Armies of the Vietnam War (2)

Description

On 8 march 1965 some 3,500 US Marines, the first US combat troops to arrive in Vietnam, landed in Da Nang to defend the US air base there. On 8 June, following further reinforcements, General Westmoreland authorised his troops to begin 'offensive patrolling'. Lee Russell's follow-up to Men-at-Arms 104 focuses in finer detail on the uniforms and insignia of the US Army and Marines, the ARVN and the NVA. The book is packed with superbly detailed black and white photographs of the forces in the field, and Mike Chappell's excellent illustrations provide key reference material for the contemporary uniforms and battledress.

Lee E. Russell was born in 1947. He served in the US Army from 1966 to 1968, including a year in Vietnam's Northern and Central provinces, with the 14th Engineer Bn (Combat). He has had a lifelong interest in all aspects of military history, but now specialises in 20th century uniforms and equipment. A member of the Company of Military Historians and the Association of American Military Uniform Collectors, he lives and works in New York City. He has written several titles for Osprey over the years, and has also worked as a consultant on military dress for motion pictures, television and the stage. Mike Chappell comes from an Aldershot family with British Army connections stretching back several generations. He enlisted as a teenage private in the Royal Hampshire Regiment in 1952 and retired in 1974, as RSM of the 1st Battalion The Wessex Regiment (Rifle Volunteers), after seeing service in Malaya, Cyprus, Swaziland, Libya, Germany, Ulster and home garrisons. He began painting military subjects in 1968 and since then has gained worldwide popularity as a military illustrator. Mike has also written and illustrated many books in the Osprey Military list.