Marine ingenuity was showcased in the battle to retake Hue City. The following pictures are real eye-openers for anyone who's been to Ho Chi Minh City recently. U.S. forces began their counterassault at daybreak on Feb. 15 as the Delta Company moved quietly through the maze-like alleyways and courtyards of the ancient Citadel. They tried again five days later, but once again, bad weather prevented them from locating Mang Ca. Ret.) Hue City Vietnam - Etsy Check out our hue city vietnam selection for the very best in unique or custom, handmade pieces from our shops. Finally, a small detachment of U.S. Navy personnel was stationed at a boat ramp just north of the MACV Compound. [12]:45 On 5 February Trng exchanged the Airborne with the 4th Battalion, which had become stalled. 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. After a few minutes, the RF soldiers stopped shooting, and some began to wonder whether they had seen enemy troops or had been firing at shadows. On 16 February two companies from the 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, fought elements of the 803rd Regiment, 324B Division, about 20 kilometers (12mi) northeast of Hu, killing 29 PAVN before they broke contact the following day. [9]:10607 The 802nd Everybody is a rifleman. Company H attacked a nearby hill meeting a stubborn defense, losing one dead and killing six PAVN. Owned and operated by the Approximately 10.5 miles north of the city in Thua Thien Province, the ARVN 1st Airborne Task . You know where those decisions come from? The General Offensive was to comprise conventional and guerilla military action aimed primarily at the "puppet" South Vietnamese military and government, attempting to destroy their legitimacy among the South Vietnamese population. [9]:470, Foreign civilians captured in the city received varying treatment. Comments will be moderated before posting to ensure logical, professional, and courteous application to article content. With the city finally in sight, the three companies that made up the 804th Battalion headed off in different directions. Urban Warfare Project Case Study #3: Battle of Hue, Special Operations Forces and Great Power Competition. On that first day, the two Marine companies in Hu had sustained casualties of 10 killed and 56 wounded. Gen. Michael Downs, who were then captains serving as commanding officers in Hue, recently spoke about their experiences in the Battle of Hue City to an eager group of staff-noncommissioned officers (SNCOs) during a Professional Military Education (PME) event held at Marine Corps University. [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. 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. One of the offensives chief targets was the city of Hue. Overnight the PAVN counterattacked and briefly regained control of the gate before being forced out by Company D.[4]:201, Also on 14 February the South Vietnamese Marine Task Force A joined the battle. [4]:177, On 2 February, the Marines made some minor headway and brought in further reinforcements. [4]:176, At about 15:00, the ARVN 1st Battalion, 3rd Regiment reached the 1st Division command post at the Mang Ca compound. At Ba Long, the battalion then embarked upon motorized junks and reached the Citadel the following day. [4]:176, On 20 January, the 1st Cavalry Division began moving from Landing Zone English in Bnh nh Province 350km north to Camp Evans as part of Operation Checkers. [9]:45, The North Vietnamese plan for the Tet Offensive was known as the "General Offensive-General Uprising". With the departure of Company F about 16:30, the PAVN-VC successfully disengaged and Companies H and E took up night defensive positions. 3) Stroll Through the Imperial City. What happened in Hue in February, 1968, may have been the biggest, longest battle of the war, but it did not represent a contradiction in Cronkite's conclusion that the United States was stuck in a stalemateboth military and politicalin the long, deadly Viet Nam War. Vietnam War veterans and retired Marines Lt. Gen. George Ron Christmas and Brig. Since Vietnam was expected to be a jungle fight, Marines who fought in Hue had only one hour of training in urban combat. . [People would say] that weapon isnt for use in an urban environment. On the 7th the 3rd Regiment, which had been futilely trying to break into the southeast corner of the Citadel, was moved by Mike boats to Mang Ca to reinforce his units inside the Citadel. Another mistake was that he didnt move his snipers around and the NVA found the snipers and fired many RPGs at them. Why is that important? Three of these regiments were believed to be involved in the siege of Khe Sanh. Advancing with tank and air support they completed the mission meeting little resistance. If military forces find themselves in a future battle like Hue, how can it be fought more effectively, more quickly, and with less damage to the city and its people? Hue was a city of cultural influence, religious importance, and architectural significance and as a result was deeply revered by generations of the Vietnamese people. 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. On 27 February the entire battalion attacked the hill but the PAVN had withdrawn during the night, leaving behind 14 dead. Nguyen Hue is now a walking street, where thousands of people get together every night for selfies and snacks. But, also like Stalingrad and Mosul, Hue was also a fundamentally unique battle in certain key ways, and the case study sheds light on the unique lessons that can be derived from it. Throughout the afternoon of January 30, 1968, the last day of the Vietnamese Year of the Monkey had seen crowds of people flocking to the Imperial City of Hue for the festivities. 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 Vietnamese holiday. 