Page 399 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

Facing an increasingly critical situation the sector corn-
rnand decided to call in reinforcernents {rorn the 23rd Tactical Zone
Cornrnand, Zone Cornrnander, Col Truong Ouang An, dispatched the
3rd Battalion, 4th APC Squadron and, 44th Regirnent frorn Vinh Hao in
Ninh Thuan prowince to rescue the ernbattled city. The 44th Regt was
cornrnanded by Maj Vo Kharn. It was intercepted by the enerny in Phu
Long about lOkrns short of Phan Thiet around 1630 hours Feb Z, It had
been rnoving for eleven hours frorn its Ninh Thuan horne base. It suf-
{ered one M. 113 arrnored personnel carrier (AeC) destroyed and two
soldiers killed but succeeded in fighting its way into the city where it
arrived half an hour later. Two.US advisors to the 3rd BattaLion were
also wounded in the Phu Long clash, The regirnent rernained at a {illing
station and re{used to enter the Phan Thiet battle. Its cornrnanding
officer clairned that the night did not favor its ac cornpli shrnent of the
rni s sion.
Meanwhile in Phan Thiet city proper the nurnerically
superior enerny force still failed in their attack against the police
station and the officersr club even with the support of its 57rnrn
recoilless rifle squad which was positinned in the Buu Quang pagoda a
{ew hundred rnetero away. Six rnernbers of the squad were killed
while police suffered fifteen kil1ed in the fight.

Throughout the fourth day of Tet, Feb Z, tension continued
to rise throughout the city. The enerny attacked and took the Giac Hoa
pagoda, the Forestry Service building and dug in inside the park in
front of the railroad station in order to attack the Officers' Club. The
Xorn Con fishing people evacuated the area with rnany of thern going
off-shore in their fishing boats.

Airdropped flares lit the whole city throughout the night.
Around1400h. the enerny 482nd Battalion appeared and assaulted the
city at four places ; the Trinh Tuong Carnp, the business section near
the city rnarket place, the Dinh Cong Trang Carnp and the Y gate.
The enerny did not succeed ir, their attack against the
Trinh Tuong carnp in the face of the stubborn resistance of the out-
nurnbered, outgunned but entrenched defenders,
Around 1600h.a reiniorced enerny platoon crossed the
Muong Man river and attacked the traffic police station on Khai Dinh
Road and the Duc Nghia village adrninistrative office. The police
station fell swi{tly into enerny handg as its few guards {Ied. One of the
guards was wounded and a few of the others sirnply hid upstairs, The

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