Fire in the Streets Read online

  FIRE IN THE STREETS

  The Battle for Hue

  Tet 1968

  Eric Hammel

  Pacifica Military History

  ***

  Copyright © 1991 by Eric Hammel

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be mailed to: Permissions, Pacifica Military History, 1149 Grand Teton Drive, Pacifica, California 94044

  ISBN-10: 1-890988-17-0

  ISBN-13: 978-1-890988-17-3

  ***

  To all the men, women, and children who died in the battle for Hue,

  and to all who still suffer the wounds they sustained there.

  ***

  Books by Eric Hammel

  76 Hours: The Invasion of Tarawa (with John E. Lane)

  Chosin: Heroic Ordeal of the Korean War

  The Root: The Marines in Beirut

  Ace!: A Marine Night-Fighter Pilot in World War II (with R. Bruce Porter)

  Duel for the Golan (with Jerry Asher)

  Guadalcanal: Starvation Island

  Guadalcanal: The Carrier Battles

  Guadalcanal: Decision at Sea

  Munda Trail: The New Georgia Campaign

  The Jolly Rogers (with Tom Blackburn)

  Khe Sanh: Siege in the Clouds

  First Across the Rhine (with David E. Pergrin)

  Lima-6: A Marine Company Commander in Vietnam (with Richard D. Camp)

  Ambush Valley

  Aces Against Japan

  Aces Against Japan II

  Aces Against Germany

  Air War Europa: Chronology

  Carrier Clash

  Aces at War

  Air War Pacific: Chronology

  Aces in Combat

  Bloody Tarawa

  Marines at War

  Carrier Strike

  Pacific Warriors: The U.S. Marines in World War II

  Iwo Jima: Portrait of a Battle

  Marines in Hue City: Portrait of an Urban Battle

  The U.S. Marines in World War II: Guadalcanal

  The U.S. Marines in World War II: New Georgia, Bougainville, and Cape Gloucester

  The U.S. Marines in World War II: Tarawa and the Marshalls

  How America Saved the World

  Coral and Blood

  The Road to Big Week

  Islands of Hell

  For a complete listing of all the military history books written by Eric Hammel and currently available in print or for Kindle, visit:

  http://www.EricHammelBooks.com

  A free sample chapter from each book is available in the site's Free section.

  Please also visit http://www.PacificaMilitary.com

  ***

  Contents

  Guide to Terms and Abbreviations

  Phonetic Alphabet

  Prologue

  PART I: General Offensive-General Uprising 1

  PART II: Assault on Hue

  PART III: Into the Fog

  PART IV: The Treasury

  PART V: Thon Que Chu

  PART VI: The Hospital

  PART VII: Provincial Headquarters

  PART VIII: The Citadel

  PART IX: T-T Woods

  PART X: The Flagpole

  Epilogue

  Bibliography

  Acknowledgments

  Index

  ***

  Guide to Terms and Abbreviations

  A-1 Douglas Skyraider piston-engine attack bomber

  A-4 Douglas Skyhawk jet attack bomber

  AK-47 Soviet-pattern 7.62mm assault rifle

  APC U.S.-made M-113 armored personnel carrier

  ARA Aerial Rocket Artillery

  ARVN Army of the Republic of Vietnam

  B-40 Soviet-pattern rocket-propelled grenade/launcher

  C4 Plastic explosive (plastique)

  Cal Caliber

  CAP Combined Action Platoon

  Cav Cavalry

  CBS Columbia Broadcasting System

  Charlie Viet Cong (from "Victor Charlie"—VC)

  Chicom Chinese Communist (used for NVA hand grenade)

  Chop Attach (a unit to another unit)

