Book 3, "The Battle of Ap Bac" Summary

Ap Bac was a small hamlet on the eastern edge of the Plain of Reeds. The hamlet was called Bac, and ap is the Vietnamese word for hamlet that was added to the name in the press stories after the battle. Three days after Christmas in 1962, Vann, the 7th Division and Vann's new counterpart, Lieutenant Bui Dinh Dam, Cao's replacement, were ordered to seize a radio transmitter operating near Ap Bac in the hamlet Tan Thoi. The 3rd Radio Research Unit discovered this radio transmitter using their specially designed planes. Vann's intelligence agents also learned that a reinforced company of 120 Viet Minh was guarding the radio transmitter. It would turn out that this intelligence was faulty. The number of guards was much higher, and the area was being used as some...