Dak To and the Border Battles of Vietnam, 1967-1968 - Michael A. Eggleston

This review submitted to Canadian Army Today Magazine.

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

Author: Michael A. Eggleston

ISBN: 978-1-4766-6417-0

Publisher: Mcfarland Books (McFarlandBooks.com)

Year: 2017

Softcover

Pages: 224

Photos/Maps: 19/24

The battles in Vietnam were reaching a peak as the 1960’s moved into their final years. Generally, the sense has been that the United States was fighting the wrong war for the wrong reasons and that the advantages lay predominantly with the North Vietnamese. Included in these were the willingness to absorb causalities, the sense that this war was of national importance, the ineffective and corrupt nature of the Southern Vietnamese government, the ineffectiveness of the Southern Vietnamese Army and the control that the communist regime in Northern Vietnam exercised over its people and resources. While much of this was true, the United States and its Allies were not without deep capabilities and the North Vietnamese not without weakness and internal division.

Eggleston’s book sheds light upon some of the key events in the entire Vietnam War: the period leading up to the Tet Offensive. Much has been written about the actual Tet Offensive, while relatively little has looked at the American and North Vietnamese strategies leading up to this Offensive. Each side achieved its initial aims with the Border Battles: the Vietnamese to draw American forces out of the cities and into the countryside and the US to draw Vietnamese forces into more traditional set piece battles where they could be destroyed.

This is an excellent book to read in order to gain an appreciation of the nature of the conflict during this period. He expertly combines a sweeping synopsis of the history and nature of the war up to the Border Battle period and then delves in more detail regarding the scope of this engagement. Of particular poignancy, the author has drawn upon firsthand accounts of participants from both sides; by including them as written, he ensures that the reader has great difficulty putting the book down due to their realism and the raw emotion elicited. I have rarely come across such descriptive and emotive recollections.

This is a book focussed on the soldiers and their experiences at the front; in the thick of battle. Eggleston does not spare those who were not equal to the leadership task nor those who failed in their responsibilities to their soldiers. It is interesting to note the comments related to the American leadership practice of senior commanders trying to conduct operations from helicopters (the idea being that one would be able to maintain a much better grasp of the battlefield). Additionally, discussions about the terrain and the unique nature of fighting the regular North Vietnamese Army units vice Vietcong are also very enlightening. Finally, the failure of the North Vietnamese to appreciate the ability of the US command to reposition its forces undermined the ability of the North to achieve its desired end state with Tet.

I recommend this book. It is not an in-depth analysis of the politics of the war, more a treatise on the nature of tactical level combat in the Vietnam theatre and its effects upon soldiers at the squad and platoon level. Disturbing, enlightening and poignant in equal measure.

Concrete Hell - Louis A DiMarco

The information presented was written by Chris Buckham; however, it was published in The Canadian Army Journal. Therefore, the material is reproduced here by the author with the permission of the journal. If you would like to republish this information or refer to excerpts please contact the Editor Canadian Army Journal (ANDREW.GODEFROY@forces.gc.ca). Website for the Journal is: http://www.army.forces.gc.ca/caj/default-eng.asp?view=more

Title: Concrete Hell: Urban Warfare From Stalingrad to Iraq

Author: Louis A DiMarco
ISBN: 978-1-84908-792-6
Hardcover
Pages: 232
Illustrations: 47 B/W, 19 Colour
Publisher: Osprey Publishing

                An element of warfare that rarely receives the degree of attention warranted is fighting in built up areas. Historians tracing the unfolding of a campaign will talk about fighting in Caen, Krakov or Warsaw but don’t delve into the details. Louis DiMarco’s book looks to address this oversight through an analysis of city fighting over the last century. His stated intention with this book is threefold: provide the reader with an overall understanding of the urban battlespace, analyse doctrinal insights – based on case studies – into factors affecting the execution of urban operations, and trace the evolution of urban warfare from the 20^th and early 21^st century. He undertakes this effort through a series of case studies of urban conflicts commencing with World War 2 and running through to Iraq.

