by Max Hastings
‘This was conceivably’ Dobrynin p.170
‘In Moscow there was’ ibid. p.143
‘they offered Humphrey’s’ ibid. p.175
‘You were liable’ AI Koltes 11.10.16
‘Today we are ninth’ USMCA Minehan letters A/5/L/3/5
‘We won a campaign’ Abrams Tapes 29.6.68 p.8
‘It seems to me’ ibid. 17.8.68 p.29
‘Both candidates would’ ibid. p.40
‘Abrams’ assessment’ FRUS 1964–68 VII: p.189
‘The retail concept’ Hunt 9th Division p.106
‘Yet the men who’ Abrams Tapes 27.9.69 p.27
‘My experiences, I believe’ Haponski p.328
‘I don’t give’ AI Hall 12.11.16
‘It was no longer’ Nixon, Richard No More Vietnams p.96
Chapter 21 – Nixon’s Inheritance
‘How can this’ Scotton p.235
‘A cold breeze’ Tram 14.2.69 p.91
‘with the tens’ Kissinger, Henry Ending the Vietnam War Simon & Schuster 2003 p.8
‘He ordered that’ Daddis, Greg Withdrawal Oxford 2017 p.41
‘allied forces had no’ ibid. p.33
‘He wrote’ in April 1969
‘B-u-l-l-shit’ Abrams Tapes p.213
‘His orders were’ AI Hickman 5.2.16
‘It’s a tough war’ Whitt p.98
‘Its criminal to let’ Abrams Tapes 11.11.68 p.77
‘Greg Daddis observes’ Daddis Withdrawal p.19
‘I got progressively’ AI Thorne 3.3.16
‘Day and night’ Tram 11.6.69 p.125
‘The sobbing whispers’ Ninh p.4
‘where the enemy won’ Abrams Tapes p.79
‘Let’s be careful that we don’t’ ibid. p.154
‘We’ve got to defend’ ibid. p.139 5.3.69
‘adventurers, and to’ Braestrup p.515
‘At Tet, the press’ ibid. p.517
‘When Capt. Linwood Burney’ USAHEC Company Oral Histories Box 5 Folder 7
‘Abrams acknowledged’ Sorley Better War p.294
‘We had some fine’ USAHEC Company Commanders’ Oral Histories Box 18
‘Sir Ford’ Terry p.48
‘Capt. David Johnson took’ USAHEC Company Commanders’ Oral Histories Box 18 Folder 9
‘Now, why would people’ Abrams Tapes 21.2.70 p.379
‘Killen served less’ Solis pp.129–31
‘This was a deliberate’ ibid. p.193
‘never been so widespread’ ibid. p.110
‘Its narrative identified’ ibid. pp.110–12
‘Major Michael Barry’ USAHEC Medical Personnel Oral Histories files
‘a complete and utter’ AI Thorne 3.3.16
‘There is no reason’ Solis p.171
‘Judge-advocates … wrestled’ Borch, Frederic L. Judge Advocates in Vietnam: Army Lawyers in Southeast Asia 1959–75 Combat Studies Institute 2003 p.112
‘Tell a man to square’ USMCA Oral Histories Tape 4749 1970
‘large-scale riot’ Solis p.130
‘The soldier was different’ AI Hunt 13.11.16
‘The racial issue came’ AI Boomer 2.3.16
‘Even at some’ AI Freemantle 6.2.17
‘I did that motherfucker’ Solis pp.136–8
‘I’m not gonna’ Terry p.39
‘A Southern surgeon’ USAHEC Medical Personnel Oral Histories Mary Ellen Smith
‘Once the platoon’ AI Hall 12.11.16
‘Much as I loved’ AI Anthony 13.11.16
‘I wonder if some’ USMHA Sidney Berry Papers Box 38 3.10.65
‘One day in 1969’ AI Rogers 6.3.16
‘This country befell’ Terry p.256
‘It wasn’t a mess’ AI Smith 6.9.16
‘really first-class’ Abrams Tapes 5.8.69 p.245
‘The rest of them’ ibid.15.1.70 p.339
‘They were unbelievable’ AI Harrison 11.3.16
‘We always heard’ AI Freemantle 6.2.17
‘The 1966 Long Tan battle’ Luan p.427
‘The same major’ ibid. p.363
‘I really worried’ AI Franklin 16.4.17
‘thrust by Communist China’ this narrative owes much to Peter Edwards’ authoritative 2014 work Australia and the Vietnam War
‘I wouldn’t have missed’ AI Smith 6.9.16
‘On an Australian position’ ibid.
