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filipeamaral's review
5.0
The funeral oration by Pericles praised the Athenians for making the sea a pathway to valour. This notion can describe the peculiar mix of soldier and sailor that has earned the title of 'marine' in the modern world. Most nations that use the ocean have had, or will have, soldiers of the sea: marines."
- Charles Melson, US Marine Corps History Division.
With these words Charles Melson begins his excellent "Vietnam Marines 1965–73". Not only a book for the true military audience but a book on the special kind of warrior required to storm enemy positions without the means to retreat and during the most difficult movement in military warfare: the marines.
The movement from sea to land is a very grim one and requires a special kind of soldier. As the enemy will be free to shoot the marines while they are vulnerable during their forced entry, an amphibious force must be a force multiplier with high quality human material. A British journalist once especulated that the amphibious assault on the Falklands would be a massacre and the beaches would be littered with corpses of dead Royal Marines. As I already mentioned elsewhere, the marines first mission was to board enemy ships and fight in close quarters. For this reason some aspects of military training survived in the naval tradition of the sea soldier: marksmanship, to compensate for small numbers; and the will of closing in with the enemy in hand-to-hand combat.
This book starts with the South Vietnamese marines ("Sea Tigers"). They had a proud and interesting history. Born as Commandos of the French Dinassauts, the Sư Đoàn Thủy Quân Lục Chiến (TQLC or RVNMD) would become one of the most effective units of the South Vietnamese Armed Forces. Easily recognizable by their smartly and tight fitting "Sea Wave" uniforms - that caught the eye of an American advisor, and the Americans introduced it in their own forces as the "Tiger Stripes" - the Sea Tigers participated in every important campaign of the war, paying a high price for their reputation. They spent over 75% of their time in the field, the highest proportion in the Free World Forces, made an amphibious crossing across the Perfume River during the Battle of Hue (1968) and fought hard to take the Citadel of Quang Tri in 1972. In vicious house-to-house fighting in which almost one out of every four of the 8,000 ARVN Marines in the division had been killed or wounded during the operation, named Lam Son 72. The TQLC/RVNMD would fight until the bitter end, in 1975.
The book also presents the USMC and the ROK marines (which still used WWII-type weapons and uniforms). The USMC, ROKMC and the RVNMD conducted more than 72 small-scale amphibious landings, called Special Landing Force Operations, during the war. One of the most interesting insights provided by the author is the food and personnel equipment of the three marines corps.
- Charles Melson, US Marine Corps History Division.
With these words Charles Melson begins his excellent "Vietnam Marines 1965–73". Not only a book for the true military audience but a book on the special kind of warrior required to storm enemy positions without the means to retreat and during the most difficult movement in military warfare: the marines.
The movement from sea to land is a very grim one and requires a special kind of soldier. As the enemy will be free to shoot the marines while they are vulnerable during their forced entry, an amphibious force must be a force multiplier with high quality human material. A British journalist once especulated that the amphibious assault on the Falklands would be a massacre and the beaches would be littered with corpses of dead Royal Marines. As I already mentioned elsewhere, the marines first mission was to board enemy ships and fight in close quarters. For this reason some aspects of military training survived in the naval tradition of the sea soldier: marksmanship, to compensate for small numbers; and the will of closing in with the enemy in hand-to-hand combat.
This book starts with the South Vietnamese marines ("Sea Tigers"). They had a proud and interesting history. Born as Commandos of the French Dinassauts, the Sư Đoàn Thủy Quân Lục Chiến (TQLC or RVNMD) would become one of the most effective units of the South Vietnamese Armed Forces. Easily recognizable by their smartly and tight fitting "Sea Wave" uniforms - that caught the eye of an American advisor, and the Americans introduced it in their own forces as the "Tiger Stripes" - the Sea Tigers participated in every important campaign of the war, paying a high price for their reputation. They spent over 75% of their time in the field, the highest proportion in the Free World Forces, made an amphibious crossing across the Perfume River during the Battle of Hue (1968) and fought hard to take the Citadel of Quang Tri in 1972. In vicious house-to-house fighting in which almost one out of every four of the 8,000 ARVN Marines in the division had been killed or wounded during the operation, named Lam Son 72. The TQLC/RVNMD would fight until the bitter end, in 1975.
The book also presents the USMC and the ROK marines (which still used WWII-type weapons and uniforms). The USMC, ROKMC and the RVNMD conducted more than 72 small-scale amphibious landings, called Special Landing Force Operations, during the war. One of the most interesting insights provided by the author is the food and personnel equipment of the three marines corps.
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