
Invasion of Laos, 1971: Lam Son 719
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $19.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Stuart Appleton
-
By:
-
Robert D. Sander
About this listen
In 1971, while US ground forces were prohibited from crossing the Laotian border, a South Vietnamese Army corps, with US air support, launched the largest airmobile operation in the history of warfare, Lam Son 719. The objective: to sever the North Vietnamese Army's main logistical artery, the Ho Chi Minh Trail, at its hub, Tchepone in Laos, an operation that, according to General Creighton Abrams, could have been the decisive battle of the war. Hastening the withdrawal of US forces and ensuring the survival of South Vietnam. The outcome: defeat of the South Vietnamese Army and heavy losses of US helicopters and aircrews, but a successful preemptive strike that met President Nixon's near-term political objectives.
Author Robert Sander, a helicopter pilot in Lam Son 719, explores why an operation of such importance failed. Sander's conclusion is at once powerful and persuasively clear. Lam Son 719 was doomed in both the planning and execution-a casualty of domestic and international politics, flawed assumptions, incompetent execution, and the resolve of the North Vietnamese Army. A powerful work of military and political history, this book offers eloquent testimony that "failure, like success, cannot be measured in absolute terms."
©2014 University of Oklahoma Press (P)2015 Redwood AudiobooksListeners also enjoyed...
-
A Great Place to Have a War
- America in Laos and the Birth of a Military CIA
- By: Joshua Kurlantzick
- Narrated by: Tim Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1960 President Eisenhower was focused on Laos, a tiny Southeast Asian nation few Americans had ever heard of. Washington feared the country would fall to Communism, triggering a domino effect in the rest of Southeast Asia. So in January 1961, Eisenhower approved the CIA's Operation Momentum, a plan to create a proxy army of ethnic Hmong to fight Communist forces in Laos. While remaining hidden from the American public and most of Congress, Momentum became the largest CIA paramilitary operation in the history of the United States.
-
-
illuminating read of Laos' relationship with USA
- By Daniel on 12-28-18
-
Good to Go
- The Life and times of a Decorated Member of the U.S. Navy's Elite Seal Team Two
- By: Harry Constance, Randall Fuerst
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 15 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Good to Go is Constance's powerful, firsthand account of his three tours of duty as a member of America's most elite, razor-sharp stealth fighting force. It is a breathtaking memoir of harrowing missions and covert special-ops - from the floodplains of the Mekong Delta to the beaches of the South China Sea - that places the listener in the center of bloody ambushes and devastating firefights. But Constance's extraordinary adventure goes even farther - beyond 'Nam.
-
-
Unfortunately this book was not "Good to Go"
- By JWalkup on 12-18-15
By: Harry Constance, and others
-
On Full Automatic
- Surviving 13 Months in Vietnam
- By: William V. Taylor Jr.
- Narrated by: Michael Curtis
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eighteen-year-old Marine recruit William V. Taylor, Jr. and his brother Marines are assembled into a new reaction force that is immediately tested in the fire of a bloody conflict known as Operation Beaver Cage. After a traumatic first fight, they push through back-to-back operations with little time to rest or reflect. Those who survive will return home ensnared by everlasting memories of a real but entirely surreal nightmare. Now, after more than 50 years of holding everything in, Taylor shares his experience in explicit—and often horrific—detail.
-
-
Great story telling!
- By Josh on 03-28-23
-
Undaunted Valor
- An Assault Helicopter Unit in Vietnam
- By: Colonel Matt Jackson
- Narrated by: Jack Nolan
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Undaunted Valor is the firsthand account of helicopter pilot, Colonel Dan Cory as he flies combat missions in the jungles of Vietnam. From dodging enemy ground fire and RPGs, to constant mortar and rocket attacks on his base, Colonel Cory stared down the enemy to bring his fellow soldiers’ home.
-
-
Good story. Horrible narration.
- By tabhastal on 03-22-21
-
History of Southeast Asia
- A Captivating Guide to the History of a Vast Region Containing Countries Such as Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Burma, and More
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Jason Zenobia
- Length: 3 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This audiobook covers ancient Southeast Asia, the mid-period, colonialism, World War Two occupation by the Japanese, the aftermath of the war, and the subsequent revolutions. The history of this region is a riveting story full of all manner of plot twists and developments.