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. [9]:28086 After securing the Jeanne d'Arc High School, Company A, 1/1 Marines recaptured the Le Loi Elementary School. 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. This is called lance corporal ingenuity and Pfc. [9]:268, Back at Phu Bai, Cheatham was reviewing Marine urban fighting doctrine which recommended staying off the streets and moving forward by blasting through walls and buildings. [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. [4]:167 At 04:40 sappers captured the Huu Gate and the command group of the PAVN 6th Regiment entered the Citadel. [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. The enemy usually pulls them all together and tries to build a buffer, said Christmas. The Marines secured the chapel and the east school building, but were pinned down for hours by interlocking fire from the west building. There were also many obstacles to navigate including moats and walls. As the Marines approached the base at 07:00 they were met by PAVN mortar and machine-gun fire; artillery fire was called in on the PAVN positions and the Marines entered the base at 08:50. [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. 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. [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. Marine. ARVN troops in the Citadel fired flares over the village to help the RF troops there assess the situation. The attack resumed the following morning and the ridge was secured with 20 PAVN and two Marines killed. The Marines did not progress further than one block before their advance was halted by troops from the PAVN 815th Battalion and after three hours of room to room fighting, the Marines captured the Hu University building at the base of the Trng Tin Bridge two blocks northwest of the MACV Compound, so reducing enemy fire towards the LCU ramp. While the Marines seized the surrounding wall easily, the area between the wall and the building was covered by fire from every window and from spider-holes in the grounds. About 2 kilometers (1.2mi) to its southwest was the 101st Engineering Company compound (162613N 1073455E / 16.437N 107.582E / 16.437; 107.582). Those not reporting voluntarily were hunted down. The battle started on Jan. 30, 1968 and didnt end until March 3, 1968. The cultural and historical capital city, Hue was the centerpiece of Hanoi's 1968 Tet Offensive, a surprise attack by the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong that sought to win the war in one stroke . Later that day, U.S. Marine helicopters from HMM-165 brought part of the ARVN 4th Battalion, 2nd Regiment from ng H Combat Base into the Citadel. 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. Cntr. [34][35] Both battles were fought in close quarters in an urban setting where the enemy ensconced itself in the midst of civilians. [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. (p. 192) Fur-ther, the National Security Agency had detected an unusually large number of messages among Com-munist units between 17 and 25 January 1968, The Cavalry had finally captured the PAVN's main support base, but were still 8km from the Citadel. Beginning in February 1968, in the South Vietnamese city of Hue, 11 battalions of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), two U.S. Army battalions, and three U.S. Marine Corps battalions, for a total of 16 battalions, defeated 10 battalions of the People's Army of Vietnam and the Viet Cong. [4]:16, The headquarters of ARVN Brigadier General Ng Quang Trng's 1st Division was located in the Mang Ca Garrison, a minifortress in the northeast corner of the Citadel. The U.S. Navy Ticonderoga class-guided-missile cruiser USSHu City, commissioned in 1991, is named after the battle. The enemy was 35 meters away and we were launching RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) at each other, said Christmas. This time they crossed the An Cuu Bridge into the new city. ), participated in the battle for Hu as a company commander and will present a first-hand account of the conflict. The ARVN claimed to have killed 250 PAVN, captured five prisoners and recovered 71 individual and 25 crew-served weapons. Unknown to Allied intelligence, the PAVN had recently shifted several more regiments and support units from Qung Tr Province to the vicinity of Hu. Photo of me in Hue City. If you get emotional about it you wont.. [4]:177 As the convoy, accompanied by Army trucks equipped with quad .50 machine guns and two M50 Ontos, entered the city, enemy snipers opened up on the Marine reinforcements. Meanwhile, several kilometers to the south, the 2/12th Cavalry, made contact with another PAVN force just before noon. In one instance, Downs says there was a machine gun directly down a street that his Marines needed to cross to advance their attack. Battle of Hue During the TeT Offensive - Vietnam 1968. The deteriorating weather forced the squadron to cancel the remaining lifts with about half of the battalion in the Citadel. More than half the company's 147 men had been wounded or killed in that day's fighting. Despite this they made little progress, as they had to withdraw when supporting fire was called in and the PAVN quickly reoccupied abandoned positions. [4]:199 On 14 February the Marines resumed their attack supported by Marine and Navy gun fire and Marine close air support. PAVN soldiers also fired 130 82mm mortar rounds into the Mang Ca Compound the opening minutes of the battle. Throughout the entire battle, the U.S. command consistently underestimated the size of the PAVN-VC forces engaged and the Allied forces necessary to deal with them. Redding's experience in Hue began soon after the city fell. Company D was also engaged by PAVN