First Vietnam War Book from Northern Sources

[doc540]

Until recently, the North has kept a tight lid on all internal information, data, and correspondence.

Now the first book has been written using unprecedented access to North Vietnam sources.

Just started her book this week, but so far it's outstanding.

There was a HECK of a lot going on in the North that we've never heard about.:eek:

Thought I'd share it for those here who are interested in history.

http://www.amazon.com/Hanois-War-International-History-Vietnam/dp/080783551X

note: I do not agree with the author on many of her points, but I'm being enlightened about many things keep secret by the North for decades.

[ltxi]

My first reaction was I'm so done with this ugly chapter of my and my country's life. Then decided to at least look at it. I'll probably order it and read it. More understanding is always good...it may even help. Thanks.

[AJBert]

Not to open a can of worms, or perhaps to do so, I don't know, but hindsight being 20/20 Vietnam was just a pawn in the grand scheme of things, IMHO. This was not a civil war between the north and the south but a political gamble between democracy and communism played out in a country far from any country that had a stake in the game, with the exception of Vietnam itself.

The difference in this game is that the US sent their troops in country whereas the commies provided the means but not the manpower to fight. Pretty much the same as Korea.

Again, just my humble opinion. This country has been on a down hill slide ever since the politicians decided how to fight a war rather than leave it up to the folks that know how to get the job done.

And to make sure I don't get anybody's panties in a wad, this is coming from a 26 year Navy vet. OIF/OEF plus a few other skirmishes around the world and not all of that time sitting on a boat off of the coast.

[ltxi]

Not to open a can of worms, or perhaps to do so, I don't know, but hindsight being 20/20 Vietnam was just a pawn in the grand scheme of things.....


Ya think???

Not being rude...I more than agree. Wish I'd had this perspective 40 some years ago.

[doc540]

My first reaction was I'm so done with this ugly chapter of my and my country's life. Then decided to at least look at it. I'll probably order it and read it. More understanding is always good...it may even help. Thanks.

a wise man you are

[muggsy]

My best friend lost a leg and an eye to those communist bastards. I'm not interested in their views.

[wyntrout]

Ho Chi Minh, who admired America and it first president George Washington, came to the Americans for help, but they turned him down in favor of aiding their French buddies to regain a colony liberated from the Japanese. Much as we see the Syrian rebels turning to Al Qua'eda for weapons and aid against President Assad, the Viet Minh accepted help from China, Russia, and the North Koreans.

We chose a side and Johnson really escalated military operations while tying the military's hands to do anything effective for fear of offending the Russians... and the Chinese. LBJ and his buddies sat around a coffee table picking crap targets to waste our guys time and lives on, instead of going after the military supply ships in Haiphong Harbor and the stockpiles sitting in the railyards.

Later, when Nixon became president, he bombed the sh!t out of the North and pounded real targets with all of our might to gain an advantage over the North Viets who were trying to drag things out and get more concessions during negotiations... and to allow themselves to resupply the Viet Cong and deployed regular army. After Johnson quit, Nixon wasn't trying to win the war, though, just get the North to the conference table and end the war on the best terms for our POWs' and troop's safe withdrawal.

It was a crappy war and those of us in-theater didn't have any say-so in its execution. After we really kicked their asses during the First Tet Offensive and effectively eliminated the Viet Cong as a fighting force, the fokking press with Walter Conrcrite and the help of the "Useful Idiots" demonstrating in the streets along with the Communist supporters, it somehow was made to appear that we lost the danged battle!! I think that by then "War Hero" Lt John Kerry was with the North Vietnamese in Paris helping them... true treason that he was later able to have hidden and sealed up tight, much as Obama has had his academic records and history since coming to America hidden and sealed.

I might take a chance and get the e-book... a lot cheaper at about $19 instead of $35!

Wynn:)

[doc540]

Should finish it this week.

One of the most valuable aspects of this book is how it reveals the dynamics of the war's end.

Sure is helping me to understand what was going on behind the scenes.

[wyntrout]

Should finish it this week.

One of the most valuable aspects of this book is how it reveals the dynamics of the war's end.

Sure is helping me to understand what was going on behind the scenes.

I would love to hear what you think about it then.

Wynn:)

[doc540]

I would love to hear what you think about it then.

Wynn:)

I can say this already, I had NO idea just how complicated things were.

There was the Sino-Soviet conflict going on between those two.

North Vietnam was playing both of those side while trying to maximize their military aid.

South Vietnam was stonewalling the whole process to get as much from the U.S. as possible.

Nixon launched two, unprecedented diplomacy moves with both the Soviets and the Chinese.

The anti-war movement in the U.S. flared again when Nixon turned loose the B-52's on Hanoi.

Inside North Vietnam things were coming apart at the seams because of the economic hardships and military failures in the South.

Inside South Vietnam the Communist fighters resented having to follow a battle plan created in the North.

It was all a political and military clustergroup of EPIC proportions.

[wyntrout]

We had ROKs... South Korean Special Forces fighting along with us and the North had "guest" trainers and pilots from Russia and North Korea flying against our aircraft. Those ROKs were some tough guys.

Airborne over Laos or the Gulf of Haiphong, we could monitor the internal secure radio SAM site communications and there had been Russian trainers heard there. I think that our air forces squelched quite a few quests, especially the Wild Weasels. I heard tapes of the transmissions and heard the air raid sirens and warnings and then "scrunch"!

I worked with monitoring their tactical air... cockpit and GCI, and others worked with the SAM communications to pass Mig or SAM Alerts and Warnings to our targeted aircraft. We could tell when our guys were items of interest and the situations were real, not training or drills.

Wynn:)

[HalfCocked]

I was a stupid, naive, 20 year old kid who thought getting to shoot every combat weapon the US government had and free ammo was a good deal. I believed the lie that if Vietnam fell then the rest of Asia would too. After a year in the Delta I returned a cynical distrustful man. I cried when I saw the photos of the last helicopters leaving the embassy in Saigon. 58,000 of my brothers and sisters dead. 130,000 more wounded for nothing. Don't even get me started on the whole "weapons of mass destruction" crap and fighting the Taliban who we armed. Anyway I plan to read the book.