Book Review of
SOG
A Photo History of the Secret Wars
Author: John L. Plaster
Casemate Books
ISBN: 978-1-63624-084-8
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2022
MSRP: $49.95
ISBN: 978-1-63624-084-8
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2022
MSRP: $49.95
HISTORY:
The most highly classified covert operations of the Vietnam War were executed by the innocuously named Studies & Observations Group. Comprised exclusively of volunteers from America’s most elite special operations units – Army Special Forces, Air Force, Air Commandos, and Navy Seals. SOG (Studies & Operations Group) roamed along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, penetrated enemy sanctuaries in Cambodia, and sometimes even struck in the heartland of North Vietnam, all areas supposedly off limits to U.S. ground forces.
SOG was the Vietnam War’s only covert special warfare unit. It reported directly to the Joint Chiefs – and sometimes even the president himself – and all its missions were “black”. So well did SOG keep its secrets that only a handful of Vietnam veterans ever heard of it till long after the war was over, and most SOG men thought their missions would never be declassified.
In fact, when SOG was disbanded in 1972, its thousands of photographs and negatives were ordered burned and there it may have ended.
But, some SOG veterans had brought home personal copies of “official” photos taken on operations, along with thousands of personal snapshots. These photos lay hidden in dusty trunks and shoe boxes for more than three decades, until editor Plaster contacted hundreds of his secret war comrades and uncovered this wealth of photos.
The result is the greatest special operations photo collection ever assembled.This powerful book – filled with more than 700 photos, maps, and captured enemy documents – brings to life the heroic stories of these SOGT recon men, who put their lives in jeopardy day after day to complete these harrowing missions.
Anyone interested in special operations and military history is sure to find a wealth of detail and fascinating new information about America’s top-secret wars in Southeast Asia.
THE BOOK:
Casemate is both a book company and a distributor of other companies books, located in Havertown, PA.
This book is hard-bound, with a paper jacket that has fold-over flaps to hold it tight to the book.
The cover art is both on the jacket and the book itself.
It shows a color photo of a Recon men clinging to a rope ladder that is strung beneath a helicopter. This method was used to drop and pick up the men during MIssions. The helicopter is over the jungle.
The back of the book has 8 color photos of helicopters on it.
Inside the letter O in the word SOG on the cover art, there is a red shield, outlined in yellow, with yellow wings over a yellow starburst that has a white skull on it wearing a olive-drab hat, over a black banner that says MAC SOG in yellow on it.
The book contains 412 pages in 8 ½” x 11 ½” page format (5 pages are blank). The book is 1 ½” inches thick.
The book contains 466 black and white photos and 91 color ones.
Twenty-four color unit badges. Twenty-two maps of North Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Contestants from all sides of the conflict. A color photo of the Medal of Honor and ribbon.
There are aircraft photos of:
The H-34 Kingbee helicopter, the UH-1P, UH-1N, Huey, C-47, C-123, C-130 Blackbird, CM-3, Jolly Green Giant helicopter HH3, Cobra helicopter, Skyraider, OV-10, F-100 Super Sabre and S.P.A.F. Bird-dog.
Photos of buildings, aerial photos of the jungles and river launches.
Weapons shown are:
Mortars, daggers, a NVA (North Vietnamese Army) 37mm anti-aircraft gun, M-16, OAR-15, Sten Mark 115 machine-gun, M-60, a 1945 Karl Gustaf Swedish K machine-gun, M-1 carbines, a Sionics silent sniper carbine, an NVA armored-car, NVA Russian built trucks, NVA bicycles, a NVA 12.7mm anti-aircraft gun, an NVA twin-barreled 23mm gun, a suppressed XM21 sniper rifle, a M-79, an experimental pump-action grenade launcher, a RPG-7, a 60mm mortar, a CAR-15, a .45 cal automatic pistol, a suppressed .22 cal. high standard pistol, a Gyrojet rocket pistol, mines, a MAT-49, a suppressed Walther PPK .380.
Photos or paratroopers.