                DiMarco’s work is interesting and useful in that it spends a great deal of effort providing a strategic and operational level (‘big hand/small map’) overview of the conflict and the events leading up to it. The challenge with this is that the degree of analysis of the evolution of urban warfare is somewhat limited. I would have anticipated a greater attention and focus on the actual development and execution of urban doctrine. Additionally, DiMarco’s premise (identified in Chapter 1) that ‘warfare’s historically traditional locale’ is the urban battle space is, in my opinion, not accurate. One does not have to look very hard to find innumerable historical examples of field combat, siege warfare and, least of all, fighting in urban settings that underscore the multi-facetted nature of war.
  
              Nevertheless, DiMarco’s work does have some very valuable analysis associated with it. He does identify a number of consistent themes associated with success in urban combat. Intelligence, isolating the environment from reinforcement, specialized weapon systems and joint operating teams as well as working to separate the combatants (both conventional and asymmetric) from their civilian population support base all retain resonance. Additionally, the failure of many nations to remember and learn the lessons from the past (therefore failing to apply them) proved to be both costly and time-consuming.   

                DiMarco has produced a worthy product but it attempts to address too many issues that are secondary to, and have little bearing on, his stated primary focus. A good example of this was his discussion of the use of Republic of South Korean forces in the retaking of Seoul during the Korean War. The author’s outline of their involvement, while interesting, adds nothing to the discussion of how urban warfare was undertaken and developed.

                I enjoyed his work as a general analysis of the battlefields that he reviews but the book left me somewhat underwhelmed. I had anticipated, given his introduction, much more effort to be given to the how’s and why’s of urban conflict itself. Also I think that a number of his premises, while not completely incorrect, are somewhat skewed. The book is worth a read but with a critical eye.

The Passing of the Night - Gen Robbie Risner

Title: The Passing of the Night

Author: Gen Robbie Risner
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0-345-33677-1
Pages: 248
Photographs: 0     

                Robbie Risner has written a book outlining his experiences as a prisoner during the Vietnam war from 1965 until 1972. He commences with an outline of his experiences leading up to his air operations in Vietnam. He commenced operational flying in WW2 and became an ace during the Korean conflict. In the process, he marries and has a family of five children.  While his writing is rather cursory over this period, it does set the tone of his personality and approach prior to his incarceration.

                The vast majority of this book is focused upon his time as a prisoner of the Vietnamese and it is in this area that the book serves as an excellent educational tool for those who find themselves on the wrong side of the lines. Aircrew have the dubious distinction of projecting force far behind enemy lines and are therefore at a higher risk of capture. It is therefore, critical that they be exposed to the potential challenges that they may face at the hands of a determined enemy intelligence service.

                Risner’s writing is very direct and matter of fact. He presents his captors and their actions in a rather formal manner that is surprisingly effective in conveying the horror that they inflicted upon their prisoners. The methods that the Vietnamese used, including sleep deprivation, physical torture, psychological trauma, isolation, denial of rations and control of access to mail, are classic methods used to break prisoners and make them amenable to exploitation for propaganda and intelligence purposes. Risner’s book provides an outstanding guide to those going into harm’s way of why they need to be prepared through realistic training on what might lie ahead.

                He also goes into great detail on how he and the other prisoners handled the stresses of captivity. Maintenance of the command structure within the prison, communication via morse code and other means, mutual support and creation of a means to advised new prisoners on what to expect were critical to morale. Additionally, he speaks to the issue of knowing when and how to ‘give in’ to the captors demands. For a military prisoner, it is anathema to provide assistance and information to the enemy and psychologically traumatizing to ‘break’. Risner, acknowledges this and the fact that everyone has their limits; he writes how he came to grips with this himself and how he, and the other prisoners, helped those who faced this challenge to understand that it was not wrong. He also provided direction on when it was acceptable to cooperate and in what capacity. All of this is both critical and relevant to soldiers everywhere.

 

                I liked this book; it is honest and engaging. The writing is clear and direct. The books purpose is really focused on his internment and how he dealt with it. He doesn’t speak extensively on his return and efforts at reintegration into US society and the impact that this had on his family in any real detail. As previously stated, the strength of the book is shedding light on the strength of the human spirit and how one can overcome adversity under conditions that defy comprehension.