‘American Capt. Arthur Carey’ USAHEC Company Commanders’ Oral Histories Box 6 Folder 2
‘painstaking patrolling’ Michael O’Brien pp.166–7
‘I thought – if we’ AI Freemantle 6.2.17
‘Australian higher commanders’ Edwards p.327
‘It was always’ Michael O’Brien p.54
‘A single battalion’ ibid. p.242
‘a tragic example’ Edwards p.261
‘Funny place’ AI Franklin 16.2.16
‘Through the rest’ AI Smith 6.9.16
‘a load of crap’ Australian War Memorial PR87/157
‘He was really evil’ AI Smith 6.9.16
‘I wrote to the South African’ AI Freemantle 6.2.17
‘If a bloke really didn’t’ AI Smith 6.9.16
‘If they gave it to us’ AI Freemantle
‘Patience was the byword’ Michael O’Brien p.252
‘peasants, wrote an officer’ ibid. p.202
‘We’d sat down to listen’ AI Freemantle
‘Earlier fatal fraggings’ Edwards p.332
‘When no further’ AI Smith 6.9.16
‘that every second bloke’ ibid.
‘He got what he’ Michael O’Brien p.116
‘we were completely’ AI Smith 6.9.16
‘Vietnam was not’ Edwards p.410
‘Most want a united’ Wyndham MS p.17
‘Sitting on the hard’ Walrath, Brian Unpublished MS of Vietnam MAT experiences given to author
‘Those pilots seemed’ AI Stephens 17.5.16
‘Australian Cpl. Roy Savage’ Michael O’Brien p.39
‘Correspondent Neil Sheehan’ AI Sheehan 5.3.16
‘where my dad’ AI Hickman 6.2.16
‘I think we’ve got’ Abrams Tapes 10.3.69 p.140
‘There’s nothing really’ ibid. p.142
‘I like Henry’ Schlesinger Journals 14.12.69
‘Henry made the’ Haldeman, H.R. The Haldeman Diaries Berkley Books 1994 p.557 18.12.72
‘by being confronted’ Kissinger White House Years p.436
‘I want you to’ Nixon memoirs conversation of 20.10.69 p.399
‘more constructive’ Gaiduk p.220
‘as if we were’ Suri Kissinger and the American Century p.213
‘Conservative columnist’ LA Times 12.6.69
‘Where we are in’ FRUS 1969–76 VI p.400
‘Vietnamization was not’ Hughes, Ken Fatal Politics: The Nixon Tapes, the Vietnam War and the Casualties of Reelection University of Virginia 2015 p.180
‘Abrams said’ Abrams Tapes 9.2.70 p.364
‘In a war you’re supposed’ AI Thorne 6.2.16
Chapter 22 – Losing by Instalments
‘Boy, if the doves’ Abrams Tapes 5.3.69 p.151
‘We have to be tough’ Langguth p.565
‘It has taken some’ Abrams to Moorer quoted Sorley Better War p.206
‘less like a head of state’ West p.5
‘he watched Soviet’ Tran Bach Dang memoir pp.197–202
‘Their coarse olive-green’ Swain, Jon River of Time Heinemann 1995 p.41
‘the weapons I saw’ Abrams Tapes 10.5.70 p.414 & 6.5.70 p.415
‘either a blind leap’ Ramsey MS IV 34
‘We were sacrificing’ ibid. V 38
‘I think it’s clear’ Abrams Tapes 19.5.70 p.417
‘Our exertions were imbued’ Tang p.180
‘The whole affair’ ibid. p.183
‘an enduring gift’ ibid. p.213
‘Following the latest round’ Abrams Tapes 7.11.70 p.506
‘The mad do
g Nixon’ Tram 5.5.70 p.210 & 19.5.70 p.212
‘The disturbing thing’ Abrams Tapes 23.5.70 p.425
‘the consulate’s personnel’ Hayes, Paddy Queen of Spies Duckworth 2015 p.232
‘as unmistakably English’ Sir Michael Howard to the author 9.5.17
‘Lien Xo!’ – ‘Russian!’ Hayes p.222
‘described how they would try’ ibid. p.224
‘Many of us were’ Tang p.187
‘as far back as 1920’ ibid. p.190
‘they had sacrificed’ ibid. p.225
‘In the North, I had’ AI Dinh 9.7.16
‘Some were genuine’ ibid.
