Mobile guerrilla force
Subtitle: with the Special Forces in War Zone D
By: James C. Donahue.
Series: Naval Institute special warfare series
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Annapolis, Md
Language: eng
Number of pages: 205
Subjects: United States. Army. Special Forces Group, 5th. Mobile Guerrilla Force -- History; Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975 -- Commando operations -- United States; Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975 -- Regimental histories -- United States
Description: This authentic firsthand account of Operation Blackjack-31 chronicles the first foray of 13 hand-picked Green Berets and a company of free Cambodian guerrillas into War Zone D - the VC's secret zone about which allied intelligence knew little or nothing - in January 1967. Their orders were to conduct guerrilla operations for an undetermined period, without artillery support or possibility of reinforcement. Detachment A-303 turned the suicide mission into a dramatic success.

With surgical precision and a novelist's grasp of dialogue, timing, and dramatic pacing, the author puts the reader on the ground with the force for 31 days without respite. A surprisingly fresh description of close-in combat, Donahue's account stands as a powerful testament to the few who mattered little in the big picture but who were all that mattered to each other.

Blackjack-31 was a historic departure from the conventional military thinking that dominated the war in Vietnam, and it clearly demonstrated that American-led indigenous forces could conduct guerrilla operations against the enemy, and win.
Notes: Includes index.