Page 386 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

were rushed to the radio station area around 1600h" Two hours later
lf 4 Battalion of the Z2nd Infantry Division arrived to relieve enerny
pressure frorn the Huyen Tran Harnlet as two Special Forces cornpanies
frorn the B. I I Cornrnand were helilifted into town to recapture the

railroad station.
The operation was slowed down by the fact that too rnany
civilians were trapped inside the enerny-held areas' Friendly forces
did not want their counterattacks to becorne too destructive for these
innocent people. Loudspeaker trucks were sent out to tell the people
to try ro get out of the oPerational areas and also to tell the enerny to
gurrender.

Night fell on the city but friendly troops sti11 '#ere not
given approval to start shooting. A11 the enerny held areas were cor-
Io.r"d *ttil. the loudspeaker trucks continued continuous broadcasting'
Around rnidnight loudspeaker planes and choppers started to {Iy over
enerny positions calling on enerny troops to surrender' This psywar
operation lasted all night till the rnorning of the second day of Tet or

Jan 31.
The enerny only fired occasionally' The round-the-clock
curfew was still in force' The curious crowds thronged to Vo Tanh
street for a glirnpse of the irnrninent confrontation at the radio station'

About 0800n.reports reached the city that a Cornrnuni st -
Ied popular dernonstration was rnoving into the city frorn Tuy Phuoc
district, sorne lZkrns away. Two {ire engines and' a loudspeaker truck
were sent out to disperse the rnarchers. Before these vehicles con-
tacted the dernonstration it had been broken up by soldiers of the
405th Recon CornPan), who had been stopped by an enerny blocking
force the day before '

Shortly after rnid-rnorning, the Koreans opened fire on
the rnulti-storied radio station. Srnoke billowed skyward frorn this
building and apparently blinded the stubborn defenders' The Korean
troopsbegantoassaultthebuildingandtheadjoininginforrnationoffice
Around 1030 hours a 30 rnan police detail Ied by Maj Hai was sent
in to help the Koreans separate the trapped civilians frorn the captured
enertry sr-.rvivors. After assaulting the building the Koreans took ano-
ther six hours to finish the last of the enemy. The enerny held out and
engaged in roorn-to-roorn fighting which did not end until about 1600h.
Th! korean assault er,ded the enernyrs lZ-hour control o{ the radio
station. The entire enerny force was knocked out of action suffering

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