{"title":"Darren Poole","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"hunting-the-viet-cong-volume-2-book-darren-poole-9781804510186","title":"Hunting the Viet Cong Volume 2","description":"\"Poole gives many examples of how the Viet Cong gained control of rural areas.\" - The VVA Veteran In the early 1960s, the American-backed South Vietnamese government began an aggressive counterinsurgency program aimed at eliminating the Viet Cong. The policy - known as the Strategic Hamlet Program - seriously hurt and 'cut up' the VC. The second volume in this series, Hunting the Viet Cong: The Fall of Diem and the Collapse of the Strategic Hamlets, 1961-64 looks at why the strategy ultimately failed. Focussing on events in South Vietnam, the book exposes Viet Cong atrocities, South Vietnamese corruption and American military and political negligence. The book reveals just how violent and aggressive the Viet Cong were towards their own people. Fear was a weapon of choice: beheading civilians, mutilating children and destroying schools and hospitals were all legitimate tactics in the VC toolbox. The book also explains how a strategy designed to protect Vietnamese villagers made them easy targets for violent guerrillas. Finally, it reveals that there were many decent Americans in South Vietnam who understood the nation and its people but who were constantly ignored by those in power. Using the Viet Cong's own written documentation, in-field reports from American advisors and the testimony of the South Vietnamese themselves, the second volume in the Hunting the Viet Cong series shines a light on multiple failures in South Vietnam: terror, corruption, ineptitude and arrogance caused the Strategic Hamlet Program to fail. The book covers the collapse of the Strategic Hamlet Program, the rise of the insurgency and the overthrow of President Diem. Volume One of Hunting the Viet Cong: The Counterinsurgency Campaign in South Vietnam, 1961-63. The Strategic Hamlet Programme revealed how close the South Vietnamese Government came to eliminating the insurgency. Volume Two shows why things began to go wrong. The book changes large parts of the Historical narrative, explains why America and its allies failed, and sets the scene for the tragedy that was to follow.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49742992081169,"sku":"NGR9781804510186","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1804510181.jpg?v=1751631674"},{"product_id":"hunting-the-viet-cong-volume-1-book-darren-poole-9781915070630","title":"Hunting the Viet Cong Volume 1","description":"The early 1960s are considered to be a period of failure in the fight against the Viet Cong. However, new research reveals that the VC came very close to being defeated. They were - in their own words - being 'cut up'. Hunting the Viet Cong: Counterinsurgency in South Vietnam 1961-1963 presents a new perspective on the early stages of the Vietnam War. It shows how the counterinsurgency policy of the American-backed Diem government was effective in separating the Viet Cong from many of their supporters, forced many VC into hiding and created a platform for further government success. This first volume, The Strategic Hamlet Programme, examines both the Counterinsurgency Plan and the Strategic Hamlet Programme (based upon British success in the Malayan Emergency) and explains how these began to strangle insurgent activity. In many parts of South Vietnam, the VC were reduced to scavenging and intimidating the local people in order to survive. Tragically, this was a period when victory against the VC was possible but political ineptness, arrogance and military delusion threw this chance away. Using documents captured from the Viet Cong, VC prisoner interviews and American military reports the book reveals just how close the insurgents came to being beaten. It contradicts and challenges many of the assumed notions of this time period; it reveals just how much American planners knew about Viet Cong methods, shows how they developed an excellent counterinsurgency strategy to combat insurgent violence and illustrates how - in contrast to the established wisdom - large parts of South Vietnam were under government control before the Diem coup in 1963. Hunting the Viet Cong - The Counterinsurgency Campaign in South Vietnam 1961-1963, Volume 1: The Strategic Hamlet Programme includes 180 photographs of the conflict prior to major direct US intervention and a range of specially commissioned color artworks of aircraft, vehicles and troops.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49778017730833,"sku":"NGR9781915070630","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50201454149905,"sku":"CIN1915070635G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1915070635.jpg?v=1751630678"},{"product_id":"guardian-of-the-gate-bloodline-book-darren-poole-9781478192817","title":"Guardian of the Gate Bloodline","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51136547782929,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51136549388561,"sku":"NIN9781478192817","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/147819281X.jpg?v=1751306466"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/author-books-by-darren-poole.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}