Military Model Scene

Title: The Battle of Hue 1968
Author: James H. Willbanks
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-4728-4471-2

Campaign series 371 from Osprey, a 96-page soft-cover book in the usual style for this series, and looking at the story of one of the most famous battles in the Vietnam War, from the Tet Offensive in 1968, the fight for the Imperial City of Hue.
This book starts off by looking at the background of the campaign, focusing on Hue city itself and the Tet Offensive as a whole. As usual for the series, that is followed by a chronology of events, and that is turn leads into the Opposing Plans for both sides before looking at the Opposing Commanders for both the Allied and North Vietnamese side of things. The Opposing Forces are then compared, including their respective Order of Battles in the period of January 31 and March 2 1968. Then the biggest section of the book details the story of the battle itself, spread across both banks of the Perfume River and the fight for the citadel itself, before the US Marines and ARVN forces finally forced the VC and NVA out. Everything is then rounded off dealing with the Aftermath and consideration of the Battlefield Today.
With plenty of maps, artwork and archive photos throughout the book, I found this a nicely balanced look at the battle, some 54 years on. As someone old enough to remember the news reports at the time, as the battle unfolded, it is interesting to be able to read a more balanced account of the battle. The Tet offensive marked a general change in the Vietnam war, as the VC groups in the South suffered large scale casualties, and the fighting from then on was much more reliant on North Vietnamese regular forces. Another good addition to the Campaign series I felt.
Thanks to Osprey for this review copy.

Robin