Page 266 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

Another Marine unit engaged an unknown-sized enerny
forceinthesouthwesternsectionoftheCitadelandkilledtcnofthe
enerny. The Marines suJfered no casualties' Arnerican Marines cap-
tured a single storied structure in the southeastern section' Frorn
this structure they controlled the cityrI rnain bridge, called Trang
Tien or Nguyen Hoang bridge.
Additional US Marine reinforcernents were he liliJted
into the wal1ed i.rnPerial citY on the sarne day arnidst heavy enerny
ground fire.
On the rnorning of Feb 24 the Marine Battle Group A
rnoved frorn the West gate area toward three objectives' The objectives
were Narn Dai, Nha Do gate and the Ton That Thiep Street area'
The 4th Marine Battalion was assigned to storm the
Narn Dai positions frorn which the solidly entrenched Cornrnunist
guerrillas had been holding out for 1Z days. The Marines did not over-
iun these enerny positions until 2I00h. They killed 85 enerny and
seized 30 assorted weaPons.
The lst Marine Battalion had to ernploy tear gas to
dislodge the enerny frorn his bunkers, foxholes and trenches' The
Marines also had to engaged the enerny in a fierce hand-to-hand fight'
This fight caused the outnurnbered, exhausted enerny to lose 72 killed'
33 assorted weapons and two telephones^were seized'

The 5th Marines wiped out the enerny Positions in the
Ton That Thiep area rnuch sooner than the other two battalions seize
their objectives. They accounted for 26 enerny killed and five weapons
seized, including two anti-aircra{t rnachineguns'
At the sarne tirne the Marine Battle GrouP A gave
c ornbat supPort to a friendly unit inthe recaPture of the Phu Van Lau
flagpole. That day, and for the first ti.rne in the 25-day-old Hue battle'
the Vietnarnese flag was {lown again atop the giant, stately flagpole'
The enerny flag was pul1ed down around0400h. on l-eb' 24'
Cn the sarne rnernorable day the Vietnaroese Marines
advanced into the Irnperial Palace proPer which the dernoralized enerny
had abandoned and frorn which they had fled to the oouthern wall of
the citadel.
Cn Feb 25 the Rangers also regained cornplete control
of the Gia Hoi area. The enerny had abandoned this area after he had

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