February 21. 1968
The City is Sealed
Vietnamese civilians assist ARVN troops evacuating casualties
US National Archives, Film Still, Original Color
Today the Battle of Hue entered its terminal phase, as the NVA lost control of their regional headquarters and their only remaining supply line into the city was cut in several places. Though the end was drawing near, the communist forces who remained in the city continued their desperate fight as they were pushed against the Citadel walls.
US Marines aid in the evacuation of civilians from the battle area
USMC Photo
The Citadel
In the dark of the night at 0330, Lt. Pat Polk and his Alpha/1/5 Marines took up their positions in buildings overlooking the Thuong Tu Gate. As morning approached the Lieutenant interrogated the Vietnamese civilians within the structure, confirming they were not VC, and at 0800 the Americans spotted NVA congregating in the open near the gate. Polk would later recall that they walked toward their line as casually as civilians on their way to work. A call was made to the mortar batteries just across the Perfume River near the MACV compound for CS gas shells, and as Polk argued with the battery over the danger close nature of the strike, the Marines opened fire on the NVA below. Using the ensuing confusion for cover a Marine sniper with the infiltration unit also picked off several NVA, and as a result of the action here the NVA first line falls to the Marines with almost no resistance. The news of this success buoyed the morale of 1/5 in the Citadel as the day’s fighting began in earnest.
An M48 in action in the Citadel, with several empty 90mm shells littering the street
US National Archives, Film Still, Original Color
The fighting was as intense as had come to characterize the fighting in the Imperial City, as the Marines crushed the increasingly desperate NVA against the southern wall of the Citadel. The fighting eventually pushes as far as Le Truc Street, as close as one block from the corner of the Walled City by the end of the day, with Charlie/1/5 halted by intense fire from NVA atop the wall, and Delta/1/5 on the Marines’ left flank stopped just shy of the corner of the wall. In one notable incident, Marines from Charlie/1/5 had managed to cross the street and take a house, before an Ontos arrived and blasted the building by mistake. The shell-shocked Marines all escaped unscathed, but retreated back across the street.
Marines load an M20 Super Bazooka in Hue
US National Archives, Film Still, Original Color
In addition, today the Marines of Lima/1/5 arrived in the city from Phu Bai, beginning an airlift into Mang Ca in the afternoon. This would be stalled, however, as intense NVA ground fire prevented the movement of all the company, with 45 men left to remain overnight at the MACV compound. These were not the only reinforcements to arrive today, as two battalions of ARVN Rangers also arrived today in the Triangle, being tasked with taking over the hunting of NVA holdouts as the US Marines began to prepare for other operations as the battle wound down. Also in the south today, NVA mortars targeted the US batteries near the LCU ramp on the south bank of the Perfume, prompting US Navy gunboats to respond, raking the remaining NVA outside the Citadel wall with 20mm fire.
ARVN soldiers in Hue
US National Archives, Film Still, Original Color
In the western Citadel the Vietnamese Marines restarted their attack, encountering heavy resistance immediately as they attempted to push over the Thuy Quan Canal. CS gas was deployed against the entrenched NVA with little effect, and the arrival of a company of US Marines and M48 tanks also proves unable to break the deadlock. Despite this, by the end of the day the Huu Gate, the last major avenue of reinforcement and resupply for the NVA, has been cut off by the RVNMC, with the flow there slowing to a trickle.
The communists continued their attempts to withdraw today, both through the Huu Gate and hte Nha Do Gate on the southern wall. The situation began to collapse as night fell, with many of the VC units breaking and running or even surrendering, as the NVA leadership attempted to maintain order. In some areas, the recruited students panic, dropping even wounded men on stretchers as they flee.
US Marines and ARVN soldiers on a causeway in the Citadel
US National Archives, Film Still, Original Color
The Citadel: 2-21-1968
Mang Ca - ARVN 1st Division Headquarters
Tay Loc Airfield
Outer Mang Ca - Casualty evacuation point and refugee center
RVNMC Line - Today the South Vietnamese Marines push forward from the Thuy Quan Canal against heavy resistance
ARVN Line - ARVN forces are positioned along the flank of the US Marines near the Imperial Palace
USMC Infiltration Team - Lt. Pat Polk’s Alpha/1/5 infiltration team positioned here caused serious confusion in the NVA today
USMC Line - The American Marines today advanced to within a block of the southern wall in some areas, against desperate NVA resistance
Huu Gate - The last major artery for supply and reinforcement of the NVA in Hue, today the RVNMC advanced close enough to seriously disrupt that flow, as NVA forces continue to withdraw
Nha Do Gate - As the Huu Gate becomes increasinly dangerous, the NVA begin to pull out through this gate as well after dark.
