Tanks in the Easter Offensive 1972: The Vietnam War's Great Conventional Clash

by William E. Hiestand

The Vietnam War's great conventional clash The 1972 Easter Offensive saw the North Vietnamese step beyond guerrilla warfare and invade the South with conventional infantry-armor-artillery tactics. Spearheaded by over 600 tanks, the invasion was counteracted by Saigon's rapidly improving armored units with their US medium tanks and doctrine. The result was ferocious fighting between major Cold War-era US and Soviet tanks and mechanized equipment, pitting M48 medium and M41 light tanks against their T-54 and PT-76 rivals in a variety of combat environments ranging from dense jungle to urban terrain. Both sides employed cutting-edge weaponry for the first time, including the US TOW and Soviet 9M14 Malyutk wire-guided antitank missiles. Using after-action reports from the battlefield and other primary sources, this book examines the armor that clashed in this little-known campaign, and analyzes the technical and organizational factors that shaped the outcome. Despite the ARVN's defensive success in October 1972, North Vietnam massively expanded its armor forces over the next two years while US support waned. In just three years Hanoi's T-54s would crash through the Presidential Palace fence and take Saigon. Book jacket.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1472849027
• ISBN13: 9781472849021
• Release Date: February 2022
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing (UK)
• Length: 48 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 7.0" x 9.6"