in the village of Lieu Coc and forced to withdraw. However, less is known about America's involvement with the city during World War II. [4]:20708 Unknown to the ARVN and the U.S., on the night of 20 February the PAVN had begun a phased withdrawal from the Citadel, leaving through the Huu and Nha Do (162750N 1073430E / 16.464N 107.575E / 16.464; 107.575) Gates and making their way southwest to return to their bases in the hills. Only two buildings in the city were held by Marines. [4]:171, While the fighting continued in the Truoi River and the Ph Lc sectors, the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines had begun to move into Hu. [4]:216 It was estimated that it would have taken at least 16 battalions to establish an effective cordon around Hu, at this time there were only 30 battalions available in all of I Corps. General Christmas is president and CEO of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation. [12]:3132, On the afternoon of 30 January Trng dispatched a Hac Bao platoon and an Australian Army adviser to scout the north bank of the Perfume River which provided the simplest route from Base Area 114 into the city. RF soldiers opened fire and radioed a warning to Trng's headquarters. USS Hu City (CG-66) is a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser serving in the United States Navy.She was ordered 16 April 1987, and laid down 20 February 1989, at Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi. The ARVN 3rd Regiment launched a night attack along the southern wall of the Citadel. Its not just the round but all the debris that comes off of it. [9]:5960 While some senior PAVN leaders were skeptical about the plan, believing that the population was unlikely to rise up and that they could only hold out against the ARVN and U.S. forces for a few days before they would be forced to withdraw, they followed their orders. A short time later, their transmissions went dead and they were never heard from again. The Battle of Hue City, Vietnam has come to be regarded as one of the most infamous urban battles in Marine Corps history. Hue city 1968 Vietnam History Vietnam War Photos North Vietnam Vietnam Veterans American War American History Bergen Hue Us Marines A dead US Marines carried by commrades at Battle of Hue. After the launch of the Tet Offensive campaign on January 30, 1968, in South Vietnam, a series of battles were fought between the southern Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and the Northern People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN). The South Vietnamese armor pulled back. 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. Afterward, massive reconstruction and rehabilitation had been undertaken to restore the precious historic relics in the ancient capital. You have to deal with it. The change is incredible, and yet you can still make out familiar sights. As the PAVN-VC area of control within Hu shrank, the pace of executions increased to prevent the "enemies of the people" being freed by ARVN or U.S. forces or identifying the VC who had revealed themselves. screened on 27 February 1968, Cronkite closed the report with the editorial comments: We have been too often disappointed by the optimism of the American leaders, both in Vietnam and Washington, to have faith any longer in the silver linings they find in the darkest clouds. The cost had been heavy: the ARVN suffered 131 casualties including 40 dead, and lost four of the 12 armored personnel carriers in the convoy. No later than February 13, 1968, 1/5 Alpha Co, will rendezvous with 1st ARVN Division at the Northeast of the Citadel to clear Hue City in order to gain control of the city, removing all enemy fighters. [12]:3839, In the early morning a U.S. Army helicopter was shot down over the city; the crew sought refuge with a group of ARVN in a small compound. [31][32], Militarily, Hu and the entire Tet Offensive were Allied victories. In the early morning of 31 January, after the rocket bombardment of the airfield and the initial attack on the Truoi River Bridge, Task Force X-Ray received reports of strikes all along Highway 1 between the Hi Vn Pass and Hu. Later that night a radio message from the commander of PAVN forces in the Citadel was intercepted, he stated that his predecessor had been killed and requested permission to withdraw from the city, but this was denied and he was told to stand and fight. Coming upon the central police headquarters in southern Hu, the tanks attempted to relieve the police defenders, but a B-40 rocket made a direct hit on Chi's tank, killing him instantly. Also new to Tha Thin Province was the 5th Regiment, a three-battalion unit that normally operated from Base Area 101 near Qung Tr. The 6th Battalion, 24th Regiment, 304th Division, originally located near Khe Sanh, reached the Citadel after following a route that took it through Base Area 101, Base Area 114 and Thon La Chu and the 7th Battalion, 90th Regiment, 324B Division, was due to arrive a few days later after a forced march from the DMZ. [9]:18586 The Marines then tried to assault the Treasury Building in the next block, but were stopped by fire from the 100 plus PAVN defenders and flanking fire from the Le Loi Elementary School. Artillery and naval gunfire was called in and a later radio intercept indicated that a senior PAVN officer had been killed in the barrage. A VC company armed with 82mm mortars and 57mm recoilless rifles veered north and took up a position near PK17 outpost to shell the ARVN airborne and armored units stationed there once the offensive began. [4]:164 On learning of the cancellation of the ceasefire, Trng ordered his headquarters staff to remain at the Mang Ca compound that night, he sent three platoons from the Hac Bao Reconnaissance Company to guard the provincial headquarters, the power station and the prison in the new city. Anyone in violation of that can be charged with a war crime. 