Readers will be surprised to find that out of the combatant population of a small town so many achieved leadership positions, both military and civilian. He often writes of the people behind historical photos taken during the battle and these stories are compelling. This is an understanding of the human dimension work, however, and in this Bowden also excels-along with his historical accuracy and objective writing. This is more than okay since this is not a tactics manual. Firepower) but is engaging as well as remarkably informative in all other dimensions.

John Poole’s Phantom Soldier: the Enemy’s Answer to U.S. military service as he does into the motivations of Viet Cong.īowden scratches the surface in regard to the NVA and Viet Cong preparation, tactics and successful withdrawal (for that understanding read H. The military strategies are simple enough to comprehend but Bowden also delves into the minds of draftees in U.S. The list goes on with none of the story seeming to extraneous or repetitive.īowden does well to have readers understand the mind sets of combatants as well as civilians-with a lot to understand. Learning how the NVA and Viet Cong scouted as well as infiltrated the city with men and weapons. Learning how a USMC Colonel saved the fight by reading old manuals from a resource trunk. Army battalion from annihilation after 50% casualties. Learning how the NVA and Viet Cong altered the rhythm of the war with their urban warfare strategy. Some reviewers opine the book has unwanted detail but the story is mesmerizing. We’ve see Mark Bowden do the same in the Somalian War with Black Hawk Down and he brings the same spellbinding style.

Huế 1968 is both a book about this pivotal battle as well as a book bringing the reader into the fight with all of its sweat, fear, valor, dishonor, pain and brotherhood. Not another, nor ordinary book, Vietnam War book and not another battle book. The bombing of Communist sanctuaries in Cambodia destabilized that neutral country, leading to the overthrow of Prince Norodom Sihanouk in 1970 and the rise of the murderous Khmer Rouge, which would be responsible for the deaths of millions of Cambodians in ensuing years.Huế 1968: a Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam by Mark Bowden This is what prompted the raids into the neighboring countries of Laos and Cambodia, where North Vietnam had long sheltered troops and supply routes. General Abrams threw greater and greater responsibility for prosecuting the war to the ARVN, shifting his efforts to disrupting and destroying Hanoi’s delivery of troops and matériel. Nixon began gradually drawing down the number of Americans fighting there in 1969, and- catastrophically, as it turned out- began shifting the “Richard Nixon was elected president mendaciously promising not victory, but a “secret plan” to bring the war to an “honorable end.” The secret plan prolonged the conflict seven more years, spreading misery and death throughout Indochina.

Huế 1968 by Mark Bowden