Page 251 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

and the An Hoa gate during the fifth day of Tet. In this battle the
enerny suffered 77 killed and 27 weapons captured. Friendly casualtiee
were li.ght.

On the sixth day of Tet (f et. +, 1968) there were no
major developrnents. The enerny took advantage of the old French
foltresses to resist allied forces in the Thuong Tu and Ky Dai areas.

The enerny pre6sure on the left bank at Hue University
and the MACV cornpound, was broken by the U. S. Z/5 Marine Bat-
talion supported by Ontos each of which was equipped with six l06rnrn
recoiliess rifles. Fighting frorn street to 6treet the Arnericans with-
drew to the MACV area for the night and resurned thi6 see6aw pattern
the following day. These tactics failed to liberate the right bank of
the Perfurne River. However these tactics were airned at taking full
advantage of superior fire power to destroy ernall and scattered enerny
units. Land control was only of secondary irnportance. In fact eLernents
o! tlne Z/5 U. S. Marine Battali.on were able to break enelny pres6ure
against several rniLitary installations and populated areas. As friendly
troops withdrew frorn these area€, after a few hour e oc cupation, the
r
enerny returned and resurned their sniper fire. During the Iirst six
days of Tet the enerny virtually controlled the adrninistr ative area,
including the office of the governrnent delegate, the residence of the
province chief, the city jail and the Khai Dinh high school, On the
friendly side the l2th Sea Junk Force still patrolled the per{urne
River. It took light casualties frorn enerny rnortar fire. Air support
was lirnited because of bad weather.

The following day, the seventh day of Tet, the Corn-
rnunists launched an attack againct the l6t Engineer Battalion one
kilorneter south of Hue. One ARVN battalion, in the rneantirne, rnoved
to reinforce the friendly force in the Citadel.

In the aIternoon Arnerican troops retook a large
portlon of the right bank. The Viet Cong rernained entrenched at the
Quoc Hoc high school.

At 1I:30 AM on the ninth day of Tet, reinforced by two
battalions frorn An Hoa - Kirn Long, the enerny launched an assault
against 4/3 Battalion stationed at Chanh Tay. This attack caused.
fairly heavy caeualties for the friendly side as well as losses of
c ornrnunic ation equiprnent and weapons. Seven enerny blew up the
Trang Tien bridge destroying two of its 12 spans.

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