Military Review English Edition January-February 2015

MR REVIEW ESSAY A RAID TOO FAR Operation Lam Son 719 and Vietnamization in Laos James H. Willbanks, Texas A&M University Press, 2014, 296 pages, $35.00 INVASION OF LAOS, 1971 Lam Son 719 Robert D. Sander, University of Oklahoma Press, 2014, 304 pages, $29.95 Col. Thomas E. Hanson, U.S. Army A fter more than 40 years, there is still no comprehensive analysis of the Nixon Administration’s policy of “Vietnamization.” Thankfully, two recent works on the South Vietnamese Army’s 1971 invasion of Laos go some way toward remedying this gap. James H. Willbanks’ A Raid Too Far: Operation LAM SON 719 and Vietnamization in Laos and Robert D. Sander’s Invasion of Laos 1971: LAM SON 719 are both well-researched and engaging pieces; they are welcome additions to the historiography of the wars in Vietnam. Written from different perspectives and motivations—despite their 124 common subject—the books are more complementary than redundant. Both books provide meticulous tactical and operational details and analysis of the corps-level attack by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) on North Vietnamese military installations inside Laos in early 1971. However, where Willbanks confines himself to providing the strategic setting for the operation itself, Sander provides a much lengthier section on the evolution of the strategic situation confronting the United States in Southeast Asia. His narrative summary of North Vietnamese development of their January-February 2015 MILITARY REVIEW

Military Review English Edition January-February 2015 | Page 126