Page 264 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

The rnain enerny pocket of resistance continued to be
the one entrenched inside the old lrnperial Palace. The enerny uSed
the few tanks he had captured at the initial stage o{ the battle to rein-

{orce his defensive positions around the palace'
Part ofthe enerny force maneuvered close to the Dong
Ba - Gia Hoi intersection and positioned rnortars to seal off the river
routes of the fri'endly fottt"' This new enerny lnove forced
the allied cornrnanders to shel1 his positions and to ternporarily heli-
",rppfy
lift rnost of the badly needed supplies and equiprnent' Fires broke out
in the Dong Ba and Gia Hoi "tttio"s with colurnns of srnoke billowing
into the skies of Hue and visible frorn rniles away'
The Vietnarnese Marine Battle Group engaged a fairly
big enerny force around noon Feb 16 while pressing toward the west-
ern end of the Citadel. Thirty one enerny bodies were counted' Six
weapons and sorne explosives were seized' The Marines only suffered

light c a sualtie s.
The adverse weather conditions on Feb l8 rnade friend-
ly rnilitary oPerations very di{ficult by slowing down the advance-of
friendly troops and harnpering the heliliJt of supplies' One friendly,

convoy frr:rn Phu Bai cirne ';''dt" """t"y rnortar fire' Though no subs-
tantial Progress was rnade during the day between 30 and 35 enerny
were ki11ed in scattered engagernents' Bad weather' low cloud ceilings

i;;; i;; m"t..") a,'d pooi visibilitv becar,rse. of fog' rnade all air
c ornbat support irtpossible' Shortly aJter dark solne enerny movernents
were spott; on the rnid river islet' The purpose of the rnovernents

was unknown.
Around 0430 h' , Feb 19' two enerny battalions laun-
ched an assault on the first Marine Battalion i'n the southwestern

sectionoftheCitadela^ftersofteninguptheMarinepositi.onswith
sorne 300 rounds of SZrnrn rnortar and B'40 rockets' Vietnarnese
Marine t05rnrn howitzer positions {rorn the Mang Ca area responded
wi.th sorne Z, 000 rounds.
Nearly three weeks had passed since the fierce counter-
offensive of the friendly forces had begun. The enemy began to give
indications ofhis withdrawal plan' Ranking enemy officers and political
leaders vanished frorn the irnperial palace area, rnostly under cover
of d.arkness. It was thought they slipped out through Tran Hung Dao
street and the Gia ffoi biicige, The enernyrs brief lnaneuver spotted
on the islet the night before was apparently a diversionary rnove '

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