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Vietnam Labyrinth: Allies, Enemies, and Why the U.S. Lost the War Hardcover – Illustrated, 15 Dec. 2012

English edition by Tran Ngoc Chau (auteur), Daniel Ellsberg (Performer), Ken Fermoyle (Performer)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 19 ratings
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One of the few Vietnamese Army officers who also saw substantial service in Ho Chi Minh's National Liberation Army against the French, Tran Ngoc Chau made a momentous and difficult decision after five years with the Viet Minh: he changed sides. Although his brother Tran Ngoc Hien remained loyal to the North, Chau's Buddhist training and his disillusionment with aspects of the communists' philosophies led him to throw his support to the nationalists and assist the Americans. It was a decision that would cost him dearly when former military school colleague Nguyen Van Thieu, fearing a political rivalry, imprisoned Chau--by then a lieutenant colonel and the Secretary General of the National Assembly's Lower House--despite popular sentiment and the support of Americans like John Paul Vann and Daniel Ellsberg. At every turn Chau stood on principle, however, opposing government corruption, refusing favoritism, and remaining steadfast in his dedication to democracy. His principles would cost him again when, after the fall of Saigon, he was imprisoned in a North Vietnamese re-education camp and even after release kept under continuous surveillance. His detailed memoir reveals an astute understanding of the Vietnamese political situation and national culture that failed to register with U.S. leaders--and offers valuable insights into how to cope with similar conflicts in the future. As Ellsberg has put it, "Vietnam Labyrinth is unmatched, both for its narrative and for lessons to be learned for our current interventions." Also 04 Activeable in e-book formats, 978-0-89672-777-9
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  1. Print length
    480 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    TEXAS TECH UNIV PR
  4. Publication date
    15 Dec. 2012
  5. Dimensions
    15.56 x 4.57 x 23.5 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    9780896727717
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0896727717
  8. See all details
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Review

Chau's Vietnam Labyrinth is a remarkable story, well told, dramatic, and filled with insights on a complex war in its military, political, and human dimensions. Highly recommended. --Lewis Sorley, author of Vietnam Chronicles and The Vietnam War

About the Author

Tran Ngoc Chau escaped from Vietnam via Indonesia among the masses of boat people seeking refuge in the late 1970s, reestablishing himself and his family in the United States with the encouragement of American friends.

During Ken Fermoyle's sixty-five-year career as a writer, editor, photojournalist and author, he has published thousands of articles in major publications and served as book and magazine editor. He and Tran Ngoc Chau launched a business venture together in 1987 and began work on Vietnam Labyrinth a year later.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0896727718
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ TEXAS TECH UNIV PR; New edition (15 Dec. 2012)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 480 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780896727717
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0896727717
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.56 x 4.57 x 23.5 cm
  • Customer reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 19 ratings

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
19 global ratings

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Top reviews from other countries

Larry D.
5.0 out of 5 stars I served in the Air Force during this era.
Reviewed in the United States on 16 December 2023
Verified Purchase
This is the first book to give me enlightenment on what really went on as the author put it “the rice root level”. Now I can read other material on the subject with better understanding. Thank you Mr. Chau. My generation lost so many men during that time.
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S. Darragh
5.0 out of 5 stars Despite some flaws, a must read account of the Wars
Reviewed in the United States on 17 September 2014
Verified Purchase
Tran Ngoc Chau's Vietnam Labyrinth has to be ranked among the top three to four `must read' book on the Vietnam. The few works on Vietnam authored by persons with his background, experience and qualifications tend to be limited to bookstores catering to the Vietnamese diaspora press. Chau's is unique, first because it is written in English, and second because its author incarnates the opinions and outlook of a lifelong Vietnamese nationalist. Like the great majority of leaders from all sides, he was the educated son of a traditional mandarin family: The very class that colonialism and its attendant modernity rendered redundant, replaced by a newer class of middle managers seen by the nationalists as venal lackeys.

