Operation "Wandering Soul", Vietnam War, 1970

[onetrack]

This story is one of the more curious stories that has appeared, as regards the Psych Ops of the Americans in the Vietnam War. I'm not sure how many of you knew that the Americans placed great faith in Psych Ops designed to demoralise enemy troops in Vietnam.

Psych Ops or sometimes "PsyWar" has been carried out since Time Immemorial against enemy forces, as soon as it was realised very early on that demoralising enemy troops was sometimes nearly as effective as fighting them physically.

 

The Germans were fairly expert at it, but the British and the Americans were possibly even better at it, from what I've seen. The "Ghost Armies" and "Ghost Tanks" British Psych Ops of WW2 were highly successful, in that the fake troops and armour simply deceived the Germans and Italians that there were Allied Forces in areas, where there were actually none. The British propaganda units that dropped leaflets on Axis troops, and even German civilians, had some effect at undermining Axis morale.

 

But the Americans took Psych Ops to new levels after WW2 and Korea - even forming Pysch Ops full Battalions, who continually developed new ways to lower enemy morale - especially the concentration on mental anguish.

 

The Americans quickly realised that the Vietnamese, as spirit worshippers, were highly superstitious, and quite likely able to be "spooked" by apparitions, ghostly voices, etc. Accordingly, the American Pysch Ops Companies developed a programme called "Operation Wandering Soul", which was built on recording ghostly voices and sounds, and playing them throughout the jungle, with speakers in hidden locations, aimed at enemy concentration areas.

The tapes were also played from watercraft, and from helicopters, with quite likely poorer results, as the source of the sound could be easily identified - unlike the gloomy jungle, where the sound source could be hidden.

 

As with all Pych Ops, the results were mixed, and the programme certainly didn't result in mass defections or desertions, as was obviously hoped for.

 

But no doubt, the ghostly voices and sounds would've, at the very least, rattled even the most battle-hardened Viet Cong or NVA soldier, as they would've already had tightly-strung nerves from constant combat and clashes with the American combat troops, and bombardment from artillery and aerial forces.

 

I had to laugh at the American soldier saying the ghostly voices and sounds of Operation Wandering Soul rattled him, so it must surely have affected the VC and NVA!

 

 

 

[willedoo]

It must be an age old thing. The Celts used to try to unnerve the Romans by lighting bonfires and letting out blood curdling screams and noises all night long before attacking the next morning. I think they relied on shock tactics to overrun the enemy. Currently, the Ukrainians are very good at psyops, making the Russians look like amateurs. Social media is their biggest tool.

[willedoo]

I guess the VC and NVA had the advantage of having an easily identified enemy. The other way round, I would imagine it a challenge to pick allies from enemy at times. That would be frustrating and unnerving. Most wars since have been similar, fighting insurgents instead of a formal, uniformed enemy. It must be a big challenge for major powers to work out how to succeed when using conventional forces in those types of conflicts.

[onetrack]

That was exactly the case in SVN, and the reason why the Americans gained few friends there.

 

The U.S. troops got sick of trying to determine "friend or foe", and just agreed that a "Gook was a Gook", and it didn't matter whose side they were on, they'd just shoot them anyway.

[willedoo]

The Americans certainly have a reputation for being a bit trigger happy. I think they put a lot of faith in overwhelming firepower. My dad used to say they felt safer near the Japs than they did  near the Americans. On the first day of the Balikpapan landings, his company was holding positions in the afternoon when they were hit by friendly fire. A U.S. Navy plane strafed one of the other platoons. I can't remember if anyone was killed, but there were wounded.

[nomadpete]

It's a long term endemic reputation.

 

My own Dad told similar stories of American military. He served on the six inch guns in Bougainville during WW2. He said they never felt comfortable when they were stuck between Americans and enemy. He said that the yanks would park a destroyer offshore and blindly pound away (from a safe distance) until there was hardly a tree left standing. Then they declared that area 'taken', and send Aussies in to 'mop up'. As soon as the ship left, the japs would come out of hiding and defend their positions.

 

And Mum was in Brisbane when an American ship entered the Brisbane River. Our boys guarding the river had to shoot a round across her bows to get them to acknowledge the entry challenge.

[old man emu]

On 17/10/2022 at 8:44 PM, willedoo said:

It must be an age old thing.

Indeed psychological warfare on the battlefield is a primitive trait in primates.