Remember, an urban fight is a casualty producing fight. 1/7th Cavalry then dug in to night defensive positions. Etsy Search for items or shops Close search Skip to Content Sign in 0 Cart Holiday Sales Event Jewelry & Accessories Clothing & Shoes A special thanks to Modern War Institute intern Harshana Ghoorhoo, whose initial research and framework of this and following case studies set the conditions for success. As he later remembered, the American M48s were too heavy for the bridge and the ARVN tankers "refused to go." The 804th Battalion of the newly created 4th Regiment was reported to be near Ph Lc District, 30 kilometers (19mi) southeast of the city. The two generals not only told the SNCOs about the difficult fight, but also told them about the lessons learned that can be beneficial to Marines today. Those not reporting voluntarily were hunted down. The Day Things Fell apart in Hue City, February 1968 - with Hotel/2/5, 1st Marine Div. To isolate the Hue fight and judge it in the context of the overall Viet Nam conflict is a mistake. 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? The enemy was so close to us that when the round went up, it went up so high that we thought it was going to come down right on top of us.. The 4th Battalion ran into a blocking force from the 2nd Sapper Battalion and a company from the 810th Battalion. 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. Research Library open Monday-Saturday, 10:00 am-5:00 pm, EMAIL: Info@VirginiaHistory.org But in the 1968 Tet Offensive, the war spilled out of the jungle into the streets of Hue City. [12]:3436, At 04:00 the PAVN reached the Ty Lc Airfield, where 50 men of the Hac Bao reconnaissance company, reinforced by the 1st Division's 1st Ordnance Company, stopped the PAVN 800th Battalion. These North Vietnamese regulars had arrived to invade the provincial capital city of 140,000 as part of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and Viet Cong's (VC . John Spencer is chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute, codirector of MWIs Urban Warfare Project, and host of the Urban Warfare Project Podcast. In one village, the troops dismounted and cleared the houses on either side of the main street before proceeding. This is also where the Marine needs to use their ingenuity. 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. [12]:34, At 03:40, ten minutes behind schedule, elements of the PAVN 164th Artillery Regiment fired a barrage of 122mm rockets into the new city from firing positions in the southwestern hills. While the Marines encountered few PAVN in their sweeps they located various abandoned infrastructure that had been used to support the battle, including a 3km trench system with over 600 fighting holes. The 1st Battalion encountered the 810th Battalion which had been deployed to block the eastern approaches to the new city, running low on ammunition Captain Phan Ngoc Luong, the commander of the 1st Battalion, retreated with his unit to the coastal Ba Long outpost, arriving there with only three eight-round clips per man for their World War II vintage M1 Garand rifles. Only two buildings in the city were held by Marines. 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. [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. All he knew was that Trng's headquarters had been under attack, as was the MACV Compound. Within Hu, approximately 100 U.S. Army advisers and administrative personnel, as well as a few Marine guards, were headquartered in the new city in the lightly defended MACV Compound (162758N 1073531E / 16.466N 107.592E / 16.466; 107.592) a block and a half south of the Perfume River on the east side of Highway 1. The convoy was then turned around and sent towards Hu. They turned left and immediately came under automatic weapons and recoilless rifle fire from the Citadel wall. Redding's experience in Hue began soon after the city fell. Christmas says theres not a day that goes by that he doesnt think about two mistakes he made during the Battle for Hue City. 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. 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 . Meanwhile, two kilometers to the northwest, the remainder of the 5/7th Cavalry, resumed its advance toward Thon An. [4]:20810, To the west, the South Vietnamese forces continued to meet stubborn resistance. The Treasury building was hit by M-48 and 106mm fire and tear gas, while a M274 Mule-mounted 106mm recoilless rifle engaged the machine gun in the Le Loi Elementary School. The fighting that kicked off with the initial attack would last until early March, taking a heavy toll on both sides of combatants, noncombatant residents, and the city itself. This article is about the Vietnam War battle during the Tet Offensive. This can be a tricky situation for any Marine trying to save civilian lives while in the process of a firefight. A small group of Army technicians manned a communications facility a few hundred meters to the east of the MACV Compound. It was mid-February 1968, and American and South Vietnamese forces were. Hue is a city in central Vietnam, which most Americans may know from the 1968 Battle of Hue, one of the longest and bloodiest battles in the Vietnam War. [9]:49698 Over the coming months U.S. public opinion turned decisively against the war. 