-
-
not a history of Asia
- By Levinia on 08-04-21
-
SOG
- The Secret Wars of America's Commandos in Vietnam
- By: John L. Plaster
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Plaster’s riveting account of his covert activities as a member of a special operations team during the Vietnam War is “a true insider’s account...this eye-opening report will leave readers feeling as if they’ve been given a hot scoop on a highly classified project” (Publishers Weekly). Code-named the Studies and Observations Group, SOG was the most secret elite US military unit to serve in the Vietnam War - so secret that its very existence was denied by the government.
-
-
More, give me more.
- By LEE on 03-06-19
By: John L. Plaster
-
A Great Place to Have a War
- America in Laos and the Birth of a Military CIA
- By: Joshua Kurlantzick
- Narrated by: Tim Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1960 President Eisenhower was focused on Laos, a tiny Southeast Asian nation few Americans had ever heard of. Washington feared the country would fall to Communism, triggering a domino effect in the rest of Southeast Asia. So in January 1961, Eisenhower approved the CIA's Operation Momentum, a plan to create a proxy army of ethnic Hmong to fight Communist forces in Laos. While remaining hidden from the American public and most of Congress, Momentum became the largest CIA paramilitary operation in the history of the United States.
-
-
illuminating read of Laos' relationship with USA
- By Daniel on 12-28-18
-
Good to Go
- The Life and times of a Decorated Member of the U.S. Navy's Elite Seal Team Two
- By: Harry Constance, Randall Fuerst
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 15 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Good to Go is Constance's powerful, firsthand account of his three tours of duty as a member of America's most elite, razor-sharp stealth fighting force. It is a breathtaking memoir of harrowing missions and covert special-ops - from the floodplains of the Mekong Delta to the beaches of the South China Sea - that places the listener in the center of bloody ambushes and devastating firefights. But Constance's extraordinary adventure goes even farther - beyond 'Nam.
-
-
Unfortunately this book was not "Good to Go"
- By JWalkup on 12-18-15
By: Harry Constance, and others
-
On Full Automatic
- Surviving 13 Months in Vietnam
- By: William V. Taylor Jr.
- Narrated by: Michael Curtis
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eighteen-year-old Marine recruit William V. Taylor, Jr. and his brother Marines are assembled into a new reaction force that is immediately tested in the fire of a bloody conflict known as Operation Beaver Cage. After a traumatic first fight, they push through back-to-back operations with little time to rest or reflect. Those who survive will return home ensnared by everlasting memories of a real but entirely surreal nightmare. Now, after more than 50 years of holding everything in, Taylor shares his experience in explicit—and often horrific—detail.
-
-
Great story telling!
- By Josh on 03-28-23
-
Undaunted Valor
- An Assault Helicopter Unit in Vietnam
- By: Colonel Matt Jackson
- Narrated by: Jack Nolan
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Undaunted Valor is the firsthand account of helicopter pilot, Colonel Dan Cory as he flies combat missions in the jungles of Vietnam. From dodging enemy ground fire and RPGs, to constant mortar and rocket attacks on his base, Colonel Cory stared down the enemy to bring his fellow soldiers’ home.
-
-
Good story. Horrible narration.
- By tabhastal on 03-22-21
-
History of Southeast Asia
- A Captivating Guide to the History of a Vast Region Containing Countries Such as Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Burma, and More
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Jason Zenobia
- Length: 3 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This audiobook covers ancient Southeast Asia, the mid-period, colonialism, World War Two occupation by the Japanese, the aftermath of the war, and the subsequent revolutions. The history of this region is a riveting story full of all manner of plot twists and developments.
-
-
not a history of Asia
- By Levinia on 08-04-21
-
SOG
- The Secret Wars of America's Commandos in Vietnam
- By: John L. Plaster
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Plaster’s riveting account of his covert activities as a member of a special operations team during the Vietnam War is “a true insider’s account...this eye-opening report will leave readers feeling as if they’ve been given a hot scoop on a highly classified project” (Publishers Weekly). Code-named the Studies and Observations Group, SOG was the most secret elite US military unit to serve in the Vietnam War - so secret that its very existence was denied by the government.
