Page 82 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

Possibly because of the relatively 1ow exchange o{ fire. Shots and ex-
plosions could be heard interrnittently until dawn' P,y then Captain Sarrh
had ordered his troops into three colurnns ready to rnove against the
enerny. Sanh also r had ordered his soldier to tell the civilian popula-
tion to evacuate the area prior to c ounte rattacking at ten orclock.
Sorne of the people living in this region had left for rnore
secure zones by eight o'c1ock' Yet quite a large number of civilians,
especially in the Cau Son area, could not get out' A Brown Beret column,
starting frorn Newport a little before noon,rnoved cautiously through
populated areas of Thi Nghe with the intention of hitting the enerry
frorn behind. The fighting became intense frorn the very {irst rninute.
At approxirnately the sarne tirne another Ranger colurnn,
starting frorn the Buddhist pagoda bordering on the Bien Hoa Highway
assaulted the Cornrnunist {orce entrenched in the police station and
sorne houses nearby. Only individual weaPons were used in order to
rninirnize civilian casualties . Both governrnent soldiers and Cornrnu -
nist troops closely watched one another. At nightfall this rnutual obser -
vation was facilitated by the glare of flares hanging in the sky.
The following day governrnent soldiers again told the
civilian population to evacuate the area prior to calling in air strikes
against known V. C. positions' The civilian population departed frorn

the area before the planes arrived and strafed Cornrnunist Positions'
The opposing trooPs rernained face to face {or their inevitable confron-
tation, Early in the afternoon a colurnn of M, 4I tanks and M' I l3
arrnored cars arrived,opening the way for the advancing governrnent
foot soldiers.
Captain Sanh was leading his battalion while rnoving in
the direction of Cau Son bridge. The arrnored colurnn had barely
covered 200 yards when a deafening explosion was heard which set the
leading car afire and killed two soldiers while wounding two others'
The Ranger cornrnander escaped unscathed. Having observed the
origin of the warhead., Captain Sanh directed fire on the B. 40 position'
An hour later his troops found three Viet Cong dead beside a B' 40
rocket launcher and an M.79 grenade launcher.
The colurnn of advancing trooPs soon had to stop its
thrust. An irnrnense fire was devastating the area {rorn Hang-Xanh to
the breeding farrn which was adrninistered by Lasan Brothers in Thi
Nghe. Viet Cong elernents, taking advantage of the conflagration,
withdrew to outlying areas '

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