Ambushing is the tactic of lying in wait for your enemy and then springing a surprise attack on them. This strategy was generally employed by the Viet Cong as a way of frustrating and disorienting American troops. It became a key strategy in the way the Viet Cong fought. Villagers would support Viet Cong troops by giving them information on where American troops were at and headed. When Americans passed through villagers would immediately report this to Viet Cong troops and then these VC would move ahead of the Americans and set up ambushes to try and catch them off guard. A very well thought, yet incredibly simple hit and run tactic. This became part of the norm of warfare for the VC and was employed countless times. Not only was it a simple and effective tactic, but the VC new the geography well as well as the thick jungle vegetation provided plenty of camouflage to hide them from American troops.
The United States primary repsonse to this was the creation of "fire-bases". These were artillery dug outs stationed atop the many hills found through out the jungles of Vietnam. US soldiers would stake out an outpost there and give supporting artillery fire in a 360 degree radius of the surrounding jungle to radio calls made by troops on patrol. When ambushes occurred, US troops could call artillery support as long as they could keep themselves out of range; friendly fire is one of the agonizing accidents of war.
The United States primary repsonse to this was the creation of "fire-bases". These were artillery dug outs stationed atop the many hills found through out the jungles of Vietnam. US soldiers would stake out an outpost there and give supporting artillery fire in a 360 degree radius of the surrounding jungle to radio calls made by troops on patrol. When ambushes occurred, US troops could call artillery support as long as they could keep themselves out of range; friendly fire is one of the agonizing accidents of war.