The American Cavalry in Vietnam

The American Cavalry in Vietnam PDF Author: Jacques-François de Chaunac
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
ISBN: 9781563118906
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
Colonel Lyman C. Duryea (Retired) is a West Point graduate and former Commander of "C" Company of the 2d Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment in Vietnam in 1966. He served a second Vietnam tour as an advisor. In addition to various stateside assignments he served in Germany, France, the Congo, Panama, Haiti, and El Salvador. He is a graduate of the US Army Command and General Staff College and the Army War College. He holds Masters Degrees in Military Art and Science from the USAC & GSC, and French from Middlebury College. He has a Doctorate in Military History from Temple University. He has taught on the faculties of the Military Academy, the US Army School of the Americas, and the Army War College. His special interest is revolutionary theory. The action begins in October 1965 in the Vietnamese highlands. When the Green Berets and their allies, the Jarai montagnards are about to be submerged by North Vietnamese assaults, the Huey helicopters of the First Cav, as in Apocalypse Now, sow death in the communist ranks. From that moment on, there is no letup in the action. Ambushes, patrols, and large military operations follow one after the other. The author accompanies the infantrymen into the rice paddies, into the jungle, and on helicopters. He shares the life of the "sky soldiers." Documented using exclusively American sources, this book is also a work of military history. It traces the beginning of this unit, at once unique and autonomous, that has its own infantry, its own artillery, and its own airmobile logistical support system thanks to its five hundred helicopters. The First Cav, the most modern Division in the world created in Vietnam the Rambo myth. It is this same unit that, one hundred years earlier, was at the heart of the legends of the West fighting the Comanche and the Sioux. The Americans leave Vietnam in 1972 with the departure of the last brigade of the First Cav. In April of 1975 Saigon becomes Ho Chi Minh City. Who can say today who the real winner is? A planter in Vietnam in 1974 and 1975, Jacques-Francois de Chaunac lived through the end of the war in Long Thanh. With Francois d'Orcival he is the author of Marines a Khe Sanh (Presses de la Cite). Book jacket.

The American Cavalry in Vietnam

The American Cavalry in Vietnam PDF Author: Jacques-François de Chaunac
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
ISBN: 9781563118906
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 328

Get Book Here

Book Description
Colonel Lyman C. Duryea (Retired) is a West Point graduate and former Commander of "C" Company of the 2d Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment in Vietnam in 1966. He served a second Vietnam tour as an advisor. In addition to various stateside assignments he served in Germany, France, the Congo, Panama, Haiti, and El Salvador. He is a graduate of the US Army Command and General Staff College and the Army War College. He holds Masters Degrees in Military Art and Science from the USAC & GSC, and French from Middlebury College. He has a Doctorate in Military History from Temple University. He has taught on the faculties of the Military Academy, the US Army School of the Americas, and the Army War College. His special interest is revolutionary theory. The action begins in October 1965 in the Vietnamese highlands. When the Green Berets and their allies, the Jarai montagnards are about to be submerged by North Vietnamese assaults, the Huey helicopters of the First Cav, as in Apocalypse Now, sow death in the communist ranks. From that moment on, there is no letup in the action. Ambushes, patrols, and large military operations follow one after the other. The author accompanies the infantrymen into the rice paddies, into the jungle, and on helicopters. He shares the life of the "sky soldiers." Documented using exclusively American sources, this book is also a work of military history. It traces the beginning of this unit, at once unique and autonomous, that has its own infantry, its own artillery, and its own airmobile logistical support system thanks to its five hundred helicopters. The First Cav, the most modern Division in the world created in Vietnam the Rambo myth. It is this same unit that, one hundred years earlier, was at the heart of the legends of the West fighting the Comanche and the Sioux. The Americans leave Vietnam in 1972 with the departure of the last brigade of the First Cav. In April of 1975 Saigon becomes Ho Chi Minh City. Who can say today who the real winner is? A planter in Vietnam in 1974 and 1975, Jacques-Francois de Chaunac lived through the end of the war in Long Thanh. With Francois d'Orcival he is the author of Marines a Khe Sanh (Presses de la Cite). Book jacket.

Search and Destroy

Search and Destroy PDF Author: Keith W. Nolan
Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group USA
ISBN: 1610600754
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 465

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Book Description
Using firsthand accounts from Vietnam soldiers, this book “tells it like it is, warts and all . . . [an] honest account of a cavalry squadron’s experience” (Military Review). The 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, of the 1st Armored Division deployed to Vietnam from Fort Hood, Texas, in August 1967. Search and Destroy covers the 1/1’s harrowing first year and a half of combat in the war’s toughest area of operations: I Corps. The book takes readers into the savage action at infamous places like Tam Ky, the Que Son Valley, the Pineapple Forest, Hill 34, and Cigar Island, chronicling General Westmoreland’s search-and-destroy war of attrition against the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army. Exploring the gray areas of guerrilla war, military historian Keith Nolan details moments of great compassion toward the Vietnamese, but also eruptions of My Lai-like violence, the grimmer aspects of the 1/1’s successes. Search and Destroy is a rare account of an exemplary fighting force in action, a dramatic close-up look at the Vietnam War. “Nolan’s research, his comprehension of the political as well as the military actions, his careful concern for those who were there, and, most of all, his writing, are superb.” —Stephen Ambrose

