James H. Willbanks. A Raid Too Far

Operation Lam Son 719 in 1971 was supposed to demonstrate the Army of the Republic of Vietnam's (ARVN) improved battlefield capabilities, and the feasibility of President Richard Nixon's Vietnamization policy. A Raid Too Far: Operation Lam Son 719 and Vietnamization in Laos is one of three important works published on the battle in recent years. In 2012, Military Bookshop published the declassified 1971 Project CHECO Southeast Asia Report and University of Oklahoma Press released Robert D. Sander's Invasion of Laos, 1971: Lam Son 719 in 2014. Nixon really had no viable alternative to an American withdrawal from Vietnam. In doing so he hoped to preserve American honor, reassure South Vietnam it was not being totally abandoned, and demonstrate that the United States could and would maintain its worldwide commitments. The result was “Vietnamization,” a plan to return responsibility for the war back to a retrained and resurgent ARVN and disengage American forces.

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