First Battle of Saigon

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Date	January 30, 1968 - June 8, 1969 during the Tet Offensive
Location	Saigon in South Vietnam
Result	Decisive ARVN tactical victory, equally decisive Communist strategic & psychological victory.

Combatants

Commanders

Nguyen Van Thieu
William Westmoreland

Vo Nguyen Giap

Strength

35 Battalions

Casualties

Vietnam War
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The First Battle of Saigon fought during the Tet Offensive was the coordinated attack by the NVA and VC, by which they attacked South Vietnam's Capital Saigon from all sides.

1 Background
2 The Plan
3 The Battle
- 3.1 U.S. Embassy
- 3.2 Adams photograph
4 Aftermath
5 Notes
6 References

[edit] Background

In 1968 the NVA and VC Launched the Tet Offensive. They attacked South Vietnam from all sides. North, South, East, West, this was made done largely by the undercover VC.

[edit] The Plan

Saigon was the main focal point of this offensive, but a total takeover of the capital, by military units, was not intended or feasible. They rather had six main targets in the city which 35 battalions of VC were to attack and capture, these were the Headquarters of the ARVN, President Thieu's office, the American Embassy, the Tan Son Nhut air base, the Long Binh Naval Headquarters, and the National Radio Station.

[edit] The Battle

Attacking from all sides of the capital Saigon, the NVA, and VC launched 35 battlions at Saigon. Sapper Bns and the local forces attacked the Presidential Palace, The National Radio Station, The US embassy and other principal targets.

The 5th VC Division launched an attack on the military bases at Long Binh, and Bien Hoa. The NVA 7th Division launched an attack on the US 1st Infantry Division, and the 5th ARVN Division at Lai Khe. The VC 9th Division attacked the US 25th Infantry Division at Cu Chi.

The airport of Tan Son Nhut went through a heavy barrage of rocket and mortar fire beginning at 3 a.m. followed by a 3 bn assault. They encountered the ARVN 8th ABN who happened to be waiting for transport. The US 3/4th Cavalry from the 25th Division raced from their base at Cu Chi to help rescue the airfield that was under attack. The 1/18th Infantry A/1/4th Cavalry from the 1st Infantry Division also helped at the airfield.

In the mean while the local VC took control of the National Radio Station for 6 hours and during that time played a recording of Hồ Chí Minh announcing their liberation and "General Uprising." The recording was not heard, however, because the station's electricity had been cut off at the outset of the attack.

Heavy fighting continued in the Cholon District and around the Phu Tho Racetrack for several days. Finally, the 199th Brigade, with heavy air support secured the area.^[1]

[edit] U.S. Embassy

The attack against the U.S. Embassy was especially significant in the public's perception of the U.S. military's control over the situation. At 2:45 AM on January 31, 19 Viet Cong commandos attacked the embassy. Although VC attacks had been taking place in Saigon for over an hour, the guards at the embassy had not been informed of this and had not been reinforced. The Viet Cong blew a hole in the embassy compound's wall, killed several MPs, and entered the grounds. The few remaining American guards withdrew into the embassy building and locked the doors. Although the Viet Cong had an ample supply of explosives, they did not press their attack. Both officers in charge of the Viet Cong squad had been killed in the initial assault and the remaining guerrillas milled aimlessly around the grounds. Eventually American reinforcements arrived, and in the morning, six hours after the attack began, MPs retook the embassy compound, killing all but one of the remaining Viet Cong.

With the bodies of the dead Viet Cong still scattered about the rubble of the badly damaged embassy, General Westmoreland gave a press conference inside the compound. According to American reporter Don North "At 9:20, General Westmoreland strode through the gate in his clean and carefully starched fatigues, flanked by grimy and bloody MPs and Marines who had been fighting since 3 a.m. Standing in the rubble, Westmoreland declared: "No enemy got in the embassy building. It's a relatively small incident. A group of sappers blew a hole in the wall and crawled in, and they were all killed. Nineteen bodies have been found on the premises -- enemy bodies. Don't be deceived by this incident." "I couldn't believe it. "Westy" was still saying everything was just fine. He said the Tet attacks throughout the country were 'very deceitfully' calculated to create maximum consternation in Vietnam and that they were 'diversionary' to the main enemy effort still to come at Khe Sanh.

[edit] Adams photograph

Saigon Police Chief General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing Viet Cong Captain Nguyen Van Lem: Eddie Adams' Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph

The fighting in Saigon also produced one of the Vietnam War's most famous images, photographer Eddie Adams' Pulitzer Prize-winning image of the summary execution of a Viet Cong prisoner on February 1, 1968.

Nguyen Van Lem was captured by South Vietnamese national police, who identified him as the captain of a Viet Cong assassination and revenge platoon, and accused him of murdering the families of police officers. He was brought before Brigadier General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, the chief of the national police, who briefly questioned him. General Nguyen then drew his sidearm and shot the prisoner. Nguyen's motives may have been personal; he had been told by a subordinate that the suspect had killed a police major who was one of Nguyen's closest friends, and the major's family as well.

Present at the shooting were Adams and an NBC television news crew. The photograph appeared on front pages around the world, and won eight other awards in addition to the Pulitzer. The NBC film was played on the Huntley-Brinkley Report and elsewhere, in some cases the silent film embellished with the sound effect of a gunshot. General Westmoreland would later write, "The photograph and film shocked the world, an isolated incident of cruelty in a broadly cruel war, but a psychological blow against the South Vietnamese nonetheless."

[edit] Aftermath

By early February, the Communist high command realized that none of their military objectives were being met, and they halted any further attacks on fortified positions. Sporadic fighting continued in Saigon until March 7. Some sections of the city were left badly damaged by the combat and U.S. retaliatory air and artillery strikes in particular. The Chinese district of Cholon suffered especially, with perhaps hundreds of civilians killed in the American counter attacks.