United States Marine Corps in Vietnam: Rare Photographs from Wartime Archives

With the American-supported South Vietnamese government verging on collapse in early 1965, American President Lyndon Johnson decided to commit American conventional ground forces in the form of a United States Marine Corps (USMC) brigade of approximately 3,000 men on March 8, 1965. So began a massive and costly 10-year commitment. At its height in 1968, the USMC had 86,000 men in South Vietnam. Almost 500,000 Marines would eventually rotate in out of South Vietnam during their typical one-year tours of duty. In the end, the fighting during such well-known battles at Con Tien, Chu Lai, Hue, Khe Sanh and Dong Ha and thousands of now forgotten smaller-scale engagements would cost the USMC 13,070 killed in action and 88,630 wounded, more casualties than they suffered during the Second World War. In this book, well-known military historian Michael Green using hundreds of dramatic images tells the dramatic and gallant story of the Marines’ contribution to an unwinnable war; the battles, their equipment, from rifles to helicopters and jets, and the strategy adopted by the Corps. AUTHOR: Michael Green is the author of numerous acclaimed books in the Images of War series including Armour in Vietnam, USMC in WW2, US Navy Aircraft Carriers, US Battleships, The Patton Tank, US Naval Aviation, American Infantry Weapons, MI Abrams Tank, Combat Aircraft of the USAF, Allied Tanks of the Second World War, Allied AFVs of the Second World War, Axis Tanks of the Second World War, Axis AFVs of WW2, US Military Helicopters and United States Airborne Divisions 1942-2018. He lives in California.
250 colour and b/w illustrations