  CH-46 Boeing Sea Knight medium cargo helicopter

  CIA U.S. Central Intelligence Agency

  CO Commanding Officer

  CORDS U.S. Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support

  CP Command Post

  CS Teargas

  DMZ Demilitarized Zone

  Doc Any U.S. Navy medical corpsman

  Duster U.S. Army M-42 tracked dual-40mm gun carrier

  E-8 U.S. pack-mounted 35mm teargas grenade launcher

  EE-8 U.S.-made field telephone

  Exec Executive Officer

  F-4B McDonnell Phantom jet fighter-bomber

  FAC Forward Air Controller

  Gunny Gunnery Sergeant

  GVN Government of Vietnam

  H&S Headquarters-and-Service

  Huey Bell UH-1E light attack/transport helicopter

  JGS South Vietnam Joint General Staff

  KIA Killed in Action

  Kit Carson ARVN scout, formerly an NVA or VC soldier

  LAAW U.S. M-72 light antitank assault weapon

  LCU U.S. Navy Landing Craft, Utility

  Log Logistics

  LRRP U.S. Army Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol

  LZ Landing Zone

  M-1 U.S.-made .30-caliber semi-automatic carbine

  M-2 U.S.-made .30-caliber automatic carbine

  M-3 U.S.-made .45-caliber submachine gun (grease gun)

  M-14 U.S. 7.62mm assault rifle

  M-16 U.S. 5.56mm assault rifle

  M-41 U.S.-made Walker 76mm light tank

  M-42 U.S. Army tracked dual-40mm gun carrier (Duster)

  M-48 U.S. Patton 90mm main battle tank

  M-50 U.S. Marine Ontos tracked six-106mm recoilless rifle carrier

  M-55 U.S. Army quadruple-.50-caliber machine-gun truck

  M-60 U.S. 7.62mm medium machine gun

  M-72 U.S. LAAW light antitank assault weapon

  M-79 U.S. 40mm grenade launcher

  M-113 U.S.-made armored personnel carrier (APC)

  MACV Military Assistance Command, Vietnam

  MAF Marine Amphibious Force

  Medcap Medical Combined Action program

  Medevac Medical Evacuation

  NLF National Liberation Front (Viet Cong)

  NVA North Vietnam Army

  O-1 U.S. Bird Dog light observation airplane

  OH-13S U.S. Sioux two-seat light observation helicopter

  Ontos U.S. Marine M-50 tracked six-106mm recoilless rifle carrier

  Opcon Operation control; attached

  PBR U.S. Navy Patrol Boat, Riverine

  PF South Vietnam Popular Forces

  Phantom McDonnell F-4B jet fighter-bomber

  Quad Quadruple

  R&R Rest and Rehabilitation (i.e., leave)

  RF South Vietnam Regional Forces

  RPD Soviet-pattern 7.62mm light machine gun

  RPG Soviet-pattern rocket-propelled grenade

  SKS Soviet-pattern 7.62mm bolt-action carbine

  Skyhawk Douglas A-4 jet attack bomber

  Skyraider Douglas A-1 piston-engine attack bomber

  Snakeye U.S. high-explosive aerial bomb

  TCK-TKN Tong Kong Kich-Tong Khoi Nghia; General Offensive-General Uprising; Communist Tet

  Offensive

  TOC Tactical Operations Center

  UH-1E Bell Huey light attack/transport helicopt
er

  USA United States Army

  USAID U.S. Agency for International Development

  USIS U.S. Information Service

  USMC United States Marine Corps

  VC Viet Cong

  VNAF Vietnam Air Force

  VNMC Vietnam Marine Corps

  WIA Wounded in Action

  ***

  Phonetic Alphabet

  Alpha

  Bravo

  Charlie

  Delta

  Echo

  Foxtrot

  Golf

  Hotel

  India

  Juliet

  Kilo

  Lima

  Mike

  November

  Oscar

  Papa

  Quebec

  Romeo

  Sierra

  Tango

  Uniform

  Victor

  Whiskey

  X-Ray

  Yankee

  Zulu

  ***

  No city or town or civil population in either of the Vietnams was fated to experience as much violent bloodshed and destruction for so many days as were Hue and her 140,000 citizens.

