The Rise and Fall of an American Army: U.S. Ground Forces in Vietnam, 1963-1973“THE MEN WHO SACRIFICED FOR THEIR COUNTRY ARE RIGHTFULLY HERALDED . . . This is an honest book–one well worth reading. . . . Stanton has laid his claim to the historian’s ranks by providing his reader with well-documented, interpretive assessments.” –Parameters The Vietnam War remains deep in the nation’s consciousness. It is vital that we know exactly what happened there–and who made it happen. This book provides a complete account of American Army ground combat forces–who they were, how they got to the battlefield, and what they did there. Year by year, battlefield by battlefield, the narrative follows the war in extraordinary, gripping detail. Over the course of the decade, the changes in fighting and in the combat troops themselves are described and documented. The Rise and Fall of an American Army represents the first total battlefield history of Army ground forces in the Vietnam War, containing much previously unreleased archival material. It re-creates the feel of battle with dramatic precision. “Stanton’s writing . . . gives the reader a terrifying graphic description of combat in the many mini-environments of Vietnam.” –The New York Times “[A] MOVING, IMPORTANT BOOK.” –St. Louis Post-Dispatch |
Contents
Advisors and Special Forces | 3 |
An Army Girds for Battle | 18 |
Marines at | 29 |
An Army Goes to | 44 |
The 1st Cavalry Division Goes to Vietnam | 51 |
The BuildUp | 63 |
The Area War | 79 |
Air Assault | 86 |
Holding the Line | 177 |
Battle for the Coast | 189 |
Year of Crises | 203 |
The Battles of Tet68 | 217 |
Siege and Breakthrough | 245 |
Counteroffensive | 258 |
One War | 281 |
One War in the Northern Provinces | 293 |
A Crisis of Pilots | 93 |
The Northern Front | 115 |
The Year of the Big Battles | 131 |
Battle for the Saigon Approaches | 140 |
Battle for the Highlands | 155 |
One War in the Southern Provinces | 306 |
A Changing War | 333 |
An Army Departs the War | 348 |
Other editions - View all
The Rise and Fall of an American Army: U.S. Ground Forces in Vietnam, 1963-1973 Shelby L. Stanton No preview available - 2003 |
Common terms and phrases
101st Airborne Division 11th Armored Cavalry 173d Airborne Brigade 196th Infantry Brigade 1st Battalion 1st Brigade 1st Cavalry Division 1st Infantry Division 1st Marine 25th Infantry Division 2d Battalion 3d Brigade 3d Marines 9th Marines air strikes aircraft ambush American ammunition armored personnel carriers artillery ARVN ARVN Division ARVN Regiment assault attack battle battlefield Binh bombing bunker Cambodian Chu Lai combat command Company copter Corps Tactical Zone Da Nang defensive division's Dong explosions fantry February fighting fire base Fire Support Base fought grenades ground gunships heavy heli helicopters Hill jungle Khe Sanh landing zone machine guns MACV military mortar moved namese Nang night North Vietnamese Army NVA Regiment NVA/VC offensive Operation paratroopers patrol perimeter platoon Pleiku positions Province Quang reinforced rocket Saigon sergeant soldiers South Special Forces Special Forces camp Squadron tanks tion troops U.S. Army units Valley Viet Cong Vietnam wounded