Trial by Fire: The 1972 Easter Offensive, America's Last Vietnam Battle

I was very pleased with this purchase. The book arrived in very good condition and it was shipped promptly.

The author's dedication to thorough research and personal interviews with survivors guaranteed a fascinating, informative read. I am virtually ignorant of the history of our participation in Vietnam (we never seemed to get past WWII in either High School or College). Even though I was unfamiliar with history or geography in Vietnam, this book was easy to understand. The included maps were helpful. I do agree with the previous reviews that more detailed maps (showing each location mentioned) would have been nice. I finished this book with vivid pictures of American advisors caught in the heat of action, US bombers bailing out the ineffective S. Vietnam army, and perhaps a taste of the sickening feeling the S. Vietnamese felt as they watched the US troops leave. A good read.

This book is very well done. It puts together a large group of references to present a descriptive picture of the 1972 Easter Offensive. A suggestion to prospective readers; obtain a copy of "A Bright Shining Lie" by Neil Sheehan. The maps are invaluable as an aid to this book, and if you haven't read "A Bright Shining Lie" already, you should read it also. The two book tie together in 1972.

This is a excellent account of the 1972 Easter Offensive in Vietnam during the final stages of the American troop withdrawals. This is a story of courage, stupidity, cowardice and of major and minor fire-fights and battles. The courage of those American advisers and the South Vietamese troops they assisted during this brutal offensive is awe inspiring. Not to forget their enemies who took massive punishment from US airpower but carried on the fight! This is a well researched and written piece of military history which I think has been forgotten due to the fact that it was at the tail end of a unpopular war. The author has done a great job to remind us that the war didn't finish when all the troops got home, that people continued to fight & die long after. Well worth the time to read with over 500 pages of text, however the author could have provided some better maps.