However, less is known about America's involvement with the city during World War II. The General Uprising was the expectation that the oppressed South Vietnamese population would then spontaneously rise up and overthrow the Thiu-K government and that this would force the United States to withdraw in the face of the will of the people. God Bless these two Marines , who in the heat of battle, find the opportunity to escort this blind local girl to safety. [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. The Battle of Hue was one of the bloodiest and longest battles of the Vietnam War. Helicopter gunships and artillery and the pair of Dusters systematically leveled any structure that appeared to serve as a strong point. ), participated in the battle for Hu as a company commander and will present a first-hand account of the conflict. The government troops tried to fight their way through but lacked the strength or the firepower to do so. [8] Hu had great symbolism, having been the capital of Vietnam under the Nguyn dynasty from 1802 to 1945. . Ret.) The Army gunners and the Marine Ontos quickly responded. The Tet Offensive was a military campaign . Another mistake was that he didnt move his snipers around and the NVA found the snipers and fired many RPGs at them. 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 Jan. 31, 1968, communist forces had taken control of Hue, the third largest city in South Vietnam. [4]:177, On 2 February, the Marines made some minor headway and brought in further reinforcements. In one village, the troops dismounted and cleared the houses on either side of the main street before proceeding. They were to relieve a MACV Microwave/Tropo communications facility approximately 2.5km southeast of the MACV Compound surrounded by a VC force. Their objective was to capture the Mang Ca Garrison. Under cover of supporting fire the Marines secured part of the ridgeline, killing three PAVN for the loss of one Marine killed. Those not reporting voluntarily were hunted down. The Marines on the outskirts of the city were able to fend off the initial Tet Offensive attack and back the NVA up to the river, but within a few days the Marines were ordered to take back the entire city, which had become overrun by NVA. The Marines were now only 100 meters from the south wall of the Citadel. They advanced along parallel tracks, with the 5/7th Cavalry, following the course of Highway 1; the 2/501st Infantry, searching the central route; and the 2/12th Cavalry, sweeping the area to the south. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfMocPJZvfQ&t=40s. In some of the buildings today, the remnants of the fight remain; there are pock marks in some of the buildings exteriors that were hit with machine gun fire and M16 bullets. The U.S. Army 1st and 3rd Brigades, 1st Cavalry Division and the 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, operated out of a series of firebases and landing zones between Phu Bai and Qung Tr. [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. 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. The change is incredible, and yet you can still make out familiar sights. [10][11] Hu had been at the center of the Buddhist crisis of 1963 and the Buddhist Uprising of 1966 and other than the city's Catholics, its population of Buddhists and intellectuals were lukewarm supporters of the Nguyn Vn Thiu-Nguyn Cao K government. The cavalrymen fought their way into the PAVN-occupied hamlet and found beneath its shattered remains a honeycomb of tunnels and bunkers and spent the rest of the day searching the ruins for survivors and combing through the adjacent cemetery, where the 806th Battalion had ambushed the ARVN 7th Airborne Battalion on 31 January. Unplanned by the North Vietnamese, their greatest success was the shock and negative impact of the battle and the entire Tet Offensive on U.S. public opinion. This article is about the Vietnam War battle during the Tet Offensive. The Rangers swept the island as thousands of local residents came out of hiding and ran through their ranks to escape the battle. The Marines together with five M48s from the 1st Tank Battalion would later be loaded onto Mike boats at the LCU ramp in southern Hu and ferried across to Mang Ca. ", Those identified by the PAVN-VC were initially marched out of the city for "reeducation". Nguyen Hue is now a walking street, where thousands of people get together every night for selfies and snacks. Brigadier General Foster LaHue, the Task Force X-Ray commander, actually had very little reliable intelligence on the situation. 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. 1) Walk Through the Imperial Citadel (Kinh Thanh) 2) Visit the Forbidden Purple City. This book is the capstone volume of the entire series in that 1968, as the title indicates, was the defining year of the war. [9]:346 As the 5/7th Cavalry approached Que Chu the command and control helicopter was shot down by anti-aircraft fire, the crew was rescued by a dustoff helicopter. RF soldiers opened fire and radioed a warning to Trng's headquarters. [9]:490, At 09:30 on 22 February, Company A, 1/5 Marines led the day's attack to find that the PAVN had largely disappeared and the south wall was soon secured. Truck convoy enters gate of the camp. Research Library open Monday-Saturday, 10:00 am-5:00 pm, EMAIL: Info@VirginiaHistory.org The imperial city of Hue has for centuries played a significant role in Vietnam. Approximately 10.5 miles north of the city in Thua Thien Province, the ARVN 1st Airborne Task . [9]:269 The battalion consolidated its night defensive positions and waited to renew its attack the following day. The Modern War Institute does not screen articles to fit a particular editorial agenda, nor endorse or advocate material that is published. While originally designed to be two volumes, it was decided that unity and cohesion required one book. The Marines had inadvertently located the PAVN headquarters for the battle. 