Page 432 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

house s. It was 5 orclock in the morning.
At 10 o'clock the 3/7o ana 4frc Battalions reached the
city and successfully cleared the adrninistrative and military areas
{rorn enerny pressure.
'l:he 4flj Battalion, cornrnanded by Maj. Nguyen Duc
Kirn, killed rnore than 50 Cornrnunists at the provincial hospital area'
The governrnent forces however could not reach the
cityrs cornrnercial quarters where enerny firepowel was extrernely
heavy. Meanwhile, the attackers tried hard to capture the local radio
but {ailed in their attempt because of fierce resistance by a squad o{
governrnent soldiers defending the station.

US reinforcernentg arrived in the afterncon, and con-
tinued to arrive the next rnorning bringing the nurnber of Arnerican
troops in the city to two full battalions. Both battalions belonged to
to the Znd Brigade, 9th Infantry Division.

Cornbined US - Vietnarnese operations throughout the
day {ina1ly drove the enerny frorn the city and part o{ the suburbs'

During the f ollowing days, continued allied operations
supported by air strikes forced the Cornrnunists to withdraw cornplete-
ly.
About Z, 000 Cornrnunist soldiers had taken part in the
battle. They betonged to two newly forrned battalions (ttte 3rd and the
4th), two regional cornpanies, and local guerrilla units'

On our side the f ollowing units were involved in the
battle :
- Two battalions of the 10th Infantry Division;
- One reconnaissance conrpany at 40fi strength;
- 200 police and regional force rnen and 4 arrnored
vehicle s at the Sector Comrnand;
- One artillery platoon with bwo 155rnrn How. stationed
at the air f ie Id;
- One crew of l05mm How. at the loca1 stadiuro.

Casualties on our side were I00 soldiers and 90 civilians.
Over 50/o of the townts civilian houses were darnaged. The Truc

Giang rnarket wae burned down.
The enerny suffered 300 killed and lost 100 weapons of
various kind s.