The Marines were now only 100 meters from the south wall of the Citadel. [12]:59, Also on 7 February, the North Vietnamese tried to bring their own air support into the battle, sending four Vietnam People's Air Force Il-14 transport aircraft from an airfield near Hanoi. A majority of the maps in this collection come from the Army Map Service with the remainder from such public sources as National Geographic. [4]:168[12]:4344, The ARVN 3rd Regiment had an even more difficult time. The General Layout of the Battle of Hue. On that first day, the two Marine companies in Hu had sustained casualties of 10 killed and 56 wounded. [12]:28, The Marine's Phu Bai Combat Base, 11 kilometers (6.8mi) south of Hu on Highway 1, included Task Force X-Ray, a brigade-size component of the 1st Marine Division built around the 1st and 5th Marine Regiments. Brigadier General Foster LaHue, the Task Force X-Ray commander, actually had very little reliable intelligence on the situation. Click on map for larger version. When the headquarters of 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division arrived at Camp Evans, 27 kilometers (17mi) northwest of Hu on 26 January, it found that the site held no stocks of ammunition or fuel. They were to relieve a MACV Microwave/Tropo communications facility approximately 2.5km southeast of the MACV Compound surrounded by a VC force. A company from the 2/5th Marines finally relieved the MACV communications facility that morning. The Marines did not progress further than one block before their advance was halted by troops from the PAVN 815th Battalion and after three hours of room to room fighting, the Marines captured the Hu University building at the base of the Trng Tin Bridge two blocks northwest of the MACV Compound, so reducing enemy fire towards the LCU ramp. The photograph may be purchased as wall art, home decor, apparel, phone cases, greeting cards, and more. [12]:2729, At least two PAVN regiments, two sapper battalions, and an assortment of VC local forces were based in Tha Thin Province. They use a walkway to reach a temporary pontoon bridge or wait for boats to ferry them between spans. By this time, the PAVN-VC attackers had pulled back their forces from the immediate vicinity of the Compound. [4]:208 Company L, 3/5 Marines was then tasked with clearing the area to the Thuong Tu Gate and out to the Trng Tin Bridge. Meanwhile, the team of thirty sappers who had scaled the northwestern wall overpowered the guards standing watch at the An Hoa and Hau Gates, then opened their doors to the infantry company waiting outside. The Marine convoy stopped several times to eliminate resistance in heavy house-to-house fighting before proceeding again. The sappers mission was to scale the Citadel's wall near the Mang Ca compound, open and hold the Hau and An Hoa Gates and assist the infantry company with its attack on Trng's headquarters. Several dozen Army technical specialists and military intelligence personnel were billeted in the Huong Giang Hotel several blocks to the west. II Corps The Central Highlands area in South Vietnam, consisting of 12 provinces, and the largest of the four corps in size. [12]:3436, At 04:00 the PAVN reached the Ty Lc Airfield, where 50 men of the Hac Bao reconnaissance company, reinforced by the 1st Division's 1st Ordnance Company, stopped the PAVN 800th Battalion. In the early morning of 31 January, after the rocket bombardment of the airfield and the initial attack on the Truoi River Bridge, Task Force X-Ray received reports of strikes all along Highway 1 between the Hi Vn Pass and Hu. Meanwhile, the ARVN 3rd Regiment fought off a PAVN counterattack in the northwest corner of the Citadel. [4]:177, On 2 February, the Marines made some minor headway and brought in further reinforcements. All products are produced on-demand and shipped worldwide within 2 - 3 business days. One company occupied a six-way intersection on Highway 1 a few blocks southeast of the MACV Compound to prevent Allied mechanized forces from entering the city. [9]:33235 The Marines raised an American flag to celebrate their victory, but shortly thereafter were ordered to lower it, as according to South Vietnamese law, no American flag was permitted to be flown without an accompanying South Vietnamese flag. The 4th Battalion, 3rd Regiment, south of the river, crossed the river and assaulted the Thuong Tu Gate near the eastern corner of the Citadel. The cost had been heavy: the ARVN suffered 131 casualties including 40 dead, and lost four of the 12 armored personnel carriers in the convoy. Finally, a small detachment of U.S. Navy personnel was stationed at a boat ramp just north of the MACV Compound. At 06:30, Hughes ordered the company to reinforce the Truoi River Bridge. Quang Tri City and Hue In early 1968, General William C. Westmoreland saw signs of hope and progress in a . The Battle of Hue was part of the Tet Offensive. The supporting fire continued throughout the day, but the PAVN did not abandon their positions. As the Marines approached the base at 07:00 they were met by PAVN mortar and machine-gun fire; artillery fire was called in on the PAVN positions and the Marines entered the base at 08:50. Meanwhile, the 416th Battalion began fortifying the twin villages with spider holes, trenches and camouflaged fighting positions. Under cover of the tear gas and the 106mm backblast the Marines crossed the street and blew holes in the wall using C-4 and Bazookas. Company H withdrew so that air strikes could be launched and these knocked out mortar and machine gun positions killing 20 PAVN; however, one bomb fell short killing four Marines. [4]:17778 That night the PAVN 815th Battalion overran the ARVN defenders at the Thua Thien Prison releasing the 2,500 prisoners, including 350 VC who were soon armed with captured ARVN weapons and joined the fighting. When seven successive attempts to breach the gate failed, the battalion joined the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, 3rd Regiment, near the southern corner of the Citadel. Entering the building the Marines fought room by room, clearing the building, but many of the PAVN slipped