Tet Offensive

Hue

The harshest fighting was in Hue. Hue is not infrequently called the "old imperial capital", but there is historical significance of a Tet attack, involving Hue, to Vietnamese. his term, and its association with Tet, had historical and psychological significance to the Vietnamese. Two groups of warlords, the Nguyen and the Trinh, had ruled Annam under the Chinese, as the Le Dynasty. In 1789, a year also significant in American history, the Chinese were defeated by a rebellion led by a soldier named Quang Trung, who took the name Nguyen Hue. He probably took that name to show the transfer of power from the Nguyen warlords, but, as confusing as the names may be, Nguyen Hue was not of the Nguyen warlords. He did, however, overthrow the Chinese-backed warlords with a sudden attack during Tet, and created the Nguyen dynasty.

Nguyen Hue died in 1792, with no adult heir. One of the surviving "old Nguyens," Nguyen Phuc Anh, who took the name Gia Long, overthrew the existing government of the Nguyen dynasty, killed the son of Nguyen Hue after forcing him to watch his father's bones being desecrated, and took power in 1802, with French assistance. Now-Emperor Gia Long's first act was to move the capital from Saigon to Hue. He also named his new reign, Vietnam. While he permitted French missionaries, he resisted further French penetration. So, the significance of overthrowing a government in Hanoi, and moving it to Hue, resonates with the father of Vietnam as a state. An attack during the normal peace of Tet resonates with the revolt of Nguyen Hue.

Gia Long built the Citadel of Hue, which was one of the priority targets taken by the Communists in 1968, and the Vietnamese only felt the city was returned to government control whan RVN Marines forced their way into the Citadel and raised the South Vietnamese flag. To the surviving Vietnamese Marines, that had some of the same emotional significance that the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima will always have to the United States Marine Corps.

When Hue fell to the Communists, they immediately set out to identify and execute previously listed government supporters among the civilian population. The allies fought back with all the firepower at their command. House to house fighting recaptured Hue on February 24, with the raising of the flag over the citadel.

In Hue, five thousand enemy bodies were recovered, with 216 U.S. dead, and 384 ARVN fatalities. Viet Cong defectors later led government forces to a riverbed, where 428 bodies were identified. They had been shot or beaten to death. Others were found, apparently buried alive. Douglas Pike, who, at various times, infuriated both the U.S. government and the U.S. antiwar movement, gave news reports in 1969, and in a book, Viet Cong Strategy of Terror. )see except at [1]]. Pike's claims have been disputed.