If the Third Reich fought the Vietnam War

[Combatintman]

Windrow's is the better book to be honest - its bigger for a start and does a pretty good rundown of the Indochina war before focussing on Dien Bien Phu which again is done in some detail.

Fall's book was written in the 60's before a lot of the documentation was released by the various archives and is more a collection of first-hand anecdotes with a bit of analysis. That said Fall is one of the more respected writers on Indochina and was killed on 'The Street Without Joy' in the 1960's during the American involvement there.

 

[BillyBones]

First things first...
Third Reich would have a very liberal ROE and a propaganda ministry supported by the regime that would not permit a 5th column.
and lastly, no fear of escalation of hostilities Communist China or the USSR.

The Third Reich would not hesitate to use the V6 ICBM to deliver a thermo-nuclear device to a target in North Vietnam, most likely Hanoi.

This would achieve two goals...
1. Erradicate the Northern Communist regime (and it's populace).
2. The fallout zone would prevent incursion and assistance by Red China.

Third Reich Germans possess no interest in protracted offenses or defenses.

The world powers would be held at bay, as they do not possess the advanced technology of the Third Reich.

Note: World powers (of the era) wouldn't possess the weapon systems as they wouldn't have had access to German scientists.

Oh, and no United Nations :^)
Billy

 

[Firehorse]

IMO, besides lack of jungle warfare training/experience and other political considerations, Germans would have probably sent some arms, advisors/observers and rather use Thailand (Japanese ally in WWII) in Vietnam.
But, short of using nukes, I doubt that anyone would be successful in imposing their will on Vietnamese- Chinese, Mongols, Siamese, French, Japanese, and Americans couldn't do it. Besides, that country is not pivotal even in the SE Asian context, regardless of its ideological orientation. "The Domino Theory" has been proven wrong since 1975, and Chinese style market reforms were tried there for some years now.