Page 218 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

Also in the previous night the enerny had rnade probing
attacks for routes of withdrawal through Phan Van Tri street and in
the direction of the railroad but these attacks were turned back by
the Marine s.
On the rnorning of June l6th a VC carne out to surrender.
He said that he was frorn the K. Z Quyet Tien Battalion. His unit had
rnoved frorn Bung Long to Gia Dinh with an estirnated strength of 300
rnen. He also disclosed that the K,2 Battalion consisted of 5 cornpa-
nies. The lst, Znd and 3rd ri{le cornpanies' the reconnaissance corn-
pany and the c ornrnunic ations cornpany' He was frorn the signal
c ornpany cornposed of 24 personnel but at this tirne only 14 were avai-
1able. Also according to hirn an estirnaied I50 VC in civilian clothes
arrned with powerful v/eapons had been instructed to hold fast in this
area and withdraw only under favorable conditi.ons' His cornpany corn-
rnander had been wounded the day before and Bang Tai the battalion
c ornrnander whose finger had been cut off by a bullet was 6ti.11 in com-
rnand and had ordered the unit to fight to the death.

On the sarne rnorning Major Que the Slst Airborne
Ranger battalion cornrnander sent the 3rd Airborne Ranger C ornpany
to replace the Delta Tearns which were assigned to reinJorce the 15t
and the Znd cornpanies preparing for another battle.

Al1 rnorning long bursts of fire were heard but these
carne frorn probing clashes" At noon 2 tanks were directed to take
positions at Lane 143i Ngo Tung Chau street and on the flank of Phuoc
Hoa Arn Pagoda to fire on enerny positions. The VC returned fire
disabling one and forced thern to pull out. Sorne tirne later 3 US tanks
with bulldozer blades took up positions by the side of the 2 RVNAF
tanks and awaited order s.

At 1600 hours tear gas canisters were dropped on the
enerny positions but while the gas was being dropped frorn the air-
craJt a sudden 6trong wind blew the gas towards Go Vap. The enemy
was slightly aIfected but the population around the battle area suIfered
the rno st.
Tanks and tear gas were al1 ineffective so the airborne
rangers had to rever.t to night attack tactics once again to deal with
the s ituation.
The Znd and the 3rd Airborne Ranger Cornpanies silently
crept into the battle area. They rnade contact with the enerny at 0325
hours but only rnet with light resistance.

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