Victory in Vietnam: The Official History of the People's Army of Vietnam, 1954-1975

by Merle L. Pribbenow (Translator)

Overview

What was for the United States a struggle against creeping Communism in Southeast Asia was for the people of North Vietnam a "great patriotic war" that saw its eventual victory against a military Goliath. The story of that conflict as seen through the eyes—and the ideology—of the North Vietnamese military offers readers a view of that era never before seen.

Victory in Vietnam is the People's Army of Vietnam's own account of two decades of struggle, now available for the first time in English. It is a definitive statement of the Vietnamese point of view concerning foreign intrusion in their country since before American involvement—and it reveals that many of the accepted truths in our own histories of the war are simply wrong.

This detailed account describes the ebb and flow of the war as seen from Hanoi. It discloses particularly difficult times in the PAVN's struggle: 1955-59, when Diem almost destroyed the Communist movement in the South; 1961-62, when American helicopter assaults and M-113 armored personnel carriers inflicted serious losses on their forces; and 1966, when U.S. troop strength and air power increased dramatically. It also elaborates on the role of the Ho Chi Minh Trail in the Communist effort, confirming its crucial importance and telling how the United States came close to shutting the supply line down on several occasions.

The book confirms the extent to which the North orchestrated events in the South and also reveals much about Communist infiltration—accompanied by statistics—from 1959 until the end of the war. While many Americans believed that North Vietnam only began sending regular units south after the U.S. commitment of ground forces in 1965, this account reveals that by the time Marines landed in Da Nang in April 1965 there were already at least four North Vietnamese regiments in the South.

Translator Merle Pribbenow, who spent several years in Saigon during the war, has sought to render as accurately as possible the voice of the PAVN authors, retaining much of the triumphant flavor of the text in order to provide an uncensored feel for the Vietnamese viewpoint. A foreword by William J. Duiker, author of Ho Chi Minh: A Life and other books on Vietnam, puts both the tone and content of the text in historical perspective.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780700622313
Publisher:	University Press of Kansas
Publication date:	05/01/2002
Series:	Modern War Studies
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	520
Sales rank:	982,657
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Merle L. Pribbenow served as a language officer, operations officer, and staff officer for the CIA from 1968 to 1995, including five years in Saigon at the end of the war. William J. Duiker is professor emeritus of history at Penn State University.

Table of Contents

Foreword: The History of the People’s Army, William J. Duiker

Translator’s Preface

List of Terminology

Introduction

Part I. Building the People’s Army into a Regular, Modern Armed Force: Maintaining and Developing Revolutionary Armed Forces in the South, 1954-1960

1. Urgently Reorganizing Our Forces: Preparations to Deal with a New Enemy

2. The People’s Army Begins to Build a Modern, Regular Army: Maintaining Our Armed Teams in South Vietnam

3. The Developments of Our Armed Forces during the General Uprising Movement: The Birth of Transportation Group 559

Part II. Intensifying the Work of Building a Modern, Regular Army, Expanding Our Massed Forces in South Vietnam, and Defeating the “Special Warfare” Strategy of the American Imperialists, 1961-1965

4. Developing Forces, Building a Battle Posture, and Preparing for a New Struggle

5. Increasing the Combat Strength of Our Main Force Mobile Troops and Developing Our Massed Troops on the Battlefields of South Vietnam

6. Intensifying Massed Combat Operations: Fighting Alongside the Entire Population to Defeat the American Imperialist “Special War” Strategy

Part III. The People’s Army of Vietnam Simultaneously Fights and Conducts Force Building and, Together with the Entire Population, Defeats the “Limited Warfare” Strategy of the American Imperialists, 1965-1968

7. Rapidly Expanding Our Forces and Continuing the Offensive: Initial Victories Over the Americans

8. Increasing Our Combat Power: Defeating the American Expeditionary Army in South Vietnam and the American Air Force in North Vietnam

9. The People’s Army, Together with the Entire Population, Conducts the General Offensive and Uprising of Tet 1968

Part IV. The People’s Army of Vietnam Launches Large-Scale Combined-Arms Operations and, Together with the Entire Population, Partially Defeats the U.S. Imperialists’ Strategy to “Vietnamize” the War, 1969-1972

10. Maintaining Our Main Force Elements in South Vietnam, Conducting Counterattacks and Offensives, and Developing a New Strategic Posture

11. Increasing Our Ability to Conduct Combined-Arms Operations and Intensifying Counterattacks and Offensives in the Three Nations of Indochina, 1970-1791

12. The People’s Army, Local Armed Forces, and the Entire Population Launch the 1972 Strategic Offensive and Defeat the Enemy’s Second War of Destruction Against North Vietnam

