Page 311 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

areas, f,roln which he directed sniper fire at Passing troops. Maj
Son, deputy city ccrnrnander while riding on the backseat o{ an arrny
3rd lieutenantrs Honda rnotorbike frorn their hornes to the City Corn-
rnand headquarters was kil.led while passing this area and the lieu-
tenant was wounded.
The enerny atternpted repeatedly to enter the predo-
rninently Rornan Catholic Tan Hung area in a suburban section, but
was repelled by arrned C atholic rnilitia.

The 3rd C ornpany was assigned to recaPture the rnarket
p1ace. It was led by Li: Hoang Quang Anh, who was later wounded in
action. Master Sergeant Huynh Long Thien, who led a platoon to fight
the rnarket-based enerny, was killed on Le Van DuyetStreet, a few
dozen rneters short of the rnarket itself. So was the signals noncom
vrho trailed behind hirn.
Lt Nguyen Lien Hoan volunteered to lead the assault
on the rnarket. He hirnseU carried a 5 ?rnrn recoilless cannon, which
he fired with the help of a trooper' The rnarket caught fire frorn the
cannonts incendiary shells, driving rno6t i-f not all of the enerny
diehards out of the structut:e straight into the fire wa1l of a srnall
arnbushing arrny unit, This unit blocked the rnarketrs rnain way out
to an adjacent residential area. Four enerny were killed by the cannon
blasts, four others by the arnbush party. The few survivors backed
away and fled to the fiLling station opPosite the rear base o{ the Bat-
tallon Z/4, near the airfield, to be intercepted by an Arnerican unit
later in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, the Battalion 2/4 .^PIir itself into three
groups including the battalion cornrnand and its third cornpany defend-
ing the ZZlst Artillery base, its first and second cornpanies defending
the residence of the Special Zone Cornrnander and adjoining cornpounds
and a platoon sent back to the rear base for its defense-
Around 1830 hours, the enerny took revenge and shelled
the city. The Special Zonet e arnrno durnp took a direct hit and 'vas
two thirds destroyed. The secondary explosions lasted several
hours. The friendly artillery pieces opened counter-battery fire with
unknown r e sults.

By 2100 hour6, the enerny reentered the city for
another ground assault.His K5 Battalion attacked the Special Zone
C ornrnand cornpound and its eubsidiary installations, while its K6

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