Peace Is Not At Hand

by Robert G.K. Thompson

Book by Thompson, Robert Grainger Ker

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Sir Robert Grainger Ker Thompson KBE CMG DSO MC was a British military officer, colonial civil servant and foreign military adviser. He was an R.A.F. officer during World War II, serving primarily in the China-Burma-India theatre; he served for a time as liaison officer with the legendary Chindits (officially known as the 77th Indian Infantry Brigade) formed and commanded by Brigadier Orde Wingate. After the war, Thompson returned to the Malayan Civil Service, which he had joined in 1938, becoming in 1946 the Assistant Commissioner of Labour in the state of Perak. After attending the Joint Services Staff College at Latimer, he was appointed in 1950 to the staff of the British Director of Operations (at that time the newly appointed Lieutenant-General Sir Harold Briggs, later replaced by General Sir Gerald Templer) holding the local military rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. After the Federation of Malaya became independent in 1959, Thompson served as Permanent Secretary for Defence under Defence Minister Tun Abdul Razak (Tun Razak later became the second Prime Minister of Malaysia, 1970-76). In 1960 he headed a survey team sent to the Republic of Viet Nam (South Vietnam) by Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman after a request from Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem for advisory assistance. President Diem was so impressed with Thompson's work that he asked the British government to send him as an advisor to the government of South Vietnam on a more permanent basis. In September 1961 British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan appointed Sir Robert G.K. Thompson to head the newly established British Advisory Mission to South Vietnam (BRIAM) as Chief Advisor. He later also served as an advisor to U.S. President Richard Nixon. Sir Robert G.K. Thompson is generally regarded as having been the world's leading expert on counterinsurgency, and he wrote several books and articles relating to the subject during his later life.

Reviews

[Liam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aside from the fact that Sir Robert Thompson's work is always worth reading, this particular book is the only one I can think of off the top of my head which presents a picture of the state of affairs in Viet Nam in the years immediately before, and leading up to, the final invasion of South Viet Nam by the PAVN. It may in fact be the only book from that time to specifically do so. In any case, I would highly recommend it to anyone seeking to understand the denouément of that portion of the Indo-China conflict.