He and Sergeant Alfredo Cantu Gonzalez led the Marines in the defense of the convoy, actions for which both men would later be awarded the Medal of Honor. At 05:00 on 24 February they raised the South Vietnamese flag on the Citadel flag tower and proceeded to secure the southern wall by 10:25. [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. Downs agreed that the emotional aspect of the fight is important and that he had his own way of dealing with the pain. Trng then ordered the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Regiment and the Hac Bao Company to recapture the Imperial Palace and this was achieved against minimal resistance by late afternoon. Hue Tet Offensive 1968 and city tour Hue Pre Tet January 1968 by Lt. Charles Brown 1/5 Cav. [4]:168, South of the river a reinforced company of the 2nd Sapper Battalion launched a simultaneous attack on the MACV Compound in the new city. The highway also provided access to the Perfume River (Vietnamese: Sng Hng or Hng Giang) at the point where the river ran through Hu, dividing the city into northern and southern parts. 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. Then, you need to select where you enter the city, then you can determine what you are going to use to take the city. On the off chance that military and political analysts are right, in the next few months we must test the enemy's intentions, in case this is indeed his last big gasp before negotiations. Some were marched north into captivity, while others were executed, including three West German doctors, two French Benedictine monks and two U.S. government employees. Hue is clustered around the Perfume River, which splits the capital of the Nguyn Dynasty in two. "[33], The November 2004 anti-insurgent Marine operation in the city of Fallujah, which took place during the Iraq War, has been compared to the Battle of Hu. As he later remembered, the American M48s were too heavy for the bridge and the ARVN tankers "refused to go." By dawn, our troops were still unable to advance". [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. [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. for Advanced Operational Culture Lrng. The Post Office also seemed abandoned until the Marines located a vault inside the building, they proceeded to gas out the PAVN inside killing more than 24 of them as they emerged. While the ARVN 1st Division had cancelled all Tt leave and was attempting to recall its troops, the South Vietnamese and American forces in the city were unprepared when the Vit Cng (VC) and the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) launched the Tet Offensive, attacking hundreds of military targets and population centers across the country, including Hu. Joe Ronnie Hooper", "Command Chronology for period 1 February to 29 February 1968", "Communist political executions at Hue in the 1968 Tet Offensive", "Soldiers of North Vietnam strike a pose for her camera", "Who, What, When, Where, Why: Report from Vietnam by Walter Cronkite", "Chris Matthews invokes the 'if I've lost Cronkite' myth in NYT review", "The Grim Calculations of Retaking Fallujah", "Many U.S. [4]:20405 On 17 February the Vietnamese Marines and ARVN 3rd Regiment resumed their attacks south, while the Hac Bao Company was moved to support the right flank of the 1/5 Marines. During the Battle of Hue City, most of the civilians hid out in buildings, according to Christmas. Required fields are marked *. [4]:167 At 04:40 sappers captured the Huu Gate and the command group of the PAVN 6th Regiment entered the Citadel. 604 Hue 1968 Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images Images Images Creative Editorial Video Creative Editorial FILTERS CREATIVE EDITORIAL VIDEO 604 Hue 1968 Premium High Res Photos Browse 604 hue 1968 stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. A U.S. Army UH-1 Huey piloted by Chief Warrant Officer Frederick Ferguson landed in the compound and rescued the crew under fire. VIETNAM Hue is home to a plethora of intricate imperial structures, such as the Meridian Gate Matthew Pike Writer 26 October 2021 View From 1802 to 1945, Hue was the capital of Vietnam and home to the Nguyen dynasty. 3) Stroll Through the Imperial City. [9]:34749 On 9 February 5/7th Cavalry resumed their advance with artillery support from PK-17 and naval gunfire; they overran Lieu Coc finding PAVN bodies and fighting positions. 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. 