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This short (48 page) book covers the Army of the republic of Vietnam which fought against the communist forces during the Vietnam War. The book covers equipment, organisation and evolution offering insight to the impact of US weapons and tactics on the force. Command and divisional structure is discussed as is the ranger elements (arguably the only effective part of the Army). As with all Ospreys it is well illustrated with colour plates showing uniforms and equipment which will be useful for war gamers who are recreating this period, also there are a great many contemporary photographs, but what is missing are orders of battle and clear organisational charts which would have added greatly to clarity.
The author is a Vietnam veteran of the US special forces so has good insight into the history of the period but tries at times far too hard to define the poor performance of the Republic forces, although he help redress the balance which in most published work is extremely negative to the ARVN. Overall the book is an interesting read on an often neglected subject but suffers from being far too short to cover such a complex and diverse subject, this would have been much better suited to a longer Warrior series book. All that said for a cheap introduction or additional information this book does the job.
Author: Gordon L.Rottman
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 48
Publisher: Osprey
Year: 2010