The North Vietnamese had both amphibious tanks (such as the PT-76) and light tanks (such the Type 62) used during the conventional phase. Many divisions within the NVA would incorporate armoured and mechanised battalions including the Type 59 tank., BTR-60, Type 60 artillery and rapidly altered and integrated new war doctrines following the Tet Offensive into a mobile combined-arms force. The period up to the conventional phase in the 1970, the Viet Cong and NVA were mostly limited to mortars, recoilless rifles, and small-arms and had significantly lighter equipment and firepower relative to the US arsenal, relying on ambushes, with superior stealth, planning, marksmanship, and small-unit tactics to face the disproportionate US technological advantage. Their weapons were principally of Chinese or Soviet manufacture. In the summer and fall of 1967, all Viet Cong battalions were reequipped with arms of Soviet design such as the AK-47 assault rifle and the RPG-2 anti-tank weapon. Ĭommunist forces were principally armed with Chinese and Soviet weaponry though some VC guerrilla units were equipped with Western infantry weapons either captured from French stocks during the first Indochina war, such as the MAT-49, or from ARVN units or requisitioned through illicit purchase. Most arms were captured from poorly defended ARVN militia outposts. copies of the US Thompson submachine gun and shotguns made of galvanized pipes). Also in use, mostly by anti-communist forces, were the 24 types of armored vehicles and self-propelled artillery, and 26 types of field artillery and rocket launchers.ĭuring the early stages of their insurgency, the Viet Cong mainly sustained itself with captured arms (often of American manufacture) or crude, self-made weapons (e.g. By 1969 the US Army had identified 40 rifle/carbine types, 22 machine gun types, 17 types of mortar, 20 recoilless rifle or rocket launcher types, nine types of antitank weapons, and 14 anti-aircraft artillery weapons used by ground troops on all sides. Further, some weapons-notably anti-personnel explosives, the K-50M (a PPSh-41 copy), and "home-made" versions of the RPG-2-were manufactured in North Vietnam. The PAVN, although having inherited a variety of American, French, and Japanese weapons from World War II and the First Indochina War (aka French Indochina War), were largely armed and supplied by the People's Republic of China, the Soviet Union, and its Warsaw Pact allies. The Australian and New Zealand forces employed the 7.62 mm L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle as their service rifle, with the occasional US M16. weapons including the M1 Garand, M1 carbine, M14 and M16. Nearly all United States-allied forces were armed with U.S. This article is about the weapons used in the Vietnam War, which involved the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) or North Vietnamese Army (NVA), National Liberation Front for South Vietnam (NLF) or Viet Cong (VC), and the armed forces of the China (PLA), Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), United States, Republic of Korea, Philippines, Thailand, and the Australian, New Zealand defence forces, and a variety of irregular troops. Vietnam era rifles used by the US military and allies.
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