-
-
More, give me more.
- By LEE on 03-06-19
By: John L. Plaster
-
We Were Soldiers Once... and Young
- Ia Drang - The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam
- By: Harold G. Moore, Joseph L. Galloway
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 16 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In November 1965, some 450 men of the First Battalion, Seventh Cavalry, under the command of Lt. Col. Hal Moore, were dropped by helicopter into a small clearing in the Ia Drang Valley. They were immediately surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers. Three days later, only two and a half miles away, a sister battalion was chopped to pieces. Together, these actions at the landing zones X-Ray and Albany constituted one of the most savage and significant battles of the Vietnam War. How these men persevered makes a vivid portrait of war at its most inspiring and devastating.
-
-
The truth
- By Bobbyg on 10-08-19
By: Harold G. Moore, and others
-
Death in the Highlands
- The Siege of Special Forces Camp Plei Me
- By: J. Keith Saliba
- Narrated by: Jim Seybert
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In fall 1965, North Vietnam's high command smelled blood in the water. The South Vietnamese republic was on the verge of collapse, and Hanoi resolved to crush it once and for all. The communists set their sights on South Vietnam's strategically vital West-Central Highlands. Their first target was the American Special Forces camp at Plei Me, remote and isolated along the Cambodian border.
-
-
Boting
- By William R. Todd-Mancillas (Name includes hyphen and capitalized M). on 06-05-23
By: J. Keith Saliba
-
Through the Valley
- My Captivity in Vietnam
- By: William Reeder Jr.
- Narrated by: Corey M. Snow
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1971 William Reeder was a senior captain on his second tour in Vietnam. He had flown armed, fixed-wing OV-1 Mohawks on secret missions deep into enemy territory in Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam, on his first tour. He returned as a helicopter pilot eager to experience a whole new perspective as a Cobra gunship pilot. Believing that Nixon's Vietnamization would soon end the war, Reeder was anxious to see combat action. To him, it appeared that the Americans had prevailed, beaten the Viet Cong, and were passing everything over to the South Vietnamese Army so Americans could leave.
-
-
Best narration.
- By Speed77 on 01-05-25
-
Chickenhawk
- By: Robert Mason
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 14 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With more than half a million copies sold, Robert Mason's Chickenhawk is one of the best-selling books ever written about the Vietnam War. Fascinated with flying from a young age, Mason earned his private pilot's license even before graduating high school. He enlisted in the army in 1964 and endured an extremely challenging "weeding out" process in an effort to fly helicopters. Sent to Vietnam, he survived more than 1,000 air combat missions despite the violence and brutality exploding all around him.
-
-
Best
- By richard olson on 08-21-15
By: Robert Mason
-
Vietnam
- An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Max Hastings, Peter Noble
- Length: 33 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Vietnam became the Western world’s most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the US in 1975. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing scores of participants on both sides, as well as researching a multitude of American and Vietnamese documents and memoirs, to create an epic narrative of an epic struggle. Here are the vivid realities of strife amid jungle and paddies that killed two million people.
-
-
A more nuanced view than Ken Burns' companion book
- By Vu on 10-21-18
By: Max Hastings
-
Across the Fence: Expanded Edition
- The Secret War in Vietnam
- By: John Stryker Meyer
- Narrated by: John Stryker Meyer
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For eight years, far beyond the battlefields of Vietnam and the glare of media distortions, American Green Berets fought a deadly secret war in Laos and Cambodia under the aegis of the top secret Military Assistance Command Vietnam - Studies and Observations Group, or SOG. Go deep into the jungle with five SOG warriors surrounded by 10,000 enemy troops as they stack up the dead to build a human buttress for protection. Witness a Green Beret, shot in the back four times and left for dead, who survives to fight savagely against incredible odds to complete his missions.
-
-
Great Great Great
- By Stuta on 02-26-20
-
SOG Kontum
- Secret Missions in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia 1968-1969
- By: Joe Parnar, Robert Dumont
- Narrated by: Corey M. Snow
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This book tells the story of the Teams operating out of FOB2 Kontum, near the tri-border area, in 1968-69. From recon missions over the fence to the heroic, and sometimes fatal efforts undertaken to try and rescue missing SOG members, the events are told through the words of the men themselves, supported by previously unreleased official documents.