This is an interesting book. It will be mostly of interest to military historians than to modelers I’m afraid.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample. All Casemate books can be viewed on their website at:
The most highly classified covert operations of the Vietnam War were executed by the innocuously named Studies & Observations Group. Comprised exclusively of volunteers from America’s most elite special operations units – Army Special Forces, Air Force, Air Commandos, and Navy Seals. SOG (Studies & Operations Group) roamed along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, penetrated enemy sanctuaries in Cambodia, and sometimes even struck in the heartland of North Vietnam, all areas supposedly off limits to U.S. ground forces.
SOG was the Vietnam War’s only covert special warfare unit. It reported directly to the Joint Chiefs – and sometimes even the president himself – and all its missions were “black”. So well did SOG keep its secrets that only a handful of Vietnam veterans ever heard of it till long after the war was over, and most SOG men thought their missions would never be declassified.
In fact, when SOG was disbanded in 1972, its thousands of photographs and negatives were ordered burned and there it may have ended.
But, some SOG veterans had brought home personal copies of “official” photos taken on operations, along with thousands of personal snapshots. These photos lay hidden in dusty trunks and shoe boxes for more than three decades, until editor Plaster contacted hundreds of his secret war comrades and uncovered this wealth of photos.
The result is the greatest special operations photo collection ever assembled.This powerful book – filled with more than 700 photos, maps, and captured enemy documents – brings to life the heroic stories of these SOGT recon men, who put their lives in jeopardy day after day to complete these harrowing missions.
Anyone interested in special operations and military history is sure to find a wealth of detail and fascinating new information about America’s top-secret wars in Southeast Asia.
THE BOOK:
Casemate is both a book company and a distributor of other companies books, located in Havertown, PA.
This book is hard-bound, with a paper jacket that has fold-over flaps to hold it tight to the book.
The cover art is both on the jacket and the book itself.
It shows a color photo of a Recon men clinging to a rope ladder that is strung beneath a helicopter. This method was used to drop and pick up the men during MIssions. The helicopter is over the jungle.
The back of the book has 8 color photos of helicopters on it.
Inside the letter O in the word SOG on the cover art, there is a red shield, outlined in yellow, with yellow wings over a yellow starburst that has a white skull on it wearing a olive-drab hat, over a black banner that says MAC SOG in yellow on it.
The book contains 412 pages in 8 ½” x 11 ½” page format (5 pages are blank). The book is 1 ½” inches thick.
The book contains 466 black and white photos and 91 color ones.
Twenty-four color unit badges. Twenty-two maps of North Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Contestants from all sides of the conflict. A color photo of the Medal of Honor and ribbon.
There are aircraft photos of:
The H-34 Kingbee helicopter, the UH-1P, UH-1N, Huey, C-47, C-123, C-130 Blackbird, CM-3, Jolly Green Giant helicopter HH3, Cobra helicopter, Skyraider, OV-10, F-100 Super Sabre and S.P.A.F. Bird-dog.
Photos of buildings, aerial photos of the jungles and river launches.
Weapons shown are:
Mortars, daggers, a NVA (North Vietnamese Army) 37mm anti-aircraft gun, M-16, OAR-15, Sten Mark 115 machine-gun, M-60, a 1945 Karl Gustaf Swedish K machine-gun, M-1 carbines, a Sionics silent sniper carbine, an NVA armored-car, NVA Russian built trucks, NVA bicycles, a NVA 12.7mm anti-aircraft gun, an NVA twin-barreled 23mm gun, a suppressed XM21 sniper rifle, a M-79, an experimental pump-action grenade launcher, a RPG-7, a 60mm mortar, a CAR-15, a .45 cal automatic pistol, a suppressed .22 cal. high standard pistol, a Gyrojet rocket pistol, mines, a MAT-49, a suppressed Walther PPK .380.
Photos or paratroopers.
This is an interesting book. It will be mostly of interest to military historians than to modelers I’m afraid.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample. All Casemate books can be viewed on their website at:
Recommended.