Page 129 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

They tried in the very first hours of the offensive to
take possession of the Phu Dong Arrnored Carnp frorn where they could
deploy captured vehicles against other installations. For this under-
taking they brought quite a few drivers along but although they suc-
ceeding in taking over the carnp the enerny found rro vehicles. A11 these
had been issued to the units in the field just prior to the holiday season.

However, the Cornrnunists could clairn to have occupied
one of the rnost irnportant rnilitary installations in to!r,n, But this was
not rnuch of a feat since the Arrnor Headquarters was guarCed. by only
40 troops. The enerny succeeded in capturing these 40 troops irnrnedi-
ately a-fter entering the carnp,
Prior to their wi.thdrawal frorn the area the insurgents
kil1ed practically every one including Lieutenant Colonels Nguyen
Tuan and Huynh Ngoc Diep. All of the Tuan farnily were rnurdered
except for a ten year old child,

A few days later residents in this area saw cornrnando
cars going up and down the street. They had corne frorn the Go-Vap
subsector and besides taking care of the defense of the area they took
upon thernselves the task of evacuating wounded soldiers frorn battle
area to the nearby Cong Hoa general hospital.

A sirnilar developrnent was recorded in the artillery
area, which groups the Co Loa and No Than carnps, that houses the
Artillery Cornrnand and the officers of sorne artillery battalions.
Unable to penetrate the strongly defended No Than carnp the enerny
succeeded in entering the w:akly defended Co Loa Carnp,

Although warned of an srnall irnpending attack,the local
garrison found itself reBisting a large scale onslaught, The intruders
struck suddenly in {orce at the Northwestern Gate. The carnp was
saved frorn occupation and destruction by the speedy reaction of a
group of gunners who fired their big guns at pointblank range at the
enerTly.
Following this first unsuccessful attack,the enerny
brought in rnore troops frorn Go Vap. These troops carne to the bat-
tle scene on rnotorcycles. Meanwhile they pounded the installation
with rnortar6 and tried their best to penetrate the officersrquarters
in an effort to capture as rnany prisoners as possible.

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