3) Stroll Through the Imperial City. [9]:370, On 11 February Company H, 2/5 Marines secured a bridge over the Phu Cam Canal (162725N 1073441E / 16.457N 107.578E / 16.457; 107.578) and the block on the opposite side of the canal. During the months and years that followed, dozens of mass graves were discovered in and around Hu. 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 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. 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. 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. On the 31st, two of its battalions, the 2nd and 3rd, advanced east from encampments southwest of the city along the northern bank of the Perfume River, but PAVN defensive fire forced them to fall back. 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. 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. Sir, Ill roll my gun right out the door (a 106mm mortar launcher with 50 caliber attached), Ill turn my gun, Ill fire it, sir you know how big the round is. 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. Hue became the imperial capital of a unified Vietnam for the first time in two centuries and retained this status until 1945. As he later remembered, the American M48s were too heavy for the bridge and the ARVN tankers "refused to go." 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. 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. Where emperors lived and died. 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. That evening Company B was replaced by Company L, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines. As they moved closer to La Chu, PAVN resistance increased and it was obvious that this was a major PAVN base. He led an armored column toward Hu, but like the other South Vietnamese units, found it impossible to break through. [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]: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. You know where those decisions come from? Of course, the U.S. Marines were proud of their achievement in retaking the territory of the city. Battalion and a heavy weapons company had some trouble crossing the canal outside the southeastern wall, but entered shortly thereafter. On 10 February 1968, CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite visited southern Hu to film footage for a special report on the Vietnam War. The initial assault was on the left flank by Company A, 1/1 Marines which was tasked with securing a Catholic chapel and the Jeanne d'Arc High School (162754N 1073528E / 16.465N 107.591E / 16.465; 107.591). Downs agreed that the emotional aspect of the fight is important and that he had his own way of dealing with the pain. Finally, a small detachment of U.S. Navy personnel was stationed at a boat ramp just north of the MACV Compound. 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. In a 539-page narrative, Bowden delivers a work of grand. 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. Both the Marine and the airmobile units operating near Hu were in a state of flux as the Tt holiday began. To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. But if you can do that you will make the right decision. Because of enemy mortaring of the LCU ramp in southern Hu, the allies had stopped all river traffic to the city. In spite of the beating they took in November, they will continue to assert they repelled the initial attack and fought well thereafter. The sweep continued until 25 February. The Terrible Toll. The next day Company F swept the west bank of the canal, fighting through houses and the Hu Railway Station that had been sheltering PAVN snipers, before withdrawing back across the bridge. delivered a Banner Lecture entitled The Battle of Hu City, South Vietnam, 1968.. The PAVN's Department of Warfare gives figures of 2,400 killed and 3,000 wounded from 30 January until 28 March. [9]:83, The ARVN and Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) were largely unprepared for the Tet Offensive. [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. [9]:268, The PAVN set up provisional authorities shortly after capturing Hu, charged with removing the existing Republic of Vietnam administration from power within the city and replacing it with a "revolutionary administration". Country Maps. This was an operational area that actually required two complete regiments to secure. The ARVN claimed to have killed 250 PAVN, captured five prisoners and recovered 71 individual and 25 crew-served weapons. The new combat headquarters, staffed by high-ranking officials from the Tr-Thin-Hu Front, local party members, and military officers from the units involved in the attack, had authority over the city and the three districts that surrounded it. Despite this they made little progress, as they had to withdraw when supporting fire was called in and the PAVN quickly reoccupied abandoned positions. The following pictures are real eye-openers for anyone who's been to Ho Chi Minh City recently. Why is that important? Everybody is a rifleman. Although the South Vietnamese 9th Airborne Battalion was caught up in the battle for Qung Tr, the 2nd and 7th Airborne Battalions were available at PK17. If you get emotional about it you wont.. See my book, "The Cat from Hue: a Vietnam War Story." [9]:470, Foreign civilians captured in the city received varying treatment. One of the aircraft returned safely; but the other, flying through dense fog, crashed into a mountain, losing all on board. During this fighting Company A, 1/1 Marines commander Captain Batchellor was wounded and Gunnery Sergeant John L. Canley assumed command of the Company. The 2/12th Cavalry withdrew to a night defensive perimeter, but at dawn on 3 February following a mortar barrage the PAVN attacked their position. At the end of January in 1968, the Viet Cong launched an offensive that turned the tide of the Vietnam War. Redding's experience in Hue began soon after the city fell. Greenway, a photographer embedded with the Marines . [3] A PAVN document captured by the ARVN stated that 1,042 troops had been killed in the city proper and that several times that number had been wounded. 