US Air Cavalry Trooper vs North Vietnamese Soldier

US Air Cavalry Trooper vs North Vietnamese Soldier PDF Author: Chris McNab
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 147284176X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 81

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Book Description
The tactics and technologies of modern air assault – vertical deployment of troops by helicopter or similar means – emerged properly during the 1950s in Korea and Algeria. Yet it was during the Vietnam War that helicopter air assault truly came of age and by 1965 the United States had established fully airmobile battalions, brigades, and divisions, including the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile).This division brought to Vietnam a revolutionary new speed and dexterity in battlefield tactics, using massed helicopters to liberate its soldiers from traditional overland methods of combat manoeuvre. However, the communist troops adjusted their own thinking to handle airmobile assaults. Specializing in ambush, harassment, infiltration attacks, and small-scale attrition, the North Vietnamese operated with light logistics and a deep familiarity with the terrain. They optimized their defensive tactics to make landing zones as hostile as possible for assaulting US troops, and from 1966 worked to draw them into 'Hill Traps', extensive kill zones specially prepared for defence-in-depth. By the time the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) withdrew from Vietnam in 1972, it had suffered more casualties than any other US Army division. Featuring specially commissioned artwork, archive photographs, and full-colour battle maps, this study charts the evolution of US airmobile tactics pitted against North Vietnamese countermeasures. The two sides are analysed in detail, including training, logistics, weaponry, and organization.

Air Cav

Air Cav PDF Author: J.D. Coleman
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
ISBN: 1596529385
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
Air Cav: History of the 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam 1965-1969 is the story of the small, close world of fighting men in action, told in their own words and supplemented with vivid photographs of the First Cavalry Division’s experience in the war and a history of the division. This volume can be many things to many people—a book of memories, a souvenir, a pictorial essay on airmobility, or simply a story of gallant men at war. It can be many things, but one thing it is not, nor does it pretend to be—a complete history of the 1st Air Cavalry Division in Vietnam. The task and burden of history must lie with the objectivity of future generations, far removed from current pressures and restraints. It is true, of course, that much research for this book has been done from available official records, the ultimate source of written history. But even more has been drawn from the vivid recollections of the Cavalrymen who fought, tasted the brassy bile of fear, shared the fierce exultation of victory, or were drenched in the dark despair of death. This volume contains the memoirs of a fighting team—the FIRST TEAM. It is a memory of combat; no doubt it is imperfect as all memory is, but nonetheless it is real for those who were there, for those who can fill in the inevitable gaps.

1st Air Cavalry Division

1st Air Cavalry Division PDF Author: United States. Army. Cavalry Division, 1st
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : 1st Air Cavalry Division
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description


Heroes

Heroes PDF Author: Mike Larson
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 0595525210
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Even today, my thoughts of Vietnam are positive. I have incredibly fond memories of spending one year in that theater with some incredible people. My feelings about the Vietnam War mesh exactly with what Michael Norman wrote in his book These Good Men: Friendships Forged From War-even though Norman's heroes served in the U.S. Marine Corps and mine served in the First Air Cav. In recalling his tour in Vietnam, Norman wrote: "I did not pick these men. They were delivered by fate and the U.S. Marine Corps. But I know them in a way I know no other men. I have never since given anyone such trust. They were willing to guard something more precious than my life. They would have carried my reputation, the memory of me. It was part of the bargain we all made, the reason we were so willing to die for one another."

Vietnam Studies - Mounted Combat In Vietnam [Illustrated Edition]

Vietnam Studies - Mounted Combat In Vietnam [Illustrated Edition] PDF Author: General Donn A. Starry
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1782893660
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
[Includes 1 chart, 17 maps, 6 diagrams and 38 illustrations] “The generally unsuccessful experience of French armored forces in Southeast Asia from the end of World War II to 1954 convinced American military men that armored units could not be employed in Vietnam. “It was not until 1967, however, when a study titled Mechanized and Armor Combat Operations, Vietnam...was sent to the Chief of Staff and Secretary of the Army, that the potential of armored forces was fully described to the Army’s top leaders. Despite the study’s findings that armored cavalry was probably the most cost-effective force on the Vietnam battlefield-there was little that could be done to alter significantly either the structure of forces already sent to Vietnam or those earmarked for deployment...The armored force of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, meanwhile had been successful enough in fighting the elusive Viet Cong that U.S. armored units had been deployed in limited numbers, usually as part of their parent divisions. “From early March 1965 until the cease-fire in Jan. 1973, U.S. armored units participated in virtually every large-scale offensive operation and worked closely with South Vietnamese Army and other free world forces. After eight years of fighting over land on which tanks were once thought to be incapable of moving, in weather that was supposed to prohibit armored operations, and dealing with an elusive enemy against whom armored units were thought to be at a considerable disadvantage, armored forces emerged as powerful, flexible, and essential battle forces. In large measure they contributed to the success of the free world forces, not only in close combat, but in pacification and security operations as well. When redeployment began in early 1969, armored units were not included in the first forces scheduled for redeployment, and indeed planners moved armored units down the scale time and again, holding off their redeployment until the very end.”

