[12]:7577, On 23 February a company from the 5/7th Cavalry, boarded helicopters and flew to the docks near Mang Ca, where it joined a platoon of armored personnel carriers from Troop A, 3rd Squadron, 5th Cavalry Regiment, on loan from the 9th Infantry Division which had just arrived in the Phu BaiHu region after redeploying from Long Khnh Province to northern I Corps by sea. When the headquarters of 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division arrived at Camp Evans, 27 kilometers (17mi) northwest of Hu on 26 January, it found that the site held no stocks of ammunition or fuel. Artillery and naval gunfire was called in and a later radio intercept indicated that a senior PAVN officer had been killed in the barrage. In a 539-page narrative, Bowden delivers a work of grand. A Mule was brought forward to blow a hole in the building and the Marines advanced under cover of tear gas. Several M41 crews abandoned their undamaged tanks when they found their escape route blocked by burning hulks. G guest0001 Guest Aug 9, 2020 #64 RL64RL Mi Lieutenant [12]:29 The PAVN B5 Front created a special logistical and administrative zone known as the Hu City Front to manage the upcoming battle. He went on to say that what is important is that each Marine stay above the emotion of the fight. The human and material resources of the entire kingdom, which extended from the Chinese border to the Gulf of Siam, were rounded up for . With the departure of Company F about 16:30, the PAVN-VC successfully disengaged and Companies H and E took up night defensive positions. [9]:27273 On the morning of 4 February the Marines launched their attack on the Treasury. Anyone in violation of that can be charged with a war crime. The following pictures are real eye-openers for anyone who's been to Ho Chi Minh City recently. Firing at long range, they missed their target and made no further effort to take the position. He has been involved in urban operations training for two decades and is an urban operations subject matter expert and urban warfare historian, having participated in, planned, executed, and intensively instructed on urban operations for the past seven years. We take care of civilians, added Downs. With the city finally in sight, the three companies that made up the 804th Battalion headed off in different directions. [4]:200 Company D, 1/5 Marines arrived in the Citadel on the evening of 14 February after taking fire while crossing the Perfume River. Other PAVN troops split off and attacked the Hu railway station and a police headquarters facility near the Bach Ho Railroad Bridge. Trng called back most of the Hac Bao Company from the airfield to bolster the headquarters' defenses, which kept division headquarters secure. Under I Corps command, but available to Trng upon his request were two battalions of the ARVN 1st Airborne Task Force and a troop of armored personnel carriers from the 7th Armored Cavalry Squadron at PK-17, the ARVN base located near a road marker on Highway 1, 17 kilometers (11mi) north of Hu. Gravel left the armor behind on the southern bank to provide direct fire support. [4]:213 Allied air and artillery support was restricted by the poor weather, supply difficulties and, initially, by restrictions intended to limit damage to Hu's historic structures. About Hue. They were unsuccessful and Company F sustained casualties of three dead and 13 wounded. On 22 February after a barrage of 122mm rockets the PAVN counterattacked the Vietnamese Marines, who pushed them back with the support of the Hac Bao Company. [12]:57, Gravel's 1/1 Marines had been clearing the area to the east and south of the MACV Compound and on 10 February they captured the soccer stadium (162801N 1073549E / 16.467N 107.597E / 16.467; 107.597), providing a second, safer helicopter landing zone. 4) Take in a Performance at the Royal Theatre. With the building secured the Marines then methodically cleared out the spider-holes, shooting their occupants. 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. Company D was also engaged by PAVN in the village of Lieu Coc and forced to withdraw. The Army gunners and the Marine Ontos quickly responded. The Marines had to use the weapons that were available and often, they were used for other than their intended purpose. During the months and years that followed, dozens of mass graves were discovered in and around Hu. Another mistake was that he didnt move his snipers around and the NVA found the snipers and fired many RPGs at them. Meanwhile, several kilometers to the south, the 2/12th Cavalry, made contact with another PAVN force just before noon. Robert P. Hanger . The Citadel, or Imperial City, is the walled-in portion of Hu sitting on the north bank of the Perfume River. I live with that to this day, Christmas said. On January 30, 1968, after months of preparation, North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops and Viet Cong (VC) guerrillas launched a massive, coordinated assault on nearly every city, town, and. [9]:290, Following the capture of the Treasury, Cheatham continued his methodical advance to the west leading with tear gas, M-48s and Ontos, followed by Mules and Marines, while PAVN-VC resistance lessened as its manpower and ammunition was depleted. The Marines eventually broke into the west building and cleared it room by room. [4]:213, The fighting in other parts of South Vietnam during Tet was generally confined to a week or sometimes less; the battle for Hu was the longest, lasting from 31 January through 2 March 1968. US Marines spent nearly a month fighting a brutal urban battle to retake the city which was 80% destroyed by the battle's end, according to H.D.S. This is also where the Marine needs to use their ingenuity. A native of Portsmouth, Ohio, then-First Lieutenant James K. Redding arrived in South Vietnam on January 7, 1968, and was assigned as the assistant American advisor to the 7th Airborne . Its not easy, said Christmas. [9]:343, On 8 February 5/7th Cavalry began moving southwest from PK-17 towards La Chu while 2/12th Cavalry were ordered to retrace their route to form the southern pincer for an attack on the PAVN stronghold. This is called lance corporal ingenuity and Pfc. The Marine Corps' military operations in urban terrain doctrine