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. On 15 February Company D led the renewed attack against the Dong Ba Gate with Company C defending its flank. 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. The lightly armored dusters did not provide as much armor as a tank, but they were effective. [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]. 10 PAVN/VC Battalions with 8,000 Communist soldiers. As one of the CBS News correspondents who covered the Battle of Hue in 1968, I see no contradiction between what Cronkite said about the battle while he was in Viet Nam and what he said in his acclaimed documentary on CBS News some weeks later. Some elements of the battalion had been delayed by South Vietnamese paramilitary troops while others had gotten lost. There are endless must-see historic sites, especially those that are UNESCO World Heritage designated. Vietnam War veterans and retired Marines Lt. Gen. George Ron Christmas and Brig. The 815th Battalion had been delayed because South Vietnamese paramilitaries had ambushed the battalion at a river crossing three kilometers south of the city. [15][9]:12728, The embattled Trng called in reinforcements ordering all four battalions of the 3rd Regiment in the countryside to return to the Citadel, he also instructed two armored units, the 3rd Troop, 7th Cavalry, stationed at PK17, and the tank-equipped 1st Troop, 7th Cavalry, at the Tam Thai camp southeast of new city to proceed to Mang Ca. Richmond,Virginia23220, Galleries, Store, & Caf daily 10:00 am-5:00 pm An allied aircraft spotted the units and reported their position. This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Marine Corps. Hue. By 22:15 that night, Tolson's command had agreed with III MAF on its designated area of operations in the Hu sector. [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. However, they were soon stopped by strong PAVN defenses; after two days the Vietnamese Marines had only advanced 400 meters. 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. All told, the PAVN-VC hit some 18 targets from bridges, CAP units, and company defensive positions. 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. . A company from the 2/5th Marines finally relieved the MACV communications facility that morning. [4]:18586 PAVN tactics were to hold the Marines close, negating the use of artillery and air support. The 150 ARVN at Ty Lc Airfield withdrew east through the city, avoiding PAVN forces and sneaked into the Mang Ca compound shortly after 07:00, just in time to help repulse another major assault from the 802nd Battalion. 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. 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. [12]:28, The Marine's Phu Bai Combat Base, 11 kilometers (6.8mi) south of Hu on Highway 1, included Task Force X-Ray, a brigade-size component of the 1st Marine Division built around the 1st and 5th Marine Regiments. He has served twenty-six years in the Canadian Armed Forces, which included operational tours to the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia-Herzegovina) and Afghanistan. Gravel launched a two-company assault supported by tanks towards the Provincial Headquarters and Thua Thien Prison, seven blocks west of the MACV Compound where the ARVN were believed to still be holding out. 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. Image credit: Staff Sergeant J. L. Harlan, US Marine Corps, The study neglects to mention the Cronkite apparently had a change of heart (of some kind) as he reported this 13 days earlier: Rather, the Modern War Institute provides a forum for professionals to share opinions and cultivate ideas. [12]:31, Premature Tet Offensive attacks at Nha Trang and Qui Nhn on the morning of 30 January led to the cancellation of the Tt ceasefire, but many ARVN soldiers were already away on leave, meaning that defenses in and around Hu were undermanned. [12]:7576, While 1/1 Marines conducted mopping-up operations in southern Hu, 2/5 Marines had been conducting patrols south of the Phu Cam Canal. Shortly after 04:30, a column of M41 tanks and M113 armored personnel carriers (APCs) left the compound and headed up Highway 1. Over the next month, they were gradually driven out during intense house-to-house fighting led by the Marines and ARVN. The PAVN/VC crossed the river without incident on the evening of 30 January, but the delay meant that only the 1st and 2nd Sapper Battalions and an 82mm mortar company would be in their forward positions when the offensive began. With the building secured the Marines then methodically cleared out the spider-holes, shooting their occupants. Hue vietnam 1968 Stock Photos and Images. To isolate the Hue fight and judge it in the context of the overall Viet Nam conflict is a mistake. The battalion returned to Camp Pendleton in 1971, and in 1975 participated in Operation New Arrival, the relocation of Southeast Asian Refugees. 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. [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]: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. The offensive was an attempt to foment rebellion among. One of the offensives chief targets was the city of Hue. [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. Owned and operated by the By dawn, our troops were still unable to advance". [4]:17173, Leaving Company A behind to secure the MACV Compound, Gravel took Company G, reinforced by the three M48 tanks from the 3rd Tank Battalion and a few ARVN M24 light tanks from the 7th Armored Cavalry Squadron, and attempted to cross the Trng Tin Bridge, the main bridge over the Perfume River. The last pocket of PAVN at the southwest corner of the Citadel was eliminated in an attack by the 4th Vietnamese Marine Battalion in the early hours of 25 February. We walked them down the streets until they were out of the line of fire. Anyone in violation of that can be charged with a war crime. The toughest fight of the day centered on a pagoda that contained a PAVN battalion headquarters. 