New book from Helion's Asia@war series

by John previously FoA Mon Aug 21, 2023 3:09 am

So Helion have recently released the first of (two?) volumes on France's war in Indochina by Stephen Rookes. Has anyone else read it? I'd love to know some views on it.

Personally I'm not convinced. It has some very good elements and some that are, well, wrong.

Several photos are captioned wrong or questionably. Some of the statements/implications made are uncertain - for example the author states 'the crew are using the M1 helmet indicating photo taken post-1950' (p38). However I believe that both Groupe Massau and the 9e DIC were fully equipped with US material - possibly excepting 9DIC small arms. So M1 Helmet was in Indochina prior to 1950.

The uniform colour plates are.... well I know there are 50 shades of Field Grey but these seem well off the mark. The vehicle/aircraft ones are well executed and accurate.

The text is interesting and gives new information on French ground operations especially in Cochinchina and Annam, which are often overlooked. Sadly there is little detail on of initial French operations between Saigon and My Tho involving Groupe Massu and 5 RIC. There are some nice pen portraits of commanders from all sides. Within the text are several tables and these may prompt some debate for what is in and what is out - particularly the one on Viet Minh armaments. There a Naval/Riverine chapter with a detailed OoB and an excellent Air Force section. Unsurprising given the author was a researcher for French Air Force. Although English by birth the author has resided is France for some considerable time and this, I think, is reflected in the sentence structure which seems to your commenter to jar a little on occasion.

Anyway 1 penny for your thoughts

Cheers all

John