Book Review of
The Erawan War Vol. 2
The CIA Paramilitary Campaign
in Laos, 1969-1974
Author: Ken Conboy
Helion & Co. Ltd.
Asia @ War series no. 28
Copyright: 2022
MSRP: $29.95
Asia @ War series no. 28
Copyright: 2022
MSRP: $29.95
HISTORY:
During a closed-door meeting of Washington policy makers on 31 March 1971, a senior CIA officer informed National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger that the agency was controlling up to 8 divisions of indigenous troops in Laos.
“When the CIA reaches the point of having the largest army in Southeast Asia”, retorted Kissinger, “We better review the program”.
The Erawan War Vol. 2 details how the CIA operation in Laos reached that point, becoming its largest paramilitary operation of the Cold War. With photos and map, it covers the wide range of CIA-supported units in Laos, from guerilla regiments that went toe-to-toe with the North Vietnamese army in pitched campaigns, to top-secret commandos that crossed to wage clandestine sabotage attacks.
THE BOOK:
Helion & Co. Ltd. is based in the UK
This book is soft cover of 65 pages (1 page is blank) in 8 ¼” x 11 ¾” page format.
The cover art shows a color photo of troops in a grassy field around a helicopter. I find it impossible to name the helicopter’s type. Sorry!
Below the photo there is a color side view profile illustration of a U.S. CH-53 that is overall white, with a thin green horizontal band down the fuselage from the side windows to the tail. It has a narrow black horizontal band across the rudder with 2 more thin green bands below it. It carries Black fuselage code XW-PC1.
There are 2 color photos in the book of another one of these aircrafts that has crashed.
It contains 64 black and white photos and 22 color ones (including the cover art). There is one map and color illustrations of 37 unit badges and 3 color side view profiles of aircrafts.
The first aircraft is a Continental Air Services DHC-6 Twin Otter. It is overall white with a black nose and vertical sections of yellow and red that surround some of the aircraft’s white as an upward lightning-bolt on the rudder. It has black engine cowlings and a black fuselage code XW-PGV. From charter service Saber Air in Singapore.
The second aircraft is a Air America DHC-6 Twin Otter. It is in a pattern of horizontal stripes along its fuselage of navy-blue, white and red. It has a black nose and engine cowlings, black fuselage serial no. N6868.
The third aircraft is a Xieng Khouang Air Transport C-47. It says this in black down its sides. It has a black anti-glare panel in front of its wind-screen. It is a base of overall white. On the rudder there is a small blue circle with an orange mountain range with some small orange dots above it, over black code XW-TFB over a wide black horizontal bar.
The photos are predominantly of combatants and leading individuals involved in this war. There are photos of helicopters, some tanks and vehicles etc.
This book will be of interest to modelers and military historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publisher for this review sample. Casemate is the N. American distributor of Helion & Co. Ltd. books and all their titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
During a closed-door meeting of Washington policy makers on 31 March 1971, a senior CIA officer informed National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger that the agency was controlling up to 8 divisions of indigenous troops in Laos.
“When the CIA reaches the point of having the largest army in Southeast Asia”, retorted Kissinger, “We better review the program”.
The Erawan War Vol. 2 details how the CIA operation in Laos reached that point, becoming its largest paramilitary operation of the Cold War. With photos and map, it covers the wide range of CIA-supported units in Laos, from guerilla regiments that went toe-to-toe with the North Vietnamese army in pitched campaigns, to top-secret commandos that crossed to wage clandestine sabotage attacks.
THE BOOK:
Helion & Co. Ltd. is based in the UK
This book is soft cover of 65 pages (1 page is blank) in 8 ¼” x 11 ¾” page format.
The cover art shows a color photo of troops in a grassy field around a helicopter. I find it impossible to name the helicopter’s type. Sorry!
Below the photo there is a color side view profile illustration of a U.S. CH-53 that is overall white, with a thin green horizontal band down the fuselage from the side windows to the tail. It has a narrow black horizontal band across the rudder with 2 more thin green bands below it. It carries Black fuselage code XW-PC1.
There are 2 color photos in the book of another one of these aircrafts that has crashed.
It contains 64 black and white photos and 22 color ones (including the cover art). There is one map and color illustrations of 37 unit badges and 3 color side view profiles of aircrafts.
The first aircraft is a Continental Air Services DHC-6 Twin Otter. It is overall white with a black nose and vertical sections of yellow and red that surround some of the aircraft’s white as an upward lightning-bolt on the rudder. It has black engine cowlings and a black fuselage code XW-PGV. From charter service Saber Air in Singapore.
The second aircraft is a Air America DHC-6 Twin Otter. It is in a pattern of horizontal stripes along its fuselage of navy-blue, white and red. It has a black nose and engine cowlings, black fuselage serial no. N6868.
The third aircraft is a Xieng Khouang Air Transport C-47. It says this in black down its sides. It has a black anti-glare panel in front of its wind-screen. It is a base of overall white. On the rudder there is a small blue circle with an orange mountain range with some small orange dots above it, over black code XW-TFB over a wide black horizontal bar.
The photos are predominantly of combatants and leading individuals involved in this war. There are photos of helicopters, some tanks and vehicles etc.
This book will be of interest to modelers and military historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publisher for this review sample. Casemate is the N. American distributor of Helion & Co. Ltd. books and all their titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
Highly recommended.