Book Review of
Target Saigon 1973-75
Vol. 3: Disaster at Da Nang 1975
Author: Albert Grandolini
Helion & Co. Ltd.
Asia@War Series No. 32
ISBN: 978-1-912390-19-9
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2022
MSRP: $29.95
Asia@War Series No. 32
ISBN: 978-1-912390-19-9
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2022
MSRP: $29.95
THE BOOK:
Helion & Co. Ltd. is based in England.
This book is in soft-cover of 70 pages in 8 ¼” x 11 ¾” page format. Two pages are blank.
The cover art shows a T-54 tank of the 3rd Battalion, 203rd Armored Brigade, supporting the PAVN (North Korean Army) 325th Division entering Da Nang from the north. Due to the lack of APC’s, North Vietnamese infantry often rode atop the tanks.
Below there is a color side profile illustration of a South Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF) C-13OA of the 437th Transport Squadron, 53rd Tactical Wing, Tan Son Nhut Air Base. Two squadrons were equipped with the Hercules and fully mobilized by early 1975 despite maintenance problems. In addition to being involved in various transport missions, they were also used as makeshift bombers. This particular aircraft would be destroyed at Tan Son Nhut on 29 April 1975 by North Vietnamese artillery. It is in a wave pattern camouflage of dark-green, light-grey and red-brown over a light-grey undercarriage. On the sides of the rudder there is a white GZJ, over a yellow South Vietnamese Air Force insignia.
This profile is repeated again inside the book.
The back cover shows two more color profiles of aircrafts:
A South Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF) UH-1H helicopter of the 51st Tactical Wing, Da Nang, March 1975. The helicopter wing of the 1st Air Division of Da Nang had on strength some five UH-1H squadrons and one CH-47A squadron. This particular helicopter was captured by the North Vietnamese.
An SA-2 (S-75) missile trailer, with a ZIL-131 V tractor, of the 274th SAM Regiment, 675th Anti-aircraft Artillery Division, Da Nang, March 1974. It is overall olive-drab.
The third volume of the Target Saigon mini-series describes the opening stages of the final communist offensive against South Vietnam.
The decision of President Nguyen Van Thieu to evacuate the Central Highlands was part of a wider scheme that envisaged an extensive redeployment of South Vietnamese forces and led to the abandonment of nearly half of the country. Panic inevitably spread among the population , and the armed forces, and set into motion a chain reaction that would see the complete collapse of the country. The United States refused to intervene again, despite the situation spiraling out of control. Thieu had played and lost.
The third volume of Target Saigon details the desasterous evacuation of Hue and Da Nang, as well as the delaying actions fought in the central coastal area, and is illustrated with wide range of contemporary photos, and a number of specially commissioned full color artworks of the vehicles, soldiers and aircraft that fought in the campaign.
Concise and insightful text, original photography and unique color artworks, examining conflict throughout Asia in the 20th century and beyond.
The book contains 135 black and white photos (including the front cover). There is a line drawing map of the Middle East. Two line drawing battle maps of Vietnam and two color maps also of Vietnam.
Black and white photos include: North and South Vietnamese infantry-men, weapons, vehicles and tanks and aircraft.
The book begins with CONTENTS, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, ABBREVIATIONS and the INTRODUCTION.
There are 15 color side profiles of vehicles, 3 of soldiers and 9 of aircrafts.
The vehicle ones include:
A South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) XM-706E-2, a variant of the V100 Commando armored car. It is overall olive-drab, with no markings shown.
A South Vietnamese Army M41 Walker Bulldog tank. Also overall olive-drab with no markings shown.
A South Vietnamese Army M42 of the 3rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion. It is overall olive-drab, with a white star on the sides of the turret.
A South Vietnamese Army M48A3 tank. Overall olive-drab, with no markings shown.
A South Vietnamese Army M113 APC. Overall olive-drab, with a white lion’s head over 13 on the forward end of the sides of the hull.
