Customer Reviews

The Lost Battalion: Controversy and Casualties in the Battle of Hue

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4 star:		(2)
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I was the 2-12 Cav S-2 from January 2000 to July 2001, this book is everything a staff officer should and must read. I came upon the book because it was about my unit, it has been deliberately overlooked by army professional reading lists. Mr. Krohn's account highlights the unfathomable value of honesty and integrity in our profession; the lack thereof causes lives. An excellent read, a heart-wrenching story even today for those who were not there. "Those who do not study the past are doomed to repeat it." Thank you Mr. Krohn.

Charles Krohn has presented a well researched book that sheds new light on a complicated battle, the fighting for Hue City during Tet. His book is a valuable addition to history because it specifically deals with a regularly overlooked topic: the 2/12 Cavalry's involvement in the battle for Hue and it's fight against the NVA headquarters there. He was there. In addition, he touches upon the battalion's earlier fighting in the Que Son Valley.

I WAS MEMBER OF A/2/12CAV. DURING THE BATTLE OF HUE. I WOULD LIKE TO THANK CHARLES KROHN FOR BRINGING SOME PEACE INTO MY LIFE. FOR YEARS I HAD BEEN BITTER TOWARDS COL. SWEET FOR WHAT HAPPENED TO ME AND MY COMRADES. I REALIZE NOW, I WAS WRONG AND I WOULD NOT BE HERE TODAY IF IT WERE NOT FOR COL. SWEET. 30 YEARS LATER I HAVE RELIVED EVERY MOMENT OF THE THON LA CHU BATTLE, THANKS TO ACCURATE PORTRAYAL BY CHARLES KROHN.

I have always been interested in learning as much as I could about the various battles my husband was in. A friend from America On Line (2/12,B Co.) told me about this book. I bought it and read it aloud to my husband and myself. He was almost repeating the words to me as I was reading them. The accounting of the story was true, all of it. I spoke to Mr. Krohn a few years ago and told him thanks for writing this book. My husband was with the 2/12, Co C and he lost his best friend, Henry E Casias on 4 Feb,68. "Hank" was one of those that had to be left behind wrapped in his poncho and buried with the others in the mortar pit to be retreived later by the 2/5 Cav. My husband still carries the scars of the war with him today.

Krohn was the intelligence officer for a battalion of the fabled 1st Cav Air Mobile Division that got caught with its pants down when the NVA staged its surprise attack during the Tet holiday ceasefire. As far as I can tell it was not his fault that the attack came as a surprise. They knew something was coming but not how bad it would be. The division had moved its headquarters and left its big guns behind. When the NVA launched its offensive Krohn's battalion was sent on a march to relieve the Americans in Hue. They left their backpacks with their ponchos and other critical gear behind to be flown in later. They marched into an NVA regiment that was guarding the NVA command and control center for the attack on Hue and were ordered to march across an open field and attack, as the author says much like in the Charge of the Light Brigade. (I am not a vet so please excuse me if I don't have the terms down). Krohn's battalion was surrounded and outnumbered, with limited ammo, food, water and other necessities. The Army which usually provided heavy artillery support couldn't because the tubes were not in place, and when they did arrive the ammo still hadn't come in. Krohn's battalion fought off repeated attacks until they were so weakened they knew they would die if they stayed, and in a heroic night march they slipped through the NVA lines.
Krohn is a talented writer who had a central vantage point to a fiasco. He clearly loves the men he served and suffered with and is bitter, with justification, at the REMF's that let them down. One of his friends in the rear was so enraged at the lack of support that he pulled a .45 on another officer to get supplies out to the field. The battalion suffered 60% casualties. Krohn was discouraged from writing this book because it made the top brass in the division look so incompetent. He wrote it anyway and has done a great service. If Clinton had read it maybe the fiasco recounted in Blackhawk Down would have been avoided, and probably a lot of other similar tragedies that have not yet come to light.
This review is based on the new paperback edition.

Charles, I want to thank for writing this book. For years I lived with the memories, questioning what had happened. I was in Company D, and on Jan 3,1968 they did use a flame thrower, the guy just missed me. I became a WIA just days before the end of your book and I was able to relate my experience during this time. Again, Thank You, it really helped.

Lost Battalion is a great account and enlightened view of what happened to the 1st Air Cav's 2/12 during the TET offensive of 1968 at Hue and how its division leaders overshot their capabilities. The NVA beautifully executed a plan of attach. Who did it cost? The common soldier. A whole battalion left out to dry with no support from one of the best supplied divisions in Vietnam. Krohn's only shortcoming is that there is no account or point-of-view from the common foot soldier who suffered the most at the hands of poor generalling from Norton & the division hdqrts. This book helps amplify our understanding of the war if read in conjunction with other books like Bright & Shining Lie, Fortunate Son, The Things They Carried & Song of Napalm, for examples. -jack wright, 1st Cav 1966-67

I am one of the three Pathfinders with 2/12 and was in the foxhole to the left of Mr. Krohns. He did a wonderful job of telling it exactely the way it was. I can still remember that night as if it happened yesterday. I returned later with 5/7 and recovered the deceased troopers we had left behind.
Juan C. Gonzales(Night Jumper 4-2)

I have read this book. I was with A Co., 3rd. platoon during this time at Hue. It was a very trying time for all of us. I was also one of the people who was with Capt. Helvey when we went on our little night trip. The book talks so much about the first few days of the month of Febuary. In fact we were there for the whole month. It was Feb 24 that My machine gun crew was killed as we were trying to advance toward Hue, "AGAIN". To Broadus Dale Hilyer, "Rest in Peace" You were a great friend.
The book also reflects on the Que Son Valley. I have since had the pleasure to meet Jim Hietz who was wounded on Jan. 7, 1968. Jim was also in the 3rd platoon. We met for the first at a 1st Cav. reunion this year(2002), Wow, what memories we had to talk about. I will also add that I was and will forever be impressed with all the many fine people that I met at this reunion. History is in this book, good, bad, or indifferent, it is there for everyone to read.

George Patterson