Book Review - American Artillery in Vietnam

Book Review

American Artillery in Vietnam

By MP Robinson

Reviewed by Glen Broman

This is volume 2 of the Vietnam series from AK Interactive. The first volume covered Armor, which I also have in my library. This is a large, hard bound book of 272 pages. It’s not a book you can stick in your back pocket for light reading at your local burger joint. I would argue that this is one of the most comprehensive overviews of artillery used in Vietnam. To back up that assertion, I submit that the book contains 366 images in both color and black and white and 209 color profiles. There are also lots and lots of words.

For full transparency, I am not an artilleryman by training, although I have had some experience with towed artillery and was a graduate of the Infantry Mortar Platoon Officers Course at the Benning School for Wayward Boys, so I know my way around a plotting board. As an aside, my Master Gunner and I set up my M60A1 platoon to do indirect fire missions. My Battalion Commander was fascinated, but said if I ever tried to do it with live ammo; I would send the rest of my career, passing out basketballs in a gym in Alaska. Anyway, back to my point, I found the text to be pretty accurate from a technical aspect, but it was also very readable. And of course, being a former Armor officer, I really dig all of those pictures.

So let’s take a look at the books organization. There are what I would call 28 chapters, mostly organized by year, with each year subdivided by various subjects, such as 1967 having sections on The Cannoneers of the Mobile Riverine Force, Task Force Oregon, Reinforcing Pleiku, Heavy Artillery and Fighting on the DMZ. Cool, Yes?

The chapters are followed by what I describe as nine annexes, covering such things as US Army Artillery units in Vietnam, followed by USMC units, sling lifting howitzers ( been there, done that) and the Fire Support Base, as well as other fascinating subjects. The annexes are followed by the Color Profile Section and a bibliography, Further Reading and a Glossary. If you aren’t picking up what I’m laying down, there is a lot of information in this book.

Let’s take a deeper look at the organization. As an example, I picked 1965. There is a good overview of all of the significant artillery actions and organizations for this year, in a chapter of ten pages. It is also profusely illustrated, with a mixture of color and black and white photos. The quality of the pictures is really outstanding as well. I would point out that the breakdown is at a fairly macro level, as a detailed account of artillery actions for each year would make this a multi-volume set that you would need to haul home in a pick-up truck. I would also add that if you are a modeller, and you want details, this is a great reference to have. If you like dioramas, this book will provide a sensory overload of great ideas. I’m just saying.

To really help you get your geek on, the book also covers one of my personal favorites, Arial Rocket Artillery (ARA). We had some of these bad boys when I was in The 1^st Cavalry Division. They were armed with several pods of 2.75” rockets that could make life in the target area a little sporty if you were a bad guy.

I really enjoyed the color profile section, lots of inspiration here, not just the towed and self-propelled artillery, but ARA aircraft, Fire Direction vehicles, Air Defense Artillery, such as Hawks and Dusters, gun trucks and ammo trucks. There are some interesting one offs, like a jeep mounted searchlight and the floating bases used for artillery in the Mekong Delta. As I said, there is a little something for everybody up in here. One of my minor complaints about AK profiles in the past is that they are generally side views. This book carries on that tradition, but there are a number of front views that show bumper number markings in case you want to model a specific vehicle.

So bottom line, this is not an inexpensive book, but it is a large hardcover, profusely illustrated with excellent color and black and white pictures, a solid overview of Artillery in Vietnam and all those yummy color profiles. What’s not to love?

I purchased my book from Last Cavalry, www.lastcavalry.com.

Order here: https://shop.lastcavalry.com/ak-interactive-american-artillery-in-vietnam/