recognizes that tactical success does not necessarily translate to strategic victory the Battle of Hu in the Vietnam War, when Marines defeated an enemy that sought to put up a good fight but never expected to win. [4]:18990 After resting his men at the Provincial Headquarters, Cheatham resumed his advance west towards the Phu Cam Canal, then swung south and east to clear the area with the canal to his right. [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. At 22:00, South Vietnamese Regional Force (RF) troops stationed in a village a few hundred meters north of the An Hoa Bridge observed what appeared to be enemy figures moving past them in the dark. He essentially made a memorial of each Marine by keeping a book in which he wrote down the names and dates of all Marines killed and injured during the battle. [12]:3233, On the night of 30 January it started to rain; from 2 February onwards this rain, low cloud and foggy weather (known locally as the crachin) would last through much of the battle and severely hamper Allied air and artillery support. [9]:51920, The battle was an ARVN-U.S. victory in only the narrowest sense in that they had evicted the PAVN-VC from the city at heavy cost, but failed to annihilate them. If you can use the weapon to do what you need to do in the city, you use the weapon. Hue Tet Offensive 1968 and city tour Hue Pre Tet January 1968 by Lt. Charles Brown 1/5 Cav. [12]:2729, At least two PAVN regiments, two sapper battalions, and an assortment of VC local forces were based in Tha Thin Province. [12]:59, Also on 7 February, the North Vietnamese tried to bring their own air support into the battle, sending four Vietnam People's Air Force Il-14 transport aircraft from an airfield near Hanoi. the book is full of emotion and color . But why was it so destructive? Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam is Black Hawk Down author Bowden's worthy effort to give the battle its due. [4]:206 On 18 February the 1/8th Cavalry was attacked by elements of the 803rd Regiment 20 kilometers (12mi) northeast of Hu, this second clash apparently convinced the PAVN command that the Regiment could not reach the Citadel. [9]:269 The battalion consolidated its night defensive positions and waited to renew its attack the following day. During the Vietnam War, notably the "Battle of Hue" - a part of the Tt Offensive in 1968, Hue endured considerable damage due to its proximity to the border that separates the South and the North. [4]:17778 That night the PAVN 815th Battalion overran the ARVN defenders at the Thua Thien Prison releasing the 2,500 prisoners, including 350 VC who were soon armed with captured ARVN weapons and joined the fighting. [4]:177, During the mid-afternoon of 2 February, the 2/12th Cavalry arrived in a landing zone about 10 kilometres (6mi) northwest of Hu. The convoy was then turned around and sent towards Hu. On 24 February, the 5/7th Cavalry, rejoined its detached company and the armored cavalry platoon from the 3/5th Cavalry, near the western corner of the Citadel. RM JA01HR - Crowd at Ba Tang Cemetery where more than 400 victims of the 1968 Communist Tet Offensive lie in a mass grave, Hue, Vietnam, 1968. Younger soldiers were convinced by the party propaganda that they were on the verge of a great victory that would end the war. 1/7th Cavalry then dug in to night defensive positions. At the Chanh Tay gate (162826N 1073340E / 16.474N 107.561E / 16.474; 107.561) on the west wall of the Citadel, a six-man PAVN sapper team dressed in ARVN uniforms killed the guards and opened the gate. As he later remembered, the American M48s were too heavy for the bridge and the ARVN tankers "refused to go." The 815th Battalion had been delayed because South Vietnamese paramilitaries had ambushed the battalion at a river crossing three kilometers south of the city. All he knew was that Trng's headquarters had been under attack, as was the MACV Compound. Its pretty easy to get emotional, but what leaders get paid for is to stand above the emotion. 10 PAVN/VC Battalions with 8,000 Communist soldiers. Hu, the ancient imperial capital city of Vietnam, had a population of nearly 140,000, making it the third largest city in the Republic of Vietnam, commonly known as South Vietnam. [4]:171, Up to this point the fighting for Hu had been entirely a South Vietnamese affair. Also new to Tha Thin Province was the 5th Regiment, a three-battalion unit that normally operated from Base Area 101 near Qung Tr. Several local force companies operated in the districts surrounding Hu. The Battle of Hue, part of the Tet Offensive, 1968 The Tet Offensive. Soldiers wave from truck. When you leave here, think about urban warfare and think about your contribution., An official website of the United States government, 5000 Series: Administration and Management, 11000 Series: Facilities and Activities Ashore, Civilian Awards, Retirements & Recognition, Natural Resources & Environmental Affairs, Continuous Process Improvement (CPI)/Lean Six Sigma, Interactive Customer Evaluation (ICE) Account Management, Sexual Assault Contact Information and Resources. When seven successive attempts to breach the gate failed, the battalion joined the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, 3rd Regiment, near the southern corner of the Citadel. The battle started on Jan. 30, 1968 and didnt end until March 3, 1968. Everybody is a rifleman. [9]:288 That evening VC sappers succeeded in blowing up the An Cuu bridge, cutting the road link to Phu Bai. [4]:192 The ARVN 2nd Troop, 7th Cavalry, equipped with fifteen M113s arrived at Mang Ca from Qung Tr to relieve the 3rd Troop. 358 Battle Of Hue Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images Images Images Creative Editorial Video Creative Editorial FILTERS CREATIVE EDITORIAL VIDEO 358 Battle Of Hue Premium High Res Photos Browse 358 battle of hue stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. Tanks when they found their escape route blocked by burning hulks RPGs at them Citadel... Gunners and the Marine Ontos quickly responded found their escape route blocked by burning hulks delivers a of... Sight, the three companies that made up the 804th Battalion headed off in different directions back of... 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