Lost Battalion of Tet

Lost Battalion of Tet PDF Author: Charles A Krohn
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612512070
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
Published to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Tet Offensive, this new paperback edition brings back into print a book that became an essential source for a 2006 study of the battle by the U.S. Army s Center of Military History. It takes a critical look at what went wrong in early 1968 during one of the first engagements of Tet, when a U.S. infantry battalion was ordered to attack a large North Vietnamese force near Hue City without air or artillery support. The tragic military foul-up resulted in over 60 percent casualties for the 2d Battalion, 12th Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, when the soldiers were surrounded by the enemy and began running out of ammunition. The bold decision by battalion commander Lt. Col. Richard Sweet to break out with his remaining soldiers under cover of darkness saved this encirclement from being a total disaster. Author Charles Krohn, the unit s intelligence officer at the time, provides a much-needed analysis of what took place and fills his account with details that have been confirmed as factual by other survivors. Krohn examines the battalion s involvement in two other major attacks for lessons learned when vital systems break down lessons, he says, that are timeless and applicable anywhere. This book is published in cooperation with the Association of the United States Army.

Blackhorse Riders

Blackhorse Riders PDF Author: Philip Keith
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1429940956
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
Winner of the 2013 Silver Medal in History from the Military Writer's Society of America Finalist, 2013 Colby Award Winner of the 2012 USA Best Book Award for Military History Philip Keith's Blackhorse Riders is the incredible true story of a brave military unit in Vietnam that risked everything to rescue an outnumbered troop under heavy fire—and the thirty-nine-year odyssey to recognize their bravery. Deep in the jungles of Vietnam, Alpha Troop, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry, the famed Blackhorse Regiment, was a specialized cavalry outfit equipped with tanks and armored assault vehicles. On the morning of March 26, 1970, they began hearing radio calls from an infantry unit four kilometers away that had stumbled into a hidden North Vietnamese Army stronghold. Outnumbered at least six to one, the ninety-man American company was quickly surrounded, pinned down, and fighting for its existence. Helicopters could not penetrate the dense jungle, and artillery and air support could not be targeted effectively. The company was fated to be worn down and eventually all killed or captured. Overhearing the calls for help on his radio, Captain John Poindexter, Alpha Troop's twenty-five-year-old commander, realized that his outfit was the only hope for the trapped company. It just might be possible that they could "bust" enough jungle by nightfall to reach them. Not making the attempt was deemed unacceptable, so he ordered his men to "saddle up." With the courage and determination that makes legends out of ordinary men, they effected a daring rescue and fought a pitched battle—at considerable cost. Many brave deeds were done that day and Captain Poindexter tried to make sure his men were recognized for their actions. Thirty years later Poindexter was made aware that his award recommendations and even the records of the battle had somehow gone missing. Thus began the second phase of this remarkable story: a "battle" to ensure that his brave men's accomplishments would never be forgotten again. The full circle was completed when President Obama stepped to the podium on October 20, 2009, to award the Alpha Troop with the Presidential Unit Citation: the highest combat award that can be given to a military unit.

Year of the Horse

Year of the Horse PDF Author: Kenneth D. Mertel
Publisher: Schiffer Pub Limited
ISBN: 9780764301384
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
This book is the day-by-day story of the Jumping Mustangs - 1st Ballalion, Airborne, 8th Cavalry, of the 1st Air Cavalry Division, written by the man who knows them best. 1st Air Cav Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Mertel. On 1 July 1965, at Fort Benning, Georgia, the 1st Air Cavalry Division was activated to employ newly developed techniques and tactics, providing the utmost in combat effectiveness and flexibility. After telling of the excitement at Benning over the formation of this revolutionary airmobile division, Colonel Mertel gives a vivid picture of the building of his own Jumping Mustang Battalion, the rigorous training of officers and men and, finally, the long voyage across the Pacific to Vietnam. Now the test. Would the new concept of airmobility, so painstakingly worked out stateside, produce the hoped-for results? The answer came quickly and dramatically in a rapid succession of search and destroy operations. Ia Drang . . . An Khe South . . . Plei Mei . . . the Cambodian border . . . Bong Son . . . Tarzan . . . In precipitous mountains, dense jungles, mud and water-filled rice paddles and expanses of view-obstructing elephant grass, the Jumping Mustangs sought out the enemy, engaging him in combat and stopping him in his tracks. Airmobility more than passed the test. Colonel Mertel pays tribute to the many acts of heroism of his men, who lived, worked and fought together in some of the world's most inhospitable conditions. He also writes movingly of those who never came back. In 1967 the President, at a White House ceremony, recognized the Division's success and valor by awarding it the Presidential Unit Citation for the action at Plei Mei. According to the Chines calendar, 1966 was the "Year of the Horse." It was the "Year of the Horse" for the Jumping Mustangs in Vietnam.