The Republic of Vietnam

The Republic of Vietnam (Việt-Nam Cộng-Hòa), commonly known as South Vietnam, was the government of Vietnam controlling the country below the demilitarized zone along the seventeenth parallel. With its capitol located in Saigon, the RVN had been created in 1955, when Prime Minister Ngo Din Diem seized power from Emperor Bao Dai and declared himself President of a new Republic.

Despite this declaration, the new Republic of Vietnam would struggle with the same legitimacy issues that plagued the Emperor’s State of Vietnam before it, namely an impression among many that it was merely a puppet of continued colonial rule, first from France and later the United States. President Diem had been assassinated in a military putsch backed by the US CIA in 1963, and had subsequently been ruled by a military junta until, at American insistence, junta leader General Nguyen Van Thieu had been elected as President in 1967.

The RVN had lived under a perpetual state of war since its founding, with the urban populations generally more loyal to the Saigon government, while the more rural areas were rife with communist sympathizers, as well as the Viet Cong. The VC posed an ever present threat, and were known for their brutal violence against those they considered loyal to the Republic, and the RVN responded in kind, clamping down on the rural populace and requesting and receiving an increasing amount of direct foreign military assistance, which although generally successful on the battlefield, served to further undermine the legitimacy of the state and cast it as enabling a foreign power to control Vietnamese affairs.

President Nguyen Van Thieu

Nguyen Van Thieu was a native of southern Vietnam, and had been educated in Hue during the French Colonial period. During the Japanese occupation of French Indochina he had served as a soldier in the Viet Minh under Ho Chi Minh, but returned to the French backed Imperial government soon after the end of the war. He would become an officer in the southern army, and would remain in the new Army of the Republic of Vietnam following the establishment of the Republic in 1955. Thieu would later serve as the head of the RVN Military Academy, and would have a role in saving Diem from a military putsch attempt in 1960. After this, he would take command of the ARVN 1st Division based in Hue, and would later be posted to command troops near Saigon, having won the trust of Diem.

Despite this, he would be a leader in the 1963 putsch against Diem, and after the President’s assassination Thieu was promoted to general and became a member of the military junta now controlling the RVN. he would survive power struggles over the next few years, and by 1965 was leading the junta. This would lead, in 1967, to his election as President after the United States forced an election, with Thieu taking office by the end of the year. Generally considered corrupt, Theiu’s administration was also infamous for promotion of officers within the ARVN for political loyalty rather than ability. As the Tet holiday and its accompanying annual cease-fire approached, Thieu was vacationing with his family in the Mekong Delta, far from the events about to befall his old command in Hue.

Brigadier General Ngô Quang Trưởng

Commanding the ARVN 1st Division in Hue was Brigadier General Ngo Quang Truong. Born in the Mekong Delta, he joined the Vietnamese National Army of the Imperial State of Vietnam in 1954, a year before the declaration of the Republic. Graduating the officer’s academy at Da Lat, he would serve in the ARVN Airborne, taking command of a battalion of paratroopers in 1964. His service soon caught the attention of the ARVN senior leadership in Saigon, with his reputation being as one of the finest officers in the ARVN. In 1966 he was sent to take command of the ARVN 1st Division, which had mutinied in solidarity with Buddhist protestors in the city and around South Vietnam, and managed to bring the division under control as the uprising would down. He would still be in command of the 1st Division as the Tet holiday approached in 1968, with his headquarters located in the Citadel.

ARVN 1st Division

Headquartered in the citadel’s northern corner, the ARVN 1st Division under General Truong was the main military presence within the old Imperial City in January of 1968. In addition to its headquarters, its main force in the citadel was located at the Tay Loc Airfield, which was also the site of the divisional armory. This included the elite Hac Bao, or Black Panther, Reconnaissance Company, an aggressive unit known for its trademark black fatigues. The 1st Division also controlled the 3rd ARVN Regiment, stationed around the city outskirts, as well as other infantry forces, and the 7th ARVN Armored Cavalry Regiment, mainly stationed at an outpost north of the city on Highway 1 called PK17 (Post-Kilometer 17). The rest of the division was deployed across the I Corps zone.

Fearing a possible NVA attack, General Truong had taken it upon himself to make the unpopular decision to cancel Tet leave, ordering his men to secure the city. In this they were aided by personnel from the local Regional Force, commonly known as “Ruff-Puffs” by the Americans. These were stationed to guard the citadel gates and patrol the streets as needed.

1st ARVN Airborne Task Force

In addition to the ARVN 1st Division forces, elements of the 1st ARVN Airborne Task Force, also based at PK17, were available to General Truong should an emergency arise. With two battalions available along with the M113 APCs of the 7th ARVN Armored Cavalry to transport them, these paratroopers formed a formidable fast reaction force.

Republic of Vietnam Marine Corps Battle Group Alpha

Deployed far to the south, near Saigon, the RVNMC would, later in the engagement, deploy two battalions to aid ARVN forces in Hue during the battle, replacing exhausted forces during the fighting to retake the Citadel. Considered some of the best troops the RVN had to offer, these promised to be no small help in the fighting.

21st ARVN Ranger Battalion and 39th ARVN Ranger Battalion

Famously considered some of the best troops of the ARVN, the Rangers were a light infantry force used mainly for counterinsurgency and special operations. Late in the battle, ARVN I Corps Command would assign the 21st and 39th Ranger Battalions to further strengthen the ARVN forces in the fighting for the citadel.