A Buddhist from a distinguished Hue family, Chau's goal of entering the Buddhist monkhood was upended by the 1945 revolution. What followed were five years of valor and sacrifice fighting in the Viet Minh ranks, seeing the best and worst of the revolution. Though inclined to the Dai Viet Party, he was invited to join the Communists. His readings of what that Party stood, and was preparing, for opened his eyes. He defected to the newly created State of Vietnam, later serving under Ngo Dien Diem when the Republic was declared. To find the reasons why a former Viet Minh unit commander and political officer would defect is worth the read alone. But equally sharp are Chau's honestly expressed reservations of how the Americans were pursuing the war, and clear-eyed glimpses into the machinations of the various anti-Diem, anti-Ky, and anti-Thieu factions.

His most prescient observation suggests that Vietnam needed a genuinely nationalist authoritarian government to squire the nation through its early pitfalls, and lay the basis for defeating the communists, primarily by convincing the non-communist nationalists among them that the Republic was the more viable alternative. And the best candidate Chau saw for accomplishing this mission, despite his own Buddhist background, was the Catholic Ngo Dien Diem. Syngman Rhee was allowed to do so in Korea, and Chiang Kai-shek did so in Taiwan while receiving American assistance. Neither one of those any less authoritarian than Diem, but it was Diem who was hampered by most of his American advisors, and in the end assassinated with American complicity. Chau's assessment of the man runs counter to much of what saw print in the west.

The book does have drawbacks. Minor ones are mistakes that were widely held as truths. He sees the Americans as backing Ho Chi Minh in 1945, a purposeful misconception spread by that same gentleman. He also believes that Ho Chi Minh repeatedly sought help from the United States, as if the U.S. had any writ to adjudicate Vietnamese independence in 1945. He also credits the Viet Minh with spearheading the resistance against the Japanese. They were no doubt heavily engaged in organizing for resistance against the French, but where is any evidence that the Viet Minh ever seriously engaged the Japanese? More to the point, he counts himself as having fought the Japanese, based upon an attack upon Japanese troops under French command. Unmentioned is the parallel fact that other Japanese were serving with the Viet Minh.

Its major drawback is his cavalier dismissal of any Vietnamese who ever served with the French. Life in the elite French combat units was no easier than the Calvary that Chau paints of life in the Viet Minh. For the paratroops, 1st Indochinese Provisional Battalion (1er BIM), and the Mobile Groups, their 24 months of Indochina was spent mostly in the field. Disregarding the large numbers of Vietnamese who served in paramilitary units as partisans and 'suppletifs', one of every three "French" combat companies was Indochinese by 1950, and in 1951 De Lattre upped that to two Indochinese companies of four per battalion. So at Dien Bien Phu between 40 and 50 percent of French combat strength was Indochinese, the majority of whom were Vietnamese. The ARVN 5th Para Battalion was over 90 per cent Vietnamese, and the entire garrison was supported by 2,400 Viet Minh POWs, termed "PIMs", who suffered as many casualties as the combatants. Yet desertion among them was minimal, according to an article by Colonel (Dr.) Hoang Co Lan of the French Army.

As Chau makes clear, as the "French War" progressed and it became clear to many Vietnamese where the real power lay behind the Viet Minh throne, and more importantly, what their goals were, the tide of opinion among various classes and regions shifted to the Vietnamese State and later RVN. Is it too much to conclude that the majority of Vietnamese in "French" combat units were also serving a non-Communist Vietnam's cause? To denigrate the garrison of Dien Bien Phu, and later ARVN officers of the caliber of Tran Dinh Vy, a former French sergeant, later ARVN colonel, and the backbone of the most famous "French" commando unit (they were all former Viet Minh), as well as Pham Van Phu and others, smacks of an overly-exclusive nationalism that runs counter to his dream of forging an inclusive nationalism that would have united both non and anti-communists.

