In 1959, I volunteered for a class assignment to go to the city of An Lộc to observe and report on how a rubber plantation worked. The plantation was owned by a now-defunct French company, Société des Plantations des Terres Rouges. I spent several hours with a young Vietnamese forestry engineer touring the plantation and its processing plants, and came back thoroughly impressed by the immense scale of the plantation and its vibrant life.
Thirteen years later, in the spring of 1972, three North Vietnamese divisions, supported by an artillery division and two tank regiments, attacked An Lộc, hoping to capture it within days to use as the capital for a Communist Provisional Revolutionary Government. By then I had gone to college in America, returned to Việt Nam, and, after a brief stint in the military, was working in various capacities in the civilian government. I still remember lying awake at night in Sài Gòn listening to the distant rumble of B-52 bombs dropped on North Vietnamese troops encircling An Lộc to prevent them from overwhelming the city’s defenders.
In the end, the city was completely destroyed and tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians were killed, mostly by Communist artillery. Despite that, An Lộc did not surrender and the Communists had to abandon their siege after three months.
Since that time I have wanted to write a book to describe what the people and soldiers of An Lộc had to endure over three months to prevent their city from falling into enemy hands. Over the last ten years, I acquired and read many books and documents in both English and Vietnamese about what happened there. They contain a lot of information, but they were written by authors who were military men, each with his own axe to grind.
American authors were almost always critical of South Vietnamese military leaders. Vietnamese authors, especially former generals and high-ranking officers, tried their best to present the battle from their own viewpoints. There was only one account written by a non-commissioned officer, and none by the soldiers and the civilians who were able to survive their ordeal. As for the North Vietnamese, since An Lộc was their defeat, hardly any published writing on the battle can be found, except for a few Internet wiki articles with only propaganda value.
After my retirement, in early 2018 I began writing The Siege of An Lộc to describe the battle through the eyes of the soldiers and civilians who underwent over three months of fighting and surviving in that wartime inferno. It is of course a fictionalized account, although I tried my best to respect the basic historical facts.
The novel’s two main protagonists are a young and idealistic Lieutenant in the Regional Forces and the daughter of a rubber plantation owner. In contrast to the main characters in my first novel, Village Teacher, this time it is not class difference or parents that come between them. It is the war and the constant threat to their lives during the siege.
Surrounding them is a cast of characters that include a street noodle vendor, an airborne officer, a half-French Communist commander, and two Communist ralliers, including a singer, who defected to the South Vietnamese side.
For people who may have never heard of An Lộc, my novel presents a detailed look not only at how generals and commanders planned and fought the battle, but perhaps more importantly, at how the soldiers and civilians of An Lộc managed to endure and survive their hellish ordeal.
The two little girls in the photo displayed below were discovered in An Lộc by South Vietnamese Rangers after they recaptured an airfield lost to the North Vietnamese at the start of the siege. The older girl said they were children of a Regional Forces soldier fighting somewhere in the city. When the Communists attacked, they tried to run away with their mother who was carrying their baby brother. A North Vietnamese artillery round landed near them, killing their mother and wounding their brother. They carried him and fled into a cave to hide. He died later that night.
The two sisters stayed in the cave for more than two months, subsisting on anything they could find through foraging and scavenging. They ate wild plants, grasshoppers, and once, the raw meat of a chicken killed by artillery.
In 2016, I came back to visit An Lộc for a few hours. The city had been completely rebuilt, with houses and stores looking brand new, and none of the people I talked to remembered what happened there 44 years earlier. As usual the Communist regime rewrote history, going as far as having bodies disinterred and cemeteries flattened by bulldozers.
I have published the novel through Amazon self-publishing services. If you are interested in reading it, here’s its link on Amazon for both the paperback and Kindle versions:
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BonnieReadsAndWrites said:
I enjoyed your novel. It was very well researched!
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Cô Đơn said:
Thanks for telling me the story of An Lộc.
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neihtn2012 said:
You are welcome! If you can, read the book itself.
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dweezer19 said:
So much horror and sadness in this world. 😔
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neihtn2012 said:
Thank you for commenting.
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Julie@frogpondfarm said:
Congratulations! I too look forward to reading your book ..
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neihtn2012 said:
Thank you, Julie! The book is now published, but for outside the US it will be several more days before it is available for shipping.
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LanAnh said:
Congratulations anh Hiền on the completion of your 2nd book! I will never forget Muà Hè Đỏ Lửa 1972, Chuẩn Tướng Lê Văn Hưng and his courageous invicible troops. I had named my third child after him. Can’t wait to read your book.
Best wishes.
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neihtn2012 said:
Thank you! Hưng is a great name.
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quietsolopursuits said:
Congratulations on publishing your second book! From having read your blog posts about your visits home in the past, and I’m looking forward to reading your new book. I’m sure that it will be both a great read, and an accurate portrayal of what happened.
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neihtn2012 said:
Thank you Jerry! You must be very busy these days from your work. Will you be posting again in the near future?
