This is the second volume in a series of chronological histories prepared by the Marine Corps History and Museums Division to cover the entire span of Marine Corps involvement in the Vietnam War. This volume details the Marine activities during 1965, the year the war escalated and major American combat units were committed to the conflict. The narrative traces the landing of the nearly 5,000-man 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade and its transformation into the ΙII Marine Amphibious Force, which by the end of the year contained over 38,000 Marines. During this period, the Marines established three enclaves in South Vietnam’s northernmost corps area, I Corps, and their mission expanded from defense of the Da Nang Airbase to a balanced strategy involving base defense, offensive operations, and pacification. This volume continues to treat the activities of Marine advisors to the South Vietnamese armed forces but in less detail than its predecessor volume, U.S. Marines in Vietnam, 1954-1964; The Advisory and Combat Assistance Era.
This is the first of a series of chronological histories prepared by the Marine Corps History and Museums Division to cover the entire span of Marine Corps involvement in the Vietnam conflict. This particular volume covers a relatively obscure chapter in U.S. Marine Corps history—the activities of Marines in Vietnam between 1954 and 1964. The narrative traces the evolution of those activities from a one-man advisory operation at the conclusion of the French-Indochina War in 1954 to the advisory and combat support activities of some 700 Marines at the end of 1964. As the introductory volume for the series this account has an important secondary objective: to establish a geographical, political, and military foundation upon which the subsequent histories can be developed.
U.S. Marines as advisors have a long history, from Presley O'Bannon atTripoli through Iraq and Afghanistan via Haiti, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, and Vietnam. While most Marines think of the Vietnamese Marine Corps as the primary advisory experience during that conflict, others served with various other advisory programs with the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Joint Special Operations, and U.S. Civil Operations and Rural Development Support. One of these is the subject of this study: Marine advisors with the Vietnamese Provincial Reconnaissance Units (PRUs). This narrative is a combination of experience, research, and reflection. While other journalistic or academic accounts have been published, this is a narrative of participants. Many historians consider the two most effective counterinsurgency organizations employed during the Vietnam War to have been the PRU and USMC Combined Action Platoons (CAP). In both cases, U.S. Marines played a significant role in the success of these innovative programs. It should be pointed out, however, that the number of U.S. Marines assigned to these programs was small and the bulk of the forces were locally recruited fighters. Both programs used a small cadre of Marines providing leadership, training, and combat support for large numbers of indigenous troops, and in so doing, capitalized on the inherent strengths of each. The author believes that both of these programs have applicability in any counterinsurgency where U.S. forces are called upon to assist a host government. Obviously, adjustments to these programs would have to be made to take into account local conditions, but the core concept of providing U.S. Marines to command or advise local militia and special police units is one that has great promise for success. With a clear understanding of why the PRUs and CAPs worked, and with the necessary adjustments to take into account local conditions, similar units can be created to defeat future insurgencies. With this in mind, the author hopes that this work will provide U.S. military planners with insights into creating and managing units capable of defeating a well-organized and highly motivated insurgent political infrastructure
This book was donated as a part of the David H. Hugel Collection, an archival collection of the Special Collections & Archives, University of Baltimore.
This publication represents the ninth volume in an operational and chronological series covering the Marine Corps’ participation in the Vietnam War. This particular volume details the final chapter in the Corps’ involvement in South-East Asia, including chapters on Cambodia, the refugees, and the recovery of the container ship SS Mayaguez. Although largely written from the perspective of the III Marine Amphibious Force, this volume also describes the roles of the two joint commands operating in the region: the Defense Attaché Office, Saigon, and the United States Support Activities Group, Thailand. Thus, while the volume emphasizes the Marine Corps’ role in the events of the period, significant attention also is given to the overall contribution of these commands in executing U.S. policy in South-east Asia from 1973 to 1975. Additionally, a chapter is devoted to the Marine Corps’ role in assisting thousands of refugees who fled South Vietnam in the final weeks of that nation’s existence.
