The Battle of Hue: February 22, 1968 — I Like to Hear Myself Talk History

The Terminal Phase Begins

***A Marine sniper from Delta/1/5 in the Citadel***

The city had by 22 February been effectively sealed by the Americans, and the NVA was left to make their final stand amongst the ruins in the Citadel, while some units continued their attempts to escape before the noose was closed completely.

The Citadel

The day’s fighting began at 0330 as NVA mortars hit the positions of Bravo/1/5 and Charlie/1/5 in the eastern Citadel, causing four casualties. The American attack began again at 0950, again pushing into heavy resistance with very slow progress. By noon Lima/3/5 was combat ready at the ARVN compound at Mang Ca, and was sent forward to bolster the Marine lines near the southern wall, replacing Bravo/1/5, which was by this point down to fifty men.

At 1300 the infiltration unit from Alpha/1/5 led by Lt. Pat Polk left the building they had been occupying near the Thuong Tu Gate to push eastward along the wall to the corner, where they fixed an American flag to a pipe, raising it over the bastion for their fellow Marines on the streets below to see. Despite this, the fight was still not over; as Lima/3/5 entered the line they made the same mistake all the other Marine units had when they first arrived in the Imperial City, advancing down the street into an NVA killzone. During their fighting after 1330 Pvt. Wally Loucks distinguished himself by repeatedly running over a bridge under fire to extract wounded Marines from the line of fire.

***Marines fire on NVA positions from near a pavilion***
*US National Archives*

At 1430 a flight of two Marine A4 Skyhawks took off from Chu Lai and made for Hue as the weather cleared over the city, intending to approach at 400 feet, below the overcast, the hit the NVA with assistance from an Army O1 Bird Dog spotting aircraft that was orbiting the battle area in the southeastern corner of the Citadel.

***An O1 Bird Dog flies low over the ruins in the Citadel***
*USMC Photo*

The O1 flew low over the NVA positions, dropping smoke grenades out of the windows to mark targets for the approaching Marine jets, and guiding them in despite the NVA setting off several decoy signals. At A4s came in at 400 miles per hour at only 100 feet, dropping their ordinance on the NVA positions only fifty meters from the Marines on the ground in an accurate strike. Another run is performed immediately afterward, with the NVA positions before the Marines being sufficently reduced to allow the Americans to gain ground in the Citadel. The O1 was hit shortly afterward, with the pilot being killed. The observer aboard was able to take the controls and land it on a street in the NVA held area of the city, with the A4s orbiting the crash site to cover the observer with dummy runs, their munitions at this point expended. The observer was eventually able to make it to ARVN lines, while the two Marine jets were able to limp back to base with serious damage from ground fire, one without any navigational instruments to guide them through the thick clouds. The strikes killed at least 73 NVA, and allow some gains by the Marines on the ground today.

***A Marine fires an M79 grenade launcher in the Citadel***
*USMC Photo*

In the western Citadel, the Vietnamese Marines also began their day by taking artillery fire, in this case from NVA rocket batteries outside the city. Just as the NVA broadcasting in the clear had allowed the ARVN to gain important intelligence, the RVNMC had made the same mistake, allowing the NVA to identify and target the area where the Vietnamese Marines were marshalling for today’s attack.

***A Marine fires on the NVA from an embankment***
*US National Archives*

The Vietnamese Marines came under fire at 0635 from NVA on the Citadel Wall. A counterattack by the NVA subsequently pushed the RVNMC back toward the Thuy Quan Canal, although this territory was regained later as the Vietnamese Marines advanced behind a creeping artillery barrage, with propaganda speakers blasting a request for the communists to surrender.

It was at this point that the NVA began to allow the civilians still trapped in their area of the Citadel to flee toward the RVNMC lines, hoping that the throngs would delay the advance and disorient the South Vietnamese, and as they day came to an end the South Vietnamese had no significant territorial gains or losses.

February 22, 1968

The Terminal Phase Begins

The Citadel

February 23, 1968

February 21. 1968

I Like to Hear Myself Talk History