Page 137 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

section behind the Inspectorate General of Labor which is usually
referred to as the Indian Buddha Section.

In addition to these aerial attacks in the dark hours of
February I?, the enerny also rnounted a ground action to destroy
the Binh Loi andHighway bridges,but his troops were repelled the
{o1lowing day by South Vietnarnese Marines dispatched to bar thern
frorn penetrating the city. They also launched an attack on the road
frorn Hoc Mon to Xorn Moi, which was under the tactical responsibility
of the Second Airborne Task Force and included such irnportant in -
stallations as the Tan Son Nhut AirBase, the Vinatexco Cornpany, the
Quang Trung Training Center, and others.
Throughout the night the VC Quyet Thang Battalion, an
elernent o{ the Phu Loi" Regirnent, clashed with the Eighth Airbori:e
Battalion in an area northwest of Tan Thoi Hiep. The fighting started
a little past rnidnight, beginning with rnany rnortar barrages and fol-
lowing with a ground assault that included B.40 andB 4I fired point-
'
blank against the defense perirneter of the airborne position'

lVhile the paratroopers were success{ully resisting aI1
atternpts to overrun their position, they also discovered sorne VC ar-
tillery positions firing in the direction of the Tan Son Nhut Airport

These positions were a bare 200 yards {rorn the Airborne cornrnand
post and were soon destroyed by airpower ca1led to attack thern.

The Cornrnunists continued their assault but, with sorne
arrnored reinforcernents and flares illurninating the sky"the defenders
kept thern at bay and were in fu1l control of the situation at dawn. The
battte resulted in 78 Cornrnunist dead, one taken prisoner, and atrns
and arnrnunition captured to include one 60rnrn rnortar tube,two Czech
rnachineguns, l3 B.40 and two B,41 individual rocket launchers, 13
AK.4? autornatic rifles, one Carbine, one colt, and one subrnachine -
gun. On the governrnent side, seven soldiers were kitled,3 5 wounded
and an arrnored vehicle darnaged.
The following night (19 February), the Cornrnunists
attacked the area of Phu Larn using two Main Force battalions in the
hope of destroying a governrnent Ranger battalion and continuing their
rnarch into the city, The two enerny battalions were the First and
Sixth Battalions, with the first unit frontally assaulting the govern-
ment position while the second battalion served as reinforcernents.
Narn Xuan and Tu Vu, respectively cornrnander and deputy cornrnand-
er of one of the battalions, had been killed in a previous attack on
the city along with their staff.

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