Description
This is an account of the battle of Kham Duc, one of the least known and most misunderstood battles in the American Phase of the Second Indochina War (1959 to 1975). At the time it was painted as a major American defeat, but this new history tells the full story.
The authors have a unique ability to reassess this battle - one was present at the battle, the other was briefed on it prior to re-taking the site two years later. The book is based on exhaustive research, revisiting Kham Duc, interviewing battle veterans, and reading interview transcripts and statements of other battle participants, including former North Vietnamese Army (NVA) officers.
Based on their research, the authors contend that Kham Duc did not 'fall' and was not 'overrun'. In fact, it was a successful effort to inflict mass attrition on a major NVA force with minimum American losses by voluntarily abandoning an anachronistic little trip-wire border camp serving as passive bait for General Westmoreland's 'lure and destroy' defensive tactics, as at Khe Sanh.
About the Author
James D. McLeroy lived at Kham Duc and led an elite group of U.S. and indigenous Special Forces troops in the battle. Gregory W. Sanders witnessed a detailed analysis of the battle at the Americal Division headquarters prior to a joint U.S. and South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) operation at and around Kham Duc in 1970.
Reviews
This book is one of those rare historical narratives that explains in rich detail a battle that was little understood or reported on at the time it was fought but was of strategic importance and heroic dimension. * Marine Corps Gazette *
Book Information
ISBN 9781612008127
Author James D. McLeroy
Format Hardback
Page Count 272
Imprint Casemate Publishers
Publisher Casemate Publishers
The authors have a unique ability to reassess this battle - one was present at the battle, the other was briefed on it prior to re-taking the site two years later. The book is based on exhaustive research, revisiting Kham Duc, interviewing battle veterans, and reading interview transcripts and statements of other battle participants, including former North Vietnamese Army (NVA) officers.
Based on their research, the authors contend that Kham Duc did not 'fall' and was not 'overrun'. In fact, it was a successful effort to inflict mass attrition on a major NVA force with minimum American losses by voluntarily abandoning an anachronistic little trip-wire border camp serving as passive bait for General Westmoreland's 'lure and destroy' defensive tactics, as at Khe Sanh.
About the Author
James D. McLeroy lived at Kham Duc and led an elite group of U.S. and indigenous Special Forces troops in the battle. Gregory W. Sanders witnessed a detailed analysis of the battle at the Americal Division headquarters prior to a joint U.S. and South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) operation at and around Kham Duc in 1970.
Reviews
This book is one of those rare historical narratives that explains in rich detail a battle that was little understood or reported on at the time it was fought but was of strategic importance and heroic dimension. * Marine Corps Gazette *
Book Information
ISBN 9781612008127
Author James D. McLeroy
Format Hardback
Page Count 272
Imprint Casemate Publishers
Publisher Casemate Publishers