‘He didn’t want wine’ AI Snepp 10.9.16
‘I thought I was living’ AI Finlayson 20.1.17
‘though I would have’ AI Scotton 18.9.16
‘absolute savages’ AI Freemantle 6.2.17
‘My reasons were personal’ Kerrey, Bob When I Was a Young Man Harcourt 2002 p.150
‘Our actions were not’ ibid. p.185
‘He wrote that he felt’ ibid. p.255
‘First, they showed’ Gregory Vistica New York Times 25.4.2001
‘I don’t like it, either’ ibid.
‘they needed bodies’ AI Kerrey 15.11.16
‘Our story came out’ ibid.
‘I make no appeal for sympathy’ ibid.
‘You are far from home’ Finlayson Rice Paddy Recon p.265
‘We were going’ USAHEC Weyand Oral Histories transcript
‘The fighting wasn’t over’ Sorley Better War p.217
‘Lt. Mel Stephens’ AI Stephens 14.6.16
‘just like the Germans’ Abrams Tapes 6.5.70 p.412
‘was arguably a more’ Sorley Better War p.186
‘I have been thinking’ Schlesinger Journals 22.5.70 p.325
‘The logistics war’ MAC 14841 quoted Sorley Better War p.232
‘I recognize that’ ibid. p.233
‘Prepare to mobilize’ ibid. p.241
‘Our offensive capability’ Nghi Huynh et al. The Route 9–Southern Laos Counteroffensive Campaign 1971 Military History Institute of Vietnam 1987 p.5
‘So sure were’ ibid. pp.37–8; An memoir pp.105–6; Toan & Dinh pp.156–8
‘The enemy is all over’ Sorley Better War p.250
‘You’ve got a corps commander’ ibid. p.251
‘Kissinger willingly’ Palmer p.115
‘We’re in a real’ Abrams Tapes 27.2.71 p.549
‘more and more convinced’ ibid. 9.3.71 p.558
‘The reeds and tall grass’ An memoir p.110
‘The moon was’ Tran Van Thom ibid. p.131
‘An NVA soldier described’ ibid. p.135
‘We’ve got a public’ Abrams Tapes 27.3.71 p.578
‘that big horse’ ibid.15.4.71 p.592
‘There’s a cultural’ ibid. 20.5.71 p.624
‘The air mobility concept’ ibid. 26.4.71 p.608
‘the rest of the ARVN’ AI Pribbenow 9.11.16
‘If there were any’ AI Destatte 12.9.16
‘Lam Son 719 told us’ AI Snepp 10.9.16
‘President Nixon and those’ Sorley interview with Haig 29.11.88 quoted Better War p.263
‘By that time, of course’ Haig, Alexander Inner Circles p.276
‘We can’t have [South Vietnam]’ White House tapes quoted Hughes p.8
‘Of course I couldn’t’ ibid. p.9
‘The war is gradually’ message Vann to Potts May 1971 quoted Sorley Better War p.273
‘Abrams was solemnly’ Abrams Tapes 2.1.71 p.519
‘After further elaborate’ ibid. 28.2.70 p.383
‘Eventually, only the general’ ibid. 20.6.71 p.641
Chapter 23 – Collateral Damage
‘The war didn’t make’ Keith Nolan p.16. Much of the account that follows of the American experience on Mary Ann derives from interviews conducted for his book Sappers in the Wire: The Life and Death of Firebase Mary Ann Texas A & M 2007
‘These people never did’ ibid. pp.16–17
‘in which patrols refused’ Walrath MS
‘This company really is’ Nolan Sappers p.25
‘Spilberg used to get’ ibid. p.39
‘This apparently was’ Abrams Tapes 29.1.72 p.774
