Page 388 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968
P. 388

The I  4l  Battalion starte,l a 8)rsternatic sweep of the
                              f
       Huyen TranHarnlet for possible enerny survivors before  sun
       down. The sweep continued  till  tZ30 h  the following day. At this tirne
       the battalion left the area to return to tb'e ZZnd Infantry Division head-
       quarters.
                       The Binh Dinh province chie{ called a nass ra1ly soon
       after the recapture  of the radio station.  Some  2, 000 citizens attended
       the rally to condernn  the enerny truce violation and act of betrayal. The
       objectives of the rally were to ca1rn down popular ernotions over the
       enerny actions and to restore public order.
                       Sorne of the surviving enefily'  however,  were still  hiding
       i.nside fhe city that night and taking potshots  at the Harn Nghi street
       police station.  One o{ thern was cornered inside the post office and
       was captured several hours later.
                       In the following  days the police sweep anci screening  of
       civilians resulted in the capture of several  enerny and weapons.  The
       following  are the results of the day-to-day  searches  and sweeps I
                        -On the third day of Tet, Korean troops searched  the
       radio station and killed four enerny, seized three weapons and captured
       one enerny Lieutenant; I/41 B attalion captured t\i/o enerny and one gre-
       nade in Huyen TranHarnlet; trooPs and police killed four enerny and
       seized five AKts and rifles,  and one pistol, which the enemy had
       thrown into the well of Lt Col Tuyts house. Earlier  in the day the
       enerny had opened sniper fire {rom this house wounding  one Arnerican
       lieutenant and two CIDG rnen.

                        -On the fourth day of Tet the sector trooPs captured four
        enerrly, the 405th Recon Cornpany  killed one and seized one weapon'
       the Speciat Forces captured four enerny and seized lhree  \ffeapons, and
       a sector garrison  platoon {ound 18 enerny weaPons hidden in town.
                        -On the fifth day of Tet, four enerny were captured  and
        one enerny pi.stol was seized,  including  one enerny with the Pistol
        captured  by local citizens.  One Arnerican MP was wounded by enemy
        sniper fire that day.
                        The sweep continued  throughout the following days and
        resulted in the capture of a few enerny hidding in populated  areas. By
        the fifth day of Tet, or Feb 3, the city was slowly returning to norrnal.
        Shops were opened and the city rnarket was in business.  The cityrs
        power and water supply systern continued  to work notrnally throughout



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