Page 434 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

The enerny offensiwe began at 3 otclock in the morning
of the Znd day of Tet with a barrage o{ 8Zrnrn rnortar rounds fired
into the provincial adrninlstrative building, the Sector C ornrr-rand
headquarters and the roilitary airfield. Those C ornrrruni st soldiers
who had infiltrated into town then opened fire at the local prison, the
adrninistrative building and the rnilitary airfield. At the sarne tirne,
other C ornrnuni st troops moved in frorn the cityrs outskirts toward
the sarne tar g et s.

The Reds planned to take over the local prison anci
liberate tine 844 Cornrnunist prisoners being detained there and who
would join the attacking force.

Quick reactron by governrrrent troops prevented the
attackers frorn attaining their goals' aLthough at sorne Places the
Cornrnunists had alrnost entered the defense line and were repelled
by hand grenades thrown from inside. The ener:ry kept firing from
surrounding civilian houses. Their gun positions were destroyed one
by one by governrnent troops using M79 grenade launchers'

The heawiest enerny attack was against the prison' The
Sector C ornrnand had to dispatch two cor:rrnando cars with two accorn-
panying squads to reinforce the cornpoundrs defenders. With their
accurate rnachinegun fire they were able to take control of the situation
for a while before both c ornrnando cars were hit by enemy rockets
and de stroyed. However, as daylight carr'le the enemy withdrew lnto
surrounding house s.
At the provincial adrninistrative burldrng the enerny
attack began with a barrage of 8.40 rockets f ollowed by a wave of
ground assault troops' Two heavy rnachineguns firing frorr' a buildrng
rooftop near the Mieu Ba ternple supported the attack and prevented
reinforcernents frorn the Sector cornrnand {rom reaching ttle scene'

Governrnent trooPs put up fierce resistance froro their
solid bunkers inside the cornpound. Many Cornrrrunists were seen
lying on the street either killed or badly wounded. This forced the
elrefny to give up the attack and take defensive positions.

At the airfield the attacking force was cornpletely
destroyed. lrnrnediately upon their first wave of assault helicopter
gunships intervened and kil1ed all the attackers. A second wave rnet
with the same fate, As a result of their suicidal action which lasted
only 10 rninute s 70 Corr-rrnunists were killed on the airfieldrs barbed
wire.

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