Tet offensive attack on Joint General Staff Compound

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Coordinates: 10°48′00″N 106°40′16″E / 10.8°N 106.671°E / 10.8; 106.671
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Tet Offensive attack on Joint General Staff Compound
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Tet offensive attack on Joint General Staff Compound
Part of the
Saigon, South Vietnam
10°48′00″N 106°40′16″E / 10.8°N 106.671°E / 10.8; 106.671
Result US/South Vietnamese victory
Belligerents  United States
 South Vietnam Viet CongCommanders and leaders United States Lt Col. Gordon D. Rowe
South Vietnam General Cao Văn Viên
Units involved United States 716th Military Police Battalion
South Vietnam 8th Airborne Battalion
6th Airborne Battalion
2nd Marine Battalion 2nd Go Mon BattalionCasualties and losses United States 17 killed[1] US/ARVN Claim: 10 killed
10 captured
Part of a series on the
History of Ho Chi Minh City
Before 1955
Gia Định province
Siege of Saigon (18 February 1859 – 25 February 1861)
Battle of Ky Hoa (February 1861)
Treaty of Saigon (1862)
Treaty of Saigon (1874)
Battle of Saigon (1955)
Arrest and assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem (2 November 1963)
Attack on USNS Card (2 May 1964)
1964 Brinks Hotel bombing (24 December 1964)
1965 United States embassy bombing (30 March 1965)
1965 Saigon bombing (25 June 1965)
Operation Jackstay (26 March – 6 April 1966)
Operation Fairfax (November 1966 - 15 December 1967)
Viet Cong attack on Tan Son Nhut Air Base (4–5 December 1966)
Tet offensive battle of Cholon and Phu Tho Racetrack (31 January-11 February 1968)
Tet offensive attack on Joint General Staff Compound (31 January-1 February 1968)
Tet offensive attack on Tan Son Nhut Air Base (31 January 1968)
Tet offensive attack on US Embassy (31 January 1968)
Battle of West Saigon (5–12 May 1968)
Battle of South Saigon (7–12 May 1968)
Hijacking of Pan Am Flight 841 (2 July 1972)
Bombing of Tan Son Nhut Air Base (28 April 1975)
Operation Frequent Wind (29–30 April 1975)
Fall of Saigon (30 April 1975)
After 1975
Ho Chi Minh City ITC fire (29 October 2002)
2005 AFC Futsal Championship (22 May – 4 June 2005)
2005 Asian Amateur Boxing Championships (29 August – 4 September 2005)
2012 Vietnam Open Grand Prix (20–26 August 2012)
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The attack on the

Tet offensive
. The attack was repulsed with the VC suffering heavy losses; no material damage was done to the compound.

Background

Security within Saigon was the responsibility of the South Vietnamese with the only US ground unit in the city being the 716th Military Police Battalion which was responsible for law enforcement duties in respect of US personnel.[2]: 324–5 

The

Quảng Trị Province, to remain at Tan Son Nhut Air Base and for four Marine battalions to be redeployed to Saigon.[2]
: 324–5 

Battle

ARVN forces near BOQ 3, 31 January 1968

At 03:00 on 31 January, a South Vietnamese military car turned off of Vo Tanh Street (now Hoàng Văn Thụ street), a major road along the southern perimeter of the JGS and entered Gate 5 of the JGS (10°48′00″N 106°40′16″E / 10.8°N 106.671°E / 10.8; 106.671). At that moment, 22 VC armed with AK-47s and three B40 grenade launchers appeared in the alleyway opposite Gate 5 on the other side of Vo Tanh Street and attempted to rush the gate. The South Vietnamese guards closed the gate and opened fire on the VC killing several and forcing them to take cover in residential buildings in the alleyway. Further down the alleyway was Bachelor Officers’ Quarters (BOQ) No. 3, a residence for U.S. officers and a guard from the 716th MP Battalion saw the firefight, locked its doors and radioed a warning to the 716th MP Battalion headquarters.[2]: 340–1 

The commander of the 716th MP Battalion, Lt Col. Gordon D. Rowe ordered two

M35 truck. The two vehicles turn up the alleyway and while the jeep was not fired on, the truck was hit and disabled by a B-40 rocket. As the MPs jumped off the truck they were hit by VC automatic weapons fire which killed 16 and wounded the other seven. Two of the wounded MPs were able to crawl to safety and a third was rescued, but the intense VC fire prevented any further rescue attempts. At 13:00 a V100 armored car from the 720th Military Police Battalion based at Long Binh Post arrived at BOQ3 and the MPs were then able to recover the remaining survivors and most of the dead. The VC remained in their positions until 1 February when South Vietnamese forces overran them killing 10 and capturing the rest.[2]
: 341 

At 07:00, approximately 200 VC from the 2nd Go Mon Battalion attacked Gate 2 of the JGS compound (10°48′00″N 106°40′32″E / 10.8°N 106.6756°E / 10.8; 106.6756) with B-40 rockets, killing the sentries and entering into the southeast corner of the JGS. The VC occupied several empty administrative buildings, instead of moving 500 meters northwest to attack the actual headquarters building. On learning of this latest attack, Viên ordered the 8th Airborne Battalion which was fighting the VC at Tan Son Nhut Air Base to send two companies to the JGS to expel the VC. At 09:00, U.S. helicopters dropped the Airborne companies at Viên’s headquarters and he deployed them to pin the VC in place until more reinforcements arrived. The 2nd Marine Battalion and the 6th Airborne Battalion were deployed several hours later and moved to engage the VC, forcing them to abandon their positions by nightfall and disperse into the city.[2]: 342–3 

The PAVN claim to have killed "hundreds of enemy troops" in the attack before being forced to withdraw due to heavy casualties and low ammunition.[3]

Later on 31 January a US helicopter collected South Vietnamese President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu from his family home in Mỹ Tho and landed him at the JGS where together with Vice-President Nguyễn Cao Kỳ (whose home was located nearby) and Viên they coordinated the South Vietnamese response to the Tet offensive over the following days.[4]

References

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History.

  1. ^ Rod Paschall (4 January 2013). "Tet: Circling the Wagons in Saigon". HistoryNet.com. Archived from the original on September 28, 2021. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  2. ^
    ISBN 9780160942808. Archived from the original on March 6, 2021.Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain
    .
  3. JSTOR j.ctt1dgn5kb
    .
  4. ISBN 0306802104
    .

External links
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