Kontum
The Battle to Save South Vietnam
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- $29.99
Publisher Description
In the spring of 1972, North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam in what became known as the Easter Offensive. Almost all of the American forces had already withdrawn from Vietnam except for a small group of American advisers to the South Vietnamese armed forces. The 23rd ARVN Infantry Division and its American advisers were sent to defend the provincial capital of Kontum in the Central Highlands. They were surrounded and attacked by three enemy divisions with heavy artillery and tanks but, with the help of air power, managed to successfully defend Kontum and prevent South Vietnam from being cut in half and defeated.
Although much has been written about the Vietnam War, little of it addresses either the Easter Offensive or the Battle of Kontum. In Kontum: The Battle to Save South Vietnam, Thomas P. McKenna fills this gap, offering the only in-depth account available of this violent engagement. McKenna, a U.S. infantry lieutenant colonel assigned as a military adviser to the 23rd Division, participated in the battle of Kontum and combines his personal experiences with years of interviews and research from primary sources to describe the events leading up to the invasion and the battle itself.
Kontum sheds new light on the actions of U.S. advisers in combat during the Vietnam War. McKenna's book is not only an essential historical resource for America's most controversial war but a personal story of valor and survival.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
McKenna, in his first book, presents a well-researched, heavily detailed look at the 1972 North Vietnamese Army invasion of South Vietnam the so-called Easter Offensive designed to topple the South Vietnamese government and end the war. The massive, three-pronged attack, aided by Soviet and Chinese weaponry, came as the United States was rapidly withdrawing its combat troops under Nixon's "Vietnamization" plan. But tens of thousands of American troops, including advisers to the South Vietnamese Army such as McKenna, remained, and Nixon unleashed American airpower, including massive, sustained B-52 bombing operations. That onslaught overcame a less-than-stellar performance by the South Vietnamese Army, although one ARVN division stood up well. The successful defense of Kontum (and South Vietnam) was led by the legendary John Paul Vann, working for the U.S. Foreign Service. McKenna served under Vann, the subject of Neil Sheehan's A Bright Shining Lie, and offers an illuminating picture of the colorful, contradictory ex-military man in action. McKenna, severely wounded near the end of the offensive, switches from the first person to the third and includes excessive military minutiae, but does an effective job of melding his own story with the bigger picture. 29 photos; 6 maps.
