Page 214 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

the quadrangle. Only light scattered fire fights with isolated vc cells
took place. They fired sorne rounds at the Rangers then fled away
taking adwantage of the thick vegetation'
The enerny withdrew so hastily that they left open a
battle area they had organized in advance for further actions' This
area was approxirnately 10,000 square rneters covered with banana
trees growing as thick as a jungle along with high grass and barnboo'
The enerny had built there 50 cornbat dugouts. Each of these hadtwo
entrance hatches opening into Z shelters : one inside and one outside
in the sarne way as those found around Linh Son Pagoda where a
fighting between the enerny and the 94/5 Ai'tborne cornPany had occur-
red on June ?th. With such vantage terrain features and such careful
preparations, why had the enerny withdrawn so hastily ? That could
probably be attributed to their heavy losses or to their fear tofight
againsttheairbornerangersandDeltatearnswhohadinflictedhurni-
liating defeats on thern through forrnidable night attack tactics'

On June loth the glst and the 92nd cornpanies of the 9th
Airborne battaLion had toreoccupy the Bonze Rest Center because
when our troops had left for operations elsewhere, the undefended
center was open to enelT1y infiltration' The paratroopers had to fight
in close quarters and used M. ?Zrs to reduce the fortified positions'
Only after hours of bloody fighting did this center fall into their
hand s .
The battle of Cay Queo in the quadrangle bounded by Le
Quang Dinh, Tran Binh Trong, Ngo Tung Chau streets and Xorn Thorn
was considered closed since June llttr following the seizure of the
above re st center.
But on June IZth, at noon, the Marines had violent con-
tact again with the enerny in Bac Ai Harnlet 10, Cay Thi area' The
f ir st uni.t having contact was the lst Co, lst Marine battalion, corn-
rnanded by Lieutenant Nguyen Van Dang.
On the sarne day, in the rnorning, Lieutenant Dang while
leading his unit frorn Hung Vuong Housing Quarter discoved the enerny
advance position behind Le Van Duyet Football Field, Ngo Tung Chau
street, A wiolent firefight began.3 Ma'rines rnoving forward along the
walls were wounded by bursts of AK fire' The enerny strength in
contact was about one p).atoon positioned on the outer perirneter'
Sorne {ires were touched off at l0 orclock by crisscros-

s ing bullets.
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