‘The attackers were’ this account of the communist version of the night’s events is taken from the History of MR5 Sapper Troops p.258 et seq., History of the Sapper Forces Vol. I p.261, History of Chemical Troops 1958–2008 p.286 and Vietnam Military Encyclopedia p.1113, all published in Hanoi
‘Are you okay?’ Nolan Sappers p.145
‘I could hear’ ibid. p.147
‘I felt so good’ ibid. p.162
‘The Secretary [of the Army]’ USAHEC Abrams Papers 23.7.71 ARV2479 to McCaffery
‘I doubt that’ Walrath MS
‘You shouldn’t fool’ Abrams Tapes 22.5.71 p.628
‘Our air is going’ Abrams Tapes 5.5.71 p.613
‘From 1969 onwards’ the account that follows owes much to Mark Clodfelter’s 2016 National War College study Violating Reality: The Lavelle Affair, Nixon and Parsing the Truth
‘make maximum use’ ibid. p.16
‘to increase his airfield’ meeting of Nixon and NSC 2.2.72
‘wild-eyed’ Clodfelter Violating p.40
‘[Lavelle] acted against’ Senate AFC Hearings 13.9.72 p.79
‘So we get through’ White House Tapes 29.5.71 quoted Hughes p.29
‘Americans could never’ AI Sheehan 5.3.16
‘Oh, don’t worry’ Polgar quoted in Kim Willenson The Bad War p.102
‘I’m just about’ AI Franklin 16.2.16
Chapter 24 – The Biggest Battle
‘working at something’ Abrams Tapes 22.12.71 p.724
‘We don’t know when or where’ ibid. 31.12.71 p.734
‘There is no doubt’ ibid. p.753
‘For the first time since 1965’ ibid. p.758
‘The show is on!’ ibid. p.775
‘to go to the weakest thing’ ibid.10.2.72 p.778
‘reasonable interval’ Hughes p.175
‘The communists were’ USAHEC Weyand Oral Histories interview
‘I’m probably’ White House Tapes conversation 532-011 30.6.71 quoted Hughes p.29
‘Getting our PoWs back’ Clodfelter Friction p.33
‘while ten were both’ Luan p.395
‘Gen. Ngo Dzu’s contribution’ Scotton p.288
‘So we are not forced to kill’ Young p.53
‘It’s what I do’ AI Boomer 2.3.16
‘the world came apart’ AI Turley 2.3.16
‘Lam would not report’ Vien in Sorley Generals p.306
‘In this case’ USAHEC Weyand Oral Histories transcript
‘a fortunate precaution’ Turley, Gerald H. The Easter Offensive: The Last American Advisors in Vietnam 1972 Naval Institute Press 1985 p.139
‘A Marine lieutenant-colonel’ Abrams Tapes 2.4.72 p.805
‘The key issue is’ AI Turley 4.2.16
‘This gave the enemy’ Turley p.202
‘not without the approval’ ibid. p.146
‘Somehow blow up’ Botkin, Richard Ride the Thunder WND Books 2009 p.235
‘They seemed to be’ Turley p.177
‘If we continue’ Wiest p.259
‘pudgy and apathetic’ ibid. p.241
‘some problems’ ibid. p.242
‘for reasons he’ Turley p.165
‘Vann had gone off his’ AI Elliott 23.9.16
‘the structure was reduced’ Hai p.73
‘The battalion prepared’ ibid. p.78
‘All right, I’ll’ ibid. p.82
‘If we just sit’ ibid. p.84
‘You guys read’ ibid. p.85
‘The NVA FO’ John Duffy to the author 1.11.16
‘That was just like’ Phuong Quang in Cavalry June 2006 p.101
‘What Giap’s got on’ Abrams Tapes 7.4.72 p.813
‘Ba, do your best’ Ly Tong Ba memoir
p.176
‘I was terrified’ AI Hung 8.10.16
‘It was all just’ ibid.
