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The War Against Trucks
Aerial Interdiction in Southern Laos 1968-1972
by Bernard C. Nalty

2005 - 379 pages
$36.00 - Paperback
$40.00 - Hardback (They call it "Cloth")
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975--Aerial operations, American. 2. United
States. Air Force--History--Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975. 3. Vietnamese
Conflict, 1961-1975--Campaigns--Laos. 4. Ho Chi Minh Trail. I. Title.

Air Force History and Museums Program
United States Air Force
Washington, D.C. 2005

To order online: http://bookstore.gpo.gov/
or http://bookstore.gpo.gov/actions/PublicationsSearch

E-mail address for the Air Force Historical Studies Office:
afhso.book.orders@Pentigon.af.mil

Active Duty, Retired, National Guard, Reserve, and current DOD civilians:  May receive one paperback copy free of charge by sending an e-mail to this mailbox Debra.Moss@pentagon.af.mil.  E-mail must contain:  name, rank, service, which category (Active Duty, Retired, National Guard, etc.), number of years of service, and complete mailing address.  This does not apply to veterans who are not retired.

Veterans who are not retired, and any others must purchase from the U.S. Government Printing Office.  Their web site address is http://bookstore.gpo.gov/.  Type in "War Against Trucks" in the search area, and click on "Search."  GPO requires prepayment by credit card (Visa, MasterCard, Discover), or personal check.  Cost for paperback is $36.00; cost for hard cover is $40.00.

Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara intended initially to establish a manned barrier guarding the demilitarized zone between the two Vietnams, while using electronic sensors and computers to detect and analyze movement on the Ho Chi Minh Trail so that aircraft could attack the troops and cargo bound for the battlefields of South Vietnam. Only the electronic portion went into service, and the Ho Chi Minh Trail became the object of seven successive Commando Hunt operations, beginning in the fall of 1968 and lasting until the spring of 1972, when a North Vietnamese invasion of the South changed the nature of the war. Although aircraft of the other services participated in this extended campaign of aerial interdiction, the Air Force assumed the greatest responsibility for both equipment and execution.

The book begins by summarizing Secretary McNamara’s reasons for substituting an interdiction campaign for the bombing of North Vietnam and then describes the early efforts at aerial interdiction, which were delayed by the need to shift resources for the defense of the Marine Corps outpost at Khe Sanh in northwestern South Vietnam, just south of the demilitarized zone. Because technology held the key to attacking the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the aircraft and other equipment used in the Commando Hunt series receive extensive treatment early in the narrative. Next come the air campaigns themselves, supplemented by ground operations from Laos and South Vietnam, that over the years, with varying success, engaged every component of the Ho Chi Minh Trail through southern Laos and in Cambodia—roads and trails, bivouacs and storage areas, waterways and pipelines, truck traffic, and for a brief time, troop movements. In addition to discussing this activity, the narrative addresses the unsuccessful attempt to Vietnamize interdiction without transferring the entire array of special equipment created or modified for that purpose. The volume also deals with the application of the technology that maintained surveillance over the trail and covers the problem of locating North Vietnamese artillery after the invasion of South Vietnam in 1972.

A final chapter evaluates the effectiveness of the air-supported electronic barrier and concludes that the concealment readily afforded by the jungle, the resilience of the North Vietnamese and their control of the tempo of military operations, the limitations of the available technology, and the lack of adequate information about the trail complex combined to prevent the Commando Hunt operations from doing more than inconveniencing the enemy.

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