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? attacked the compound from the east, but failed to penetrate the compound. [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. The two aircraft radioed that they were scrubbing the mission, then headed out to sea to jettison their bombs. One of my more memorable experiences during the monthlong battle for Hue City, February 1968, was when my assistant machine-gunner, Marcus, and I were ordered to stay behind on the enemy's side of . [9]:269, About 11:00, Company H, 2/5 Marines, crossed the An Cuu Bridge in an armed convoy. "[29][30] This account has been questioned in a book on journalistic accuracy. On August 20, 2009, Lt. Gen. G. R. (Ron) Christmas, USMC (Ret.) The PAVN strongly defended the perimeter, but once the Cavalry forces broke through with the support of two newly arrived M42 Dusters, they found that the base had been largely abandoned while the Cavalry had been building up their forces for the attack. [4]:174, North of the Perfume River, on 1 February, the ARVN 1st Division enjoyed some limited success. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not reflect the official position of the United States Military Academy, Department of the Army, or Department of Defense, or that of any organization with which the authors are affiliated, including the 1st Canadian Division Headquarters, the Canadian Armed Forces, and the Canadian Department of National Defence. Meanwhile, two kilometers to the northwest, the remainder of the 5/7th Cavalry, resumed its advance toward Thon An. With the promise of U.S. Marine reinforcements, Chi's column, with three tanks in the lead, tried once more. Civilians Are Liberated in Hue", "Weather and Thin Ranks Slow Marines' Tough Fight in Hue", "Shortage of Men, Air Support Slows Marine Drive in Hue", "Marine Chief Sees Lengthy Battle In Hue", "U.S. Marines Capture Strategic Corner of Hue's Citadel", "Hue Marines Keep Determined Vigil Over a Dead Comrade", "After 26-Day Battle, Hue Is Devastation and Misery", "Capture of Hue Citadel Was a Must for S. Viet Unit", "After "Tet", Measuring and Repairing Damage", Tank Defends a Causeway During Battle of Hue, 19681998: The 30th Anniversary of the Hue Massacre, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Hu&oldid=1141317207, 844 civilian deaths and 1,900 injuries due to the battle, 4,856 civilians and captured personnel executed by communists or missing, according to the South Vietnamese government, This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 12:50. Your email address will not be published. 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. [14]:105 On 13 February, Abrams established MACV Forward at Phu Bai, effectively replacing Cushman and assuming overall control of all U.S. forces in I Corps. Trng called back most of the Hac Bao Company from the airfield to bolster the headquarters' defenses, which kept division headquarters secure. [7]:49 Mark Bowden suggests that PAVN-VC anger at the lack of enthusiasm among the population of Hu may have fuelled the purges, particularly as defeat loomed closer. By this time, the PAVN-VC attackers had pulled back their forces from the immediate vicinity of the Compound. [4]:230, On 1 February, III Marine Amphibious Force (III MAF) Commander Lieutenant General Robert Cushman alerted the 1st Cavalry Division commander, Major General John J. Tolson, to be ready to deploy his 3rd Brigade into a sector west of Hu. Due to the Tt holidays, large numbers of ARVN forces were on leave and the city was poorly defended. Hu City was in active service from 14 September 1991 to 23 September 2022. 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. 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. 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. But, the city overall is beautiful. The outer stone wall is one meter thick, five meters high and is separated from the inner wall by dirt fill. Downs said that Hue City has been rebuilt since the battle; however, there are still reminders of the fight that occurred there. Retired Sgt. 23 February saw little progress, prompting a frustrated Abrams to suggest that the Vietnamese Marine Corps should be dissolved. The original series of articles which became "Black Hawk Down" earned him the Overseas Press Club's Hal . This time they crossed the An Cuu Bridge into the new city. 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. On the morning of 25 February 1968 Nguyen heard screaming coming from the far side of her village of Ha My - not far from the now-popular tourist town of Hoi An - and saw smoke filling the sky . While Downs was deciding how to approach this problem a young lance corporal and a private first class came up with an idea. Other advisers were in the countryside accompanying ARVN units. Operated by the United States Army Signal Corps 513th Signal Detachment, 337th Signal Company, 37th Signal Battalion, it was the main communications link for the Hu area, the DMZ and for the besieged Khe Sanh Combat Base. 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. During the next five years the battalion participated in combat operations in Hue city, Que Son, Phu Bai, Dong Ha and Phu Loc. We would progress in this way throughout the fight, said Downs. 4) Take in a Performance at the Royal Theatre. 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( Ron ) Christmas, USMC ( Ret. well thereafter in southern,. Rebellion among to be two volumes, it was decided that unity and cohesion required one.... Radioed that they were to relieve a MACV Microwave/Tropo communications facility approximately 2.5km southeast of ridgeline.