The British used it in Malaya to destroy crops grown by the communist guerillas deep in the jungle. The whole British strategy revolved around starving the guerillas out instead of relying on costly and ineffective sweeps through the jungle.
The problem America forces in Vietnam had was that they weren't really facing an insurgency. Although some of the Viet Cong were South Vietnamese, they were controlled and supplied by the North Vietnamese government. It was an invasion of the South by the North, dressed up to look like a local uprising. So even when the Viet Cong couldn't grow their own food or raid local villages, they could get supplies from the North down the Ho Chi Minh trail and other routes.
So the US used Agent Orange as a general defoliant, to thin out the jungle and remove cover, which the British had tried but found to be ineffective. The US also continued to rely on large and costly sweeps through the jungle.
Knowledgeable_Owl t1_iqvdx7d wrote
Reply to TIL Britan was the first country to use Agent Orange during the Malayan Emergency in 1952 which the US viewed as justification to use it in Vietnam by shogunsft
The British used it in Malaya to destroy crops grown by the communist guerillas deep in the jungle. The whole British strategy revolved around starving the guerillas out instead of relying on costly and ineffective sweeps through the jungle.
The problem America forces in Vietnam had was that they weren't really facing an insurgency. Although some of the Viet Cong were South Vietnamese, they were controlled and supplied by the North Vietnamese government. It was an invasion of the South by the North, dressed up to look like a local uprising. So even when the Viet Cong couldn't grow their own food or raid local villages, they could get supplies from the North down the Ho Chi Minh trail and other routes.
So the US used Agent Orange as a general defoliant, to thin out the jungle and remove cover, which the British had tried but found to be ineffective. The US also continued to rely on large and costly sweeps through the jungle.