Page 309 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

of popular revolrrtion,
The second colurnn of the enernyts offensive forces
consisted of the Z4th VC Regirnent, assigned to support the first
colurnn and the proposed enerny adrninistration to be set up in Konturn
following a successful takeover of the city.

Specifically, the first c olurnn bore the brunt of the
ground offensiwe, with the 406th Battalion, which incLuded the CZO7,
C208 and C20! q6rrrp2nies, reinforced by cornrnandos and sappers,

The second colurnn played a supporting role, to supply
troop replace;T1ents, supplies and equiprnent, and to block Vietnarnese
and a1lied reinforcernents. It included the K4, K5 and K6 Battalions
of the Z4th VC Regirnent. The K5 Battalion was especially assigned
to reinforce the first columnrs 406th Battalion. The second colurnn
itseU was reinJorced by the X200 Mountain Light Artillery Battalion,
which had been assigned to har:ass the cityts key rnilitary installations
that night, but which failed to do so for unknown reasons.

In his attack on the 24th Special Zone cornpound, the
enerny broke into the nearby officersr housing quarters and, through
intelligence data obtained previously, called on each and every officer
residing there by his narne and rank to corne out and surrender. But
these officers had escaped rnornents before he arrived. Only the
farnily of 3rd Lt Vien, who worked for the Zone IntelJ.igence Depart-
rnent, fe11 victirn to enerny atrocity. The lieutenant was at horne when
enerny guerrillas carne. But he i.gnored the latterts challenge to open
the door, causing them to hurl grenades into his horne. The blasts
killed his litt1e child and wounded his wife, who lost a leg. The lieu-
tenant'managed to escape while enerny terrorist were looting canned
food and sorne ducks. Sorne enerny agents also carne to the house of
Maj Hoang Khac Minh, Konturn deputy province chief in charge of
security, for a sirnilar atternpt. But they sirnply left it as they found
out that the house was guarded by sorne eight rnilitiarnen, besides
the rnajor hirnself . They also passed by the city jail, delivering sorne
harassrnent fire and then 1eft. The jail was defended by one RF
platoon. The sarne held true of the BI2 cornrnand headquarters. At
the airfield, band of 14 enerrry got trapped between two Arnerican
units and was wiped out before it could do any harrn to the base or
its defender s.

By and large, the enernyrs {irst colurnn failed to
achieve its rnain objectives as the night wore on to an end. But i_t