Hue, 31 January – 25 February 1968
The Battle of Hue, 31 January – 3 March 1968, was the longest and bloodiest battle of the Tet Offensive. PAVN and Viet Cong forces seized most of the old imperial capital in a surprise attack. US Marines and South Vietnamese troops retook the modern city south of the Perfume River block by block, then the walled Citadel, in the heaviest urban fighting Americans had seen since the Second World War. The city was devastated and thousands of civilians were killed, many executed by the occupiers; televised images of the fighting helped turn American opinion against the war.
Open the interactive map5 stages on modern satellite imagery and terrain, with 3D elevation
This battle is part of the full atlas, open to Patreon members. Free battles include Yorktown, Waterloo, The Alamo, Antietam, Little Bighorn, Belleau Wood, Omaha Beach, Ia Drang.
The battle, stage by stage
- 31 January 1968, 2:30–8 AM
Tet: the city falls
In the early hours of the lunar new year, with half the ARVN garrison on holiday leave, two PAVN regiments and Viet Cong units storm Hue. Sappers in ARVN uniforms open the Chánh Tây Gate; the 6th Regiment pours into the Citadel, the 800th Battalion against Tây Lộc airfield and the 802nd against General Trưởng's 1st Division headquarters at Mang Cá. A scratch force of clerks and the Hắc Báo company hold both. South of the Perfume River the 4th and 5th Regiments seize the new city; only the MACV compound holds out. At 8 AM the Viet Cong flag goes up on the Citadel's flag tower, where it will fly for 25 days.
- 31 January, afternoon
The Marines arrive
Company A, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines drives up Highway 1 from Phú Bài in trucks, fights through the An Cựu area and reaches the MACV compound about 3:15 PM, Gunnery Sergeant John Canley taking command after the company commander falls. Ordered on into the Citadel, Company G tries to rush the Trường Tiền Bridge with tanks and is driven back by fire from the walls. Inside the Citadel the ARVN Airborne fight their way in to Mang Cá.
- 2–10 February
Clearing the new city
Under orders not to bomb or shell the city, two Marine battalions clear the south bank block by block with tanks, Ontos, recoilless rifles, tear gas and C-4: Hue University on 2 February, the Treasury and Post Office on the 4th, the hospital on the 5th and the Provincial Headquarters — the 4th Regiment's command post — on the 6th, where Marines briefly raise the US flag. In the Citadel the Airborne and Hắc Báo retake Tây Lộc and the 3rd Regiment fights along the south-west wall. The PAVN drop the Trường Tiền Bridge on the 7th and pull back across the Phú Cam canal.
- 13–16 February
Into the Citadel
The 1st Battalion, 5th Marines crosses to Mang Cá by landing craft and attacks south along the east wall into a maze of houses, walls and bunkers held by the 802nd Battalion. On 15 February, after six hours, it takes the Đông Ba Gate tower at a cost of 6 killed and 50 wounded. Vietnamese Marines attack south from Tây Lộc. Outside the city, the 1st Cavalry Division fights to cut the PAVN supply route through La Chủ, 8 km to the north-west.
- 20–25 February
The flag comes down
On the night of 20 February the PAVN begin slipping out through the south-west gates. The 1/5 Marines reach the south wall on the 22nd; at 5 AM on the 24th the ARVN 3rd Regiment tears down the Viet Cong flag and raises the South Vietnamese colours on the flag tower, and Hắc Báo and the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Regiment retake the Imperial Palace that afternoon. The last pocket in the south-west corner falls to the Vietnamese Marines on the 25th. Some 80 percent of the city lies in ruins; 250 Americans and about 450 South Vietnamese soldiers are dead, and mass graves later reveal at least 2,800 civilians executed during the occupation.
Paintings and photographs