A South Vietnamese Army M107 tracked gun of the 102nd Artillery Battalion. Overall olive-drab, with no markings shown.
Another M113 APC with the South Vietnamese Army. Overall olive-drab, with no markings shown.
A North Vietnamese Army (PAVN) Gaz-63 (4x4) stake-sided truck. In overall olive-drab, with no markings shown.
A North Vietnamese Army (PAVN) BM-24-17 MRL gun of the 164th Artillery Brigade, 2nd SAC, on the southern Hue perimeter in March 1975. Mounted on a GAZ 63 truck chassis. It is overall olive-drab, with no markings shown.
A South Vietnamese Army M41A3 tank, that was captured by the North Vietnamese. It is overall olive-drab with a National Liberation Front flag on the side of the turret and a bunch of brush piled atop it.
A North Vietnamese Army (Pavn) BTR-40A armored reconnaissance car. Overall olive-drab, with no markings shown. With a pile of brush atop it.
A North Vietnamese Army (PAVN) ATS-59G tracked artillery tractor of the 476th Artillery Regiment, B1 front, Thuong Duc Sector, February 1975. Overall olive-drab, with no marking shown and also with a pile of brush atop it.
A North Vietnamese Army (PAVN) BTR-60 BP armored car of the 203rd Armored Brigade, 1st SAC. Overall olive-drab, with no markings shown and a pile of brush atop.
A North Vietnamese Army (PAVN) ZIL-131 (6x6) 3 ½ ton stake-sided truck. Of Logistic Army 559 that ferried supplies and troops along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in March 1975. Overall olive-drab, with no markings shown.
A North Vietnamese Army (PAVN) SA-2 (S-75) truck, pulling a ZIL-131 V tractor. Overall olive-drab, with no markings shown.
The color illustrations of soldiers show:
Lieutenant General Ngo Quang Truong of the South Vietnamese army, wearing a olive-drab uniform and baseball cap and holding a rifle.
A South Vietnamese private wearing a camouflage uniform and cloth cover on his steel helmet, armed with a rifle.
A North Vietnamese private (PAVN). He wears a tan pith helmet, white naval looking shirt that has blue and white striped collar, dark navy trousers and is armed with a rifle.
Aircraft profiles include:
A South Vietnamese Air Force Dragonfly A-37B. It is overall olive-drab with star with bars insignia on fuselage sides, South Vietnamese emblem on sides of rudder in yellow, over white 931.
A second South Vietnamese Air Force Dragonfly A-37B in overall olive-drab, with a black diagonal fuselage band with small white arrow heads on it, star and bars insignia, yellow South Vietnamese insignia and a black circle with a lightning flash on it on the rudder, over white 14796.
A South Vietnamese Air Force F-5A, in wave pattern camouflage of 2 shades of green, with star and bars insignia on the fuselage sides, followed by a diagonal fuselage band that is black and yellow checkerboard pattern, a blue circle with a black eagle on it on the rudder sides, over white HBG over white no. 65.10557.
A South Vietnamese Air Force AC-119K of the 821st Attack Squadron, Da Nang, March 1975. Jet black with a tan spine and no markings shown (the cover art one).
A South Vietnamese Air Force C-130A of the 437th Transport Squadron, 53rd Tactical Wing, Tan Son Nhut Air Base. Olive-drab, tan and grey wave pattern camouflage. Star with bars on fuselage sides, white GZJ over yellow squadron badge on sides of rudder.
A South Vietnamese Air Force AC-47D of the 817th Attack Squadron, March 1975. Overall olive-drab, with a star with bars on fuselage sides. In two shades of green wave pattern camouflage.
A South Vietnamese Air Force UH-1H helicopter of the 51st Tactical Wing, Da Nang, March 1975. Overall olive-drab, with a star with bars on fuselage sides, followed by white 761.
A Boeing 727 C, marked with World Airways markings. It has a white top over grey sides and undercarriage.
An Air America C-46F, seen at Da Nang, March 1975. Overall bare metal, with black Air America on fuselage sides and black N670 on sides of the rudder.
