Death in the Highlands

As darkness fell on 19 October 1965, two North Vietnamese Army regiments--some 4,000 troops--crept into their final strike positions. The plan was as simple as it was audacious: one regiment would bring the frontier fortress under siege while the other would lie in wait to destroy the inevitable rescue force. Initially, all that stood athwart Hanoi's grand scheme was a handful of American Green Berets, a few hundred Montagnard allies--and burgeoning U.S. airpower. Cut off and beleaguered, Plei Me's defenders fought for their lives, while a daring band of close air support and resupply pilots helped keep the beast at bay...Before it was over, the siege of Plei Me would push its defenders to the brink and usher in the first major clashes between the U.S. and North Vietnamese armies.--BOOK JACKET

By J. Keith Saliba