  ***

  Prologue

  Sergeant Jack Lofland, USMC

  Combined Action Platoon Alpha-2

  Thuy Thanh Village, Thua Thien Province

  Thuy Thanh was to the northwest of Phu Bai. In late 1967 Thuy Thanh had a population of about 5,000 people. It was almost entirely a farming community. The only industry that existed was the selling of beer, Cokes, and rice to the dozen or so Marines of my combined action platoon (CAP). The villagers were apathetic toward the then-current conflict and, I am sure, toward those that preceded it. They didn't give a damn about us, the Viet Cong (VC), or the North Vietnamese Army (NVA). They said to me more than once, "We just want to be left alone."

  My CAP consisted of seven or eight Marines and one Navy corpsman. It and a platoon of about thirty South Vietnamese Popular Force (PF) troops executed daylight patrols, night pa­trols, and ambushes; provided security for Thuy Thanh; and kept an eye on the political infrastructure of the village.

  Early in December 1967 some of the villagers started asking me to give them sandbags. This was a new one. When I asked them what they needed with sandbags, they giggled and made some inane comments, but they never came right out and told me. Not wanting to function within a fog of ignorance, I changed the program of daylight patrols, to find out what was going on.

  The daylight patrol was a public relations stunt that we executed almost daily. As the corpsman worked his medcap— tending to the sores, colds, and assorted illnesses of the villag­ers—the rest of us sipped Cokes and moved along, visiting with the people. In response to the request for sandbags, I changed the routine by going into some of the houses. I was quivering to learn what was going on with my sandbags. The house patrols provided the answer: Not only were the sandbags being filled and used within the houses, but the villagers were actually digging in. In every house I checked, bunkers had been dug and reinforced. The bunkers were large enough to provide shelter and protection for the entire family.

  I asked why they were building bunkers, but I wasn't getting any answers. Not having just fallen off a turnip truck, I knew we were due for some visitors. I had a gut feeling that there were going to be many visitors. Our proximity to the large Marine combat base at Phu Bai made us a likely target. We were Phu Bai's distant eyes and ears on our side of the combat base.

  The new year, 1968, began with a noticeable increase in enemy activity. I was making contact two or three times a week. These were not major contacts, just patrols of five to seven VC. On occasion there would be an NVA soldier along as an advisor. These contacts were quick, violent firefights that were over in a matter of minutes—or seconds.

  Because of the increase in enemy activity, I initiated the killer-team concept to provide added security for the CAP com­pound. When my regular night activity went out on patrol or ambush, three Marines followed it and moved out to an area no more than 300 meters from the compound. The three were heav­ily armed and had pyrotechnics for communication. They knew the night activity's route. The killer team usually stayed in place for several hours or until it made contact. The reactionary force, if it was needed, consisted of the one or two Marines left behind in the compound and whatever PFs were available.

  By the first week of January, my Marines and I were moving at night in black pajamas and rubber-soled sandals. Our jungle boots left distinctive marks in the dirt, but our sandals were the same as the VC's. They were better at tracking than we were, but I knew we had the potential of being better in combat than they were. We just needed to use the correct tools.

  On occasion the VC visited me at night. They called, "Trung Si [Sergeant] Jack!" and left notes wrapped in an NVA flag. The notes almost always said the same thing: "The Marines are all going to die in seven days. The PFs will be spared if they put down their arms and return to their homes."

  Sometimes I called artillery fire missions from my com­pound. Phu Bai had 105mm artillery batteries that could send shells around the river that ran along the eastern side of Thuy Thanh. The river was the boundary between our land and the VC's. The VC might play on our side, but before too long they would retreat to their side. Whenever I detected movement of any size on the other side of the river, I called a fire mission from Phu Bai. Occasionally there would be a secondary explosion, indicat­ing that our artillery guys had hit an ammo dump. We would go over by boat the following day to try to get a damage assessment for the artillery folks. They always liked to know what kind of disaster they had caused.

