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Khe Sanh 1967-68: Marines battle for Vietnam's vital hilltop base (Campaign) |  | Author: Gordon Rottman
Creator: Peter Dennis
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
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Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 258055
Media: Paperback
Pages: 96
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 9.7 x 7.2 x 0.3
ISBN: 1841768634
Dewey Decimal Number: 959.704342
EAN: 9781841768632
ASIN: 1841768634
Publication Date: May 8, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Khe Sanh was a small village in northwest South Vietnam that sat astride key North Vietnamese infiltration routes. In September 1966 a Marine battalion deployed into the area. Action gradually increased as the NVA attempted to destroy Free World Forces bases, and the siege of Khe Sanh proper began in October 1967. The bitter fight lasted into July 1968 when, with the changing strategic and tactical situation, the base was finally closed. This book details the siege and explains how, although the NVA successfully overran a Special Forces camp nearby, it was unable to drive US forces from Khe Sanh.
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| Customer Reviews:
Excellent account of a complicated campaign March 5, 2008
S. T. Hickcox (Baton Rouge, LA USA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Mr. Forczyk's review of Gordon Rottman's Khe Sanh 1967-1968 is an excellent critique and hard to improve on. Rottman does an fine job of taking the different pieces of the mosaic that is the story of Khe Sanh, describing the different situations and their backgrounds, and tying it all together. The only loose ends are those that will never be resolved.
Use of detailed maps and photographs and superb battle art along with the insight of a Special Forces veteran of the conflict make for a good, lucid rendition. Given his background, Rottman does an excellent job of describing the tensions between the Marines and SF as well as how the organization and implementation of the operations fit within the national picture.
The accounts of fighting at the very basic level, close-range and hand-to-hand, have all the marks of being told by one who has been there and done that.
The story of the "mightiest corporal in the world" was fascinating to this former, peace-time, forward observer and his description of the Artillery's strengths and limitations are right on.
This book is precise and accurate and I highly recommend it.
Tenacity on Both Sides, but to What end? July 19, 2005
R. A Forczyk (Laurel, MD USA)
19 out of 20 found this review helpful
Khe Sanh 1967-68 by Gordon L. Rottman is the first title in the Osprey campaign series on the Vietnam to appear since Tet 1968 was written 15 years ago and as such, is a welcome detour from the plethora of titles on obscure subjects such as the War of the Roses. Rottman, a Vietnam veteran from that period himself, provides his usual high-level of detail and this volume on Khe Sanh is easily one of his best that he has written for Osprey. The campaign itself is still obscured by a certain level of mystery about Vietnamese intentions (was it a diversion or a serious attempt to storm the base?) and the siege ended with a degree of frustration for both sides. Although memorable for the US Marine Corps, the indecisive nature of the Khe Sanh campaign makes it difficult to study and evaluate the operations there but Rottman's narrative certainly makes a valued contribution.
Rottman starts with a rather lengthy 15-page background section on the campaign, which discusses the terrain and weather at length (usually a weakness in Osprey campaign series titles), as well as the strategic backdrop in 1968. He also provides a 7-page section on the Hill Battles in 1967 that preceded the actual siege. In the section on opposing plans, Rottman agrees with the widely-held theory that the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) operations around Khe Sanh Combat Base (KSCB) were part of a deception plan to confuse the US and South Vietnamese commanders about the upcoming Tet offensive, but correctly notes that, "the actual intentions of the NVA in northwest Quang Tri remain unknown." I found it very interesting that Rottman never mentioned the NVA commander General Vo Nguyen Giap, whose name is often associated with planning the siege. Although the NVA seemed attracted to the notion of staging another "Dien Bien Phu" sort of siege around KSCB, Rottman notes that they never made an serious effort to cut off the base water supply or telephone lines, which lends credibility to the deception theory. US intentions in garrisoning KSCB were focused on the potential of using the base as a staging area for attacks on the nearby Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, but since this was primarily an Special Forces mission, it seems that the presence of 7,000 Marines to garrison a "support base" was overkill. Furthermore, as Rottman notes, US forces around KCSB were primarily oriented to the defense of the airfield, rather than conducting maneuver operations to disrupt NVA logistics. Indeed, General Westmoreland may have violated the "economy of force" principle in lavishing so much effort on a base that had limited practical use. Rottman also alludes to the high-level involvement of President Johnson in US operations around KSCB, but does not discuss the micro-management that other accounts have mentioned.
As usual, the graphic quality of this volume is quite high with four 2-D maps (Vietnam strategic situation, 1968; Quang Tri province and the DMZ; Khe Sanh Combat Base (KSCB); Operation Pegasus, 9 April 1968) and three 3-D maps (KSCB, early February 1968; Battle for the hills; the fall of Lang Vei SF camp). The battle scenes are some of the best that I have seen in Osprey (Fight for Hill 861A; the fight for the command post, Lang Vei; the "mightiest corporal in the world"). Rottman's order of battle for the US side is highly detailed, but the NVA order of battle still has many mysteries even after more than 30 years.
Rottman's campaign narrative is clean and crisp, with just the right balance between detail and scope. He mentions a number of US tactical improvisations to support KSCB, such as the "Super Gaggles" and "Micro Arc Lights." Although the siege of KSCB consisted mostly of artillery duels and US air strikes, punctuated occasionally by NVA assaults on outlying hill positions, Rottman's narrative effectively conveys the tenacity of both sides. The campaign narrative concludes with Operation "Pegasus," which was the relief of KSCB and the final US evacuation of the base. Of note, Rottman says in the section on the battlefield today that little remains of the base but this is not completely accurate, since SPOT imagery from a few years ago reveals that the outline of the airstrip looks exactly like it did in 1968 (plus current air maps of Vietnam still list an operational dirt strip there).
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