Category: Vietnam War

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Latest Read: The Imagineers of War

The Imagineers of War: The Untold Story of DARPA, the Pentagon Agency That Changed the World by Sharon Weinberger. Sharon has written for Wired, Slate, the Financial Times and the Washington Post Magazine. Furthermore, Sharon is the former editor-in-chief of Defense Technology International. Today Sharon is an executive editor at Foreign Policy.

The Imagineers of War: The Untold Story of DARPA, the Pentagon Agency That Changed the World by Sharon Weinberger

Obviously the simply amazing stories within The Pentagon’s Brain (my review) inspired me to read Sharon’s book. The Imagineers of War is a very worthy reading experience all by itself.

Unquestionably both books combine for an amazing one-two punch of DARPA history. The most astounding impact of DARPA technology? Many weapons developed for Vietnam are today a cornerstone of US troop technology in Afghanistan: precision weapons, drones, robots, and networked computing.

The first half of The Imagineers of War reveals the very large, looming role of William Godel. He certainly casts a long shadow across DARPA’s early history. However only Sharon can address Godel’s departure and later accusations that may have crippled DARPA.

For the most part, Sharon provides a deep dive into the lives of key players at DARPA. Godel is certainly no exception. Severely injured fighting as a Marine in World War II, he began working as a spy in 1949. Besides Godel’s assignment, he was recruiting former German scientists held in Soviet-controlled East Berlin. Godel is unquestionably acknowledged by American military leaders as an emerging key resource along with Edward Lansdale and William Colby.

Part One:

The opening chapters address the bombing of Nagasaki to post World War II goals. One focus was securing Germany’s key physicists including Wernher von Braun from the Soviets. The role of von Braun’s departure is quite amazing. His team was working at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency in Huntsville Alabama. This team would design Jupiter-C missiles. Then Sputnik changed everything.

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Latest Read: The Pentagon’s Brain

The Pentagon’s Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America’s Top-Secret Military Research Agency by Annie Jacobsen. Her narrative is certainly compelling, describing the historical launch of ARPA. The name of the organization first changed from its founding name to DARPA in March 1972. Yet it was changing back to ARPA in 1993, only to be reverted back in March 1996.

The Pentagon’s Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America’s Top-Secret Military Research Agency by Annie Jacobsen

This book is addressing five categories of time: Cold War, Vietnam War, Operations other than war, War on Terror, and Future War. Researching newly de-classified materials make Annie’s book difficult to put down.

Cold war events beginning with Sputnik led to the formation of ARPA. Without over exaggerating, this group would be changing the world. There are so many brilliant physicists, scientists, and mathematicians, this book is literally a Who’s Who of brilliant minds called upon to drive the Pentagon’s mission.

Annie is a master storyteller. She clearly reveals Eisenhower’s administration was ill prepared for post war technology challenges.

Cold war hysteria in the State Department was certainly ripe after China fell to Mao in 1949. France would be defeated by an Asian guerrilla force in 1954. Certainly Sputnik only added to that hysteria in 1957.

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Latest Read: Dien Bien Phu and the Crisis of Franco-American Relations

Dien Bien Phu and the Crisis of Franco-American Relations, 1954-1955 by Lawrense Kaplan, Denise Arraud, and Mark Rubin. This research is certainly a very intriguing collection of American and French academics re-approaching the relationship during the key event that would be driving American foreign policy for a generation.

Dien Bien Phu and the Crisis of Franco-American Relations

Published in 1980, these insights offers the west deep new, modern insights into post World War II Asia. Therefore I have embedded an extended series of quotes which highlight the historical, complex, and strained relationship between France and the United States during the siege that would cast aside France from the world’s stage as a power.

Readers can certainly view Japan’s attack of Pearl Harbor, Truman’s betrayal of FDR, and Eisenhower’s failures in a new light. The papers also addresses the domino theory, the deep conflicts between Ely and Radford that ultimately focused on the failed attempt at Operation Vulture. Yet nothing could save France from defeat even with atomic weapons.

Finally, the French 1955 attempted coup d’état reveals the absolute desperation of French attempts to claw back into Vietnam. These topics jumped out as key strains between Franco-American relations that linger into the 1960s. My Dien Bien Phu retrospective is certainly expanding via this research.

