Into Cambodia, Spring Campaign, Summer Offensive, 1970

by Keith William Nolan

Uses interviews with soldiers to depict the secret incursion into Cambodia authorized by President Nixon and designed to destroy enormous caches of NVA food and ammunition carried down the Ho Chi Minh trail

Genres: History, Nonfiction, War, Asia

500 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Keith William Nolan was an American military historian, focusing on the various campaigns of the Vietnam War. Nolan obtained a history degree from Webster University. Nolan pioneered and excelled at his own special brand of military history: the excellent combining of in-depth interviews with those who took part in the fighting and deep research into the official records. That, along with a fluid writing style, added up to ten (eleven, counting one he co-authored) of the best books on Vietnam War military history. Keith Nolan died of lung cancer in February 2009 at the age of forty-five.

Reviews

[Wanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A long, depressing read at 548 pages plus a preface and introduction. It is written in clear, straightforward no-nonsense prose that is somewhat difficult to wade through because of the relentless (but I suppose necessary) use of military jargon and acronyms. The glossary is thorough, however, and that's a help.
I confess I couldn't follow some of the battle action--no fault of the author, I just couldn't grasp what was going on. It could be that the author assumed that whoever was reading would already have a basic understanding of everything.
I did highlight a few passages that stood out for me:

"Troops can't afford a commander who feels sorry for them."
"An enemy left to slip away would be there the next day to blow you away."
"Without hesitation, we would spend a million dollars in artillery shells rather than risk one GI's life."
"What the U.S. Army now had in the jungle were 21-year-old lieutenants and 20-year-old sergeants running rifle platoons of 19-year-old kids."
"After the 1968 Tet Offensive, Washington, faced with an enemy that had finally stood up to their firepower and been decimated, negated their advantage by stopping the bombing and placing their faith instead with negotiations. Likewise, after the 1970 Cambodian incursion, Washington used the breathing space afforded them not to press on--not to cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, to cross the DMZ, to shut down Haiphong and Hanoi--but to accelerate the withdrawals. There were many who could commiserate with the bitter comments of one infantry battalion operations officer: 'After Cambodia, you couldn't pick a fight. If only we had persisted we would have won the war.'"
And the conclusion of Joseph B. Andersen, Jr., the CO of B/2-5 Cavalry after losing three men in a fight to seize an enemy cache:
"From that time in June until I gave up the company in November, we didn't receive another single shot. We'd wiped out all their supplies and demoralized them so greatly that they were not ready to fight. As we ran our patrols, we would find they were trailing us so they could eat our garbage, the stuff we'd thrown away. As a company commander, I did not have any feel for the political and international ramifications of going into Cambodia. But as a guy who had to live or die by how well the enemy was equipped or fought, there was no doubt in my mind that the correlation was very great between us going into Cambodia and then not taking any more heat from the enemy."

Once again the USA seized defeat from the jaws of victory.
We're good at that.
Practice makes perfect.

[Frederick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great "combat narrative" but if you are looking for the larger picture of strategy and diplomacy look elsewhere. For students of the Cold War this book will not be very meaningful. For those who fought in Southeast Asia or who lost friends or relatives there this book will be very meaningful. It is filled with well-told combat stories that reveal what it was like to fight in America's most controversial war. It wasn't what I was looking for but it is definitely an exciting narrative of blood-and-gore combat tales.

[Skip Unger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an engrossing account of the two month invasion of Cambodia by US forces in May-June 1970 toward the end of the Vietnam War. While the strategy and decision is addressed the real focus of the book is a detailed account from the viewpoints of individual soldiers at the Company/Squadron level and below. Reading this book I really felt like I was back in uniform so real and authentic are the descriptions of a soldiers life in the field. The author doesn't engage in politics and simply narrates the experiences and lets the chips fall where they may. Engaging, enraging, sad and heroic all at the same time. Recommended for military history buffs or those interested in the lot of the common soldier during the Vietnam War.

[R Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting little known story

Very mind and spirit provoking military, historical book. Looking back in history, sometimes we seem to miss the pertinent. Objects, that are shown to us. We continue to make similar mistakes now with devastating consequences for young soldiers. History and fools like this are meant to show is where we big things wrong to help is sort it the next time. I enjoyed this book very much.

[Dana Rudko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

A great history based on personal interviews and combat reports of the time. The Cambodian invasion had almost no coverage as it occurred during the US pullout from Vietnam. This book fills this hole in the records and was actually one of the last successful US operations of the war. Maybe that’s why the US press didn’t promote it.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Nolan as a Vietnam War historian. This particular work does not disappoint. This is a detailed and action-packed account of the invasion of Cambodia. The invasion was code named OPERATION BOLD LANCER, or in Vietnamese, TOAN THANG 44. Along with Nolan's "Into Laos," this is a gripping account of the late stage of the war ('70), told from the point of view of both the brass and the grunt in the foxhole. It's easy for arm-chair Generals to second guess after the fact, but reading this I was surprised at how wildly successful the troops were in destroying materiel and disrupting the North Vietnamese Army infrastructure once they were allowed to do so.

A must-read for Military Historians and recommended for Asian Studies.

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, that was difficult. I found this at a local antique shop and thought it would be an interesting insight into the Vietnam War. It's structured well, following a few groups of soldiers through a localized conflict towards the end of the war, but it lacks the larger scope that I was hoping for. There are some great stories here though. There's one about command intentionally allowing an outpost to fall under heavy assault, just to test out a new resupplying tactic, and another about trying to keep the Cambodian Incursion a secret for as long as possible. If I had a better grasp of the context, I'd likely get more out of it, but otherwise, it's a lot of one thing after another.

[Yong Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the best military history books I have read in a longtime. Scars of conflict are still everywhere in Cambodia and I imagine in the hearts of the 19 and 20 year olds who gave all 45 years ago.