Page 106 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

To break the enernyrs grip in this area,the Third and
Fourth Cornpanles of the 33rd Ranger were brought in {rorn Binh Chanh
district. The Brown Berets did their best to elirninate the infiltrators
but it took thern eight days to reduce the enerny pressure. By that tirne
over 100 Viet Cong had been killed, eight taken prisoner and 37 wea-
pons captured which included two crew-served weapons.

During the night of 4 February srnall groups of three to
ten Viet Cong rnoved along rnany of the alleys that lead frorn Phan
Dinh Phung Street to the Vuon Ba Lon area on Nguyen Thien Thuat
Street. Wherever they went,the people becarne frightened and did their
best to get away,

Once again the 38th Ranger Battalion was dispatched to
this area. The Brown Berets irnrnediately set up their cornrnand post
atop a five-storied building on Nguyen Thien Thuat Street. They set
out to find the enerny, especially in alley Zf3, a 3O-yard large blind
alley cut by a group of apartrnent houses facing Phan Thanh Gian and
Phan Dinh Phung Streets.
The rnain V. C. resistance group had elected to stay in a
two-storied house located af N". 613/23 Nguyen Thien Thuat frorn
which they harassed the gowernrnent troops. The Brown Berets irnrne -
diately reacted wi.th intense counterfire frorn taller buildings in the
vicinity to support their cornrades in the street. The enerny fire rernain-
gd steady until the arrival of governrnent reinforcernents later in the
day.

Before assaulting the enerny position, governrnent troops
had called on the insurgents to surrender and requested the population
to evacuate the area, The Viet Cong not only refused to stop {ighting
but also directed their fire at loudspeaker positions. Irnrnediately gun-
ships were called in to dislodge the enerny frorn the Do Huu Vi ancestral
house in the Vuon Ba Lon area, Viet Cong troops responded by setting
fire to quite a few civilian houseg to help thern escape.

A big fire started at two different places spreading frorn
Phan Dinh Phung Street to Vuon Ba Lon and vice versa. At its very
start, lire engine6 had arrived on the scene but they were shot at by
the Viet Cong who thus prevented the gallant copper-hekneted agents

frorn their dutiee -
At that very rnornent Police Director General Nguyen
Ngoc Loan appeared aboard a jeep equipped with a 9Ornrn recoiless

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