by steviecee » Wed Aug 22, 2012 8:48 am
Another well written book by Piotr Olender on an obscure but interesting subject. While the title says it is about the naval war, much of the book is about the land war and how it was supported by riverine operations.
The French were trying to colonize Vietnam and needed to force China to recognize French claims and to withdraw Chinese support and Chinese troops from Vietnam. (The book explains that the Chinese Troops went to Nam in support of Vietnamese independence.) The French, for lack of manpower, were not able to win the land campaign, but were finally able to force China to withdraw support and allow France to claim Vietnam by using the French navy to destroy the Chinese navy and disrupt the Chinese economy by blockading their coast.
The book is complete with tables covering the tonnage, dimensions and armanment of the ships of the respective navies and has profiles and plan views of some of the ships involved. These plans are not enough, in themselves, to build a model of any of the ships. The BIG drawback to this book is the terrible terrible reproduction of the photographs in it, for which in my opinion there is no excuse. I firmly believe that they would sell more books like this if they put some money and effort into better reproduction of the pictures.
Another well written book by Piotr Olender on an obscure but interesting subject. While the title says it is about the naval war, much of the book is about the land war and how it was supported by riverine operations.
The French were trying to colonize Vietnam and needed to force China to recognize French claims and to withdraw Chinese support and Chinese troops from Vietnam. (The book explains that the Chinese Troops went to Nam in support of Vietnamese independence.) The French, for lack of manpower, were not able to win the land campaign, but were finally able to force China to withdraw support and allow France to claim Vietnam by using the French navy to destroy the Chinese navy and disrupt the Chinese economy by blockading their coast.
The book is complete with tables covering the tonnage, dimensions and armanment of the ships of the respective navies and has profiles and plan views of some of the ships involved. These plans are not enough, in themselves, to build a model of any of the ships. The BIG drawback to this book is the terrible terrible reproduction of the photographs in it, for which in my opinion there is no excuse. I firmly believe that they would sell more books like this if they put some money and effort into better reproduction of the pictures.