{"product_id":"foxtrot-ridge-a-battle-remembered-9780918339584","title":"Foxtrot Ridge: A Battle Remembered","description":"\u003cp\u003eSetting the Scene... By mid-May  1968  American ground troops had fought the Vietnam War for seven bloody years. The Communist s Tet Offensive had been soundly defeated some four months previously and with that offensive had died the indigenous Viet Cong. The continuing inflow of North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops was now even more crucial for the Communists pursuit of the war. The Viet Cong battalions were soon filled with these Northern-born conscripts  trained in conventional warfare and unfamiliar with the southern terrain in which they operated. The former guerrilla war essentially ceased. The huge North Vietnamese Army also continued in its attempts to invade its southern neighbor in its own 10 000-man division-sized units heavily armed with artillery and even tanks. The NVA had the luxury of operating from neutral Laos and Cambodia  and free from attack. To defend this 800-mile border  the American and South Vietnamese Army established a string of border outposts intended to signal the NVA presence and allow an American counter-attack once these enemy troops entered the South. Most American troops were required in the enormous logistic tail necessary to fight a war 10 000 miles from home. Comparatively few units were available for this mobile mission. These few were referred to as maneuver battalions because they were able to take the war to the enemy. In May  1968 American casualties were running as high as 500 men killed in action in a week. The huge majority of these casualties  fully 80% of them  was being borne by that small handful of troops in the maneuver battalions. These battalions never numbered over fifty  with an average field strength of about 500 men each. Thus  while American peak strength in the war was almost 500 000 troops  80% of the casualties were being suffered by the 25 000 men who fought in the maneuver battalions.  One such maneuver battalion was the 2nd Battalion  3rd Marine Regiment. This is the story of one of their battles  told by the veterans themselves. The battle began on May 28  1968 when the 88 Marines of Foxtrot Company  2nd Battalion  3rd Marine Regiment were engaged by an NVA battalion of over 500 men near Khe Sanh. The resulting fight  has come to be known as the Battle of Foxtrot Ridge. The fighting  much of it in pre-dawn darkness was fierce and confusing. When it was over  the Marines had suffered 13 men killed and 44 wounded  killing 230 of the enemy during the nine-hour battle. At times filled with the physical sights  sounds  and smells of battle  while at other times  overtaken by pure emotion  Foxtrot Ridge is a unique and powerful view of war.  The battle of Foxtrot Ridge was not a deciding battle  it was not special or unique  and remains only a footnote in most histories of the war. Yet it was battles like this  fierce battles fought at the 100-man company level  that tell the real story of the American fighting man in Vietnam. Taken as a group the battles were the Vietnam War.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45788469362741,"sku":"ByrdShop_0918339588","price":64.68,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780918339584.jpg?v=1784646130","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/foxtrot-ridge-a-battle-remembered-9780918339584","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}