away. Connecting the Citadel and new city were the Trng Tin Bridge (162805N 1073520E / 16.468N 107.589E / 16.468; 107.589), which carried Highway 1, and further west the Bach Ho rail bridge. Hu is the capital of Tha Thin Hu province in the North Central Coast region of Vietnam. Joe Ronnie Hooper", "Command Chronology for period 1 February to 29 February 1968", "Communist political executions at Hue in the 1968 Tet Offensive", "Soldiers of North Vietnam strike a pose for her camera", "Who, What, When, Where, Why: Report from Vietnam by Walter Cronkite", "Chris Matthews invokes the 'if I've lost Cronkite' myth in NYT review", "The Grim Calculations of Retaking Fallujah", "Many U.S. [4]:168, South of the river a reinforced company of the 2nd Sapper Battalion launched a simultaneous attack on the MACV Compound in the new city. At Thon La Chu a South Vietnamese official who was a VC agent had earlier used aid money to build a three-story concrete and steel bomb shelter for local villagers and the command group of the Hu City Front used this as its headquarters. The second company from the 804th Battalion seized the An Cuu Bridge while the third company stormed a smaller bridge over the canal a short distance to the west. The last pocket of PAVN at the southwest corner of the Citadel was eliminated in an attack by the 4th Vietnamese Marine Battalion in the early hours of 25 February. On the afternoon of 29 January, the main body of the southern wing, the 804th Battalion, the 1st Sapper Battalion, the 815th and 818th Battalions of the 5th Regiment, the southern wing command group, and various supporting units descended from their mountain staging area and headed for the T Trch River, which stood between the attacking force and Hu. The most prominent current depiction of this scene is in a book, "Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam," by Mark Bowden, an American journalist and author of "Black Hawk. At Ba Long, the battalion then embarked upon motorized junks and reached the Citadel the following day. 3 kilometers (1.9mi) southwest of the Citadel, on the north bank of the Perfume River, was the Van Thanh divisional training center and a two-gun detachment of 105mm howitzers. On 22 February after a barrage of 122mm rockets the PAVN counterattacked the Vietnamese Marines, who pushed them back with the support of the Hac Bao Company. [4]:195 On 11 February the Vietnamese Marines Task Force A comprising the 1st and 5th Battalions, began to be lifted by helicopter into Mang Ca to replace the Airborne, however due to poor weather this deployment would not be completed until 13 February. This and subsequent optimistic reports were soon contradicted by press reports as journalists made their way into the city and reported on the extent of PAVN-VC control and the bitter house-to-house fighting that was underway. The 2/12th Cavalry withdrew to a night defensive perimeter, but at dawn on 3 February following a mortar barrage the PAVN attacked their position. Although the South Vietnamese 9th Airborne Battalion was caught up in the battle for Qung Tr, the 2nd and 7th Airborne Battalions were available at PK17. Losses continued to mount throughout the day from mortar and small arms fire and that night the Battalion commander decided to breakout from the encirclement by a night march to an ARVN position on Nha Nanh hill (162735N 1073022E / 16.4598N 107.506E / 16.4598; 107.506) from where they could be resupplied and the casualties medevaced. [4]:197, On 13 February Companies A and C, 1/5 Marines left Mang Ca and moved south along the eastern wall of the Citadel, while Company B remained in reserve. [4]:16, The headquarters of ARVN Brigadier General Ng Quang Trng's 1st Division was located in the Mang Ca Garrison, a minifortress in the northeast corner of the Citadel. The allied platoon stayed out of sight as the 800th, 802nd and 12th Sapper Battalions marched past its position, heading east along the river toward the city. PAVN troops also seized the Tu Dam Pagoda, just south of the canal, which they soon converted to the main command post for the southern wing. The Airborne attempted a frontal assault on the graveyard but were unable to force their way through the PAVN positions and found themselves unable to advance or retreat and called for assistance. In preparation for this, MACV was in the middle of Operation Checkers: moving the 1st Marine Division to Qung Tr Province in order to support Khe Sanh and defeat any other PAVN attack across the DMZ. The Allies did not send ground forces to investigate the incident, and no evidence exists that it generated much concern in any of the allied headquarters. The 806th Battalion, which was dug into a cemetery along Highway 1 near the western corner of the Citadel, dispatched a group of soldiers to capture the An Hoa Bridge, driving off the RF detachment guarding the bridge and opening a line of communication with the other PAVN-VC in the Citadel. (Original map images courtesy of . Trng called back most of the Hac Bao Company from the airfield to bolster the headquarters' defenses, which kept division headquarters secure. [14]:105 On 13 February, Abrams established MACV Forward at Phu Bai, effectively replacing Cushman and assuming overall control of all U.S. forces in I Corps. [4]:176, Shortly after 15:00, Company F, 2/5 Marines made a helicopter landing into southern Hu. Following this visit two more battalions (1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment and 2nd Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment) and additional air and artillery support were committed to the attack on La Chu. The base remained under fire from PAVN positions in a Buddhist temple to the south and from a ridgeline to the west and at 07:00 on 25 February Companies F and G began to attack the ridgeline, but were met by intense mortar fire. While PAVN-VC defeat was inevitable in the face of U.S. firepower, the failure to sever the PAVN-VC supply lines and isolate the battlefield meant that the battle lasted longer and was more costly to the ARVN and U.S. than was necessary.
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