The Battle of Bong Son

The Battle of Bong Son
Author: Kenneth P. White
Publisher: Casemate
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2024-02-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 1636244025

"...a deeply researched and comprehensive book, chronicles the battle in great detail, including all American and allied units involved and some of the enemy units of the NVA’s Sao Vong (Yellow Star) Division." — The VVA Veteran Operation Masher/White Wing targeted the regiments of the North Vietnamese Army Sao Vang Division operating in the Bong Son area in northeast Binh Dinh Province in central South Vietnam. The operation started on January 24, 1966, immediately after the Vietnamese New Year (Tet) and ended six weeks later. It was led by newly promoted Colonel Harold G. Moore, who as a lieutenant colonel commanded the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry in the battle of Landing Zone X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley two months earlier. In 41 days of sustained fighting, the 1st Cav battled each of the three regiments of the Sao Vang Division, resulting in enemy losses of more than 3,000 KIA. This came at the cost of 199 Americans killed on the battlefield and 46 more who died in the crash of a U.S. Air Force C-123 aircraft en route to the battlefield, making it one of the deadliest battles of the entire Vietnam War. Operation Masher/White Wing was a success. The 1st Cav demonstrated that it had the firepower, mobility, and leadership to find the enemy and deliver a severe blow to it in terms of personnel and equipment losses and in forced evacuation from formerly “secure” base areas, seemingly proving the value of the search-and-destroy strategy. However within a few weeks, intelligence reports indicated that North Vietnamese soldiers were returning to the Bong Son area in small groups. By late April, the Sao Vang Division was back in the area in force. Operation Masher/White Wing proved to be the start of a very long and deadly struggle between the 1st Cav and North Vietnamese for control of Binh Dinh Province—multiple search & destroy operations eventually resulted in more than 9,000 enemy KIA and 2,358 enemy detained, with friendly losses of more than 1,200 KIA, 5,775 WIA, and 27 MIA. While Masher/White Wing demonstrated that search & destroy operations were very effective at the tactical level but without a high-level strategy to stop the unabated flow of fresh Communist troops and supplies into South Vietnam, it wasn’t clear just how they contributed to overall victory. At the start of 1968, General Westmoreland ordered the 1st Cav to terminate its operations in the Bong Son area, bringing the battle to a close.

The Battle for Khe Sanh

The Battle for Khe Sanh
Author: Moyers S. Shore
Publisher: Good Press
Total Pages: 157
Release: 2019-11-25
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

The Battle for Khe Sanh is a book by Moyers S. Shore. During the Vietnam War a battle was conducted in the Khe Sanh area of northwestern Vietnam, and this work presents equipment and tactics of US forces and how they fought VC forces.

Bait

Bait
Author: James D. McLeroy
Publisher: Casemate
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2019-11-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 1612008135

A history of one of the least known and most misunderstood battles in the Vietnam War. The strategic potential of the three-day attack of two North Vietnamese Army (NVA) regiments on Kham Duc, a remote and isolated Army Special Forces camp, on the eve of the first Paris peace talks in May 1968, was so significant that former President Lyndon Johnson included it in his memoirs. This gripping, original, eyewitness narrative and thoroughly researched analysis of a widely misinterpreted battle at the height of the Vietnam War radically contradicts all the other published accounts of it. In addition to the tactical details of the combat narrative, the authors consider the grand strategies and political contexts of the U.S. and North Vietnamese leaders. Praise for Bait: The Battle of Kham Duc “This book is a must read for any Vietnam historian or veteran.” —Patrick Brady, Major General, USA (ret.), Medal of Honor Recipient “For an authentic, detailed view of how large battles between U.S. combined-arms forces and regular North Vietnamese Army forces were fought in Vietnam in 1968, Bait: The Battle of Kham Duc is required reading.” —General H. Hugh Shelton, 14th Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff “This first-hand, exhaustively documented account of a large battle in the Vietnam War shows the decisive role of air power in all its forms.” —Carl Schneider, Major General, USAF (ret.) “One of those rare historical narratives that explains in rich detail a battle that was little understood or reported on at the time it was fought but was of strategic importance and heroic dimension.” —Marine Corps Gazette “The account of the battle is both detailed and exceptionally well-written; McLeroy’s participation in the battle adds authenticity to the narrative.... Highly recommended for anyone interested in how large-scale battles were fought in Vietnam at the height of U.S. commitment on the ground there.” —Journal of Military History

Hunting the Jackal

Hunting the Jackal
Author: Billy Waugh
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2011-12-06
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0062133578

Spanning more than five decades, here is a riveting true account of fighting America’s enemies around the world—told by the soldier/operative who was there I am not a hero. Billy Waugh has lurked in the shadows and on the periphery of many of the most significant events of the past half-century on active duty with U.S. Army Special Forces and the CIA fighting enemies of the United States. In Hunting the Jackal, this legendary warrior reveals the extraordinary events of his life and career, offering a point-by-point eyewitness account of the historical events in which he participated. Serving in Korea and Vietnam, Waugh was among the first Green Berets in 1963. He has helped train Libyan commandos in the Sahara Desert, while spying on Russian missile sites in Benghazi, and has worked against Caribbean drug runners. He was the first CIA operative to watch Osama Bin Laden in Khartoum “from a spot close enough to kill him had I been allowed,” and tracked him over the course of two years. In 1994 he found the notorious Carlos the Jackal in Sudan, and tailed him until he was captured—a story that until now has never been told. And, just last year, at age 72, Waugh was on the ground in Afghanistan with a joint SpecForces/CIA unit. This is his remarkable true story.

