The Battle of Hue 1968 (Campaign)

Some of the bloodiest fighting during the Communist 1968 Tet Offensive took place in Hue, the former capital of Vietnam under the Nguyen dynasty. The ancient city had been previously avoided by both sides; it had not seen any serious fighting prior to 1968. All that changed on the night of January 31 when four North Vietnamese battalions and supporting Viet Cong units simultaneously attacked and occupied both parts of the city straddling the Perfume River. The Communist forces dug in a prepared to defend their hold on it, and US Marines and South Vietnamese soldiers, supported by UA Army artillery and troops, were order to clear the city. A brutal urban battle ensued as combat raged from house to house; it was a bloody fight and resulted in the large-scale destruction of Hue. This detailed and informative study explores one of the longest and most deadly battles of the Tet Offensive, as Free World forces slowly retook the shattered city, and outlines how the costly urban fighting led to a sea change in US policy in Vietnam.