An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir July/August 2016 www.dfmagazine.ie 32 | Huê, Vietnam's Bloodiest Battle by PAUL O'BRIEN MA T he Vietnam War is often pictured as a jungle conflict, punctuated by US troops fighting in rural, hut-filled villages. but in the 1968 tet offensive the war spilled out of the jungle onto the streets of Huê city. On the night of January 30th 1968, thousands of North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops, supported by Viet Cong (VC), moved silently from their staging areas towards Huê. For centuries this former imperial capital had been spared the terrible effects of war but on the eve of Tet (the lunar New Year and Vietnam's most important national holiday) this was to change. Though the holiday had been marked by a mutual ceasefire in previous years, in 1968 all of South Vietnam was targeted by the NVA and VC in a massive military and political offensive. Huê was targeted not only for its cultural importance but also because Highway 1, a vital supply route, passed through the ancient walled city, linking the US base at Dà Năng to the Demilitarised Zone. The road also provided access to the Perfume River, which ran through Huê, bisecting the city. At 0340hrs, NVA rocket and mortar fire lit up the night sky in and around Huê, initially directed towards the American Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) compound located in the southern sector of the city. In the north of the city an NVA sapper team overwhelmed Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) guards at the Chanh Tay Gate, enabling an NVA battalion to storm the city and seize a number of objectives. They also launched an attack against General Ngo Quang Truong's ARVN HQ. This was re- pulsed by the ad-hoc garrison of clerks, office staff, cooks and motor pool attendants before the general reinforced his HQ with soldiers that had been deployed to secure the nearby airfield. Both of these positions were to get more reinforce- ments from the 2nd ARVN Airborne, which managed to penetrate the city the next day. With Highway 1 under attack, it was difficult to reinforce the US MAVC garrison. The road and city were shrouded in fog, making air support impossible, so a US convoy was as- sembled to drive into the city. Capt Gordon Batcheller's Alpha Company pushed through, suffering heavy casualties but managing to eventually link up with the MACV, bringing the number there to 1,100. Soon, Communist forces had seized most of the city and by February 1st they began to consolidate and dig in. US Marines from the MACV compound who pushed out towards the prison to relieve ARVN positions encountered fierce resistance; the urban combat differing greatly to their pre-deployment jungle training. The Marines drew automatic and RPG fire from several directions and engaged pockets of NVA and VC in running gun battles. An attempt to cross the Nguyen Bridge to the Thuong Tu Gate was abandoned after the Marines received heavy fire from AK47s, heavy automatic weapons, rockets and mortars, from the walls of the Citadel. Huê was revered throughout the world for its cultural and religious history, and housed many protected structures. The US troops' rules of engagement were designed to protect the Citadel's structures, which meant that they could not employ artillery or air power, which greatly restricted their opera- tional capabilities at the outset. However, the South Viet- namese president, Nguyen Van Thieu, later authorised allied forces to use whatever weapons were deemed necessary to dislodge the enemy from the Citadel. By February 5th the north of the city was under NVA con- trol, except for an enclave held by the ARVN, and the Marines in the south of the city were battling the NVA at close quar- ters. Reduced to fighting building by building, room by room, the Marines, who were using M79 grenade launchers against VC sniper teams, suffered heavy casualties. The NVA, who had dug in at a number of locations throughout the city, had also established a position within the hospital complex. However, after 48 hours of intense fighting this position was destroyed by Marines using recoil- less rifles.

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