Page 408 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

those portions of the province adrninistrative headquarters and the
sector cornrnand cornpound which he had failed to overrun earlier, He
slarnrned rnortar and rocket shells into the sector and adrninistrative
headquarters frorn the jail cornpound. The watch-tower on top of the
headquarte4s vras aknost destroyed by enerny rockets.

Sirnultaneously the enernyrs first colurnn entered the girlrs
elernentary school {rorn where it attacked the Quang Trung Carnp. This
colurnn appeared to have failed to tirne its attack on the carnp to coincide
with the second colurnn. This delay helped the cityrs deputy rnilitary
cornrnander, Lt Col Nguyen Huu Dinh, to regroup his troops {or an,
efficient counterattack, AI1 the enerrry assault waves on the carnp were
turned back with the defenders suf{ering no fatalities.
Fighting continued all day long and with neither side gain-
ing the upper hand. Meanwhile civilian refutsees frorn the nearby Phu
Trinh harnlet fled frorn their hornes across the cityrs only steel bridge
toward the gafer southern bank of the city.
During the night o{ Feb 18 the enerny shelied the Y gate
killing one field policernan and wounding another. Three rounds of
enerny rnortar fire landed on the Yo Tanh,Nguyen Tri Phuong downtown
section around daybreak but caused no casualties. One round was a dud.

The situation worsened on the {ollowing morning as the
enerny continued to entrench in concrete stTuctures including the Frealth
Service and Labor Service offices in Phu Trinh Har-nlet. An enernv
group rnoved against the house of a Nationalist Chinese rnedical unit
which fought back. This tearn included two doctors and eight nurses
who later rnanaged to escape after killing si.x enerny. The tearn suf-
fered one wounded. The Dinh Cong Trang Carnp was only subjected to
harassing rnortax fire which killed one ordnance soldier. The Trinh
Tuong Carnp which is located in the same general area was left undis-
turbed.

The friendly forces of the sector included one arrnor troop
which was blocking the enernyrs infiltration routes and two RF recon
platoons plus the 954th Rf' Cornpany which were positioned to block the
eastern side of the jail cornpound. The cityrs one steel bridge, though
only about 100 rneters away frorn the closest enerny position was sti1l
firrnly held by friendly troops.

A cornpany o{ the US Mike Force and a cornpany of the
US Task I.orce 3/506, supported by Ontos tanks equipped with six
recoilless rifles each, reached the Phan Thiet Girls Elernentary

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