Phase Line Green

The bloody monthlong battle for the Citadel in Hue pitted U.S. Marines against an entrenched North Vietnamese Army force. By official accounts it was a tactical and moral victory for the Marines and the United States. But here survivor Nicholas Warr describes with urgency and outrage the Marines' savage house-to-house fighting--ordered without air, naval, or artillery support by officers with no experience in that type of combat.

Sparing few in the telling, Warr's firsthand narrative tells of desperate Marine suicide charges and of the Marines' selfless devotion to their comrades. His riveting account of the most vicious urban combat since World War II offers an unparalleled view of how a small-unit commander copes with the conflicting demands and responsibilities thrust upon him by the enemy, his men, and the chain of command.


From the Paperback edition.

Nicholas Warr grew up on a small farm in Oregon and attended Brigham Young University and the University of Oregon before enlisting, at the age of twenty, in the Marine Corps in June 1966. He attended OCS in Quantico, Virginia, and was commissioned in March 1967. His first assignment as a second lieutenant sent him to WestPac--the western Pacific, i.e., Vietnam--from November 1967 to December 1968.

Warr was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for participation in Operation Hue City and was honorably discharged as a first lieutenant in March 1970. Today he enjoys a successful career in computer-technology sales. He lives in Alpine, California, with his wife, Pamela, and continues to write.


From the Paperback edition.