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 . [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. [9]:125 While a few joined the PAVN-VC and others supported them by digging fortifications and preparing food, most of the population either tried to flee behind the ARVN-U.S. lines or took shelter in their homes or in churches and pagodas, which they hoped would be safe. [4]:211 The three-day operation netted hundreds of VC cadre, many of whom were university students who, according to local residents, had played a key role in rounding up government officials and intellectuals the PAVN/VC regarded as threats to their new regime. 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. In this Feb. 1968 photo, a unit of the 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment U.S. Marines, rests alongside a battered wall of Hue's imperial palace after a battle for the Citadel during the Tet Offensive. [9]:35152, On 16 February deputy COMUSMACV General Creighton Abrams flew into PK-17 for a meeting with Tolson where Abrams expressed his displeasure at the Cavalry's slow progress. Shortly after the column crossed over the An Cuu Bridge over the Phu Cam Canal (1630N 10736E / 16.5N 107.6E / 16.5; 107.6), however, soldiers from the 1st Sapper Battalion and the 818th Battalion, hiding in and around buildings near the road, opened fire at close range with rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine guns and at least four 75mm recoilless rifles. [9]:470, Foreign civilians captured in the city received varying treatment. [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. 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. [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. As LaHue later wrote: "Initial deployment of forces was made with limited information. This is where their training to fight in any clime and place, and adapting to and overcoming situations proved essential. This pictorial is a testament to their will and their sacrifice. But, both generals agreed that you learn from those mistakes and you have to live with them. During the night, the battalion called helicopter into the landing zone to take out the most badly wounded. 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). 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. [9]:331, On 6 February the Marines attacked the Provincial Headquarters which served as the command post of the PAVN 4th Regiment. [4]:174, North of the Perfume River, on 1 February, the ARVN 1st Division enjoyed some limited success. A 40-man assault team that was tasked with attacking Mang Ca through a sewer found the entrance blocked and moved around to assault the Huu Gate (162758N 1073405E / 16.466N 107.568E / 16.466; 107.568) at the southwest corner of the Citadel; they were engaged by an ARVN machine gun and lost 24 men before seizing their objective. [4]:177, On 2 February, the Marines made some minor headway and brought in further reinforcements. Attacking in a southeasterly direction, the two battalions would then attempt to close the PAVN-VC supply line into Hu. The PAVN's Department of Warfare gives figures of 2,400 killed and 3,000 wounded from 30 January until 28 March. [8]:70, ARVN losses were 452 killed and 2,123 wounded, while U.S. losses were 216 killed and 1,584 wounded. One had to do with machine guns, which he didnt elaborate on. The attack resumed the following morning and the ridge was secured with 20 PAVN and two Marines killed. Since Vietnam was expected to be a jungle fight, Marines who fought in Hue had only one hour of training in urban combat. Loyde Yates, Hue City, Feb 1968. Inguyen Anh, whose regal name was Gia Long, founded the new citadel of Hue in 1802. In the resulting confusion, the convoy exchanged fire with a Marine unit already in the city. Hue's university has for centuries played an important role in Vietnam. The year 1968 was the year of the Tet Offensive including Khe Sanh and Hue City. Comments will be moderated before posting to ensure logical, professional, and courteous application to article content. MA Candidate, Liberty University (Dept of History) As part of his internship with the Marine Corps History Division These included ARVN soldiers, civil servants, political party members, local religious leaders, schoolteachers, American civilians and other expatriates. 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. 1) Walk Through the Imperial Citadel (Kinh Thanh) 2) Visit the Forbidden Purple City. 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. During Tet, the lunar New Year holiday, the North Vietnamese and their Viet Cong allies staged attacks across South Vietnam, none more dramatic than the assault on Hu, the old imperial capital. U.S. 