When hundreds of thousands of Communist soldiers poured into South Vietnam with overwhelming force
on January 30, 1968, the few men that survived the onslaught gathered inside the
MACV-SOG compound south of the Perfume River. Every village, town, and base was violently
attacked, and the American and ARVN forces were caught entirely off guard. Soon, the city of
Huế was overrun, and most of its defenders and thousands of civilians lost their lives.
The remaining commandos bravely held their position inside the compound, but their luck
was quickly running out. However, several units of fearless Marines suddenly arrived to help.
With the clock ticking, the Marines engaged the enemy in brutal house-to-house combat that
turned Huế into one of the bloodiest and largest battles of the war, becoming the first time since
the capture of Seoul during the Korean War that the Marines engaged an enemy in urban combat…
The City of Huế
Direct American military intervention in Vietnam began in 1965 after the Gulf of Tonkin incident
the year before. However, after the first successful engagements with the North Vietnamese
Army, it became clear that the situation was more complicated than initially thought.
Besides the corruption and weakness of the Army Republic of Vietnam or ARVN,
the population had to be convinced that a full-blown war was the only way to survive.
Vietnam’s orography also complicated matters, as it was filled with hills,
mountains, and valleys that made it difficult for air support to assist American ground units.
Additionally, the vast jungle landscapes, rivers, and humid climate were silent enemies that often
favored the Communist Vietnamese, which knew the terrain well and exploited it to the fullest.
Tactically speaking, the American and ARVN forces excelled in obliterating the enemy in combat.
However, the Viet Cong guerrilla and its sympathizers were everywhere,
and when villages were cleared from the enemy, they would rise again only days later.
By 1966, CIA and Special Forces operators began to speculate that something big was
cooking up behind enemy lines, as tens of thousands of supplies and North Vietnamese
soldiers were concentrating at the border, and it looked like a large-scale offensive.
General William Westmoreland was aware of these movements,
but several top brass officers believed the enemy couldn't launch such an offensive.
Therefore, they did nothing to prepare US forces against a possible enemy attack.
During a February meeting in Honolulu, President Lyndon B. Johnson asked Westmoreland
what the next masterstroke would be if he were a Communist commander.
Westmoreland replied that it would be capturing the city of Huế, and explained: (QUOTE) "Taking
it would have a profound psychological impact on the Vietnamese in both the North and the South,
and in the process, the North Vietnamese might seize the two northern provinces
as bargaining points in any negotiations."
He also added that taking the ancient city capital would be the ultimate symbol of a unified Vietnam.
The General’s prediction would become true only two years later when the North
Vietnamese would send more than 100,000 men to the South with that very purpose in mind.
Lunar New Year On January 31, 1968, thousands of North Vietnamese
and Viet Cong soldiers launched a coordinated offensive that caught South Vietnam by surprise,
and the sheer scale of the violence and momentum became quickly overwhelming.
Tết Nguyên Đán was the Lunar New Year celebration, and most ARVN
personnel were on leave to gather with their families and pay homage to their ancestors,
an opportunity that the North Vietnamese used to their full advantage. Entire towns,
villages, Forward Operating Bases, and cities were soon besieged by the enemy.
Westmoreland believed that the focus of the attack would concentrate on the base at Khe Sanh,
but he was wrong, as the main targets were the cities of Saigon and Huế.
Huế was the ancient capital of Vietnam and the third-largest city in the South, with over 140,000
people. The Citadel was the walled portion of Huế and sat on the north bank of the Perfume
River. Its walls formed a square of about 2,500 meters, and the so-called new city
of Huế was on the Southern part of the river. The North Vietnamese believed that by capturing
Huế, the population would rise against the Americans and join the Communist insurgents.
The primary targets at Huế were the Tay Loc airfield, the ARVN 1st Division Headquarters,
and the MACV-SOG compound located within the Citadel.
At 2:00am, a flare lit up the sky to signal the North Vietnamese 6th Regiment and the 12th VC
Sapper Battalion. A relentless attack was then launched on the western side of the Citadel.
Meanwhile, Viet Cong infiltrators within the city began wreaking havoc from the inside
and letting the enemy in from the city gates. Thousands of civilians lost their lives in
the street firefights and the explosive shells that decimated most buildings.
