Page 126 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

Thanks to Private First Class Paul Healey who tookupon
hirnself the task of leadlng his cornrades , the M. P. rs succeeded in
breaking through. A hand-to-hand fight ensued that resulted in the eli-
rnination of all but one of the Viet Cong who sought refuge in a two-
storied house next to the rnain building. The house was occupied by
)
Colonel (ret. George Jacobson,a rnernber of the Ernbassy staff.
. As the Viet Cong took possession of the ground floor of
the little house,Colonel- Jacobson was de{enseless upstairs. Troops in
the garden directed their fire at suspected V.C. positions.

Finally they threw a few tear gas grenades and a pistol
to Colonel Jacobson, who was then in a position to kill the last Viet
Cong in the building, This brought the Battle of the Ernbassy to an end.
It took six hours for the U.S. troops to kill the nineteen
Viet Cong. Arnerican Iosses were firre fatalities.

The Navy Headquarters

In the early hours of the second day of the year of the
Monkey, rnore exactly at 0250 hours, a sapper squad group of l2 Viet
Cong of tir e F/l Sapper Unit under the c ornrnand of Bay Lop attacked
the headquarters of the South Vietnarnese Navy.

Equipped with autornatic ri{1es of the AK farnily, hand
grenades, and explosive,they arrived on the scene clad in civilian
clothes but wearing the arrnband of the Capital Security Service. They
reached their assigned target in two civilian cars, one painted green
and the other painted white and bearing the plate nurnber of ED.6473,

knrnediately on arrival the Cornrnunists opened fire on
soldiers standing guard on the Cuu Long Bridge that stands opposite
the statue of Tran Hung Dao. The first Cornrnunist car stopped close
to the night barricade frorn where the insurgents directed their in-
tense fire on the friendly position.
Frorn the guard post two Navyrnen returned the fire
with their pistols and the explosions brought to the scene a group of
sailors stationed at headquarters as reaerves. One of the attackers,
then another,were irnrnediately brought down as they approached the
barric ade s.

But the insurgents continued their advance frorn the Me-
Lrnh P|azza. The exchange of fire grew rnore intense, By about 0305
hours a patrol car arrived on the scene frorn the direction of the Thu-

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