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division base camp operations in Phu Bai near Hue, Vietnam. [4]:195 On 11 February the Vietnamese Marines Task Force A comprising the 1st and 5th Battalions, began to be lifted by helicopter into Mang Ca to replace the Airborne, however due to poor weather this deployment would not be completed until 13 February. "[29][30] This account has been questioned in a book on journalistic accuracy. [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. . [4]:171, Up to this point the fighting for Hu had been entirely a South Vietnamese affair. . [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. 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. By the beginning of the North Vietnamese Tet Offensive on 30 January 1968, which coincided with the Vietnamese Tt Lunar New Year, large conventional American forces had been committed to combat operations on Vietnamese soil for almost three years. 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. I live with that to this day, Christmas said. The Kings of the Nguyen Dynasty built their feudal capital along Hue's fertile riverbanks and atop its forested hills, but their imperial legacy is just one of many reasons to visit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfMocPJZvfQ&t=40s. [17] On reaching the ARVN base, the 2/12th Cavalry dug in there for the next 4 days. [28][9]:50405, After watching Cronkite's editorial report, President Lyndon Johnson is purported to have said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America. The Army gunners and the Marine Ontos quickly responded. [4]:204, Despite their reducing hold on the city the PAVN seemed determined to prolong the battle for the Citadel. [9]:32022 The PAVN-VC no longer tenaciously defended each building, relying more on sniper fire, mortars and rockets. The Allies did not send ground forces to investigate the incident, and no evidence exists that it generated much concern in any of the allied headquarters. Due to Hu's religious and cultural status, Allied forces were ordered not to bomb or shell the city, for fear of destroying the historic structures. Hue vietnam 1968 Stock Photos and Images. In mid-morning the 5/7th Cavalry, came under heavy fire from an estimated company-size force who occupied the hamlet of Thon An, approximately one kilometer from the An Hoa Bridge. In preparation for this, MACV was in the middle of Operation Checkers: moving the 1st Marine Division to Qung Tr Province in order to support Khe Sanh and defeat any other PAVN attack across the DMZ. Although one battle account stated that the South Vietnamese "offered no strong resistance", the PAVN report acknowledged "the heavy enemy ARVN fire enveloped the entire airfield. A forward fighting line was maintained directly opposite the Marines with a secondary line two blocks back. 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. The 1st Cavalry Division was in the midst of relocating from Bnh nh Province in II Corps to Qung Tr and Tha Thin Provinces in I Corps. Quantico Marines enrolled in Marine Corps University have also toured the city to learn from the history of the battle, a common way for Marines to learn leadership and learn from the Marines who came before them. The year 1968 marked a crucial turning point in the Vietnam War. Lying on a plain backed by foothills of the Annamese Cordillera (Chane Annamitique) and situated 5 miles (8 km) from the South China Sea coast, Hue is traversed by the broad, shallow Huong River (Hue River, or Perfume River ). Additional battalions were later identified as coming from the 29th Regiment of the 325C Division, the 90th and 803rd Regiments of the 324B Division and the 24th Regiment of the 304th Division. Hue City - MCA HIGH INTENSITY URBAN FIGHTING IN THE MIDST OF A JUNGLE GUERRILLA WAR. Also, since it was still monsoon season with heavy rain and low clouds on many days during the battle, it was virtually impossible for the U.S. forces to use air support. By dawn, our troops were still unable to advance". Although the PAVN battalion penetrated the division compound, an ad hoc 200-man defensive force of staff officers and clerks staved off the assaults. In another part of the city, where Downs company was flown in by helicopter, he was leading his men from building to building but had to use ingenuity and tear gas to do so. [4]:192 The ARVN 2nd Troop, 7th Cavalry, equipped with fifteen M113s arrived at Mang Ca from Qung Tr to relieve the 3rd Troop. By 22:15 that night, Tolson's command had agreed with III MAF on its designated area of operations in the Hu sector. After failing to take Mang Ca and the MACV Compound in their initial assaults, the PAVN-VC did not attempt to seize them again, instead keeping them under fire and generally adopting a defensive posture, this tactical mistake allowed the ARVN and U.S. to bring in the reinforcements that would eventually clear the city. Lessons Learned, Charlie 1/5, Operation Hue City, 31 January 1968 to 5 March 1968 To the uninitiated in Rules of Engagement, they're a set of rules established by high command that dictate what weapons and tactics may be used. 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