Page 370 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

olfice building was set a fire in the unwanted airstrike ca1led in by the
US Mike Force.
Continuing to rnove the Airborne Rangers then assaulted
the enerny positions in the sector cornpound and recaptured it around
1400h. They wiped out the entire enerny force except {or one diehard
who rnysteriously {1ed under the cover of darkness. Be{ore fleeing
he wounded several governrnent trooPs by sniping frorn a water tank
towering over the sector cornrnand cornpound. Troops returned {ire on
hirn earlier in the afternoon but rnissed.
At 4 orclock in the a{ternoonthe governrnent troops regai-
ned control of the entire Nha Trang city. Their ensuing actions were
only sweep operations against enerny rernnants hiding in civilian

hous es.
There was no fighting throughout the second day of Tet,
Jan 31, untll rnidnight. At this tirne the eneroy regrouped his forces
and staged desperate assault on the radio station and the Ngo Quyen
Carnp, which housed the Engineer Signal and Transportation units.
For the {irst tirne in the two-day-old Nha Trang battle
Arnerican gunships (arrned helicopters) entered the picture, providing
close air support {or the defenders. The {ighting resulted in over 100
enerny bodies left behind and rnany weaPons. Eleven defenders were
killed and 57 wounded,
On the night o{ 3lst, the enerny recaptured the Buddha
Statue Hill frorn the Airborne Rangers who had taken it the preceding
day. This tirne the airborne had to call in air support in order to
recapture this position. The rernnants of the enerny fled downhill and
faded into neighboring houses {rorl which they delivered cross fire on
the pursuing airborne trooPs. The latter took heavy casualties at this
stage o{ the battle. Airstrikes eventually wiped out the entire enerny

forc e -
Begining {rorn Feb lst and the days {ollowing, the local
corlrnand rnounted coordinateci s\1'eep oPerations against enerny renr-
nants sti1l hiding in residential areas. The sweep forces included
Vietnarnese and a1lied troops. The sweep itself was extended to the
suburbs and periphery of the city and as far out as the enerny's jungle

base of Dong Bo.
Enerny rernnants, for the rnost part were captured without
offering any resistance to the sweep forces' Many ofthose who srrrren-

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