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US Air Cavalry Trooper vs. North Vietnamese Soldier

By: Osprey

Type: Softcover

Product Line: Combat

Last Stocked on 9/19/2023

Product Info

Title
US Air Cavalry Trooper vs. North Vietnamese Soldier
Publisher
Product Line
Category
Author
Chris McNab
Publish Year
2020
Pages
80
Dimensions
6.5x9.5x.25"
NKG Part #
2147952293
MFG. Part #
OSPCBT051
Type
Softcover
Series
CBT051

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 maneuvers.

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 defense­-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-color battle maps, this study charts the evolution of US airmobile tactics pitted against North Vietnamese countermeasures. The two sides are analyzed in detail, including training, logistics, weaponry, and organization.