Destroying the Jungle Republic: Counterinsurgency Theory and the Environment in South Vietnam (1967-1969) A dissertation submitted to Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of the Doctor of Philosophy By Gordon A. Cromley August 2019 © Copyright All rights reserved Except for previously published material i Dissertation written by Gordon A. Cromley B.S., The Ohio State University, 2005 M.A., Kent State University, 2014 Ph.D., Kent State University, 2019 Approved by Dr. James Tyner, Ph.D. ___ , Chair, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Dr. Christopher Post, Ph.D. , Members, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Dr. V. Kelly Turner, Ph.D. _ , Dr. Christopher Blackwood, Ph.D. , Accepted By Dr. Scott Sheridan, Ph.D. _ , Chair, Department of Geography Dr. James L. Blank, Ph.D. _ , Dean, College of Arts and Sciences ii TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................................... iii LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................vii LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………………………………….....xii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...................................................................................................... xiv CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 1 1.1 Modern Warfare…………………………………………………………………….................1 1.2 Research Questions……………………………………………………………………………5 1.3 Dissertation Outline……………………………………………………………………….......6 CHAPTER 2 – LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................. 10 2.1 Introduction: What Type of Conflict? .................................................................................. 10 2.2 Military Geography and Military Landscapes ...................................................................... 13 2.3 Human/Environment Studies ............................................................................................... 23 2.4 Historical Geographic Information Science ......................................................................... 30 2.5 Summary ............................................................................................................................. 33 CHAPTER 3 – THE INSURGENCY AND THE JUNGLE IN THE INDOCHINA WARS ...... 34 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 34 3.2 The Jungle During the First Indochina War ......................................................................... 38 3.3 The Jungle During the Inter-War Period .............................................................................. 45 3.4 The Jungle During the Second Indochina War ..................................................................... 47 3.5 Summary ............................................................................................................................. 49 iii CHAPTER 4 – SPATIAL DATA COLLECTION AND PRE-PROCESSING........................... 51 4.1 Data Sources ....................................................................................................................... 51 4.2 Pre-Processing NARA Data................................................................................................. 52 4.2.1 Pre-Processing HERBO-2 Data………………………………………………………..53 4.2.2 Pre-Processing BASFA Data……………………………………………………….....57 4.2.3 Pre-Processing HES Data……………………………………………………………...63 4.3 Pre-Processing Topographic Map Data ................................................................................ 67 4.3.1 Topographic Map Metadata…………………………………………………………....71 4.3.2 Extraction of the Map Image from the Map Sheet………………………………….…71 4.3.3 Geo-referencing the Map Images…………………………………………………..….72 4.3.4 Constructing the Land Cover Map………………………………………………….....74 4.4 Summary………………………………………………………………………………….…75 CHAPTER 5 – CODING ANALYSIS OF U.S. MILITARY FIELD MANUALS ..................... 78 5.1 Providing a Baseline for Understanding U.S. Military Action .............................................. 78 5.2 Content Analysis of Textual Data ........................................................................................ 79 5.2.1 Textual Sources…………………………………………………………………….…...79 5.2.2 Creating a Code Book…………………………………………………………….…….80 5.2.3 Coding the Textual Sources…………………………..………………………………..81 5.3 Code Count and Code Density Analysis and Results ........................................................... 84 5.3.1 Code Count Queries………………………………………………………………….....84 5.3.2 Code Count and Code Density Results……………………………………...……….…84 5.4 Code Comment Analysis and Results .................................................................................. 85 5.4.1 Code Comment Queries………………………………………………………………...85 iv 5.4.2 Code Comment Results…………………………………………………………….…..87 5.5 Statistical Analysis of Code Pairs in Paragraphs Results ...................................................... 92 5.5.1 Definition and Numbers of Code Pairs………………………………………………....92 5.5.2 Code Pairs for Statistical Analysis……………………………………………………...93 5.5.3 Statistical Analysis of Associations of Code Pairs in Paragraphs……………………...95 5.5.4 Summarizing Themes from Qualitative Analysis……………………………………..104 5.6 Conclusions ....................................................................................................................... 107 CHAPTER 6 – A SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF HAMLET SECURITY PATTERNS ................. 109 6.1 The Importance of Hamlet Control .................................................................................... 109 6.2 The Spatial Distribution of Hamlets Within the Environment ............................................ 110 6.3 Point Pattern Analysis of Hamlet Security Distributions .................................................... 111 6.3.1 Point Pattern Analysis…………………………………………………………………114 6.3.2 The Spatial Structure of Hamlet Security.…….…………………………...………….122 6.4 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 137 CHAPTER 7 – AN ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF INSURGENCY/ COUNTERINSURGENCY TACTICS ON HAMLET SECURITY ........................................ 139 7.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 139 7.2 Enemy Base Locations and the Environment ..................................................................... 140 7.3 The Spatial Relationships of Operation Ranch Hand .......................................................... 148 7.3.1 Spatial Relationships with the Natural and Human Environment………….………....151 7.3.2 Spatial Relationships with the Base Camps Locations………………..………………154 7.4 Point Pattern Analyses of Insurgency and Counterinsurgency Operations. ......................... 154 7.4.1 Impact of Flight Paths on Base Camp Deactivation…………………………………..157 v 7.4.2 The Pattern of the Insurgent Response to Base Camp Deactivation………………....161 7.4.3 The Relationship Between Hamlet Security and Base Camp Locations……………...163 7.5 Temporal Changes in Hamlet Security............................................................................... 167 7.5.1 Global Regression Analysis of Hamlet Security Change… ……………………...171 7.5.2 A GWR Analysis of Hamlet Security Change………………………………………...177 7.6 Conclusions ....................................................................................................................... 188 CHAPTER 8 – Discussion of Results and Conclusion ............................................................. 190 8.1 Geographical Warfare ....................................................................................................... 190 8.2 Characterizing the Jungle Environment ............................................................................. 190 8.3 Characterizing the Spatial Structure of Hamlet Security .................................................... 193 8.4 Insurgency/Counterinsurgency Tactics .............................................................................. 195 8.5 Longitudinal Analysis of Counterinsurgency Doctrine ....................................................... 196 8.6 Conclusion…..……………………………………………………………………………...197 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................... 198 APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................ 209 APPENDIX A – THE CODE BOOK ...................................................................................... 210 APPENDIX B – PAIRWISE MARKED CONNECTION FUNCTIONS DEFINING THE SPATIAL STRUCTURE OF HAMLET SECURITY PATTERNS, MARCH 1967 TO DECEMBER 1968 .................................................................................................................. 216 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1 – The location of South Vietnam with respect to its neighboring states in Southeast Asia ...................................................................................................... 46 Figure 4.1 – HERBO-2 flight paths with only the starting location ............................................ 58 Figure 4.2 – Complete HERBO-2 flight paths, August 1965 to February 1971 .......................... 59 Figure 4.3 – The locations