Page 146 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

force, a Ranger group and rnany newly created units forrned with
cadets and sta{f rnembers of the rnany rnilitary agencies inSaigon. On
the Arnerican side there were two US brigades operating in the suburbs,
under the cornrnand of Major General Keith L,Wa::e. Both cornrnands
ordered a rapld irnprovernent of the defense of the rnany rnilitary instal-
lations in the capital.
During the night of 22 February a clash was reported be-
tween governrnent troops and an unidentified Viet Cong unit in the POL
depot ofGo Vap,resulting in a speedy defeat of the enerny. The f oliow-
irg day the situation in Saigonrs rnany suburbs was describedbyAllied
spokesrnen as rrcalrnrr. But in the early hours of 24 p661s31'y, rnore
exactly at 0440 hours, Cornrnunist gunners again pounded the Tan Son
Nhut Air Base and Saigonts northern outskirts,
A total of sorne 20 rounds.of SZrnrn rnortar and IZZ rnrn
rockets fel1 in two volleys on the sprawling air base,killing three sol-
diers and wounding another 17. The bornbardrnent also resulted in
darnage to three aircraft. A lone warhead fell on the Vietnarnese Joint
General Staff cornpound, wounding two servicernen, and another
warhead hit a civi.lian house in the Lang Cha Ca area just outside
Tan Son Nhut Air Base.
In this last instance the house was cornpletely destroyed
and an entire farnily of 1I killed.
It was learned later that the enemy had shelled the air
base and neighooring installations frorn other cerrreteries in an area
south of the air base.
Following his failure against the Go Vap pCL installation,
the enerny tried his luck once rnore during the night of 24-25 February.
His ground attack was preceded by an intense rnortar and rockei bar-
rag-, but it too failed.

Within the city the enenry was only strong enough to ini -
tiate a few sabotage actions, rnainly terrorist activities. His troops
blew up two bridges : one on the Giong Ong To River about five rriile s
south of Thu Duc and the other on the Cau Kinh River, a bare two
rniles northeast of Gia Dinh City.
During the rnortaring of the capital,enerny gunners mor-
tared many populated areas such as the Nguyen Van Thanh Qraywhere
40 houses were destroyed and three civilians killed, the Tu Do Reset-
tlement Center in Cholon, and the CMD Cornrnand. His troops also

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