This is a neat picture album about this time period in Vietnam. It will be of interest to modelers and military historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample. All Helion & Co. Ltd. books can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
Helion & Co. Ltd. is based in England.
This book is in soft-cover of 70 pages in 8 ¼” x 11 ¾” page format. Two pages are blank.
The cover art shows a T-54 tank of the 3rd Battalion, 203rd Armored Brigade, supporting the PAVN (North Korean Army) 325th Division entering Da Nang from the north. Due to the lack of APC’s, North Vietnamese infantry often rode atop the tanks.
Below there is a color side profile illustration of a South Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF) C-13OA of the 437th Transport Squadron, 53rd Tactical Wing, Tan Son Nhut Air Base. Two squadrons were equipped with the Hercules and fully mobilized by early 1975 despite maintenance problems. In addition to being involved in various transport missions, they were also used as makeshift bombers. This particular aircraft would be destroyed at Tan Son Nhut on 29 April 1975 by North Vietnamese artillery. It is in a wave pattern camouflage of dark-green, light-grey and red-brown over a light-grey undercarriage. On the sides of the rudder there is a white GZJ, over a yellow South Vietnamese Air Force insignia.
This profile is repeated again inside the book.
The back cover shows two more color profiles of aircrafts:
A South Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF) UH-1H helicopter of the 51st Tactical Wing, Da Nang, March 1975. The helicopter wing of the 1st Air Division of Da Nang had on strength some five UH-1H squadrons and one CH-47A squadron. This particular helicopter was captured by the North Vietnamese.
An SA-2 (S-75) missile trailer, with a ZIL-131 V tractor, of the 274th SAM Regiment, 675th Anti-aircraft Artillery Division, Da Nang, March 1974. It is overall olive-drab.
The third volume of the Target Saigon mini-series describes the opening stages of the final communist offensive against South Vietnam.
The decision of President Nguyen Van Thieu to evacuate the Central Highlands was part of a wider scheme that envisaged an extensive redeployment of South Vietnamese forces and led to the abandonment of nearly half of the country. Panic inevitably spread among the population , and the armed forces, and set into motion a chain reaction that would see the complete collapse of the country. The United States refused to intervene again, despite the situation spiraling out of control. Thieu had played and lost.
The third volume of Target Saigon details the desasterous evacuation of Hue and Da Nang, as well as the delaying actions fought in the central coastal area, and is illustrated with wide range of contemporary photos, and a number of specially commissioned full color artworks of the vehicles, soldiers and aircraft that fought in the campaign.
Concise and insightful text, original photography and unique color artworks, examining conflict throughout Asia in the 20th century and beyond.
The book contains 135 black and white photos (including the front cover). There is a line drawing map of the Middle East. Two line drawing battle maps of Vietnam and two color maps also of Vietnam.
Black and white photos include: North and South Vietnamese infantry-men, weapons, vehicles and tanks and aircraft.
The book begins with CONTENTS, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, ABBREVIATIONS and the INTRODUCTION.
There are 15 color side profiles of vehicles, 3 of soldiers and 9 of aircrafts.
The vehicle ones include:
A South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) XM-706E-2, a variant of the V100 Commando armored car. It is overall olive-drab, with no markings shown.
A South Vietnamese Army M41 Walker Bulldog tank. Also overall olive-drab with no markings shown.
A South Vietnamese Army M42 of the 3rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion. It is overall olive-drab, with a white star on the sides of the turret.
A South Vietnamese Army M48A3 tank. Overall olive-drab, with no markings shown.
A South Vietnamese Army M113 APC. Overall olive-drab, with a white lion’s head over 13 on the forward end of the sides of the hull.
A South Vietnamese Army M107 tracked gun of the 102nd Artillery Battalion. Overall olive-drab, with no markings shown.
Another M113 APC with the South Vietnamese Army. Overall olive-drab, with no markings shown.
