Battlefield: Vietnam (Part6/12) - The TET Offensive: The Vietcong Attack On The American Embassy (4) – Chiến Trường: Việt Nam (P6/12) - Cuộc Tấn Công Tết Mậu Thân: Việt Cộng Tấn Công Tòa Đại Sứ Hoa Kỳ (4)
CHIẾN TRANH VIỆT NAM: MẬU THÂN 1968: Battlefield: Vietnam (Part6/12) - Battlefield: Vietnam (Part6/12) - The TET Offensive: The Vietcong Attack On The American Embassy (4) – Chiến Trường: Việt Nam (P6/12) - Cuộc Tấn Công Tết Mậu Thân: Việt Cộng Tấn Công Tòa Đại Sứ Hoa Kỳ (4)
From 23:13 The Vietcong Attack On the American Embassy
21:13 Although US military police were involved in firefights all over the city. In fact, very few American installations had been targeted in Saigon. The exception was the American Embassy the ultimate symbol of U.S. support for South Vietnam.
21:38 The assault on the American Embassy began at 2:30 a.m. on January 31st. 15 separate commandos blew a hole in the wall of the compound and charged through the breach. the fighters had killed four American military police guards and a Marine but their own officers had been killed almost at once. The sappers took cover and waited for reinforcements.
22:12
[Music] Soon the Vietcong were trapped within the compound under fire from all sides. The fight for the compound lasted for six hours, but the effects of the battle would last much longer. All around the world an abiding image had been created that of American troops battling to recapture their own embassy in the very heart of Saigon [Music]
23:14 The Viet Cong attack on the American Embassy and most other Targets in Saigon City Center had been launched by the elite sapper Commandos of the C10 battalion. The plan was that a follow-up force of 4,000 would arrive quickly. But time and time again the main battalions had been bogged down in firefights and house-to-house battles. [Music]
23:54 One of the sharpest clashes yet had happened happened near an American officer's quarters. The battle had quickly drawn in military police and any other U.S Personnel that could grab a weapon. During the night a truck carrying 25 American Military policeman to the fight was hit by a VC rocket head-on and subsequent machine gun fire killed 16 Americans in a narrow Street. Relief attempts had developed into a furious engagement which would go on for 12 hours. [Music]
24:38 Only a few miles away Tan Son Nhut Airbase was one of the most important centers of American power in Vietnam [Music]
24:50 The Defenders of Tan Son Nhut were a squadron of US Air Force Police. Two platoon of Army
committed to battle elsewhere in the city. On the perimeter of Tan Son Nhut, the Viet Cong had seized several key buildings as springboards for their main assault and attacked the compound containing the Villas of Senior Officers of the South Vietnamese general staff.
25:31 The guerrillas Meant to hit the base from three sides with more than a thousand troops. A large textiles plant was occupied as the base for their heavy machine guns and Rockets. Only the arrival of an armored reconnaissance unit of the 25th Infantry Division Vision that had raced to the scene from its base 15 miles away, save Tan Son Nhut. The Tanks and APCs hit the attackers from behind and in furious fighting had split the Viet Cong Force [Music]
26:34 In the hours that followed the guerrillas were hammered by American Helicopter gunships and fighter bombers the attack on Tan Son Nhut was soon completely broken [Music]