-
-
Great story telling, gripping stories.
- By Derek Catalan on 03-23-25
By: Joe Parnar, and others
-
Point Man
- By: Chief James Watson, Kevin Dockery
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chief Petty Officer James "Patches" Watson was there at the start. One of the first to come out of the famed Underwater Demolition Team 21, he was an initial member—a "plank owner"—of America's deadliest and most elite fighting force, the U.S. Navy SEALs. Through three tours in the jungle hell of Vietnam, he walked the point—staying alert to trip wires, booby traps, and punji pits, guiding his squad of amphibious fighters on missions of rescue, reconnaissance, and demolition—confronting a war's unique terrors head-on, unprotected . . . and unafraid.
-
-
Great book with fresh stories
- By melamama on 06-28-24
By: Chief James Watson, and others
-
Guts 'N Gunships
- What It Was Really Like to Fly Combat Helicopters in Vietnam
- By: Mark Garrison
- Narrated by: Eric Martin
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the summer of 1967, Mark Garrison had dropped out of college at Southern Illinois University just before entering his third year. He had run out of money and had to work for a while. These were the days before the lottery and the draft soon came calling. In order to somewhat control his own future, he enlisted in the US Army's helicopter flight school program. Little did he know that this adventure would be the most profound experience of his life.
-
-
Fascinating
- By Jean on 04-25-16
By: Mark Garrison
-
Against All Odds
- A True Story of Ultimate Courage and Survival in World War II
- By: Alex Kershaw
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the Allies raced to defeat Hitler, four men, all in the same unit, earned medal after medal for battlefield heroism. Maurice “Footsie” Britt, a former professional football player, became the very first American to receive every award for valor in a single war. Michael Daly was a West Point dropout who risked his neck over and over to keep his men alive. Keith Ware would one day become the first and only draftee in history to attain the rank of general before serving in Vietnam. In WWII, Ware owed his life to the finest soldier he ever commanded, a baby-faced Texan named Audie Murphy.
-
-
The Greatest Generation.
- By Jay Voigt on 05-28-22
By: Alex Kershaw
-
SOG Chronicles: Volume One
- By: John Stryker Meyer
- Narrated by: John Stryker Meyer
- Length: 4 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From 1964 to 1972, far beyond the battlefields of Vietnam and the glare of media distortions, American Green Berets and their indigenous troops fought a deadly secret war in Laos, Cambodia and North Vietnam under the aegis of the top secret Military Assistance Command Vietnam—Studies and Observations Group, or simply SOG.
-
-
Too important
- By Jim on 10-25-22
-
13 Months
- In the Bush, in Vietnam, in 1968
- By: Bruce A. Bastien
- Narrated by: Jason Vande Brake
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is an intimate look at life in the bush during the Vietnam War in 1968. You will experience the daily struggles, battles, and funny things that happen to a USMC grunt living in the bush for 13 months. You’ll see firsthand through the battles, what marines ate and drank, where they slept, and their existence that ranged from unmitigated terror to utter boredom, hot and dry to wet and cold, rested and ready to frazzled and wired.
-
-
Enjoyable memoir
- By Billy on 10-15-23
By: Bruce A. Bastien
Critic reviews
"Robert Sander has done a truly superb job of telling what really happened in Lam Son 719. Great book!" (Maj. Gen. Benjamin L. Harrison, author of Hell on a Hill Top: America's Last Major Battle in Vietnam)
"Sander's vivid accounts of the heroic actions of his fellow helicopter pilots and crewmen are especially noteworthy. Invasion of Laos deserves to be a part of any Vietnam War library or collection." (Andrew Wiest, author of Vietnam's Forgotten Army: Heroism and Betrayal in the ARVN)
What listeners say about Invasion of Laos, 1971: Lam Son 719
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Gary
- 07-22-21
Exceptional
The most detailed book of any battle I have ever read. Being a retired SF Army Sergeant Major I read a lot of military history. A must read , heroic in scope. i could not put it down!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bruce W. Breitweiser
- 11-05-22
worthwhile for you to check out
really good narrative about this initiative, and a good history of the years preceding the invasion.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!