spartans_in_darkness

'fOP SEeRE'fNeOMIN'fh')E1
CU) So the fact that Hue was considered a target
of the buildup - whether a diversion to Khe
Sanh or as a main objective - was not new to
intelligence analysts. It is possible that analysts
from Phu Bai, which was nearby, unilaterally
could have warned any number of posts and units
in the area. It was mentioned earlier that individual
SIGINT analysts believed an attack was imminent.
There were enough intelligence support
groups in the north - I Corps Watch Office, SSG
MACV Forward (Niagra I), III MAF G-2 - that
such an exchange could have occurred. In the
confusion that followed, it might have been easy
to have recalled an informal warning or "heads
up" phone call or exchange over an OPSCOMM
printer.
CU) The full offensive began early in the
morning of 31 January. The wave of coordinated
attacks lit up the South Vietnamese map like a
pinball machine. All but four of South Vietnam's
provincial capitals were attacked. The seaside
enclaves of Hoi An, Da Nang, and Qui Nhon were
hit. The huge American complex at Cam Ranh
Bay was rocketed. The mountain resort town of
Dalat, so long spared by a tacit agreement of both
sides, was struck. Sixteen
provincial capitals in the
Mekong Delta came
under fire, while scores of
district seats were overrun,
ruining much of
Saigon's fragile efforts at
pacification. However, in
many cases, after their
initial successes, the communist
troops found
themselves isolated and
surrounded as second
echelon units, mostly
PAVN, failed to reinforce
them. The isolated communists
fought with a
stubborn courage and carried
on attacks almost
blindly, often abandoning
the flexibility that had marked earlier operatior
and had so impressed American observers.
CU) The most vicious combat occurred in Hu
where, for weeks, U.S. Marines were locked in
virtual face-to-face match with enemy troops i
the old imperial citadel. In fighting reminiscent c
World War II assaults on Japanese-held island:
the marines relied on flamethrowers, bayonet.
and grenades to finally reclaim the old, imperii:
citadel, or the pile of rubble that it had become
Troops of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division took thre
weeks of fighting through enemy blocking posi
tions and poor weather to completely encircle th
city.
CU) In Saigon, the communists managed thei
boldest, if most hopeless, attacks. Four thousaru
men, organized into small platoon or squad-size:
teams, spread out through the city in the earlies
hours of 31 January. One of their main objective.
was the American embassy, the nexus 0
American power and prestige. Nineteen men
rolled up to the embassy, blew a hole through thr
surrounding wall, and raced onto the grounds
their guns blazing away. The commandos man
(V) Marmes fighting in Hue near the old imperial citadel
take cover behind a tank.
Page 338
lGP SEGRHIIGGMIUllI*q