Page 31 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

in such places as the Binh Loi Bridge area in Saigon, Thu Duc, l-an
An, Go Vap, Dinh Tuong, Kien Hoa and Chau Doc. The rnost impor-
tant of these was against the city of Phan Thiet on the central coast.
This followed by a couple of hours the Comrnunist mortar and rocket
bornbardrnent of the Tan Son Nhut Air Base (0110 hour), the MACV
headquarters (0120), the National Poli.ce headquarters on Tran l{ung
Dao boulevard, and the Phu Larn Radar Statiorr.

On 25 February the enerny again n-rortared and attacked
An Xuyen provincial town. His troops penetrated the city and barri-
caded thernselves in the local hospital but were dislodged in the early
hours of the following rnorning. At this tirne a significant Corrrmunist
force once rnore tried to infiltrate into the sprawling rnetropolis of
Saigon-Cholon but was stopped at Hoc Mon and Phu Tho Hoa to the
northwest and west of the capital. The situation in Hue also ca-r-ne
under control after 26 days of continuous fighting.

Hanoi rnade a big effort to pour arl-ns arrd ammunition
into South Vietnam while the V. C, offensive was on, especially over
the sea.Cn 2! February, within two short hours (frorn 0100 to 0300),
South Vietnarnese and U,S. ships intercepted three North Vietnarrrese
trawler s just o{f the coast of Duc Pho district ir-r Quang Ngai province,
Darn Van in Khanh Hoa province, and Bo De in An Xuyen province.
In all three cases the Cornrnunist crewrnen fought back vigorously but
two of the trawlers were sunk and the third one pursued until it
grounded and exploded.

A total of 645 rifles, 45 sub-rnachine-guns and 13 rnachine-
guns were captured in the vessel sunk off the coast o{ Quang Ngai.
In the trawler grounded off the coast of Khanh Hoa province,sorne for-
ty 8,40 rocket launchers, 28 AK.50 rifles, and rnany cases of rrredi-
cine rnade in eastern Europe and Cornrnunist China were corfiscated.
There were also 11 bodies found on the charred vessel. The following
day (l March), another three boats were either captured or sunk.
They, too, contained an irnportant quantity of arrns and amn-runition.

Following these defeats on the sea the Viet Cong again
launched a third wave of assaults throughout South Vietnarl. The rnain
prong of this offensive action was in the western provinces of South
Vietnarn, especially the srnall provincial capital of Quan Long (Ca-
Mau). V. C. gunners also rrrortared, for the first tirne, the airstrip at
C arn Ranh, slightly darnaging it. It wa6 all the Coinrnunists could do.
Despite their thrusts they failed to produce any results.

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