Did America's departure from Vietnam produce the "peace with honor"
promised by President Richard Nixon or was that simply an empty
wish meant to distract war-weary Americans from a tragic "defeat
with shame"? While James Willbanks doesn't offer any easy answers
to that question, his book convincingly shows why America's
strategy for exiting the Vietnam War failed miserably and left
South Vietnam to a dismal fate.
That strategy, "Vietnamization," was designed to transfer full
responsibility for the defense of South Vietnam to the South
Vietnamese, but in a way that would buy the United States enough
time to get out without appearing to run away. To achieve this
goal, America poured millions of dollars into training and
equipping the South Vietnamese military while attempting to pacify
the countryside. Precisely how this strategy was implemented and
why it failed so completely are the subjects of this eye-opening
study.
Drawing upon both archival research and his own military
experiences in Vietnam, Willbanks focuses on military operations
from 1969 through 1975. He begins by analyzing the events that led
to a change in U.S. strategy in 1969 and the subsequent initiation
of Vietnamization. He then critiques the implementation of that
policy and the combat performance of the South Vietnamese army
(ARVN), which finally collapsed in 1975.
Willbanks contends that Vietnamization was a potentially viable
plan that was begun years too late. Nevertheless some progress was
made and the South Vietnamese, with the aid of U.S. advisers and
American airpower, held off the North Vietnamese during their
massive offensive in 1972. However, the Paris Peace Accords, which
left NVA troops in the south, and the subsequent loss of U.S.
military aid negated any gains produced through Vietnamization.
These factors coupled with corruption throughout President Thieu's
government and a glaring lack of senior military leadership within
the South Vietnamese armed forces ultimately led to the demise of
South Vietnam.
A mere two years after the last American combat troops had
departed, North Vietnamese tanks rolled into Saigon, overwhelming a
poorly trained, disastrously led, and corrupt South Vietnamese
military. But those two years had provided Nixon with the "decent
interval" he desperately needed to proclaim that "peace with honor"
had been achieved. Willbanks digs beneath that illusion to reveal
the real story of South Vietnam's fall.
General
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