Citadel Gates - Flags indiacate controlling faction
The Hamlets
Outside the city, the US Army commenced its attack on Thon La Chu with four battalions at dawn. Charlie/5/7 Cavalry moved out in single file to enter the hamlet of Thon Phu O, which the NVA had recently abandoned along the flank of their position. At the same time, a massive barrage commenced on the NVA in Thon La Chu and Thon Que Chu with both the Army artillery at PK17 and US Navy warships in the South China Sea. Under cover of the barrage, the troopers jumped off with classic infantry leapfrog tactics against the fortified positions of TT-Woods.
A Huey helicopter brings supplies in to the cavalrymen near Thon La Chu
As the cavalrymen entered the bamboo thickets the attack bogged down in the face of intense resistance from the NVA, who used a network of trenches as well as camouflaged pillboxes to inflict heavy casualties against the attacking Americans. The commanding officer of Bravo/5/7, a Captain Prince, was wounded early in the attack, leaving a green Lieutenant in command of the unit, prompting Colonel Vaught to order his XO, Major Charlie Baker, to take command of the company. As Baker arrives, he attempts to get the lieutenant, who had frozen under enemy fire, to retreat to his position, but the officer turns and runs away, leaving Baker to rally the company as they remain pinned along a berm.
The turret of an M42 Duster
US National Army
The deadlock is broken when an M42 duster is brought up, its 40mm cannons blazing away against the offending NVA positon, silencing the guns. Pfc. Albert Rocha then proceeded forward, as the duster moved up behind him, to approach the pillbox inside a bamboo thicket with one of the handmade Bangalore torpedoes (essentially a bamboo rod packed with C4), crawling forward under fire, not stopping even when a round from the NVA machine gun within shatters the handguard of his M16. he eventually gets close enough to throw the charge into the firing slit of the pillbox, destroying it. Using this opening, the cavalrymen began to enter the NVA trench lines from the destroyed pillbox, fanning out and clearing the line with flamethrowers and support from the dusters and Huey hogs. The line was secured by 1200.
The unit borrowed from the 101st Airborne Division, 2/501 Airborne, advanced along with 1/7 Cavalry against limited resistance starting at 0520, and the men of 2/501 Airborne and 2/12 Cavalry (the men who had been surrounded at Thon La Chu, christening it “This Fucking Place”, or TFP in early February) took the NVA headquarters bunker in La Chu in the afternoon, finding that the NVA had already abandoned the post. The eleven 2/12 Cavalry troopers who had been buried in a crater as their comrades made their escape on February 4 were also located today and exhumed for proper burial, the NVA having honored the crude note left for them. The US Army was now only five kilometers from Hue, with the NVA’s main headquarters out of action and their supply line into the city irrevocably cut.
Two soldiers involved in today’s fighting would receive the Congressional Medal of Honor for their actions: Sergeant Joseph Hooper and Staff Sergeant Clifford Sims, both of 2/501 Airborne. Hooper was a member of Delta/2/501 Airborne, and had rallied the men of his squad to charge the NVA defenses, being seriously wounded in the process. He refused treatment and continued to lead his unit to destroy several NVA strongpoints, many personally with hand grenades. He then ran into enemy fire to rescue a wounded comrade, only allowing medics to treat him after the fighting had ended and his unit was reorganized.
Sims had taken his men away from a burning NVA ammunition dump just before it exploded, and was on point as his squad cleared an NVA bunker, and a booby trap was triggered. He dove onto the armed explosive after a shout of warning to his men. He was killed in the ensuing explosion, but prevented any injuries to his men via his sacrifice.
The Hamlets: 2-21-1968
Thon Lieu Coc Thuong - US forces jump off at dawn after a massive artillery barrage
Thon Phu O - Charlie/5/7 Cavalry takes this hamlet at dawn with no resistance, as the NVA had withdrawn.
US Forces attack the NVA from multiple angles.
Thon Que Chu - US Cavalry encounter heavy resistance as they reduce the well dug in NVA around the hamlet
Thon La Chu - Home of the NVA Tri-Thien Hue Front headquarters in a bunker, the Americans finally secure it today, finding the NVA had already withdrawn.