Download or read book Combat at Close Quarters written by Edward J. Marolda and published by Government Printing Office. This book was released on 2015 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work describes riverine combat during the Vietnam War, emphasizing the operations of the U.S. Navy’s River Patrol Force, which conducted Operation Game Warden; the U.S. Army-Navy Mobile Riverine Force, the formation that General William Westmoreland said “saved the Mekong Delta” during the Tet Offensive of 1968; and the Vietnam Navy. An important section details the SEALORDS combined campaign, a determined effort by U.S. Navy, South Vietnamese Navy, and allied ground forces to cut enemy supply lines from Cambodia and disrupt operations at base areas deep in the delta. The author also covers details on the combat vessels, helicopters, weapons, and equipment employed in the Mekong Delta as well as the Vietnamese combatants (on both sides) and American troops who fought to secure Vietnam’s waterways. Special features focus on the ubiquitous river patrol boats (PBRs) and the Swift boats (PCFs), river warfare training, Vice Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., the Black Ponies aircraft squadron, and Navy SEALs. This publication may be of interest to history scholars, veterans, students in advanced placement history classes, and military enthusiasts given the continuing impact of riverine warfare on U.S. naval and military operations in the 21st century. Special Publicity Tie-In: Commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War (Commemoration dates: 28 May 2012 - 11 November 2025). This is the fifth book in the series, "The U.S. Navy and the Vietnam War." TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction The First Indochina War The Vietnam Navy River Force and American Advisors The U.S. Navy and the Rivers of Vietnam SEALORDS The End of the Line for U.S. and Vietnamese River Forces Sidebars: The PBR Riverine Warfare Training Battle Fleet of the Mekong Delta High Drama in the Delta Vice Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr. Black Ponies The Swift Boat Warriors with Green Faces Suggested Reading

Download or read book Vietnam Riverine Craft 1962 75 written by Gordon L. Rottman and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 2006-11-28 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The southernmost region of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) encompassed the vast Mekong River Delta, and area covering 10,190 square miles. Three major rivers run through the Delta, the Song Hou Giang (aka Bassac) and the Song Mekong, which broke into three large rivers (Song My Tho, Ham Luong, and Go Chien). The Nhon Trach delineated the Delta's eastern edge. In all there were some 1,500 miles of natural navigable waterways and 2,500 miles of man-made canals and channels. The canal system was begun in 800 AD and its expansion continued up to World War II. The nation's capital, Saigon, lies on the Delta's northern edge. Few roads and highways served the region with sampans and other small watercraft via the canals being the main means of transportation. At least 70,000 Viet Cong (VC) were scattered over the area controlling up to a quarter of the population. Three Army of the Republic Vietnam (ARVN) divisions as well as various paramilitary forces battled the VC in the marshes, forests, and paddies. In 1965 the military situation in the Delta had deteriorated and the decision was taken to shore things up by committing a joint Army and Navy Mobile Riverine Force. This force was unique in its composition, mission, and the special craft in which it operated. The Army component was the 2d Brigade, 9th Infantry Division; the Navy component was River Assault Flotilla One. The various watercraft assigned to the Mobile Riverine Force are the subject of this book. These included much-modified landing craft, purpose-built patrol boats including Swift Boats and Monitors, and a variety of auxiliary and support vessels. Task Force CLEARWATER, a much smaller operation in the extreme northern portion of South Vietnam, also used these craft.

Download or read book War in the Shallows written by John Darrell Sherwood and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "At the height of the U.S. Navy's involvement in the Vietnam War, the Navy's coastal and riverine forces included more than 30,000 Sailors and over 350 patrol vessels ranging in size from riverboats to destroyers. These forces developed the most extensive maritime blockade in modern naval history and fought pitched battles against Viet Cong units in the Mekong Delta and elsewhere. War in the Shallows explores the operations of the Navy's three inshore task forces from 1965 to 1968. It also delves into other themes such as basing, technology, tactics, and command and control. Finally, using oral history interviews, it reconstructs deckplate life in South Vietnam, focusing in particular on combat waged by ordinary Sailors. Vietnam was the bloodiest war in recent naval history and War in the Shallows strives above all else to provide insight into the men who fought it and honor their service and sacrifice"--Publisher description

Download or read book The Mekong written by Milton Osborne and published by Open Road + Grove/Atlantic. This book was released on 2007-12-01 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “remarkable” history of the great river of Southeast Asia (Jill Ker Conway, author of The Road from Coorain). The Mekong River runs over nearly three thousand miles, beginning in the mountains of Tibet and flowing through China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam before emptying into the China Sea. Its waters are the lifeblood of Southeast Asia, and first begot civilization on the fertile banks of its delta region at Oc Eo nearly two millennia ago. This is the story of the peoples and cultures of the great river, from these obscure beginnings to the emergence of today’s independent nations. Drawing on research gathered over forty years, Milton Osborne traces the Mekong’s dramatic history through the rise and fall of civilizations and the era of colonization and exploration. He details the struggle for liberation during a twentieth century in which Southeast Asia has seen almost constant conflict, including two world wars, the Indochina War, the Vietnam War, and its bloody aftermath—and explores the prospects for peace and prosperity as the region enters a new millennium. Along the way, he brings to life those who witnessed and shaped events along the river, including Chou Ta-kuan, the thirteenth-century Chinese envoy who recorded the glory of Angkor Wat, the capital of the Khmer Empire; the Iberian mercenaries Blas Ruiz and Diego Veloso, whose involvement in the intrigues of Cambodia’s royal family shook Southeast Asia’s politics in the sixteenth century; and the revolutionaries led by Ho Chi Minh, whose campaigns to liberate Vietnam from the French and unify the nation under communism changed the course of history. “[A] pathbreaking, ecologically informed chronicle . . . A pulsating journey through the heart of Southeast Asia.” —Publishers Weekly

