Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam by Mark Bowden

Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam by Mark Bowden

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


One of the most intimate and intense books of American War in Vietnam I’ve ever read. It just seems now that the battle of Hue during Tet in 1968 is getting the attention it deserves. It seemed to have been just bundled in with the Tet offensive all together. Where most of the Tet offensive was over relatively short time the battle for Hue went on for over 3 weeks in what could at first be called lost in the chaos in the beginning of the offensive when all of South Vietnam. Then a denial or lack of awareness of military commanders on the seriousness of the situation in Hue where the whole city had been taken over except for two hold outs, a MACV(American) compound and a ARVN(South Vietnam) HQ in separate parts of the city. What followed was weeks of vicious street fighting for every inch of land. Of course the civilian population were not only trapped but were often caught in the crossfire and many fell victim to Communist reprisals.

Militarily Tet and battle of Hue was a defeat for North Vietnam. What made it significant was that our government had been leading the public to believe we were winning and light was at the end of the tunnel. An essential reading for those trying to understand the Vietnam War in general as it encapsulates many of elements that were prevalent such as military leadership caught by surprise, tenacious enemy that won’t quit, and our government leading us to believe the light was the end of the tunnel when in fact we were no closer than when it all started.

I did listened to this on audio(which was awesome) but I will probably get the physical book to reread as it’s that good.



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