2 kilometers (1.2mi) to the northwest, an engineer unit moved within sight of its target, the An Lo Bridge that spanned the Bo River, as it did, the 806th Battalion, one company from the 800th Battalion and a sapper platoon of forty men, all from the 6th Regiment, quietly occupied a forward staging area in a graveyard 2 kilometers (1.2mi) northwest of the Citadel. Unknown to the Marines, the ARVN Airborne had withdrawn from the area two days previously when the Vietnamese Marines began to arrive at Mang Ca and the PAVN defenders had used this opportunity to reoccupy several blocks and reinforce their defenses, Company A was engaged by the PAVN and quickly suffered 35 casualties. While the helicopters and men of the Division were soon in position, most of their heavy and support equipment was loaded on trucks that would have to proceed by convoy up Highway 1. At the end of January in 1968, the Viet Cong launched an offensive that turned the tide of the Vietnam War. The second company from the 804th Battalion seized the An Cuu Bridge while the third company stormed a smaller bridge over the canal a short distance to the west. Each building on the fighting lines was defended by snipers and machine guns, while spider holes were dug in gardens and streets, creating cross-fire between all buildings and streets. The PAVN-VC could not afford to engage in a firefight at this point, and they succeeded in sneaking away without raising further alarms. Bowden has also written for Talk, Men's Journal, Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone and Playboy, among others. [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. With darkness approaching the attack was postponed until the next morning. Firing at long range, they missed their target and made no further effort to take the position. [9]:525 Estimates of Vietnamese civilians killed by the PAVN-VC at Hu range from 2,800 (based on bodies exhumed from mass graves) to almost 6,000. Hue's refined cuisine is the stuff of legend, and its leafy streets are lined with mossy pagodas, art dco mansions . While originally designed to be two volumes, it was decided that unity and cohesion required one book. 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. The Marines ordered into the city were at a disadvantage as there was no air support available to them for the first to 10 days. 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. However at 10:30, 31 January Company G was ordered to Phu Bai as the Task Force reserve and Company F was removed from Hughes' operational control later that afternoon. 2/5 Marines killed 18 PAVN or VC and captured one, at a cost of three Marines killed and 13 wounded. (Eddie Adams/AP) 10 PAVN/VC Battalions with 8,000 Communist soldiers. MACV's focus was on the Battle of Khe Sanh, where a PAVN assault was believed to be imminent. In the early morning hours of 1 February the PAVN withdrew and at midday a Hac Bao unit led the Airborne force into Mang Ca. 1st Marine Regiment commander Colonel Stanley S. Hughes, ordered Captain George R. Christmas, commander of Company H, 2nd Battalion 5th Marines to relieve the CAP unit and Company H engaged the PAVN-VC as they withdrew from the CAP position. [9]:18586 Initially forces were identified as coming from the PAVN 4th, 5th and 6th Regiments. 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. It comes from the non- commissioned officers.. Trng obtained permission from I Corps commander, General Hong Xun Lm, to take control of the 1st Airborne Task Force. In the end, although the Allies declared a military victory, the city of Hu was virtually destroyed, and more than 5,000 civilians were killed, including more than 2,000 of them executed by the PAVN and VC. Everybody will fight. ", Those identified by the PAVN-VC were initially marched out of the city for "reeducation". This summer's almost certain standoff will either end in real give-and-take negotiations or terrible escalation; and for every means we have to escalate, the enemy can match us, and that applies to invasion of the North, the use of nuclear weapons, or the mere commitment of one hundred, or two hundred, or three hundred thousand more American troops to the battle Around that time, the 802nd Battalion from the 6th Regiment, the remainder of the 800th Battalion, the 12th Sapper Battalion, and several heavy weapons companies marched down from the mountains to a spot on the Perfume River several kilometers west of Hu before turning toward the Citadel. [4]:20810, To the west, the South Vietnamese forces continued to meet stubborn resistance. The Army gunners and the Marine Ontos quickly responded. Loyde Yates, Hue City, Feb 1968. We take care of civilians, added Downs. [4]:191 The PAVN forces in the new city, worn down by more than a week of incessant combat and effectively cut off from their comrades on the other side of the river, began to slowly abandon the city, the 815th and 2nd Sapper Battalions moved to the southern side of the Phu Cam Canal, where the 818th Battalion was already in place. Entering the building the Marines fought room by room, clearing the building, but many of the PAVN slipped away. It is an enlisted mans war in many respects. [13]:43[14]:29. The lead elements of the southern wing, the 1st Sapper Battalion and part of the 804th Battalion, arrived two hours ahead of schedule, which meant that they reached the crossing well before the sun had set. [16] While a new supply port was being constructed on the coast, the Division relied on the Marine supply base at Tn M and supply convoys along Highway 1 from Da Nang. 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