NOTE: NO FURTHER DISCOUNT FOR THIS PRINT PRODUCT-- OVERSTOCK SALE -- Significantly reduced list price The period after World War II saw a number of associated Marine Corps formed in the republics of China, Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand. They had been founded, with the help of foreign military aid, to fight the various conflicts to contain communist expansion in the region. Also present at various times were other Marines from the Netherlands, France, and Great Britain. The beginnings of the Cold War witnessed this proliferation of amphibious forces in Asia, in part because of the reputation the U.S. Marines had earned in the cross Pacific drive against Japan and in other postwar confrontations. This publication is about one of these, the Vietnamese Marine Corps or Thuy Quan Luc Chien (TQLC). This occasional paper provides documents on the topics of the Vietnamese Marines and the U.S. Marine Advisory Unit from this period. Marine Corps History Division Occasional Paper. Prepared by the U.S. Marine Advisory Unit, Naval Advisory Group. Compiled and edited by Charles D. Melson and Wanda J. Renfrow. Related products: Mounted Combat in Vietnam is available here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-029-00574-3 Advice and Support: The Early Years, 1941-1960 (Paperback) is available here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-029-00508-5 Military Communications: A Test for Technology (Paperbound) is available here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-020-01035-9 Other products produced by the United States (U.S.) Marine Corps (USMC) can be found here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/agency/922 "
The Vietnamese Marines were a proud and well disciplined combat force, generally committed on short notice for independent or joint ground operations. They were the fire brigade of the Armed Forces of South Vietnam. Little has been known or written about one of the most elite combat units of the Vietnam War -- the Vietnamese Marines -- until now. This is their story and that of their American Advisors (CO VANs) who served with them; it is a book of lasting value with personal stories and photographs from the Marines who were there. While others abandoned and retreated, the Vietnamese Marines fought and died with their U.S. Marine Advisors by their sides -- not one major Vietnamese Marine Corps unit surrendered! This is not only the story of the Advisors and the U.S. Advisory unit but also, the history of the Vietnamese Marine Corps that evolved in 1954, from a few naval commando and French riverine force units, through nineteen years of never-ending combat into a highly elite military organization; a unit fiercely proud of its accomplishments and fighting ability, a unit that symbolized the title Marines. Warriors of the Sea is the book that finally tells the true story of the Vietnamese Marines and provides an insight into the courage, leadership, dedication and tenacity of another skilled group of Marines -- the US Marine Advisors -- who lived with, advised and trained their Vietnamese counterparts. It is through them that you are shown at close quarters the action, heartbreak and humor, violence and terror of combat alone. The heat, monsoon rains, smells and sounds with the strangeness of the Orient comes alive on each page. For Marines of all eras, it is a must for your library; for the historian, hobbyist, and the military enthusiast it is a collectors item. There are rare photographs, like the French Marine Advisors; original color plates of the Marine medals, patches, flags and uniforms. Anyone interested in Vietnam and the elite forces who fought there will relish the viewing and reading about the honorable heroics of the Sea Tigers and their American Advisors."
This is the fourth volume in an operational and chronological series covering the U.S. Marine Corps’ participation in the Vietnam War. This volume details the change in focus of the III Marine Amphibious Force (III MAF), which fought in South Vietnam’s northernmost corps area, I Corps. This volume, like its predecessors, concentrates on the ground war in I Corps and III MAF’s perspective of the Vietnam War as an entity. It also covers the Marine Corps participation in the advisory effort, the operations of the two Special Landing Forces of the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet, and the services of Marines with the staff of the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. There are additional chapters on supporting arms and logistics, and a discussion of the Marine role in Vietnam in relation to the overall American effort.
U.S. Marines as advisors have a long history, from Presley O'Bannon atTripoli through Iraq and Afghanistan via Haiti, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, and Vietnam. While most Marines think of the Vietnamese Marine Corps as the primary advisory experience during that conflict, others served with various other advisory programs with the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Joint Special Operations, and U.S. Civil Operations and Rural Development Support. One of these is the subject of this study: Marine advisors with the Vietnamese Provincial Reconnaissance Units (PRUs). This narrative is a combination of experience, research, and reflection. While other journalistic or academic accounts have been published, this is a narrative of participants. Many historians consider the two most effective counterinsurgency organizations employed during the Vietnam War to have been the PRU and USMC Combined Action Platoons (CAP)
This is the third volume in an operational and chronological series covering the Marine Corps’ participation in the Vietnam War. This particular volume details the continued build-up in 1966 of the III Marine Amphibious Force in South Vietnam’s northernmost corps area, I Corps, and the accelerated tempo of fighting during the year—the result being an “expanding war.” Although written from the perspective of III MAF and the ground war in I Corps, the volume treats the activities of Marine advisors to the South Vietnamese Armed Forces, the Seventh Fleet Special Landing Force, and Marines on the staff of the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, in Saigon. There are separate chapters on Marine air, artillery, and logistics. An attempt has been made to place the Marine role in relation to the overall effort.