A North Vietnamese Army (PAVN) Gaz-63 (4x4) stake-sided truck. In overall olive-drab, with no markings shown.
A North Vietnamese Army (PAVN) BM-24-17 MRL gun of the 164th Artillery Brigade, 2nd SAC, on the southern Hue perimeter in March 1975. Mounted on a GAZ 63 truck chassis. It is overall olive-drab, with no markings shown.
A South Vietnamese Army M41A3 tank, that was captured by the North Vietnamese. It is overall olive-drab with a National Liberation Front flag on the side of the turret and a bunch of brush piled atop it.
A North Vietnamese Army (Pavn) BTR-40A armored reconnaissance car. Overall olive-drab, with no markings shown. With a pile of brush atop it.
A North Vietnamese Army (PAVN) ATS-59G tracked artillery tractor of the 476th Artillery Regiment, B1 front, Thuong Duc Sector, February 1975. Overall olive-drab, with no marking shown and also with a pile of brush atop it.
A North Vietnamese Army (PAVN) BTR-60 BP armored car of the 203rd Armored Brigade, 1st SAC. Overall olive-drab, with no markings shown and a pile of brush atop.
A North Vietnamese Army (PAVN) ZIL-131 (6x6) 3 ½ ton stake-sided truck. Of Logistic Army 559 that ferried supplies and troops along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in March 1975. Overall olive-drab, with no markings shown.
A North Vietnamese Army (PAVN) SA-2 (S-75) truck, pulling a ZIL-131 V tractor. Overall olive-drab, with no markings shown.
The color illustrations of soldiers show:
Lieutenant General Ngo Quang Truong of the South Vietnamese army, wearing a olive-drab uniform and baseball cap and holding a rifle.
A South Vietnamese private wearing a camouflage uniform and cloth cover on his steel helmet, armed with a rifle.
A North Vietnamese private (PAVN). He wears a tan pith helmet, white naval looking shirt that has blue and white striped collar, dark navy trousers and is armed with a rifle.
Aircraft profiles include:
A South Vietnamese Air Force Dragonfly A-37B. It is overall olive-drab with star with bars insignia on fuselage sides, South Vietnamese emblem on sides of rudder in yellow, over white 931.
A second South Vietnamese Air Force Dragonfly A-37B in overall olive-drab, with a black diagonal fuselage band with small white arrow heads on it, star and bars insignia, yellow South Vietnamese insignia and a black circle with a lightning flash on it on the rudder, over white 14796.
A South Vietnamese Air Force F-5A, in wave pattern camouflage of 2 shades of green, with star and bars insignia on the fuselage sides, followed by a diagonal fuselage band that is black and yellow checkerboard pattern, a blue circle with a black eagle on it on the rudder sides, over white HBG over white no. 65.10557.
A South Vietnamese Air Force AC-119K of the 821st Attack Squadron, Da Nang, March 1975. Jet black with a tan spine and no markings shown (the cover art one).
A South Vietnamese Air Force C-130A of the 437th Transport Squadron, 53rd Tactical Wing, Tan Son Nhut Air Base. Olive-drab, tan and grey wave pattern camouflage. Star with bars on fuselage sides, white GZJ over yellow squadron badge on sides of rudder.
A South Vietnamese Air Force AC-47D of the 817th Attack Squadron, March 1975. Overall olive-drab, with a star with bars on fuselage sides. In two shades of green wave pattern camouflage.
A South Vietnamese Air Force UH-1H helicopter of the 51st Tactical Wing, Da Nang, March 1975. Overall olive-drab, with a star with bars on fuselage sides, followed by white 761.
A Boeing 727 C, marked with World Airways markings. It has a white top over grey sides and undercarriage.
An Air America C-46F, seen at Da Nang, March 1975. Overall bare metal, with black Air America on fuselage sides and black N670 on sides of the rudder.
This is a neat picture album about this time period in Vietnam. It will be of interest to modelers and military historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample. All Helion & Co. Ltd. books can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
Highly recommended.