Page 401 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

alrnost unopposed. The enerny wa6 still holding out in the gtadiurn,
The arrnored wehicles did not enter the stadiurn through the rnain
gate but srnashed its wall at two places to enter frorn both flanks
instead. This maneuwer caught the enerny by surpriee and unprepared
for the counterattack On the one {lank the APCIs srnaehing of the
wall killed 17 enerny who were positioned right behi.nd it. The
troop rushed to the back of the stadiurn where the enerny had abandoned
two recoilless ri{1es, one 57 and one 75rnrn. Theee two gune had
been positioned too close to the Dinh Cong Trang C arnp by the
enerny and therefore were stopped by carnp defenderg who destroyed
their crews with rnachinegun fire, Only a few houre earlier atternpt s
to capture these weapons had cost the life of Capt.Chi and had wounded
a Sergeant. The enerny never ventured to retake thern. The arrnor
troop cornrnander, Lt Larn, jurnped out of his arrnored carrier to ceize
the two recoiless rifles, Right at the split eecond he was stepping back
into hi.s waitlng APC a buret of AK autornatic rifle fire wae heard and
the youthful lieutenant was hit. Fortunately enough he waa just hit
in one o{ his hands.

For two hours, fighting raged until [00 h. ln and around
the stadium. The APCte liberated the Dinh Cong Trang Carnp and then
rnoved out to be refuelled and resupplied at the aector cornrnand. Fifty
enerny bodles were counted in the area.
The battle around the carnp was still far frorn finiehed,
Around1400h.the APCte returned to the area and rnaneuvered behind
the enerny positions to support a ground aweep by foot soldiers. Another
arrnor officer was wounded during this encounter. Enerny pressures
noticeably subsided around the carnp as night fell. The enerny 480th
Battalion left only a ernall elernent behind to fight a delaying action to
enable lts rnain force to get away. Four krng NE of the city this larger
enerny elernent was intercepted by a blocking force at Ben Noi bridge.
The engagernent resulted in l7 enerny killed and Z0 captured, Also
captured were four AK-47 and one rnortar.

On the eixth day of Tet, Feb 4, friendly forcea continued
their sweep operations in the city and its suburbs. Included arnong
these {orces was 3/5O6 US Battalion, The city returned to norrnal on
the following day. It was quiet uniil Feb 8 when enerny gunnerg shelled
and set afire the fuel depot of the l3let Cornpany destroying sorne
350,000 litres of gas and 270,000 litteg of dieeel oil,
The following ie a balance eheet of the i5-day Phan Thiet
battle :

-404-