That said, his account, observations, and vision spanning both the French and North-South Wars, to borrow a term for the "American War" used in some nationalist circles, deserves no less than five stars. It is at the very top of must-read books on the war.
13 people found this helpful
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neihtn
3.0 out of 5 stars While this book is an excellent tribute to Chau's life and ideas
Reviewed in the United States on 15 July 2014
Verified Purchase
This book offers a perspective on the Vietnam War that is somewhat different than the so-called conventional wisdom on the topic. However, that does not make it any more enlightened than what other authors, American or Vietnamese, have tried to convey in similar writings.

It is an interesting read, especially when Tran Ngoc Chau recounts the few years starting in 1945 when he joined the ranks of the communist-led insurgency against the French. Chau left the communists to join the nationalist cause, rising as high as province chief in the Mekong delta and then becoming an elected representative in the National Assembly, before being arrested and accused of dealing with the enemy via his brother who was a high-ranking communist officer.

Throughout the rest of the book, Chau likes to remind us of his few years fighting on the side of the communists against the French, while denigrating others of his generation who joined the nationalist side and fought against communism. To him, they were French trained NCOs or low-ranking officers who rose to become generals and leaders of South Vietnam through favoritism and corruption. He mentions a few that were capable and incorruptible, but dismisses them as inconsequential.

All along, he likes to repeat that if only his own ideas of fighting communist insurgency had been more widely adopted, the Viet Cong would have long been subdued and brought over to the South's side. No mention is made of the fact that after the 1968 Tet offensive, the Viet Cong was practically eliminated from the battlefield and that all fighting was undertaken by North Vietnamese regiments and divisions. Furthermore, the people of South Vietnam overwhelmingly rejected communism, and at every opportunity fled from any area supposedly liberated by the North.

While this book is an excellent tribute to Chau's life and ideas, it flies in the face of the realities of the Vietnam War. North Vietnam never had any intention of sharing power with any third-party movement in Saigon, and never gave up on its goal of conquering the South by force. Likewise, the communist bloc was unwavering in its support of Hanoi, keeping it well supplied with weapons and even sending Chinese, North Korean, and Russian troops to help in the fighting. Meanwhile, the anti-war movement weakened American resolve, forced an American pullout, and toward the end managed to cut off all aid to South Vietnam, delivering it like ripe fruit on a platter to the Hanoi leaders. There was nothing any individual could have done against those forces of history.
15 people found this helpful
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W. C. HAKE
5.0 out of 5 stars Labyrinth Laid Bare
Reviewed in the United States on 25 January 2014
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I am just past halfway through this book and decided to add my two cents. The above reviewers give the basic storyline so I won't expand on that much. I will say that the prose flows well and is not hard to follow--except for the multitude of Vietnamese names one encounters. The narrative moves forward in chronological order. Chau seems quite honest about his personal feelings, even to cover an "almost" love affair with a female Viet Min militant he got to know early on. He does not alibi but just presents the facts as he knows and experienced them. This man held a great many different posts along the way. He met a great many of the important players, especially since being on close terms with the doomed President Diem. He admits liking Diem, but understands his faults and ultimate fate. The print is small and this is not a short read. However the chapters come in small units, each of which has a descriptive title so you know generally what will be discussed. There are a few photos in the middle. I would have liked more of them, but that is nitpicking. This is non-agenda driven history of a very controversial war and well worth the time.
9 people found this helpful
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George H. Petrin
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Account of the Vietnam War by a Vietnamese
Reviewed in the United States on 22 August 2015
Verified Purchase
If you enjoyed "A Bright Shining Lie" this should be your next book Chau writes a history of the war from the Vietnamese point of view. He served in the military for both the North and the South. A truly principled person this book provides much insight as to why the support and power of the Americans could not turn the tide for the South Vietnam Government against the North. Chau had to flee his country and now resides in the U.S.
This was a wonderful written and enjoyable book that I highly recommend to all individuals interested in Vietnam or the Vietnam War.
6 people found this helpful
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