The 8,000 attackers quickly overran the defenders and raced for the Headquarters and the MACV
compound, but the survivors quickly gathered around both facilities to form a cohesive defense.
As the sun rose, an Army helicopter providing air support was shot down, but nearby pilot Frederick
Ferguson still decided to land his Huếy to rescue the wounded men. He would later receive the Medal
of Honor for this heroic action under direct enemy fire, but not all men were so lucky.
The commandos fighting the enemy at the surrounded MACV compound soon began to run out of supplies
while the enemy's presence increased, and with civilians still running in the streets to save
their loved ones, air support was not an option. It was only a matter of time before the 400
soldiers could be overtaken by the 8,000-strong North Vietnamese soldiers attacking them.
Marines to the Rescue
Frantic calls for reinforcements were picked up by the scattered leathernecks in the region,
but the Marines had several problems of their own. Phu Bai Combat Base and the western sector
outside of Huế were being severely attacked, and the 1st Battalion,
1st Marines soon arrived to provide support. The men from A Company were the first to
arrive at the combat zone but were rapidly pinned down once they made it to the Citadel.
The Marines then realized they would need a lot more men and patience to liberate the city.
After hours of bloody close-quarters combat, A Company finally received support from G Company,
2nd Battalion, 5th Marines to catch a break and revisit their tactics by going over their
old Marine Corps field manuals and looking for proper techniques of house-to-house fighting.
Sergeant Alfredo Cantú Gonzalez and his men were then pinned down by fortified enemy positions
as they approached the inner city. Cantú then bravely advanced through the crumbling buildings
and fired at an NVA rocket emplacement with light anti-tank weapons.
The Sergeant swiftly eliminated the enemy but was wounded by an RPG hit.
He then took cover inside the Saint Joan of Arc Catholic Church but passed away minutes later.
His gallantry would earn him a posthumous Medal of Honor.
When the Marines finally reached the MACV compound and broke the nearby enemy resistance,
helicopters began to arrive to pick up the wounded.
The End of the Battle The recapture of Huế was not over yet.
During the following days, the trapped ARVN 1st Division Headquarters received
support from the 3rd Regiment and Airborne troops to clear the way.
But while the presence of American and ARVN increased in the city,
the Communist soldiers hunted down religious servants, local politicians, and foreigners for
alleged reeducation. In reality, they were forced to dig mass graves outside the city
before the NVA and the Viet Cong executed over 2,000 civilians, soldiers, and American allies.
After two weeks of combat, the Marines reconquered the Southern portion of Huế
and finally called down the airstrikes, but they were forbidden from firing near
the ancient Imperial Palace under orders from Brigadier General Ngô Quang Trưởng.
Still, by February 24, NVA resistance was at a breaking point. Without additional support from
other Communist forces, they knew their desperate efforts were close to an end.
ARVN Rangers and their US allies then boarded boats to mop up scattered enemy
resistance at the other side of the Perfume River,
and airborne troops from the 5th Cavalry Regiment swept the Northwestern wall aboard Hueys.
In addition, the Marines finished their last operations in the city's Southern region.
Finally, on March 2, 1968, the recapture of Huế reached was completed after an
intense month of fighting, resulting in the longest battle of the Vietnam War.
The nation’s ancient capital was devastated. More than 110,000
people were displaced out of a population of 140,000, and it is estimated that
between 1,000 and 6,000 were executed or missing, with another 2,000 wounded.
US losses amounted to 216 and about 1,500 injured, while ARVN suffered 452 casualties
and 2,000 wounded. The NVA took a much heavier blow, losing about 2,500 men in combat.
Although the battle was considered a win for the US and its ally,
the American public was shocked by the amount of violence and losses caused by the Tet Offensive,
marking the beginning of the end of the Vietnam War.
As Journalist Walter Cronkite, who witnessed the aftermath of the Battle of Huế, concluded: (QUOTE)
"It seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end
in a stalemate. It is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational
way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people
who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy and did the best they could."
Thank you for watching our video! Please like and subscribe to our Dark Documentaries channels to
find more exciting historical content. And let us know in the comments below what you think of the
gruesome Battle of Huế and the heroic sacrifice of the United States Marines. Stay tuned!