Page 294 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

(luang Tri

The C.crnrnuni stsr surprise assault on Quang Tri city
in early April 1957 served to heighten the Quang Tri city peoplers
vigilance toward further enerny shelling or ground assaults. It
encouraged thern to contribute positively to the defense of the city.
But the enerny rnilitary Pressures on the town lasted frorn then till
the end of 1967, A {requent rerninder of enerny pressures 'ras served
by the big battles in the Khe Sanh area and the aknost nightly B52
airstrikes, which shook this ernbattled town. Each and every farnily
in the town had a bunker of its own as each and everyone anticipated
that yet another enerny assault on the town rnight happen anytirne
anyday, Tension was ornnipresent throughout the town. Reports o{
daily enerny rninings and arnbushe s on the highways to Dong Ha in the
north and to Hue in the south brought the widening specter of another
enerny ground offensive on the town even closer in everyoners anti-
c ipation.

By personal experience rather than by educated rea-
soning, the entire town people resented C ornrnunisrn' They sirnply
evacuated any place which C ornrnuni st troops occupied. This popular
rnentality accounted handsornely for rnany rnajor victories scored by
the lst Regirnent, lst In{antry Division, which had been bearing the
brunt of the Quang Tri war for nearly a decade. Headquartered at
La Vang, the regirnent was rernernbered for having inflicted on the
enerny the rnost serious casualties for a single battle in the war a
few hours a{ter the 1967 Christrnas truce - ZZL enerny killed were
on the My Thuy beach in Hai Lang district on Decernber Z9' L967.

This is how the Quang Tri offensive developed :
Cn the Zgth day of the lZth lunar rnonth (Jan 28' 1968)
the Quang Tri province chief, Lt CoI Nguyen Arn, a one-tirne Corn-
rnander of the First Infantry Regirnent, reported increasingly heavy
pressure {rorn the enerny in the Khe Sanh valley area. This resulted
frorn the infiltration of 3Z5th NVA Division frorn the North. The
enesly was engaged and fighting raged throughout the day. The Yiet-
narnese infantryrnen, though given artillery and air support, had to
pull back to Xorn Charn, some two rniles away, and to cornbine their
operation with US Marine units stationed in the area. The pullout
followed the rnass exodus of sorne 1.,500 civilians, who were later
transferred to Quang Tri citY.

) o'7