"When American and South Vietnamese forces, led by General Creighton Abrams, launched an attack into neutral Cambodia in 1970, the invasion ignited a firestorm of violent antiwar protests throughout the United States, dealing yet another blow to Nixon's troubled presidency. But, as John Shaw shows, the campaign also proved to be a major military success." "Most histories of the Vietnam War either give the Cambodian invasion short shrift or merely criticize it for its political fallout, thus neglecting one of the campaign's key dimensions. Approaching the subject from a distinctly military perspective, Shaw shows how this carefully planned and executed offensive provided essential support for Nixon's "decent interval" and "peace with honor" strategies - by eliminating North Vietnamese sanctuaries and supply bases located less than a hundred miles from Saigon and by pushing Communist troops off the Vietnamese border."--Jacket.

Includes maps of: Routes, Base Areas, and Major Cross-border Operations, Spring 1970; NVA/VC Infantry Deployments in III CTZ, Early 1970; Mid-April - Toan Thang 41 and Cuu Long/SD9/06; ARVN and IIFFV Deployments in III CTZ and Northeast IV CTZ as of 31 May 1970; Toan Thang 42's Initial Phase, 29 April-5 May; First Cavalry Division's Major Finds and Fire Support Bases in Cambodia; Twenty-Fifth Infantry Division in Cambodia; B-52 Arc Light Air Strikes during the Cambodian Incursion.

The Johnson-Westmoreland era, 1965-1969 -- The Nixon-Abrams era, 1969-1970 -- MACV's initial planning, spring 1970 -- ARVN's opening attack and final U.S. planning -- TOAN THANG 43, 1 May to 30 June -- The First Cavalry Division expands into Cambodia -- TOAN THANG 44 : the Twenty-fifth Infantry Division -- Supporting operations -- Aftermath.