osp_VC-page

The first thing I read was on the aknowledgements page and it basically got my attention and respect right away:

"The title of this volume reflects the names by which the Vietnamese guerrilas and military forces of North Vietnam have been popularly known in the West. Threoughout the text however they have been given their more correct title of The People's Army of Vietnam. (PAVN)."

I figured if this is the first bit of info within the 64 page book, it might give some very accurate details about this army and shed some light on it's history. Well, the book is filled with tons of info and I am extremely impressed by just how much the authors actually crammed into this volume. To be honest, reading this book seemed more like a turbo-charged history lesson and at times it seemed as though it's 64 pages were more like 200! It requires a second pass for me as my feeble brain needs another chance at storing all it's facts - the dates and places and events are many, and it's pages include wonderful details regarding units, uniforms, offensives and operations, armour, weapons, etc. The photos are all in black and white as is Ospreys usual approach but the lush colors of illustrations by Simon McCouaig make for great candy for the eyes.