Page 396 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

Throughout the third day of Tet, Feb Ist, friendly troops
were unable to dislodge the rernnants of the enerny frorn the populated
areas around the Trinh Tuong Carnp. The rnorale of the understrength
208th RF Cornpany was poor, The sarne was true of the 954th RF Corn-
pany which had only one cornbat platoon, Only a rnachinegun -rnounted
truck platoon blocked the road and al1eys leading to the sector cor]lnanc
headquarters. The hard hit - one killed and seven wounded - recon
platoon was overworked and tried and unable to fight rnuch longer,
Meanwhile civilian refugees strearned across the bridge by the thou-
sands to the southwestern side of the city. Sorne enerny elernents took
advantage of the low tide to cross the river and infiltrate Lac Dao
Ftrarnlet.
The enerny 48Znd dattalion, d.ecirnated in the Trinh Tuong
:arnp assault and during its retreating route, still had a regerve coln-
pany, C4, uncornrnitted to any fighting at all. This cornpany and rern-
nants of cornpany C3 withdrew to the Dai Narn area to regroup and get
replacernents, equiprnent and supplies. Reinforced by the 481st Sapper
Cornpany, the 485th Artillery Cornpany, the 43Oth Regional Guerrilla
Cornpany and a nurnber of support elernents, the enerny 482nd Battalion
returned to the city for another rnassive assault.

The battalion objectives were the sarrre as those in the
initial assault plus the province sector cornrnand cornplex.
Intelligence reports later revealed that another enerny
battalion was rnoving toward the city. This was the 480th Viet Cong
Batta!.ion {rorn the Le Hong Phong Jungle War Zone. The 480th batta -
Iion first appeared in Binh Thuan province in early 1967. It was sta{fe,
predorninently by North Vietnarnese Arrny (NVA) troops and nurnbered
about 250 rnen plus the 450th Local Guerrilla Cornpany as a reconnais-
sance unit.

This battalion reached the city around 0300h. Feb 2, and
assaulted the police station, which had sorne 100 police officers, and
the adjoining officers' club defended by one rnilitia platoon. While
attacking these two points the battalion shelled the Cho Go residential
area, the sector cornrnand headquarters and the Dinh Cong Trang
Carnp, Only four soldiers were killed and six wounded at this carnp'
The other targets did not suffer any casualties or darnage. Two
filling stations at Luong Muoi and the railroad station were set aflarne
by the shelling.

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