Photos Battle for Hue, 1968.

14 Feb 1968, Hue, South Vietnam --- A flowered arm sling is worn by a wounded U.S Marine in this makeshift communications #vietnamwarfootageandstories

Source: Bettmann/CORBIS

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Anyone have any books they'd recommend on Hue?
"Battle for Hue: Tet 1968", Keith William Nolan, 1983 (Nolan was a historian, and a very young one. He wrote this book when he was just 19 yrs old, and went on to write 13 books on the Vietnam War before his death from cance at age 45)
"Dispatches", Michael Herr, 1977 (Mandatory reading for anyone interested in Vietnam War, IMO; Describes Herr's year in Vietnam as a writer for Esquire magazine; he has an interesting section on the Battle of Hue City)
"The Cat from Hue", John Lawrence, 2002 (Lawrence was a well-known, well-regarded correspondent for CBS news. Part of his book documents his reporting from Hue during the heaviest of the fighting)
 
Private First Class Jimmy C. Mosley (Clarksdale, Mississippi) and Lance Corporal Mike Smith (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) model NVA headgear found in Hue (official USMC photo by Lance Corporal D. M. Messenger)."

Original photo and text sourced from the Jonathan Abel Collection (COLL/3611), Marine Corps Archives & Special Collections.

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I'm no expert on NVN headgear, and Google wasn't of much help, but I'd bet a dollar those are not NVN headgear. The one on the right is reminiscent of SVN police, perhaps? The one on the left is indicative of airline or air force headgear, but does not appear to be of SVN origin (and my searched of Continental Air Service and Air America were a bust).
 
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CBS News reporter John Laurence (one of the best, IMO) reporting from Hue City, very early in the battle (guessing around 5-7 Feb). In the beginning, he is talking to then-Lt Col Ernie Cheatham, CO of the 2d Battalion, 5th Marines. Cheatham received a Navy Cross for his gallantry in Hue City. A football star at Loyola Marymount, he was drafted to the NFL, but ended up making a career w/ the USMC. He retired w/ 3-stars. What a fine American!
 
Terry Fincher (1931 - 2008) was one of the premier daily press photographers of the 20th century. Refugees cross the Perfume River to safety during the Battle of Hue, Vietnam, February 1968.
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Marines at the Forward Command Post in Hue, Vietnam, February 1968.
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Rarely seen: Civilians on the streets of Hue, Vietnam, February 1968.
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A wounded American in Hue
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Love these Hue pictures and stories......Keep them coming!! (Y)

There were 8-9 NVA Regiments and 3-4 Main Force VC battalions that had snuck into or just outside Hue before the battle, along with weeks worth of arms & ammo caches brought in and stashed about the city, it was the biggest battle event in the war, in the most important city in Vietnam! While the USMC was tearing them up inside the city and the Citadel, the US Army 1st Cavalry Div sent two regiments south to envelop the battlefield from the north only to run into the NVA regiments in reserve that were staging & holding in the villages to the north, east, and west of the outer Citadel walls. The Army units were slammed to a halt out there and fought a vicious several day battle themselves just outside the walls within sight & ear shot of Hue. Certainly not the blood bath urban fight the marines were in but one just as dangerous and hairy. The first cav unit that arrived out there was hit so hard so fast that they were almost over run and staged an amazing tactical withdrawal side stepping the NVA attack but were still decimated by almost half. This was quite the battle.....
 
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February 1968, Hue – Wounded US Marine helped by comrades to get on an M274 Mule vehicle during the Battle of Hue, Tet Offensive. (Photo by Catherine Leroy)


Original description and photo sourced by USMC Archive

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Hue, South Vietnam, February, 1968: A US Marine fires at the enemy over one of the outer walls surrounding the Hue Citadel during the infamous Tet Offensive. Marines were battling Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army troops house by house, street by street in an effort to retake the former imperial capital of Vietnam and its Citadel.

#vietnamwarfootageandstories#VietnamWarStories #VietnamWar #usmc#semperfi

Original description and photo sourced by www.stripes.com

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"Combat in a built-up area is close, personal and extremely violent. We were familiar with fighting in dense jungles but were disoriented by the combat in tightly packed streets. Sounds ricocheted off walls adding to the confusion of urban combat. Crumbled buildings and blind corners made perfect sniper nests and ambush points. It was chaos.

It was just absolutely utter devastation, burned out trucks and bodies on the road. The stench of death was there all the time.

I remember looking up and saw someone with a cross on his uniform, and I knew he was a chaplain. He told us, 'I don't know if some of you will make it to Sunday...I'd like to give you guys last rites.'

During the fighting, all I could hear were people say, 'I'm hit, I'm hit, I'm hit.' And I kept thinking, when is a bullet going to hit me?

If there's anything close to hell, it had to be Hue." – Lcpl. Richard Prince, Delta Co., 1/5 Marines, Hue City, Vietnam, Feb 15, 1968.

(Photo shows a Marine taking cover next to the remains of a radio operator who took a direct hit from a missile).
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