Download or read book The Nightmare of the Mekong written by Terry M Sater and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2017-10 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Nightmare of the Mekong" is a gritty account of the Vietnam War, from a sailor who manned automatic weapons in intense combat, on the rivers, streams and canals of the Mekong Delta. It is profoundly personal, with diary entries, and letters to and from home. It includes summaries of official "Operations Reports" and military historical records. The interwoven references to music and news of the day provides a vivid picture of the culture and politics of the times. It is a true story of love, family, war, life and death.Some of this story will bring a smile to your face and warm your heart. Much of it will surprise you. Some of it will give you nightmares.

Download or read book River Rats written by Ralph Christopher and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2005-03-24 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States Navys fight for control of the waters of Southeast Asia. By far the greatest contribution of the narrative is the insight it provides into the hows and whys of United States involvement in Vietnam, and the attempt of that involvement to bring freedom to those who were unable to achieve it by their own efforts. We see the United States more as a caretaker and less as a policeman in terms of motivation for its involvement half a world away. Andwe see the tremendous price paid by those who served to ensure that freedom ordinary men who, by fate, were thrown together in a strange land, and who fulfilled a part of their destiny, and their Nations, on the brown water. Weldon Bleiler

Download or read book Brothers in the Mekong Delta written by Godfrey Garner and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2020-04-10 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following the Tet Offensive, a shift in U.S. naval strategy in 1967-1968 saw young men fresh out of high school policing the canals and tributaries of South Vietnam aboard PBRs (patrol boat, riverine)--unarmored yet heavily armed and highly maneuverable vessels designed to operate in shallow, weedy waterways. This memoir recounts the experiences of the author and his shipmates as they cruised the Viet Cong-occupied backwaters of the Mekong Delta, and their emotional metamorphosis as wartime events shaped the men they would be for the remainder of their lives.

Download or read book Riverine written by Don Sheppard and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Patrolling the Mekong Delta's Bassac River in heavily armed fiberglass boats, the U.S. Navy's brown-water sailors took the war to the enemy in some of the most extraordinary operations of the Vietnam War. Here is the first important memoir to come out of the brown-water navy, by a former Lieutenant Commander.

Download or read book The 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam written by Ira A. Hunt and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2010-11-11 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “This outstanding book is a must read for those trying to understand the Vietnam War and its guerrilla warfare tactics”—from the author of Losing Vietnam (Post Library). Of all the military assignments in Vietnam, perhaps none was more challenging than the defense of the Mekong River Delta region. Operating deep within the Viet Cong-controlled Delta, the 9th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army was charged with protecting the area and its population against Communist insurgents and ensuring the success of the South Vietnamese government’s pacification program. Faced with unrelenting physical hardships, a tenacious enemy, and the region’s rugged terrain, the 9th Division established strategies and quantifiable goals for completing their mission, effectively writing a blueprint for combating guerilla warfare that influenced army tacticians for decades to come. In The 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam, Ira A. Hunt Jr. details the innovative strategies of the 9th Division in their fight to overcome the Viet Cong. Based on Hunt’s experience as colonel and division chief of staff, the volume documents how the 9th Division’s combat effectiveness peaked in 1969. A wealth of illustrative material, including photos, maps, charts, and tables, deepens understanding of the region’s hazardous environment and clarifies the circumstances of the division’s failures and successes. A welcome addition to scholarship on the Vietnam War, The 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam will find an audience with enthusiasts and scholars of military history. “General Hunt set about proving that the claims of the 9th Infantry Division’s brilliant performance in Vietnam were founded on fact. He succeeded and far more.”—Jack N. Merritt, General, U.S. Army, Retired

Download or read book Flying Black Ponies written by Kit Lavell and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2009-09-01 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The tragic, the comic, the terrifying, the poignant are all part of the story of the Black Pony pilots who distinguished themselves in the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam War. Flying their turboprop Broncos "down and dirty, low and slow," they killed more of the enemy and saved more allied lives with close-air support than all the other naval squadrons combined during the three years they saw action. Author Kit Lavell was part of this squadron of "black sheep" given a chance to make something of themselves flying these dangerous missions. The U.S. Navy's only land-based attack squadron, Light Attack Squadron Four (VAL-4) flew support missions for the counter insurgency forces, SEALs, and allied units in borrowed, propeller-driven OV-10s. For fixed-wing aircraft they were dangerous, unorthodox missions, a fact readers quickly come to appreciate.