  I had called a fire mission on the night of January 11, so, on the morning of January 12, we went across the river to look for anything that might have been hit. In my group were five Marines and five PFs. My CAP's call sign was Motor-2. Since we were the daylight activity, we were Motor-2-Alpha.

  Once across, our movement to the impact area took us inland a couple of hundred meters. Then we turned parallel to a treeline. It was a beautiful, cloudless day. The sky was a brilliant blue. The rice paddy we were moving through was dark yellow, which contrasted sharply with the full green of the treeline.

  Suddenly machine-gun fire broke out on our right and our left.

  We dove for the back side of the nearest paddy dike. I heard mortars. The sound of the machine guns was the distinctive bark of .51-calibers. The mortar rounds fell to our rear. They were white phosphorous. We were pinned down in a .51-cal crossfire, and the mortars to our rear prevented us from pulling back.

  One of my Marines took a bullet through his forehead. My radioman took a round in the foot that shattered his leg. The PFs jumped up and began to run, but they were cut down.

  I took the handset from my radioman and made the textbook call for fire: "Motor-2. This is Motor-2-Alpha. Give me artillery. Give me gunships. Give me air support." I knew the Marines in the compound could see our location because of the white puffs of the mortar rounds, and they could hear the gunfire.

  Throughout all this, we were making a game effort to return rifle fire over the rim of the paddy dike. I could see the enemy. They were NVA regulars. They were wearing khaki uniforms and pith helmets. They started walking out of the treeline, firing from the hip. There seemed to be hundreds of them! They seemed pretty confident. I guess they had reason to be. It was a little like they were swatting a fly with a 1,000-pound bomb.

  The Marine carrying our LAAW rocket rolled over, cocked the LAAW, and raised up to fire at the approaching troops. As he raised himself, a round caught him in the back of the neck. It severed his spinal cord. He was already dead when he stood straight up and fired the LAAW into the front rank of the NVA. Then he fell face first into the paddy.

  Suddenly, friendly artillery fire came over. It landed about 400 meters to our right. It was not on target, but the fact that it was coming in at all was enough to pull the NVA back into the treeline. The artillery fire stopped,
and the NVA started coming out of the treeline again.

  Two Huey gunship helicopters came up on the radio net and requested the enemy position. It turned out that the artillery had lifted to give the Hueys access. I told the Hueys that one machine gun was at the base of a white church on my left and that the treeline was alive with NVA. Each Huey made two passes with rocket pods and guns firing.

  As the Hueys pulled up and away, I got a strange call on the radio: "Motor-2-Alpha. This is Niner Dash Two. Over." I didn't want to talk to any NVA, so I asked for identification.

  "Motor-2-Alpha. This is Niner Dash Two. Look up in the sky."

  I looked up and saw two silver dots. They were Marine F-4B fighters out of Danang. I gave them the same information I had given to the Hueys. Then we put our heads down. The fighters came in low and hot and napalmed everything in front of us. As they did, the Hueys came in and took us out.

  About a week later, I received the intelligence report on our January 12 action. It said that the unit that hit us was an NVA regiment new to the area.

  ***

  PART I

  General Offensive-General Uprising

  ***

  Chapter 1

  ***

  Intelligence "coups" are almost invariably the products of days and weeks and months of exhausting work by dozens, scores, and hundreds of people, most of whom have little or no sense of the depth or breadth of the project in which they are involved. Most often there is no "project" per se, just baskets, and reams, and rooms full of odd snippets of information that overworked ana­lysts might or might not connect to form a single, cogent pack­age. And, once connected, there is no way of knowing until after the fact if the right information, or enough of it, has been tied together.

  An experienced intelligence specialist knows that an entire enemy plan might fall into his lap maybe once in a lifetime. And if one does, it only sets off alarms, for it is always best to assume that the enemy himself is at the source of the coup, that he has fed your side plausible but bad information as a means of misdirect­ing your attention and resources. If there is intelligence, then there must be counterintelligence.