Incursion: From America's Choke Hold on the NVA Lifelines to the Sacking of the Cambodian Sanctuaries

By the author of Pleiku , this is an informative look at the interdiction campaign in central Vietnam from late 1968 to 1970 that culminated in the most controversial operation of the war, the incursion into Cambodia in May-June 1970. Using the 1st Cavalry Division as his narrative centerpiece, Coleman reveals for the first time how brilliantly successful that division was in interdicting supply and reinforcement routes from Cambodia to Viet Cong bases around Saigon, how this forced the enemy to expand bases in Cambodia and how President Nixon finally made the momentous decision to send U.S./South Vietnamese forces into that neutral country to destory the Communist ``sanctuaries.'' Coleman, an information officer with the 1st Cav during the period in question, provides a vivid and well-balanced account of the diplomatic as well as the military aspects of the incursion, and shows how public opinion in the United States affected the political direction of this phase of the war in Southeast Asia. Photos. (Aug.)