Download or read book Mekong Mud Dogs written by Ed Eaton and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2014-12-09 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 1st Place Gold eLit award winner that is offered at the National Infantry Museum: Mekong Mud Dogs an autobiography that follows Ed Eaton from small town USA, thru Vietnam and back home to the trials and tribulations of returning. Ed tells his story of going from Pointman to Platoon Sgt. and Sniper with the River Raiders of the Mekong Delta. The book also includes the story of Apr. 3, 1969 which garnered Ed a recommendation for the Medal of Honor.

Download or read book Fourth Arm of Defense written by Salvatore R. Mercogliano and published by Government Printing Office. This book was released on 2017 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication is the eighth in the series The U.S. Navy and the Vietnam War. The publication focuses on the sealift and logistic operations during the war and includes a number of photographs as well as sidebars detailing specific people and ships involved in the logistic operations. This historical pictorial reference would be of interest to students, historians, members of the military, specifically the Navy, and military leaders, veterans, Vietnam War veterans, and the U.S. merchant marines.

Download or read book The Boys of 67 written by Andrew Wiest and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-09-20 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the spring of 1966, while the war in Vietnam was still popular, the US military decided to reactivate the 9th Infantry Division as part of the military build-up. Across the nation, farm boys from the Midwest, surfers from California and city-slickers from Cleveland opened their mail to find greetings from Uncle Sam. Most American soldiers of the Vietnam era trickled into the war zone as individual replacements for men who had become casualties or had rotated home. Charlie Company was different as part of the only division raised, drafted and trained for service. From draft to the battlefields of South Vietnam, this is the unvarnished truth from the fear of death to the chaos of battle, told almost entirely through the recollections of the men themselves. This is their story, the story of young draftees who had done everything that their nation had asked of them and had received so little in return – lost faces of a distant war.

Download or read book The Vietnamese War written by David Elliott and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-15 with total page 585 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A monumental work of research and analysis, this is a history of the Vietnam War in a single province of the Mekong Delta over the period 1930-1975. More precisely, it is a study of the Vietnamese dimension of the "Vietnam War, " focusing on the revolutionary movement that became popularly known as the "Viet Cong." There are several distinctive features to this study: (1) it provides an explanation for the paradox of why the revolutionary movement was so successful during the war, but unable to meet the challenges of postwar developments; (2) it challenges the dominant theme of contemporary political analysis which assumes that people are "rational" actors responding to events with careful calculations of self-interest; (3) it closely examines province-level documentation that casts light on a number of important historical controversies about the war. No other history of the Vietnam War has drawn on such a depth of documentation, especially firsthand accounts that allow the Vietnamese participants to spea directly to us.

Download or read book Combat at Close Quarters written by Edward J. Marolda and published by US Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A heavily-illustrated coffee-table book on U.S. Naval operations in the Vietnam War.

Download or read book Brown Water Navy written by Ronald L. McAbee and published by . This book was released on 2001-06 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: BROWN WATER NAVY is the thrilling day-to-day life of a young seaman fighting for survival on the war torn, deadly canals and rivers of Vietnam as a "River Rat" with the U.S. Navy's Mobile Riverine Force. Seaman Ron McAbee, a Monitor 20mm gunner with the 92nd River Assault Division, tells his story in a down to earth memoir of what it was like to be on a moving target going eye-to-eye with VC Forces doing their level best to destroy his Monitor as VC Forces attempted to deny the Delta and IV Corps to US and South Vietnam Forces. BROWN WATER NAVY may very well become one of the epic stories of U.S. Naval Operations during the Vietnam War. 208 pages, 49 photos and illustrations.

Download or read book Vietnam Studies RIVERINE OPERATIONS 1966 1969 Illustrated Edition written by Major General William B. Fulton and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: [Includes 2 charts, 6 diagrams, 16 maps, and 21 illustrations] “This monograph describes U.S. Army Riverine planning and operations in the Republic of Vietnam during the years 1966 through 1969. Since the personal experience of the author was with preparations for riverine operations and the initial operations themselves, emphasis has been placed on these activities through early 1968. In summarizing operations conducted in the balance of the three-year period, particular attention has been called to significant trends or changes in riverine operations in Vietnam, a co-operative enterprise of the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy. “Looking back from the vantage point of early 1972, this study attempts to reconstruct the events and describe the situation as it was from 1966 through 1969, using official records, reports, and personal interviews.” The Author - “Major General William Fulton, was intimately involved in the early development of the riverine warfare concept as commander of the 2d Brigade, 9th Infantry Division, which arrived in Vietnam in January 1967 and immediately began combat operations in the Mekong Delta. In March the brigade moved into Dong Tam, the base created by dredging sand from the bottom of an arm of the Mekong River. In early June the brigade teamed with Navy Task Force 117 to form the Mobile Riverine Force. During World War II General Fulton fought in Italy and during the Korean War served on the staff of Army Forces Far East Advance.”