I live with that to this day, Christmas said. [4]:174, North of the Perfume River, on 1 February, the ARVN 1st Division enjoyed some limited success. The Battle of Hue City occurred with the Tet Offensive, where Marines were surprised by a North Vietnamese Army (NVA) attack during what was supposed to be a cease fire negotiated during a. Meanwhile, the 416th Battalion began fortifying the twin villages with spider holes, trenches and camouflaged fighting positions. Where emperors lived and died. 12 February - 5 March 1968 - Operation "HUE CITY." Citadel Fortress of Hue. Two of the aircraft carrying explosives, antitank ammunition and field telephone cables managed to find an opening in the cloud layer about 10 kilometers (6.2mi) north of Hu. [16]:228 On the night of 31 January, the PAVN-VC launched a mortar attack on Camp Evans which caused an ammunition dump to explode, disabling most of the helicopters of the 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion. On 4 January 1968, MACV J-2 (military intelligence staff) received a report that a Vietcong sapper team had obtained jobs at the Tan Son Nhut airbase from which they planned to attack MACV. [4]:192 The ARVN 2nd Troop, 7th Cavalry, equipped with fifteen M113s arrived at Mang Ca from Qung Tr to relieve the 3rd Troop. [9]:23943, Many of the Marines of Task Force X-Ray had little or no urban combat experience and the U.S. troops were not trained for urban close-quarters combat, so this battle was especially tough for them. As the PAVN moved to reoccupy the strongpoints at dawn they were caught in the open by the Marines, 16 PAVN were killed for the loss of three Marines. At dawn the only areas of the new city still under Allied control were the prison defended by a Hac Bao platoon; the Le Loi transportation camp; the Huang Giang Hotel; the MACV Compound; the communications facility; and the Navy loading dock. The world is urban and thats where youre going to fight and its up to you to ensure that you prepare yourself. 10 PAVN/VC Battalions with 8,000 Communist soldiers. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); The articles and other content which appear on the Modern War Institute website are unofficial expressions of opinion. On August 20, 2009, Lt. Gen. G. R. (Ron) Christmas, USMC (Ret.) [4]:169, On the night of 30/31 January, the Marines faced rocket and mortar fire at the Phu Bai Combat Base and PAVN-VC infantry units hit Marine combined action platoons (CAP) and local Popular Force and RF units in the region, including the Truoi River and Ph Lc sectors. Because of enemy mortaring of the LCU ramp in southern Hu, the allies had stopped all river traffic to the city. He led an armored column toward Hu, but like the other South Vietnamese units, found it impossible to break through. Attacking in a southeasterly direction, the two battalions would then attempt to close the PAVN-VC supply line into Hu. Theyll pull their heads and you can run the whole company across the street if you want. Thats exactly what Downs decided to do, and it worked. Its pretty easy to get emotional, but what leaders get paid for is to stand above the emotion. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. He has served twenty-six years in the Canadian Armed Forces, which included operational tours to the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia-Herzegovina) and Afghanistan. Hue City,, Vietnam, 1968 This is called lance corporal ingenuity and Pfc. A rotating group of staff personnel from the compound was stationed at Trng's headquarters day and night. Connecting the Citadel and new city were the Trng Tin Bridge (162805N 1073520E / 16.468N 107.589E / 16.468; 107.589), which carried Highway 1, and further west the Bach Ho rail bridge. In the early morning hours of 31 January 1968, a division-sized force of PAVN-VC soldiers launched a coordinated attack on the city of Hu. At Ba Long, the battalion then embarked upon motorized junks and reached the Citadel the following day. The 2nd Airborne Battalion reinforced the convoy and conducted a flanking attack. [12]:37 At 08:00, PAVN troops raised a liberation flag over the Citadel flag tower. Valerie OBerry/CommStrat Office John Spencer and Jayson Geroux | 11.04.21. in January 1968, North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong forces launched the Tet Offensive, a series of coordinated attacks aimed at demonstrating to the governments in Washington and Saigon that continuing the war was futile. About 2 kilometers (1.2mi) to its southwest was the 101st Engineering Company compound (162613N 1073455E / 16.437N 107.582E / 16.437; 107.582). PAVN forces blocked the 1st and 4th Battalions of the regiment, operating to the southeast, as they attempted to reinforce the units in Hu. Company H attacked a nearby hill meeting a stubborn defense, losing one dead and killing six PAVN. Robert P. Hanger . [9]:47784 Sergeant Joe Hooper of the 2/501st would subsequently be awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in this engagement. The offensive ended in crippling military defeat for the attackers, and yet the strength of their assault led to a political setback for the United States, as critics at home gained traction and public support for the war eroded. 6) Enjoy the Co Ha Gardens. [9]:268, On the night of 3 February, the PAVN commander, seeing the buildup of Marines at Hu University, thinned out his frontline forces leaving just a platoon to defend the Treasury building and adjacent Post Office. 