The US Army in the Vietnam War 1965-73

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The US Army in the Vietnam War 1965-73
Author: Gordon Rottman
Paperback - 96 pages
Publisher: Osprey
Series: Battle Orders 33
Price: £16.99
ISBN: 9781846032394

Introduction

This book provides detailed information about the US Army units which operated in America's longest war. The author, Gordon L Rottman examines the different types of infantry battalion and the units that supported them. Aspects of the US Army's conventional and unconventional warfare doctrine are addressed along with how replacements were trained and integrated into their respective units. Fully complemented with graphical illustrations and coloured photos, this book will be sure to provide the reader with a clearer understanding of the various aspects of the Vietnam War.

Content

The story telling format of this book begins by setting the scene back in 1965 with a slight introduction to the various sides beginning with the Viet Cong (VC) and the North Vietnamese Army (NVA). More background information is provided on the primary goal set out by the US military, one of which was to establish a secure environment free from enemy exploitation, pressure, and violence.

The following section goes on to elaborate further on the unit organization beginning with standard practices down to the eventual organization once the war evolved in the coming years. Mixed with a wide range of hierachical charts and actual coloured photographs, it wasn't difficult to realize the actual scale of the war. What was interesting to note was the crucial role the M113 played during the various campaign and the author makes this apparent while displaying a typical armoured cavalry squadron and a mechanized rifle platoon in 1966. Details around the organization of small infantry units down to the artillery units were laid out in detail so the reader is certainly provided with a clear picture on the role of each unit within a company or battalion.

The section I found most interesting in this book had to be the one on Tactics. The author explained it well in both textual and graphical illustration how a typical company would employ a two column formation whilst progressing through moderate to dense vegetation. Techniques such as the “Cloverleaf” search technique were also explained, showing when and how it would have been employed during the war. Even the way firebases were organized weren't left out. This too was well complemented by an aerial shot of a firebase surrounded by bunkers with a large tactical operations center located in the middle of the cluster. An example of how operations would have been conducted on a suspected VC camp was also graphically illustrated, some of which were developed by units through the course of the war.

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This book certainly wouldn't be complete without going through the weapons and equipment utilized by the troops during the war. The details found in this section ranges from the various rifles and ammunition carried by infantry troops down to the different armoured fighting vehicles. Filled with both black and white as well as coloured photographs, the author does manage to compress in a fairly extensive inventory list into a relatively short chapter compared to the rest.

The concluding chapters began shifting the focus onto the command, control, communications and intelligence aspect of the war. It was however surprising to note that only a single page was dedicated to the lessons learnt. The author does however touch on the more important lessons, such as leaner manpower units provided for a more efficient and effective fighting force as well as preventing future high turnovers of experienced NCOs which ended up being replaced by inexperienced replacements.

Conclusion

A very interesting read for a 96 page book on a war that could have easily taken a few hundred pages to cover America's longest war to date. While reading this book, I couldn't help but reflect back on my own personal army days, especially in regards to the hardware used in Vietnam and how they were still employed by armies 30 years later. The M16A1 rifle was also a very familiar sight as little had changed since its introduction.

If you have always wondered what tactics were used and what a typical advancing force comprises of during the Vietnam War then this is certainly the book for you. It's loaded with graphical illustrations and actual photographs that would be sure to give the reader a clear view on how the surroundings were like back in the late 60s. Being an armour modeller, I would have liked to have seen more details around the actual AFVs employed during this war however the details provided are very brief and would not serve well as a reference guide for a particular build.

This book is nonetheless a very entertaining read and would certainly recommended it to all who have a keen interest in post-WWIII battles.

My thanks to Osprey for providing the review sample.

For full information on all Osprey Publishing titles, please see their website: Osprey Publishing