The Battle of Bong Son

The Battle of Bong Son
Author: Kenneth P. White
Publisher: Casemate
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023-11-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781636244013

Full boots-on-the-ground account of the first large-scale search & destroy campaign in Vietnam, demonstrating the efficacy of the strategy at an operational level.

Brennan's War

Brennan's War
Author: Matthew Brennan
Publisher:
Total Pages: 324
Release: 1986
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780671624996

A veteran with 39 months of combat experience in Vietnam describes the war, the people, the land, and how the soldiers changed as the war progressed.

America's Last Vietnam Battle

America's Last Vietnam Battle
Author: Dale Andradé
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Total Pages: 566
Release: 2000-12-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 0700611312

In the spring of 1972, North Vietnam launched a massive military offensive designed to deliver the coup de grace to South Vietnam and its rapidly disengaging American ally. But an overconfident Hanoi misjudged its opponents who, led by American military advisers and backed by American airpower, were able to hold off the North's onslaught in what became the biggest battle of a very long war. Dale Andrade rescues this epic engagement from its previous neglect to tell a riveting tale of heroism against great odds. Originally published in cloth in 1995 as Trial by Fire and drawing upon recent Vietnamese-language sources, this new paperback edition will finally allow a true classic on the war to reach the wide readership it deserves.

Dak To and the Border Battles of Vietnam, 1967-1968

Dak To and the Border Battles of Vietnam, 1967-1968
Author: Michael A. Eggleston
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 223
Release: 2017-02-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 147666417X

In 1967, the North Vietnamese launched a series of offensives in the Central Highlands along the border with South Vietnam--a strategic move intended to draw U.S. and South Vietnamese forces away from major cities before the Tet Offensive. A series of bloody engagements known as "the border battles" followed, with the principle action taking place at Dak To. Drawing on the writings of key figures, veterans' memoirs and the author's records from two tours in Vietnam, this book merges official history with the recollections of those who were there, revealing previously unpublished details of these decisive battles.

In Persistent Battle

In Persistent Battle
Author: Marine Corps University History Division
Publisher:
Total Pages: 58
Release: 2017-08-04
Genre:
ISBN: 9781974220496

The U.S. Marine Corps' war in Vietnam was a mixtureof large-scale conventional battles against mainViet Cong and North Vietnamese Army (NVA)units and smaller pacification operations designed to securethe South Vietnamese population from Communist insurgents.During the latter half of 1965, Marine forces foughtrepeated engagements against large Viet Cong units, mostnotably the 1st Viet Cong Regiment. The first battle, a fight inAugust to secure the area around Chu Lai called OperationStarlite, inflicted significant casualties upon this force. However,within just a few months, the Communist unit reconstituteditself, forcing the Marines to launch another operationto destroy the formation in December. The Marines codenamedthis action Operation Harvest Moon.Operation Harvest Moon has largely been overlooked inhistories of the Vietnam War. While Operation Starlite wasconsidered a major success and a clear demonstration of thesuperiority of America's conventional military forces comparedto the Viet Cong, Harvest Moon was less decisive.The following year, the Marine Corps' attention also beganto shift north toward the demilitarized zone (DMZ) as moreregular North Vietnamese combat forces put pressure on theMarines' area of operations. Consequently, the battle wasovershadowed by larger engagements.Nevertheless, the operation was important for a numberof reasons. Harvest Moon was the Marines' last large-scale,conventional operation of 1965 in Vietnam. Fought in thevalleys and hills between the city of Tam Ky and the inlandoutpost of Hiep Duc, it was the largest combined operationbetween Marine units and the South Vietnamese militaryto that date. Perhaps most importantly, the battle demonstratedmany of the frustrations and problems faced by allthe American forces in South Vietnam as they tried to defeatthe Viet Cong-led insurgency. The disparity in the fightingabilities between the Marines and South Vietnamese Armyunits hindered combat effectiveness. The lack of coordinationbetween the two forces, and between the Marine Corpsand U.S. Air Force, also led to heavy losses on the allied side.Enjoying logistical support from North Vietnam, the 1st VietCong Regiment was able to defeat South Vietnamese forceswhile largely evading American units.

Fire in the Lake

Fire in the Lake
Author: Frances FitzGerald
Publisher: Hachette+ORM
Total Pages: 444
Release: 2009-05-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 0316074640

Frances FitzGerald's landmark history of Vietnam and the Vietnam War, "a compassionate and penetrating account of the collision of two societies that remain untranslatable to one another." (New York Times Book Review) This magisterial work, based on Frances FitzGerald's many years of research and travels, takes us inside the history of Vietnam -- the traditional, ancestor-worshiping villages, the conflicts between Communists and anti-Communists, Catholics and Buddhists, generals and monks, the disruption created by French colonialism, and America's ill-fated intervention -- and reveals the country as seen through Vietnamese eyes. Originally published in 1972, Fire in the Lake was the first history of Vietnam written by an American and won the Pulitzer Prize, the Bancroft Prize, and the National Book Award. With a clarity and insight unrivaled by any author before it or since, Frances FitzGerald illustrates how America utterly and tragically misinterpreted the realities of Vietnam.