The 'Campaigns' of Osprey have gone through numerous changes over the years, with the first looking very, very different from the newer ones. Yet even though the new generation of Osprey Campaigns look far better and is far more organized, the core of all books remains its content, and Tet Offensive 1968 is very strong in that category.
Arnold gives a good overview of the events leading up to campaign, including what the effects of President Johnson's continual belief in sucsess would bring to the US public when Tet finally erupted. The opposing armies section in this volume is especially well done, including US and ARVN tactics and roles in the war and the NVA tactics, all of which played a major part in Tet. He does not seem biased in any way, giving a fair and insighted look into each side's forces, though he has a nagging case of calling the North Vietnamese the 'Communists" (they are, but I didn't see him calling the Americans the 'Capitalists'!).
All of these are backed up by very good photographs and a few good illustrations, such as the US GI, the Vietcong guerilla, ARVN militia, weaponry, and whatnot. One minor omission is the lack of a good picture of Vo Ngyuen Giap (the NVA Supreme Commander), but then again there are far more places to get this.
The actual campaign itself is covered very well, with the author's clear and flowing writing style adding greatly to the content. As can be expected with early Osprey Campaigns, the 2D maps are not very good compared to the newer ones (South Vietnam Military Regions - Page 18, The Assault on Saigon - Page 42, The Bien Hoa - Long Binh Area - Page 51, Targets of the Tet Offensive - Page 63, and Hue - Page 71). The only one that actually looked good, and was useful enough for me to use often was the Targets of the Tet Offensive map, which showed all military and non military targets hit, and on what day. Every other map, though nice to have, is not really used when reading Tet Offensive 1968.
The content of the campaign (if it can be called that) section is NOT general synopsis of the fighting in the two major regions of the Tet Offensive: Saigon and Hue. It IS, to my pleasant surprise, mostly a series of synopsis' of 'sub-actions' in the overall battle, such as the NVA attack on the US embassy, the NVA attack on the Saigon radio station, and of squadrons and platoons running to the rescue at Bien Hoa. It shows how the battle was really fought instead of saying 'This battalion moved here, defended this from this, and this battalion was ambushed by that battalion as it came to relieve...', you understand. It gave me a real insight to how Tet was fought, and was very enjoyable to read. A particularily intresting story is that of general Westmoreland standing in the rubble of the US embassy saying that everything was OK to beleagured and confused journalists - portraying how misled the world believed the Vietnam War to be going. Hue is similarily covered.
When it shifts focus from Sagion and Hue to the country in general, Arnold makes it clear that in almost every action the NVA and Vietcong suffered a defeat, so much that the Vietcong would never be half the threat as it once was due to the slaugter faced by assaulting the US and ARVN positions. He gives short one-paragraph synopsis' of battles in certain towns countrywide, never forgetting to remind us the manner of which Tet was fought (such as needing "to destroy the town to save it", in the words of an American major). It is all very insightful indeed.
Photographs in all sections are well chosen and fairly large (so we can actually see whats going on). All photographs are black and white in typical Opsrey format, and several notable ones include Westmoreland trying to assauge the press (Page 56), an arieal view of the Citadel of Hue (Page 69), a large picture of a 'Mini Tet' (page 86-7), and pictures of the battle in Saigon (Pages 48-9).
Finally to Osprey's prestigious 3D maps, a factor that makes this series so popular. In this case, there are no 'traditional' 3D Maps (to my initial dissapointment), just 3D pictures of the Cu Chi caves (pg 10-1), the attack on the Saigon Embassy (pg 46-7), and Street fighting in Hue (78-9). Each picture (each meticulously detailed and colourful) has a very long caption describing the event/structure, and the Embassy attack is covered in minute detail (and is, among Arnold's selected stories, very informative and interesting). But upon thinking, it is preferable to have 3D images of the general fighting instead of a painful 3D painted rendition of Saigon or Hue (as Osprey didn't have computer terrain graphics yet, first debuted in Marengo 1800). Regardless 3D MAP lovers, don't weep over this loss.
All in all, this is a very solid Osprey packing all you need to know about Tet (I am satiated with my knowledge of it personally). Any fan of Ospreys MUST include this on the bookshelf, as well as any layman historian interested in this important event. It is a buy you will not regret.