4) Take in a Performance at the Royal Theatre. This blog post will present an American military intelligence map from each era. This will differ by city, it will differ by what the NVA does. Its not just the round but all the debris that comes off of it. At 10:45 on 11 February Company B, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines was airlifted aboard Marine CH-46s into Mang Ca, but enemy fire forced several of the helicopters to return to Phu Bai. [12]:69, On 16 February the 1/5 Marines advanced approximately 140 meters for a cost of seven Marines killed and 47 wounded and 63 PAVN killed. At the end of January in 1968, the Viet Cong launched an offensive that turned the tide of the Vietnam War. The 4th Battalion, 3rd Regiment, south of the river, crossed the river and assaulted the Thuong Tu Gate near the eastern corner of the Citadel. On 24 February 2/5 Marines launched an operation to the southwest of Hu to relieve the ARVN 101st Engineering Company compound which had been under siege by the PAVN since the start of the battle. The 1st Regiment was stationed near Qung Tr 50 kilometers (31mi) to the northwest and the 2nd Regiment was another twelve kilometers farther up Highway 1 near ng H. The combined force then headed for the Mang Ca compound with the goal of neutralizing Trng's headquarters before it had time to organize the city's defenders. For example, anti-aircraft vehicles called dusters were used in the front and the back of a 12-truck convoy heading into Hue City since there were no tanks available. In February 1968, in the South Vietnamese city of Hu, 11 battalions of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), four U. S. Armybattalions, and three understrength U. S. Marine Corps battalions, for a total of . Built within a two year span, it has been severely damaged on three occasions. The United States and other allied nations fought on the side . The mechanized task force swept along the northwestern wall toward the An Hoa Bridge, flushing out a number of PAVN soldiers who had taken refuge in the grasses and weeds. An allied aircraft spotted the units and reported their position. Were all emotional, we care about our Marines. Among the casualties on the bridge was Major Walter M. Murphy, the 1st Battalion S-3, or operations officer, who later died of his wounds. Eight CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters made the flight in marginal weather with a 61152 metres (200500ft) ceiling and 1.6 kilometres (1mi) visibility, arriving at an improvised landing zone under enemy mortar fire. The Tet Offensive was a military campaign . [4]:230, On 1 February, III Marine Amphibious Force (III MAF) Commander Lieutenant General Robert Cushman alerted the 1st Cavalry Division commander, Major General John J. Tolson, to be ready to deploy his 3rd Brigade into a sector west of Hu. The deteriorating weather forced the squadron to cancel the remaining lifts with about half of the battalion in the Citadel. [7], In addition to the significant civilian casualties inflicted in the battle, eighty percent of the city was destroyed and 116,000 civilians out of the pre-battle population of 140,000 were made homeless. [4]:21011[20], On 22 February the ARVN 21st and the 39th Ranger Battalions boarded junks and traveled to Gia Hoi Island (162834N 1073520E / 16.476N 107.589E / 16.476; 107.589), between the east wall of the Citadel and the Perfume River where the Communist provisional government had been headquartered since the start of the offensive. Approximately 10.5 miles north of the city in Thua Thien Province, the ARVN 1st Airborne Task . Tolson's plan called for an air assault by two battalions of the 3rd Brigade northwest of Hu. On the morning of 25 February 1968 Nguyen heard screaming coming from the far side of her village of Ha My - not far from the now-popular tourist town of Hoi An - and saw smoke filling the sky . On the night of 23 February the PAVN attempted another counterattack, but were forced back by artillery fire. [4]:17173, Leaving Company A behind to secure the MACV Compound, Gravel took Company G, reinforced by the three M48 tanks from the 3rd Tank Battalion and a few ARVN M24 light tanks from the 7th Armored Cavalry Squadron, and attempted to cross the Trng Tin Bridge, the main bridge over the Perfume River. The Battle of Hue began early on January 31, 1968 and lasted until the first days of March, when US troops retook the city. This lecture was part of the commemoration of the Vietnam War era. Hue 1968 is also an exploration of what is common to all wars: humankind's capacity for violence, cruelty, self-sacrifice, bravery, cowardice and love. By the last week of January, most of its combat units had arrived, but many of the division's logistical components were still in transit. The units intended to use a ferry station 10 kilometers (6.2mi) south of the city to cross the river. Make An Appointment to View Photographs & Museum Objects, Order Photocopies & Digital Reproductions, The Garden Club of Virginia Historic Restorations Project, Confederate Memorial Literary Society (CMLS) Image Collection, Major Business Record Collections at the Virginia Historical Society, Basic Virginia business and economic history bibliography and online resources, Unknown No Longer: A Database of Virginia Slave Names, Virginia's Civil War: A Guide to Manuscripts at the Virginia Historical Society, Civil War in Virginia Published & Primary Sources, Index to African American material in the broadside collection, Index to African American material in the sheet music collection, Manuscript Collections for the Environmental History Resources Guide, Other Related Collections for the Environmental History Resources Guide, Virginia Historical Society Gift Calculator, Tax Information & Charitable Accountability, The Battle of Hu City, South Vietnam, 1968. 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