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quietsolopursuits said:
I should, but I can’t find the motivation to get started again. It doesn’t help that I’ve had a number of things going on in my life that has required me to give up what little time off from work that I have each week for various appointments, some due to health issues, others due to approaching retirement age, wit a few other things thrown in as well.
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Amy said:
Congratulations to your new book, Hien! The history of war is cruel….
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neihtn2012 said:
Thank you Amy! Yes, war is cruel, but that does not seem to deter humans from waging it.
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Judy said:
I am totally looking forward to the new book as I very much loved Village Teacher. I like to think that even though there are those that may try and white wash history, hide it , bury it etc., that the truth will never entirely be forgotten, that it will emerge as long as someone remembers or leaves images, and that we will also learn from it.
My father was very fond of Viet Nam and its people, so I am sorry he is no longer here to read it. His family was military and I think they were in the vicinity of Nan King when the Japanese terrorized that city as he was always connected to that story too.
I also like to think that the best of us humans can arise out of the worst.
So glad you have this new volume out soon!! Can’t wait to read it!!
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neihtn2012 said:
Thank you Judy! I wish your father were still alive so that he could read the book and give us his impressions of it.
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Judy said:
Yeah, me too!! I genuinely look forward to the new story. From Village Teacher I can tell you are like my Dad in seeing the good in people amidst some very trying conditions.
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Jane Lurie said:
Congratulations on writing this book, Hien. It must have been difficult and sad to piece together this history.
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neihtn2012 said:
Thank you Jane! Difficult, sad, and sometimes angry too.
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Mabel Kwong said:
This is an amazing effort, Hien. Sounds like you have put in a lot of research to this, and congrats on publishing it. This is a part of history that either has been forgotten, not talked about or stories twisted one way or another. Thank you for speaking the honest truth from your own eyes, and what you went through is nothing short of horrifying. The story of the two girls trying to survive is sad – hope they did make it out of there. Once again, thank you for writing and writing bravely.
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neihtn2012 said:
Thank you Mabel! Those two girls were eventually adopted by an American family.
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chuyen said:
At last, the true story is told about An Loc. I look forward to reading your new book.
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neihtn2012 said:
Thank you!
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AmyRose🌹 said:
I am most definitely impressed by your accomplishment, Hien. How sad that so much of our history either has a slant to it according to who or what is documenting it, and too how sad Communism goes about rewriting history as well. How can something that happened not even seem to exist? Hmmm …. I look forward in reading your new book.
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neihtn2012 said:
Thank you Amy! Rewriting history is a common Communist practice. Remember how China tried to blame Covid-19 on some American soldier(s)!
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AmyRose🌹 said:
Oh yes I really do know. It’s disgusting and so wrong to rewrite history according to someone’s agenda. Uh uh. I don’t fall for that!
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Lignum Draco said:
A fascinating part of history, and you’ve done well to bring the story together from fractured accounts. The story of those 2 girls and their deceased family is distressing but so typical of the effect of war.
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neihtn2012 said:
Thank you for commenting Lignum Draco!
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photobyjohnbo said:
About all I remember of this episode is the name of the town. I will look forward to reading your book.
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neihtn2012 said:
Thank you John!
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Emma Cownie said:
Sounds absolutely fascinating – the photo of the two starving orphans is heart breaking. I look forward to reading your book.
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neihtn2012 said:
Thank you Emma! I hope you will enjoy reading it.
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Hao said:
Congratulations on your second book! Usually I’m very busy during the day and I don’t have time to read. The day I got your book I was constantly resisting the temptation to lay down on the couch and continue reading. This book is such a thoughtful take on war and peace. There is a little for everyone. Read this book.
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neihtn2012 said:
Thank you so much!
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T Ibara Photo said:
Mr. Hien,
Thank you for sharing. I will most definitely purchase a copy of your book once it is available.
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neihtn2012 said:
Thank you Takami! Amazon has informed me that they shipped me the proof copy, so the book will be out next week.
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T Ibara Photo said:
That is exciting news indeed. I will look forward to it!
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nesfelicio said:
Great endeavor, Hien!
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neihtn2012 said:
Thank you Nes!
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Anonymous said:
I am happy that you finally completed your second novel “the siege of An loc. “ . I am interested in reading your final version. Best regards.
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neihtn2012 said:
Thank you very much! Amazon has informed me that they shipped the proof copy, so the book will be out next week.
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lolaWi said:
sounds like an interesting read!
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neihtn2012 said:
My books are usually interesting, with lots of information.
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Eliza Waters said:
Sounds like an intense read, but as you point out, the story needs to be told by a more objective voice. I wish you great success!
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neihtn2012 said:
Thank you Eliza!
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katelon said:
Congratulations on getting it finished!
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neihtn2012 said:
Thanks Katelon!
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nhi nghiem said:
Me too.
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neihtn2012 said:
Thank you Anh Nhi!
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Irene said:
Look forward to reading it. 😊
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neihtn2012 said:
Thank you, I hope you will enjoy the book.
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