13. Air Defense and Air Force Units Conduct an Anti-Aircraft Campaign: Defeating the B-52 Strategic Bombing Raids Conducted by the American Imperialists

Part V. The Formation of Strategic Army Corps: The Entire Nation Urgently Prepares and Launches the Spring 1975 General Offensive and Uprising, Bringing the Resistance War against the United States to Save the Nation to a Victorious Conclusion 1973-1975

14. Developing Mobile Main Force Corps-Sized Units, Combating Enemy Efforts to Capture Our Territory, Creating a New Battlefield Posture, and Preparing for the General Offensive and Uprising

15. Striking with Combined-Arms Power: Seizing the City of Ban Me Thuot, Liberating the Central Highlands, and Opening the Way for the Spring 1975 General Offensive and Uprising

16. Seizing the Opportunity: The Armed Forces of Military Region Tri-Thien, Military Region 5, and 2nd Corps Coordinate Attacks to Liberate Hue, Danage, and the Provinces of Central Vietnam

17. The Ho Chi Minh Campaign: The People’s Army and the Entire Nation Fight the Decisive Battle to Liberate Saigon and the Provinces of Cochin China, Bringing the War against American to Save the Nation to a Glorious Conclusion

Conclusion

Notes

Index

Editorial Reviews

"An important . . . book . . . well worth reading. A unique addition to the history of the war. . . . While heavily laced with Marxist-Leninist rhetoric and Socialist propaganda, the book offers unique, often surprising insights."—Military Review

"A significant addition to the historiography of the Vietnam War. . . . The importance of this book is that it provides the viewpoint of our enemy during our longest and probably most controversial war."—Armor

"This book is important and will serve as an essential source for those writing about the Vietnam War. If for no other reason, scholars and students will be able to refer to it to discover the official Hanoi position on various aspects of the war."—The Historian

"This translation offers Asian specialists of all disciplines, military and political historians, and students of revolutionary movements a wealth of information, much of it previously unavailable in any language, and a critical perspective that are certain to stimulate controversy and suggest new avenues of research for decades to come. As such, Victory in Vietnam is essential reading."—Journal of Asian Studies

"This book, the definitive statement of the Vietnamese communist point of view, reveals that many of the accepted truths in our own histories of the war are simply wrong."—Air & Space Power Journal


"Merle Pribbenow's fine translation of this important PAVN official history of the war from 1954 to 1975 contains much detail never before available in English. . . . A valuable resource for serious students of the Vietnam War."—Edwin E. Moïse, author of Tonkin Gulf and the Escalation of the Vietnam War

"Pribbenow's skillful and graceful translation provides valuable insights into many aspects of the Vietnam War from the North Vietnamese perspective, which is often surprisingly candid. He deserves our thanks for making this important volume accessible to a wider audience."—Lewis Sorley, author of A Better War

"Fills a yawning gap in the growing literature on the Vietnam War."—William J. Duiker, author of Ho Chi Minh: A Life

From the Publisher - EBOOK COMMENTARY

"An important . . . book . . . well worth reading. A unique addition to the history of the war. . . . While heavily laced with Marxist-Leninist rhetoric and Socialist propaganda, the book offers unique, often surprising insights."—Military Review

"A significant addition to the historiography of the Vietnam War. . . . The importance of this book is that it provides the viewpoint of our enemy during our longest and probably most controversial war."—Armor

"This book is important and will serve as an essential source for those writing about the Vietnam War. If for no other reason, scholars and students will be able to refer to it to discover the official Hanoi position on various aspects of the war."—The Historian

"This translation offers Asian specialists of all disciplines, military and political historians, and students of revolutionary movements a wealth of information, much of it previously unavailable in any language, and a critical perspective that are certain to stimulate controversy and suggest new avenues of research for decades to come. As such, Victory in Vietnam is essential reading."—Journal of Asian Studies

"This book, the definitive statement of the Vietnamese communist point of view, reveals that many of the accepted truths in our own histories of the war are simply wrong."—Air & Space Power Journal

"Merle Pribbenow’s fine translation of this important PAVN official history of the war from 1954 to 1975 contains much detail never before available in English. . . . A valuable resource for serious students of the Vietnam War."—Edwin E. Moïse, author of Tonkin Gulf and the Escalation of the Vietnam War

"Pribbenow’s skillful and graceful translation provides valuable insights into many aspects of the Vietnam War from the North Vietnamese perspective, which is often surprisingly candid. He deserves our thanks for making this important volume accessible to a wider audience."—Lewis Sorley, author of A Better War

"Fills a yawning gap in the growing literature on the Vietnam War."—William J. Duiker, author of Ho Chi Minh: A Life

From the Publisher