Unfortunately, too few histories, written by Vietnamese of the First and Second Indo-China wars have been available in English. The author, a former General in the South Vietnamese Army provides an excellent history especially of what is commonly called the Vietnam War (2nd Indo-China war).
A very good read, he covers his family history and education under the French system and then his service in the military. He is very honest in discussing the friction in the South between the military officers who came South after the expulsion of the French, and the Southerners in the military. The infighting and politics of the military led to waste and corruption, not to mention a lack of overall strategy. He also is honest about the corruption of the politicians and their inability to offer the average citizen a truly viable alternative to the Communists. Finally, he destroys the myth held by some of the benign policies of the VC; he discusses their tactics such as beheading, slaughter of families who supported the government of the South and their reign of terror to enforce their will.
He takes pride in his professionalism and gives long overdue credit to many of those in the South who fought with skill and dedication to hold back the invasion from the North. He writes about numerous battles where the troops of the South we able to defeat the VC and even the better supplied (near the end) North Vietnamese. After Tet and the decreased American support, we see a slow downturn of the ability of the South to hold back the open invasion by the North which was lavishly supplied by the Soviet Union and China. As time progressed the Democrats in the U.S. Congress reneged on aid; trucks and tanks were short of parts, tires, etc. while the North could move South via thousands of Soviet trucks.
The end was tragic for all parties. A million dead, bravery squandered, families torn apart and more.
An excellent book I can recommend to anyone interested in that long war.
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