Vietnam: Ceasefire to Capitulation
Found this recently, am in the midst of reading it. Something I should have read long ago. Col. William Le Gro's Vietnam: Cease Fire to Capitulation. All 235 pages are available on line in three segments:
http://libraryautomation.com/nymas/V...fulltext1.html
http://libraryautomation.com/nymas/V...fulltext2.html
http://libraryautomation.com/nymas/V...fulltext3.html
Actually, the account covers the war from the 1972 aftermath of the Nguyen Hue Offensive to the final debacle. Le Gro ran intel at the Saigon DAO during the period. I had the privilege of knowing Col. Le Gro, albeit briefly, in 1974. He was a straight shooter who could be brutally honest.
The work's coverage, in terms of accounts of major engagements; shifting enemy and friendly order of battle; leadership, morale and supply issues; etc., is extremely detailed. Ample, expected examples are provided of the cancer of corruption, but so are others of genuine heroism in furtherance of a hopeless cause. The degree of detail should enable the reader to come to his/her own conclusions regarding the mixed picture that Vietnamization represented.
Cheers,
Mike.
What would have mattered was deciding what we
wanted to do before we went in and I do mean a realistic assessment thereof -- a nagging little item with which we continually seem to have a great deal of trouble... :mad:
Viet Nam presented some achievable goals; unfortunately, they wandered out of reach while we tried to fight a land war in Europe in the rice paddies of SE Asia for seven long years. There was never going to be a 'win' -- just as there was and will not be one in Iraq but an acceptable outcome was reachable (and is in Iraq).
Limited war is a dangerous and tricky proposition... :wry:
For Viet Nam, I'd also recommend Lewis Sorley's A Better War and Bruce Palmer's The 25 Year War: America's Military Role in Vietnam (the only book by a GO I ever recommend to anyone...)
Edited to add:
Oops. Just realized I inadvertently lied -- Slim's Defeat into Victory is another General's book worth reading. After racking my tiny brain, I'm pretty sure just those two...