Wild Rose (Patterson Memorial)

Phase line green, the battle for Hue, 1968, Nicholas Warr

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages xxii-xxv) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Phase line green

bibliography

35741948

Nicholas Warr

the battle for Hue, 1968

The bloody, monthlong battle for the Citadel in Hue pitted U.S. Marines against an entrenched, numerically superior North Vietnamese army force. By official U.S. accounts it was a tactical and moral victory for the Marines and the United States. But a survivor's compulsion to square official accounts with his contrasting experience has produced an entirely different perspective of the battle, the most controversial to emerge from the Vietnam War in decadesIn some of the most frank, vivid prose to come out of the war, author Nicholas Warr describes with urgency and outrage the Marines' savage house-to-house fighting, ordered without air, naval, or artillery support by officers with no experience in this type of deadly combat. Sparing few in the telling, including himself, Warr's shocking firsthand narrative of these desperate suicide charges - which devastated whole companies - takes the wraps off an incident that many would prefer to keep hiddenHis account is sure to ignite heated debate among historians and military professionalsDespite senseless rules of engagement and unspeakable carnage, there were unforgettable acts of courage and self-sacrifice performed by ordinary men asked to accomplish the impossible, and Warr is at his best relating these stories. For example, there's the grenade-throwing mortarman who, in a rage, wipes out two machine-gun emplacements that had pinned down an entire company for daysAnd the fortunate grunt with thick glasses who stumbles blindly - without receiving a scratch - across a street littered with the dead and dying who hadn't made it. Nicholas Warr's riveting account of the most vicious urban combat since World War II offers an unparalleled view of how a small unit commander copes with the conflicting demands and responsibilities thrust upon him by the enemy, his men, and the chain of command

A conversation with a dead dog -- The longest night -- Lang Co Village: in the eye of the storm -- Phu bai: mess hall chow -- Wading through deep shit -- The citadel -- Whiskey boats on the perfume river -- The backdoor approach -- Phase line green -- Coping with disaster: a dead dog day afternoon -- LIfe is renewed in the city of death -- The return of heavy firepower -- Snipers' lair -- The night movement -- Coke-bottle glasses -- Prisoner of war -- The effectiveness of chemical warfare -- Aftermath, and a dying pig

Battle for Hue, 1968