America's Last Vietnam Battle: Halting Hanoi's 1972 Easter OffensiveIn the spring of 1972, North Vietnam launched a massive military offensive designed to deliver the coup de grace to South Vietnam and its rapidly disengaging American ally. But an overconfident Hanoi misjudged its opponents who, led by American military advisers and backed by American airpower, were able to hold off the North's onslaught in what became the biggest battle of a very long war. Dale Andrade rescues this epic engagement from its previous neglect to tell a riveting tale of heroism against great odds. Originally published in cloth in 1995 as Trial by Fire and drawing upon recent Vietnamese-language sources, this new paperback edition will finally allow a true classic on the war to reach the wide readership it deserves. |
Contents
Prologue | 1 |
On the Eve of Destruction | 5 |
North Vietnamese soldiers set out along the Ho Chi Minh Trail | 14 |
THE BATTLE FOR QUANG TRI AND | 27 |
The Blazing Front Line | 29 |
Western Collapse | 39 |
Piercing the Ring of Steel | 51 |
The Bridge at Dong Ha | 63 |
A South Vietnamese soldier and an officer help a woman board | 275 |
Tightening the Noose | 276 |
Regrouping | 287 |
ARVN on the Offensive | 297 |
William Bricker stands beside his demolished quarters in Kontum | 304 |
Soldiers from the 44th ARVN Regiment survey their compound | 315 |
Mopping Up | 320 |
THE BATTLE FOR AN | 331 |
Captured North Vietnamese T54 tank south of Dong Ha | 73 |
Surrender at Camp Carroll | 78 |
Firebase Pedro | 91 |
Consolidation and Counteroffensive | 99 |
Things Fall Apart | 108 |
The Citadel | 127 |
North Vietnamese soldiers enter Quang Tri City on 29 April | 141 |
The Imperial City | 149 |
M113 armored personnel carrier guards the citadel in Hue | 157 |
The Slow March North | 165 |
North Vietnamese crewman killed during the battle for Quang Tri | 167 |
The slow South Vietnamese push toward Quang Tri City | 174 |
Retaking Quang Tri | 176 |
South Vietnamese marines and adviser near the ruins of citadel | 195 |
THE BATTLE FOR II CORPS | 199 |
Setting the Stage | 201 |
John Paul Vanns helicopter at SRAG headquarters in Pleiku | 206 |
Intelligence Picture | 210 |
Western highlands battlefield | 216 |
Opening Shots | 220 |
Closing In on the Highlands | 228 |
Designing a Defense | 252 |
Crisis at Kontum | 265 |
Hell in a Very Insignificant Place | 333 |
Enemy base areas on CambodianRVN border | 339 |
Loc Ninh | 351 |
Tanks in the Wire | 360 |
NVA plan of attacks in III Corps | 361 |
Key locations Binh Long Province III Corps | 375 |
Preparing for the Worst | 381 |
The Shelling Game | 398 |
Air Resupply | 409 |
Second Round | 420 |
Relief from the South | 436 |
End Siege | 444 |
SUFFERING THE CONSEQUENCES | 459 |
War in the Delta | 461 |
Enemy base areas in IV Corps | 464 |
Taking the War to Hanoi | 472 |
Winners and Losers | 484 |
The Last Patrol | 495 |
Notes | 501 |
Bibliographic Essay | 537 |
| 541 | |
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Common terms and phrases
3d ARVN Division 44th ARVN Regiment 5th ARVN Abrams air force air strikes air support airborne American advisers April armor assault attack base battle Binh Dinh Binh Dinh Province bombs Camp Carroll Camper Canh Central Highlands citadel combat command bunker communist Corps defense Dong Easter Offensive enemy fighting fire Firebase Giai ground guns gunships Hanoi headquarters helicopter Highway 14 Hollingsworth II Corps infantry John Paul Vann Kontum Korean Kroesen Landing Zone Lieutenant Colonel Loc Ninh MACV Major McKenna military Minh move namese Nguyen North Viet North Vietnamese North Vietnamese troops northern NVA Division NVA Regiment officers operations perimeter pilot Pleiku positions Quang Tri City Quang Tri Province radio Ranger Group reported River Saigon senior adviser South Viet South Vietnamese soldiers subj tactical Thieu Truong Turley U.S. Air U.S. Marine Vann’s Viet Cong Vietnam Vietnamese artillery Vinh VNMC Battalion VNMC Brigade