‘No one in their right’ AI Ninh 7.10.16
‘the most professionally’ Abrams Tapes 12.6.71 p.639
‘The staff did not’ Phi Long quoted in Huy Duc p.431
‘God, how can one’ Phuong Quang p.103
‘The ARVN haven’t lost’ Abrams Tapes 12.5.72 p.841
‘The last three hundred’ Khuyen p.57
‘There were hundreds’ ibid. p.70
‘Hue seemed a lawless’ Luan p.401
‘Wife Hoa to husband’ ibid. p.402
‘My only surviving son’ Young p.53
‘Luan suggested’ ibid. p.407
‘It was a hell on earth’ Ly Tong Ba memoir p.170
‘Our attacks began to slow’ Tuan Vol. IV p.383
‘The victory belonged’ Ba memoir p.177
‘You guys have’ this account chiefly derives from Nguyen, Quoc Khue ‘3rd Ranger Group and the Battle of An Loc/Binh Long’ Ranger Magazine Tet 2003 issue, page 77 et seq.
‘during which a Ranger’ ibid. p.87
‘Agonizing screams’ ibid. p.88
‘Our soldiers were’ ibid. p.96
‘in early-morning’ Armor Command (Bo Tu Lenh Thiet Giap) Some Battles Fought by Our Armored Troops Vol. IV General Staff Printing Hanoi 1983 p.42
‘[The communists] didn’t’ USAHEC Advisers’ Oral Histories Box 2 Folder 6
‘Right on the money!’ Khue p.102
‘communist historians admit’ Armor Command p.52
‘I should tell you’ AI Tran 9.7.16
‘The Airborne troops were’ USAHEC Oral Histories Box 2 Folder 6
‘If it had not been’ Abrams Tapes 9.5.72 p.847
‘A lot of people’ AI De 9.7.16
‘We had not fought’ Tuan Vol. IV p.397
‘If Vietnam was’ Sukhodrev, Victor Yazyk moi-drug moi (My Tongue is my Friend) Moscow 2008 p.112
‘Nixon listened’ ibid. p.114
‘Outside Quang Tri in June’ Huy Duc p.429
‘Neglect of logistics’ History of the Combat Operations Department 1945–2000, People’s Army Publishing House Hanoi 2005 online on quansuvyn website
‘The enemy was hammering’ An memoir p.171
‘It’s clear that’ ibid. p.173
‘Perhaps because’ ibid. p.179
‘The rainy season caused’ ibid. p.180
‘I am dying’ AI Hung 11.10.16
‘The losses had been’ AI Ninh 7.10.16
‘They were so proud’ AI Ly 15.9.16
‘just as they did’ Tang p.211
‘The paradox was’ ibid. p.205
‘seeing nearby shanty’ Luan p.389
‘We’ve got North Vietnamese’ Elliott Mekong Delta Vol. II p.1314
‘They’re standing’ ibid. p.1315
