Page 444 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

Mon and Go Vap, the 3rd Battalion at Di An, the 4th Battalion in
Thu Duc, the 5th Battation at Nha Be, and the 6th Battalion at Binh
Tan. These were supported by a nurnber of rnobile artillery units.

In total, rnore than 40 infantry battalions and a nurnber
,
of support unit involving rnore than 20, 000 rnen (1) 18,000 of thern
were regular troops and the rernainder regional troops who were
deployed around the capital city.

Only thirteen in{antry battalions were i.nvolved in the
first round of the C ornrnunist offensive. C ornrnitted to the second
round were 15 to 17 battalions, with the rernainder of the enemy force
keeping pressure on the city.
The enerny was abl.e to rnaintain pressure because the
defense systern in the harnlets and villages around the capital had
been inadequate. The Cornrnunists could rnove in and out of the
harnlets and villages without being discovered, By rnid-1967, assas-
sinations and other acts of terrorisrn by the enerny often occured in
the Go Vap area, a suburb of Saigon City. Perhaps it v/as the 1a6t
area in the cityrs outskirts where the defense systern was still solid
thereby forcing the Cornrnunist to intensi{y their terrorist activity
to cornpletely destroy the inJrastructure. Also by the end of 1967,
enemy in{iltrators were seen in action in the Phu Larn - Cholon area
where they would attack a police po6t or check vehicles in sorne
streets for a few hours and withdraw before national police arrived,
LiJe would return to norrnal aJter such incidents as iJ nothing had
realLy happened, An apparent security still prevailed although enerny
soldiers had reached the doors of the city,

The concentration and developrnent of the enerny forcea
around the capital was stepped up during the sarne second half of 1957
when the rnilitary situation across the country appeared quiet with
rnilitary authorltie6 inclined to believe that the enerny no longer had
the capability for rnajor drives at the battalion level.
Although sorne big battleB by regirnental size units
were initiated by the enerny in the cour se oM67 , they all ended in
Cornrnunist defeats and heavy losses,These were the Con Tien battle
which etarted in June and ended ir: July, the Loc Ninh battle in
october and Novernber, and the Dak To battle in Novernber,

(1) Eacn enerny battalion has frorn 300 to 400 rnen. A Cornrnunist
regirnent hag more than I,000 rnen, a worl(site frorn 5,000 to 6,000
men.
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