On the Armada bookshelf.

Valley of Decision The Siege of Khe Sanh John Prados and Ray W. Stubbe Naval Institute Press

Arguably the decisive battle of the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese push to overrun the Khe Sanh forward combat base was seen by many as an effort to replay the devastating defeat of the French at Dien Bien Phu. The authors, of which Ray Stubbe was a chaplain at the base during the siege in 1968, have chronicled the early events of the war from both a political and tactical standpoint, proffering previously classified information from sources such as captured NVA documents, communication intercepts, CIA briefs and from soldiers and marines who survived the battles. Most notable are the quotes and briefs taken from General William C. Westmoreland, who saw Khe Sanh as the most important staging point of the Vietnam conflict--higher in priority than the Tet Offensive, which occurred but a few nights before the Khe Sanh siege began.

As an example of the importance of the battle for the base, during the seventy-seven day siege US Air Force bombers delivered 14,223 tonnes of bombs, rockets and other munitions; the Marine Air Wing dropped 17,015 tonnes of ordnance; US Navy planes with 7941 tonnes of munitions and the Arc Light B-52 bombers dropped 59,542 tonnes.

Throughout its 550 pages, Valley of Decision provides an extremely adept tactical, strategic and historical translation of the myriad organisations involved in the decision making processes, insight into the thoughts and deeds of the warfighters on both sides of the conflict as well as in-depth battle-by-battle reporting of the deadly day and night patrols the US Marine Corps and Special Forces units conducted in the surrounding area. Special focus is placed on General Westmoreland's fruitless campaign to enter Laos in the early stages of the war to disrupt the now-famous Ho Chi Minh Trail--which was the North Vietnam Army's supply line to the south.

Valley of Decision is unique in the breadth of its spectrum of coverage and the depth of research effectuated by the authors. For historians and tacticians this book offers an on-the-scene testimony to the events that unfurled at Khe Sanh.

Partners at the Creation The Men Behind Postwar Germany's Defense and Intelligence Establishment James H. Critchfield Naval Institute Press

A step back in time that reveals the history of how the German national security system was designed and built by former members of the German Army General Staff under the planning and direction of the US intelligence community. James Critchfield, a decorated combat veteran and CIA officer, reveals the inner workings, the construction and implementation of an intelligence system that helped Germany to recover and rebuild following World War II. A riveting spy novel as well as a provocative historical narration, Partners at the Creation details how two of Hitler's former aides--chief of operations, Adolf Heusinger and chief of intelligence on the Eastern Front, Reinhard Gehlen--laboured under Critchfield's direction from a secret compound outside Munich to create Germany's new intelligence and defence systems. The author, known at that time only as Mr. Marshall, discloses his eight-year struggle to bring West Germany into the ally camp, whereby subjecting the reader to an alternative, and altogether much more informed perspective of post-World War II diplomacy. The book contains a biography of the author, an in-depth index and bibliography and an appendix of the principal players on both the German and American sides, including Allen Dulles--the then-director of the CIA and a former OSS * initiate.

This reveal-all examination chronicles the combined efforts that helped transport Germany from a war-torn collection of cities and hamlets to the European superpower it is today. Partners at the Creation is a Cold War masterpiece that exposes true 'on-the-ground' espionage activities and unveils the Allied high commissioners moulding of the new German intelligence system.

* For a humorous look at one man's journey through the fledgling OSS--Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the CIA, see Armada International issue 3/2004 page 150.