When American and South Vietnamese forces, led by General Creighton
Abrams, launched an attack into neutral Cambodia in 1970, the
invasion ignited a firestorm of violent antiwar protests throughout
the United States, dealing yet another blow to Nixon's troubled
presidency. But, as John Shaw shows, the campaign also proved to be
a major military success.
Most histories of the Vietnam War either give the Cambodian
invasion short shrift or merely criticize it for its political
fallout, thus neglecting one of the campaign's key dimensions.
Approaching the subject from a distinctly military perspective,
Shaw shows how this carefully planned and executed offensive
provided essential support for Nixon's "decent interval" and "peace
with honor" strategies-by eliminating North Vietnamese sanctuaries
and supply bases located less than a hundred miles from Saigon and
by pushing Communist troops off the Vietnamese border.
Despite the political cloud under which the operation was
conducted, Shaw argues that it was not only the best of available
choices but one of the most successful operations of the entire
war, sustaining light casualties while protecting American troop
withdrawal and buying time for Nixon's pacification and
"Vietnamization" strategies. He also shows how the United States
took full advantage of fortuitous events, such as the overthrow of
Cambodia's Prince Sihanouk, the redeployment of North Vietnamese
forces, and the late arrival of spring monsoons.
Although critics of the operation have protested that the North
Vietnamese never did attack out of Cambodia, Shaw makes a
persuasive case that the near-border threat was very real and
imminent. In the end, he contends, the campaign effectively
precluded any major North Vietnamese military operations for over a
year.
Based on exhaustive research and a deep analysis of the
invasion's objectives, planning, organization, and operations,
Shaw's shrewd study encourages a newfound respect for one of
America's genuine military successes during the war.
General
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