Fully illustrated throughout with maps and photographs, this authoritative and entertaining book features examples of the formidable challenges that the U.S. Army encountered in Vietnam. The book uses specific encounters to explain the American reaction and strategy to attacks by the Viet Cong in a hostile and demanding environment, on land, river and air. It includes the famous battle of Ia Drang, ambushes on land and on river, skirmishes with enemy tanks, and the effective use of American airpower utilising helicopters and gunships. These accounts are based on official U.S. Army records taken from the daily journals, files and after action reports of those who were there.