Charles D. Melson - Böcker

During the Cold War, Vietnam showed the limitations of a major power in peripheral conflicts. Even so, the military forces involved (North Vietnamese, South Vietnamese, American, and Allied) demonstrated battlefield consistency in conflict that gave credit to them all.When North Vietnam launched its massive Easter Offensive against the South in late March 1972 (the first invasion effort since the Tet Offensive of 1968), its scale and ferocity caught the US high command off balance. The inexperienced South Vietnamese soldiers manning the area south of Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone in former US bases, plus the US Army and Marines Corps advisors and forces present, had to counter a massive conventional combined-arms invasion. The North's offensive took place simultaneously across three fronts: Quang Tri, Kontum, and An Loc. In I Corps Tactical Zone, the PAVN tanks and infantry quickly captured Quang Tri City and overran the entire province, as well as northern Thua Thien. However, the ARVN forces regrouped along the My Chanh River, and backed by US airpower tactical strikes and bomber raids, managed to halt the PAVN offensive, before retaking the city in a bloody counteroffensive.Based on primary sources and published accounts of those who played a direct role in the events, this book provides a highly detailed analysis of this key moment in the Vietnam conflict. Although the South's forces managed to withstand their greatest trial thus far, the North gained valuable territory within South Vietnam from which to launch future offensives and improved its bargaining position at the Paris peace negotiations.

The US Marine Corps were the first US combat troops ashore in the Vietnam War, and for the next eight years they were involved in some of the bloodiest and hardest fought engagements of the whole conflict. This history covers the development, battles, organization, arms and equipment of all Marine units deployed in the South-East Asian Theatre of Operations from the USMC through the Koreans and Thias to the native Vietnamese.

In 1976 Maj. James Capers Jr. welcomed new men and their families into a force reconnaissance company.'Only the most capable Marines are selected for this duty due to rigid mental and physical demands. A very thorough screening of each applicant is conducted … to test alertness and endurance. The result is a small elite unit with highly qualified Marines who are considered the best in the world'.Ex-Marine Charles D Melson examines the history, equipment and insignia of the Marines' amphibious and ground long-range patrol reconnaissance specialists in this volume which contains a wealth of photographs and 12 full page colour plates by Paul Hannon.

Written by a veteran of the Vietnam War, this volume provides an in-depth look at the experience of the ordinary US marine 'grunt' in Vietnam.Organisation of the corps, weaponry, equipment, uniforms, training and medical arrangements are all discussed. Featuring a rare level of detail, the book unifies all these differing aspects of marine life under the point of view of a soldier serving in the conflict.Informed by direct personal experience, this is a unique angle on what it was like to be a US Marine rifleman in Vietnam.