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. [9]:52425, PAVN General Trn Vn Tr later wrote of the Tet Offensive, "We did not correctly evaluate the specific balance of forces between ourselves and the enemy [its objectives] were beyond our actual strengthin part an illusion based on our subjective desires. [34] In his analysis of the Battle of Fallujah, Jonathan F. Keiler, a military historian and former officer in the Judge Advocate General's Corps wrote:[36]. Like previous case studies focusing on Stalingrad and Mosul, the Battle of Hue also plays an outsized role in the way the US military conceptualizes urban warfare. 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. A small group of Army technicians manned a communications facility a few hundred meters to the east of the MACV Compound. Company B joined the assault and after six hours the Marines had secured the base of the gate and later the entire gate, at a cost of six Marines killed and 50 wounded and 20 PAVN killed. They may be right, that Hanoi's winter-spring offensive has been forced by the Communist realization that they could not win the longer war of attrition, and that the Communists hope that any success in the offensive will improve their position for eventual negotiations For it seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate. Those deemed guilty of the most serious "crimes" were speedily tried and executed. The ARVN 3rd Regiment launched a night attack along the southern wall of the Citadel. . With the city finally in sight, the three companies that made up the 804th Battalion headed off in different directions. 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. 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. For the board wargame based on this battle, see, The 1st Cavalry Division attacks PAVN supply lines, Last edited on 24 February 2023, at 12:50, Massacre perpetrated by Vietcong and the PAVN, dressed in ARVN uniforms killed the guards, Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support, Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam, Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War Developments in the war, News media and the Vietnam War Tet Offensive, 1968, November 2004 anti-insurgent Marine operation, United States Army Center of Military History, "The History Place Vietnam War 19651968", "Urban Operations: An Historical Casebook", "An Excerpt from the Viet Cong Strategy of Terror", "Pham Van Dong, Voice of Vietnam's Revolt, Dies at 94", "Vietnam War Medal of Honor Recipients (AL)", "Medal of Honor Monday: Army Sgt. At Thon La Chu a South Vietnamese official who was a VC agent had earlier used aid money to build a three-story concrete and steel bomb shelter for local villagers and the command group of the Hu City Front used this as its headquarters. Finally, a small detachment of U.S. Navy personnel was stationed at a boat ramp just north of the MACV Compound. The PME was planned in honor of the 50th anniversary of the battle and it also honored Vietnam Veterans Day, which is March 29. Christmas was leading Hotel Company into Hue City from the south. Because of enemy mortaring of the LCU ramp in southern Hu, the allies had stopped all river traffic to the city. RF soldiers opened fire and radioed a warning to Trng's headquarters. 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. PAVN forces blocked the 1st and 4th Battalions of the regiment, operating to the southeast, as they attempted to reinforce the units in Hu. The 806th Battalion, which was dug into a cemetery along Highway 1 near the western corner of the Citadel, dispatched a group of soldiers to capture the An Hoa Bridge, driving off the RF detachment guarding the bridge and opening a line of communication with the other PAVN-VC in the Citadel. During the months and years that followed, dozens of mass graves were discovered in and around Hu. On 10 February 1968, CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite visited southern Hu to film footage for a special report on the Vietnam War. The city of Hue was the capital of a unified Vietnam from 1802 until 1945. Unknown to Allied intelligence, the PAVN had recently shifted several more regiments and support units from Qung Tr Province to the vicinity of Hu. RM 2B00WAF - Vietnam: U.S. Marines advance past an M48 Patton tank during the battle for Hue, Tet Offensive, 1968. As LaHue later wrote: "Initial deployment of forces was made with limited information. Also on 28 January, the 810th Battalion, 4th Regiment and the 2nd Sapper Battalion began marching toward the city from locations along the coast east of Hu. Helicopter gunships and artillery and the pair of Dusters systematically leveled any structure that appeared to serve as a strong point. This and subsequent optimistic reports were soon contradicted by press reports as journalists made their way into the city and reported on the extent of PAVN-VC control and the bitter house-to-house fighting that was underway. 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. 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