Jump Commander

A selection of the Military Book ClubCol. Mark James Alexander was the only airborne officer to lead three different battalions into combat in World War II, successively commanding the 2d and 1st Batt

War hero Colonel Mark J. Alexander was the only airborne officer to lead three different battalions into combat in WWII. This memoir is based on transcripts of hundreds of hours of recorded interviews

With the end of the 1966 dry season and the wrapping up of Operation Attleboro, General Westmoreland had both the resource and favourable weather to launch his planned series of offensives designed to push away Viet Cong and PAVN (People's Army of Vietnam) forces away from the key cities of South Vietnam. As in the previous year his focus would be the area around Saigon. Having amassed two infantry divisions, two separate brigades, and a powerful armoured cavalry regiment, he felt ready to secure the area. In this he was ably supported by General Bruce Palmer, the Commander of II Field Force, Vietnam.What followed was a constant series of offensives, including the only battalion-level combat jump made by the US military in Vietnam. These operations were large, involving multiple divisions and generating several hard-fought battles. The US and South Vietnamese forces used all the panoply of a combined arms forces with airmobile, mechanized, and infantry operations trying not only to des