Page 169 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

direction of the Binh Loi Bridge a gas station was burning sending a
black colurnn of srnoke high into the sky. The people o{ Thi Nghe tried
their best to evacuate the battle area.
The enerny reacted rnost carefully when the governrnent
troops atternpted to tighten their noose around the VC occupied houses.
At tirnes, an explosion could be heard but the intruders were not to be
seen anywhere. It was in this area that Police Director General
Nguyen Ngoc Loan was wounded in both legs in the afternoon. Seven
of the governrnent trooPs lost their li.ves.
The fight continued well into the dark hours' By evening,
it was estirnated that only two Viet Cong platoons were in the Tu Duc
prirnary school area but it was the opinion of rnany that they would not
stay there during the night. At dawn reinforcernents carne in the forrn
of a ranger unit and a few armored cars. A two-pronged counter at-
tack was rnade with the Rangers coming in frorn the Hang Xanh area
and the other prong rnade up of Governrnent Marines pushing in frorn
Tu Duc Street.
Polwar troops also carne i.n telling the enerny to surren-
der and the people to evacuate the battte zone.They were to be greeted
by a few shots {rorn the enerny but prior to the real attack silence pre-
vailed in the area adding to the irnpression of awe felt by a1l thosewat-
ching the fight in this part o{ the city.

At 0935 two arrnored cars advanced slow1y on Nguyen
Binh Khiern Street shooting continuously at buildings borderingon the
street. The enerny reacted strongly {orcing the arrnored vehicles to
halt their advance. A few rninutes later governrnent rangers tried an
assault on a rnajor cornrnunist position but were thrown back.

According to Lieutenant Huynh Thien Mang who c orrlrnan-
ded the Fourth Cornpany of the 35th Ranger Battalion the cornrnunist
this tirne had adpoted a rather good strategy. By spreading out they
rendered air strikes ineffective. And by occupying rnany dif{erent
buildings, they rnade the tasks of governrnent troops doubly di{ficult.
In Mang s words trthis is rnost vj.eible in the troops inability to take
a third.building after successfulLy assaulting two houses nearby. The
Rangers could not dislodge the enerny frorn it because they were phy-
sically exhausted after clirnbing frorn floor to floor. As they dodged
enerny bullets and g r enades.
At I040 hours a Ranger platoon received the order to as'
sault the last objective. Although enerny counter fire was intenge

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