Is the capacity to hit hard and fast, the helicopter came into its own in warfare. the US army was capable of moving a Battalion at any time they needed to by air, and in just a few minutes a couple of battalions if needed. heavy lift helicopters established artillery fire bases in a half a day. recon teams could be drooped into the midst of their territory and patrol back to home. called air mobile warfare. Firepower wins many battles but does not win the war.

-Episode 12. The Village War
Episode Twelve covers the war for the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese peasantry. Without their support you will not win the war. Cooperation with one side brings destruction from the other. Some policy makers in Washington think that the war should be fought politically, Not militarily. The Vietcong use selective assassination as the first step in taking control of a village. The US doctrine is one of "Pacification" they go into a village and search, if they find evidence of Vietcong affiliation they evacuate the village and burn it to the ground. The North …