Armies of the Vietnam War 1962-75 (Men-at-Arms) (Bk.1) (Paperback)

by Philip Katcher (Author), Mike Chappell (Illustrator) "In 1954 an international agreement divided Vietnam, formerly part of French Indo-China, in half at the 17th Parallel..." (more)
Key Phrases: three chevrons, single chevron, brown rectangles, Special Forces, Marine Corps, South Vietnam (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Philip Katcher provides an overview to the conflict that engulfed Vietnam following the division of the country into two along the 17th Parallel in 1954. The uniforms and insignia of the US forces, including the army, Special Forces, air force, navy and marine corps, are dealt with in detail, together with those of the ARVN, the Allied Forces (such as the Royal Thai Army and Korean troops), and also the Communist NLF (Viet Cong) and NVA forces. Mike Chappell's colourful artwork provides plenty of detail to accompany this authoritative text.

From the Publisher
Packed with specially commissioned artwork, maps and diagrams, the Men-at-Arms series is an unrivalled illustrated reference on the history, organisation, uniforms and equipment of the world's military forces, past and present.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 48 pages
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing (July 24, 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0850453607
• ISBN-13: 978-0850453607
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.2 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,382,095 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Superseded by Later More Detailed Works, December 22, 2001

By	El Cutachero (MD USA) - See all my reviews

Though I have had this book for a long time, I have seldom looked at it. As a specialist in this period and a veteran of the Cold War Army I have studied this period in real time since the fifties.
In any case, the book is now obsolescent except for the color illustrations. At the age of 23 it has long been superseded by the works of Shelby Stanton (c.f.) and others.
The author did serve in Vietnam but since we were there for eight years, as often stated, due to the replacement system, we fought eight different one year wars, not one eight year war.
Those who were there in 1965 and earlier looked like those who served in the 1950s, by the end of the war, the soldiers' clothing and equipment was totally revised and had gone through two cycles of development and entering on a third which began during the last years of US participation and remained in use till the late eighties.
So you cannot generalize about VM, you need to know where someone was, and most important, when.
This book is simply not comprehensive enough nor is its companion in this series (#143), which was an attempt to fill in the gaps left by this one.
Every national contingent who served in VM could well support its own study, the Australians and the South Koreans come readily to mind.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Quickie overview of Vietnam-era Uniforms, August 6, 2003

By	rampageous_cuss (Under Billy Penn's Hat) - See all my reviews

I found this 40-odd page booklet to be a great disappointment. Mike Chappell has a decent ability to depict uniforms and equipment, but his faces are truly bizarre. The handful of colour plates, most of which do not depict issue uniforms, are not nearly sufficient to cover the various armies that fought in Vietnam. There are no separate depictions of weapons or equipment. There are tables of U.S. and Vietnames rank insignia, but they are in black and white.

If you are looking for a first-hand account of modifications to U.S. uniforms, this booklet would be useful.