Victory in Vietnam : the official history of the people's army of Vietnam, 1954--1975 : the Military History Institute of Vietnam

What was for the United States a struggle against creeping Communism in Southeast Asia was for the people of North Vietnam a'great patriotic war'that saw its eventual victory against a military Goliath. The story of that conflict as seen through the eyes—and the ideology—of the North Vietnamese military offers readers a view of that era never before seen. Victory in Vietnam is the People's Army of Vietnam's own account of two decades of struggle, now available for the first time in English. It is a definitive statement of the Vietnamese point of view concerning foreign intrusion in their country since before American involvement—and it reveals that many of the accepted truths in our own histories of the war are simply wrong. This detailed account describes the ebb and flow of the war as seen from Hanoi. It discloses particularly difficult times in the PAVN's struggle: 1955-59, when Diem almost destroyed the Communist movement in the South; 1961-62, when American helicopter assaults and M-113 armored personnel carriers inflicted serious losses on their forces; and 1966, when U.S. troop strength and air power increased dramatically. It also elaborates on the role of the Ho Chi Minh Trail in the Communist effort, confirming its crucial importance and telling how the United States came close to shutting the supply line down on several occasions. The book confirms the extent to which the North orchestrated events in the South and also reveals much about Communist infiltration—accompanied by statistics—from 1959 until the end of the war. While many Americans believed that North Vietnam only began sending regular units south after the U.S. commitment of ground forces in 1965, this account reveals that by the time Marines landed in Da Nang in April 1965 there were already at least four North Vietnamese regiments in the South. Translator Merle Pribbenow, who spent several years in Saigon during the war, has sought to render as accurately as possible the voice of the PAVN authors, retaining much of the triumphant flavor of the text in order to provide an uncensored feel for the Vietnamese viewpoint. A foreword by William J. Duiker, author of Ho Chi Minh: A Life and other books on Vietnam, puts both the tone and content of the text in historical perspective. Cover ......Page 1 Title Page ......Page 4 Copyright Page ......Page 5 Table of Contents ......Page 6 Foreword: The History of the People’s Army, William J. Duiker ......Page 10 Translator’s Preface ......Page 18 List of Terminology ......Page 22 Introduction ......Page 26 Part I. Building the People’s Army into a Regular, Modern Armed Force: Maintaining and Developing Revolutionary Armed Forces in the South, 1954–1960 ......Page 28 1. Urgently Reorganizing Our Forces: Preparations to Deal with a New Enemy ......Page 30 2. The People’s Army Begins to Build a Modern, Regular Army: Maintaining Our Armed Teams in South Vietnam ......Page 47 3. The Development of Our Armed Forces during the General Uprising Movement: The Birth of Transportation Group 559 ......Page 76 Part II. Intensifying the Work of Building a Modern, Regular Army, Expanding Our Massed Forces in South Vietnam, and Defeating the “Special Warfare” Strategy of the American Imperialists, 1961–1965 ......Page 98 4. Developing Forces, Building a Battle Posture, and Preparing for a New Struggle ......Page 100 5. Increasing the Combat Strength of Our Main Force Mobile Troops and Developing Our Massed Troops on the Battlefields of South Vietnam ......Page 118 6. Intensifying Massed Combat Operations: Fighting alongside the Entire Population to Defeat the American Imperialist “Special War” Strategy ......Page 150 Part III. The People’s Army of Vietnam Simultaneously Fights and Conducts Force Building and, Together with the Entire Population, Defeats the “Limited Warfare” Strategy of the American Imperialists, 1965–1968 ......Page 178 7. Rapidly Expanding Our Forces and Continuing the Offensive: Initial Victories over the Americans ......Page 180 8. Increasing Our Combat Power: Defeating the American Expeditionary Army in South Vietnam and the American Air Force in North Vietnam ......Page 200 9. The People’s Army, Together with the Entire Population, Conducts the General Offensive and Uprising of Tet 1968 ......Page 233 Part IV. The People’s Army of Vietnam Launches Large-Scale Combined-Arms Operations and, Together with the Entire Population, Partially Defeats the U.S. Imperialists’ Strategy to “Vietnamize” the War, 1969–1972 ......Page 261 10. Maintaining Our Main Force Elements in South Vietnam, Conducting Counterattacks and Offensives, and Developing a New Strategic Posture ......Page 264 11. Increasing Our Ability to Conduct Combined-Arms Operations and Intensifying Counterattacks and Offensives in the Three Nations of Indochina, 1970–1971 ......Page 285 12. The People’s Army, Local Armed Forces, and the Entire Population Launch the 1972 Strategic Offensive and Defeat the Enemy’s Second War of Destruction against North Vietnam ......Page 310 13. Air Defense and Air Force Units Conduct an Anti-Aircraft Campaign: Defeating the B-52 Strategic Bombing Raids Conducted by the American Imperialists ......Page 338 Part V. The Formation of Strategic Army Corps: The Entire Nation Urgently Prepares and Launches the Spring 1975 General Offensive and Uprising, Bringing the Resistance War against the United States to Save the Nation to a Victorious Conclusion, 1973–1975 ......Page 358 14. Developing Mobile Main Force Corps-Sized Units, Combating Enemy Efforts to Capture Our Territory, Creating a New Battlefield Posture, and Preparing for the General Offensive and Uprising ......Page 360 15. Striking with Combined-Arms Power: Seizing the City of Ban Me Thuot, Liberating the Central Highlands, and Opening the Way for the Spring 1975 General Offensive and Uprising ......Page 388 16. Seizing the Opportunity: The Armed Forces of Military Region Tri-Thien, Military Region 5, and 2nd Corps Coordinate Attacks to Liberate Hue, Danang, and the Provinces of Central Vietnam ......Page 405 17. The Ho Chi Minh Campaign: The People’s Army and the Entire Nation Fight the Decisive Battle to Liberate Saigon and the Provinces of Cochin China, Bringing the War against America to Save the Nation to a Glorious Conclusion ......Page 423 Conclusion ......Page 455 Notes ......Page 478 Index ......Page 504 Back Cover ......Page 522 "Victory in Vietnam is the People's Army of Vietnam's own account of two decades of struggle, now available for the first time in English. It is a definitive statement of the Vietnamese point of view concerning foreign intrusion in their country since before American involvement - and it reveals that many of the accepted truths in our own histories of the war are simply wrong."--Jacket