Page 282 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

Lan were scribbled on the wall of the Irnperial City's Ngo Mon gate
and could be seen in the wake o{ the Hue battle. This proved that
several elernents of the Lan regirnent had participated in the Citadel
battle under the banner of the 9th Regirnent.
Twenty days before the actual of{ensive the enerny rnade
preparation for the Hue olfensive. The plan of his offensive was as

follows :
The 5th Regirnent, which included Battalions K4A and
K4B, and the 21st sapper Battalion supported by the city-based agents'
attacked the city frorn the south' The sappers in-filtrated the city on
the night of Jan 28 two days before Tet.
The 6th Regt inctuded Battalions KI, KZ and K5' the
lzth sapper Battalion and four support cornpanies' The four support
cornpa;ies were C15, CI6, C\7, and C18, rei'nforced by the guerrilla
. orrrp"ny DKB plus local guerrilla elernents frorn Huong Tra and
Phong Dien districts and two saPPer grouPs consisting of 40 rnen' This
reinforced 6th Regirnent had the rnission to rnount the offensive frorn
the north, Its objectives were the lst ARVN InJantry Division Corn-
rnand headquarters in the Greater Mang Ca area, the Tay Loc airfield

and the knperial Palac e .
The offensive plan of this Regirnent had been outlined

as follows :
- General objective : the Gtadel as a whole'
- Key targets and firing priority : the Mang Ca area and the airfield.
- The storrning points : the Chanh Tay gate, the An Hoa gate, the
northern section of the Gtadel and the Mang Ca area'
- Next target : Huong Tra district town'
- The artillery targets : The ARVN artillery and arrnor positions in
Tu Ha.
- Tactics : advance as close to the Citadel as possible; in case
detected assault using all available fire power'
- lnfiltration rnethods : cross the river to join at Cay Da Tru (or
Tru banyan), use the banyants Pendant roots to clirnb up the Citadel
wall and enter the Citadel; sirnultaneously use the underground drai-
nage ducts to enter the Citadel disregard the fighting outside'

The enernyts advance scherne was carried out as
follows:
The 5th Regirnent crossed ihe river at the two ferry

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