Table of Contents:

Prologue: Perceptions by the United States of its interests in Indochina
1. Franco-American conflict in Indochina, 1950-1954
2. The French military and U.S. participation in the Indochina War
3. Britain and the crisis over Dien Bien Phu, April 1954
4. Eisenhower, Dulles, and Dien Bien Phu: “The day we didn’t go to war”
5. Military necessity, political impossibility: French overview on operation Vautour
6. Redefining the American position in Southeast Asia
7. From Geneva to Manila: British policy toward Indochina and SEATO
8. Passage of empire: the United States, France, and South Vietnam, 1954-55
9. Repercussions of the Geneva Conference: South Vietnam under a new protector
10. Spring 1955: Crisis in Saigon
11. The United States, NATO, and French Indochina
12. France between the Indochina War and the European defense community

Even the Prologue: Perceptions by the United States of its interests in Indochina by Richard Immerman will startle readers. Immerman suggests Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor an intentional ploy to divert global interest away from their aims across Indochina. Certainly this appears true today.

Yet for Americans this is a rather stark suggestion. Yet upon reflection there is merit to the Japan’s single strike. Why risk resources in Indochina when a full defensive strategy against America would culminate in the the atomic bombing of their mainland.

Japan had already invaded and conquered China. France surrendered to Japanese troops across Indochina, yet managed to negotiate terms after Japan’s invasion of French Indochina in 1940. At the height of the second French colonial empire, Paris ruled almost 9% of the global population.

Set against Communist China and the Soviet Union, President Eisenhower ultimately shaped a policy leading America to war for a generation. Resource rich Indochina would be providing Japan much needed raw materials to drive their war effort. When American banned oil sales to the Japanese mainland, Indochina became their target.

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Latest Read: Valley of the Shadow

Valley of the Shadow: The Siege of Dien Bien Phu by Kevin Boylan and Luc Olivier. What makes this book so valuable is their access to Vietnamese research never before published. This illustrates n new view of the siege. My Dien Bien Phu retrospective will now place Boylan and Olivier’s work as the most detailed order of battle.

Valley of the Shadow

Bernard Fall’s Hell in a Very Small Place: The Siege of Dien Bien Phu remains the most essential work. Valley of the Shadow compliments and introduces those new Vietnamese insights. This provides the West with deeper sights as we approach a 70 year remembrance of the siege.

Boylan and Olivier also shed insight to Navarre’s initial plan. Amazingly, he wanted to cancel the entire operation at the last possible minute. Yet firm dates for the Geneva Conference already in place. France hoped for a repeat of their victory at Na San and a strong negotiation advantage.

Interestingly, Valley of the Shadow reflects upon the pompous views of French officers. Their suggestions following Na San, that the Viet Minh would simply fall victim a second time proved so foolish.

Boylan and Olivier offer a few new details to attack plan “Fast Strike, Fast Victory” proposed by Giap. Planned for January, Giap modified to “Steady Fight, Steady Advance.” As victory was within reach, Strike Fast would be delivering a final blow to the French command HQ.

Dedicating a full chapter to the opening 72 hours of the siege provides richer insights. Most importantly, new datasets help confirm early Viet Minh’s attack victories.

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Latest Read: The Eagle Weeps

The Eagle Weeps by Lieutenant colonel Keith Honaker offers stunning lessons from his deployment to Vietnam in February 1952. He arrived in Saigon as a member of the US Military MAAG Vietnam program. His experience illustrates the repeated failures of France to defeat the Viet Minh.

the eagle weeps by Lt. Col Keith Honaker

At the same time, Lieutenant colonel Honaker invited his family to join him in Saigon. Only a select few American officers brought their families to Vietnam. Shockingly his wife Wilma was abducted by Viet Minh agents during a trip to Hanoi. Only a French officer saved her from departing a safe zone around Hanoi. Can you imagine if Wilma had been taken prisoner or killed by the Viet Minh? Certainly shocking to read 65 years later.

During his deployment, France was seeking to remove American officers from the field. Lieutenant colonel Honaker and his fellow American officers in Saigon were not even informed of the French plans for the Dien Bien Phu until after the airlift began.

Likewise there are additional moments in the book that reveal a deep misunderstanding to the early American MAAG mission. As Lieutenant colonel Honaker describes in the opening chapters, his arrival in Vietnam was like landing in another world. His experiences are very foretelling to the next for next 23 years for America.

Surprisingly, as we would later learn, the Viet Minh were preparing a very strong defense of their country. A mature network of spies including those who served American military families as house servants greeted the Honaker family upon their arrival.

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