Page 248 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

the First Airborne Battle Group, which included the Znd and 7th Bat-
talions and the 3/7 f-lrnor troop reached the city from An Lo and
Tu Ha, The reinJorcing lst Airborne Headquarters and the 7th Bat-
talion arrived in Hue from Saigon at noon the sarne day'
Heavy fighting occurred in the village of An Hoa and
Doc Xo. Finally the enerny withdrew into the Citadel'
The C ornmunists held out in the Mang C a area' the
ordnance base and the airfield. They launched an assault on the Mang
Ca C arnp, horne of the headquarters of the First Infantry Division'
A nurnber of enerny soldiers, who penetrated the position of the
Divisionr s Medical Conlpany, were killed. Many f riendly wounded
soldiers and nurses were rnassacred.
After several days of counter-attacks by friendly
forces, using armor, artillery and air 6upport, the enerny abandoned
the An Hoa area and the technicianst quarters of the Tay Loc Airfield
in order to strenghthen their position at the Chanh Tay Gate'
During the fighting, populated areag of Hue were
opened to Communist political propaganda activities' The Viet Cong
rnoved freely in the streets for three days in a row, from the second
to the fourth day of Tet, without any friendly reaction'

There were no Arnerican forces in Hue when the city
was attacked except for a MACV sector advisory group which was
located near the Thua Thien gector cornrnand'
It was not until the a{ternoon of the third day of Tet
that a cornpany of U.S. Marines arrived as the first arnerican unit

to reinforce the MACV elernent'
The U' S. Marine unit, rnoving in from the ea6t' crosged
the Perfurne River by boats and landed near the Pilot School (see
chart of operation, stage I). Frorn there they mowed to the MACV
compound about 700 meters away.

In the third, fourth and filth days of Tet (Feb'l' Z and
3, 1968) Arnerican forces, including three Marine c ornpanie s and one
arrnor battalion frorn the Fir6t Marine Division, rnoved to the right
bankofthePerfurneRiverandestablishedtheirbasebehindtheMACV
c ornpound. They launched their first operations to help liberate Hue
frorn here.
On the fourth day of Tet the Viet Cong attacked the

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