Tet offensive attack on Joint General Staff Compound

Tet offensive attack on Joint General Staff Compound
Part of the Tet offensive of the Vietnam War
Tet offensive attack on Tan Son Nhut and JGS, 31 January 1968
Date 31 January – 1 February 1968 Location Saigon, South Vietnam 10°48′00″N 106°40′16″E / 10.8°N 106.671°E / 10.8; 106.671 Result US/South Vietnamese victory
Belligerents
United States  South Vietnam	Viet Cong
Commanders and leaders
Lt Col. Gordon D. Rowe General Cao Văn Viên
Units involved
716th Military Police Battalion 8th Airborne Battalion 6th Airborne Battalion 2nd Marine Battalion	2nd Go Mon Battalion
Casualties and losses
17 killed[1]	US/ARVN Claim: 10 killed 10 captured

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History of Ho Chi Minh City
Before 1955 1782 Saigon massacre (1782) Gia Định province Siege of Saigon (18 February 1859 – 25 February 1861) Battle of Ky Hoa (February 1861) Treaty of Saigon (1862) Treaty of Saigon (1874) Battle of Saigon (1955)
Vietnam War 1960 South Vietnamese coup attempt (11 November 1960) Operation Chopper (Vietnam) (12 January 1962) 1962 South Vietnamese Independence Palace bombing (27 February 1962) Self-immolation of Thích Quảng Đức (11 June 1963) Double Seven Day scuffle (7 July 1963) Xá Lợi Pagoda raids (21 August 1963) 1963 South Vietnamese coup d'état (1–2 November 1963) Arrest and assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem (2 November 1963) Attack on USNS Card (2 May 1964) 1964 Brinks Hotel bombing (24 December 1964) 1965 United States embassy bombing (30 March 1965) 1965 Saigon bombing (25 June 1965) Operation Jackstay (26 March – 6 April 1966) Operation Fairfax (November 1966 - 15 December 1967) Viet Cong attack on Tan Son Nhut Air Base (4–5 December 1966) Tet offensive battle of Cholon and Phu Tho Racetrack (31 January-11 February 1968) Tet offensive attack on Joint General Staff Compound (31 January-1 February 1968) Tet offensive attack on Tan Son Nhut Air Base (31 January 1968) Tet offensive attack on US Embassy (31 January 1968) Battle of West Saigon (5–12 May 1968) Battle of South Saigon (7–12 May 1968) Hijacking of Pan Am Flight 841 (2 July 1972) Bombing of Tan Son Nhut Air Base (28 April 1975) Operation Frequent Wind (29–30 April 1975) Fall of Saigon (30 April 1975)
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The attack on the Joint General Staff (JGS) Compound, the headquarters of the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces, occurred during the early hours of 31 January 1968. The JGS was located east of Tan Son Nhut Air Base. The attack by Vietcong (VC) forces was one of several major attacks on Saigon in the first days of the Tet offensive. The attack was repulsed with the VC suffering heavy losses; no material damage was done to the compound.

Security within Saigon was the responsibility of the South Vietnamese with the only US ground unit in the city being the 716th Military Police Battalion which was responsible for law enforcement duties in respect of US personnel.^{[2]: 324–5}

The Tết ceasefire began on 29 January, but was cancelled on 30 January after the VC/PAVN prematurely launched attacks in II Corps and II Field Force, Vietnam commander, LG Frederick C. Weyand deployed his forces to defend Saigon.^{[2]: 323–4} General Cao Văn Viên, chief of the Joint General Staff, ordered the 8th Airborne Battalion, which was to deploy north to Quảng Trị Province, to remain at Tan Son Nhut Air Base and for four Marine battalions to be redeployed to Saigon.^{[2]: 324–5}

At 03:00 on 31 January, a South Vietnamese military car turned off of Vo Tanh Street (now Hoàng Văn Thụ street), a major road along the southern perimeter of the JGS and entered Gate 5 of the JGS (10°48′00″N 106°40′16″E / 10.8°N 106.671°E / 10.8; 106.671). At that moment, 22 VC armed with AK-47s and three B40 grenade launchers appeared in the alleyway opposite Gate 5 on the other side of Vo Tanh Street and attempted to rush the gate. The South Vietnamese guards closed the gate and opened fire on the VC killing several and forcing them to take cover in residential buildings in the alleyway. Further down the alleyway was Bachelor Officers’ Quarters (BOQ) No. 3, a residence for U.S. officers and a guard from the 716th MP Battalion saw the firefight, locked its doors and radioed a warning to the 716th MP Battalion headquarters.^{[2]: 340–1}

The commander of the 716th MP Battalion, Lt Col. Gordon D. Rowe ordered two gun-jeep patrols to investigate the report and when they arrived they learnt that more than a dozen VC were located in buildings somewhere in the alleyway. The MPs called for reinforcements, instructing them to avoid the alleyway as they approached. A reaction force of 26 MPs from Company C was sent with three riding in a gun-jeep followed by 23 MPs in an M35 truck. The two vehicles turn up the alleyway and while the jeep was not fired on, the truck was hit and disabled by a B-40 rocket. As the MPs jumped off the truck they were hit by VC automatic weapons fire which killed 16 and wounded the other seven. Two of the wounded MPs were able to crawl to safety and a third was rescued, but the intense VC fire prevented any further rescue attempts. At 13:00 a V100 armored car from the 720th Military Police Battalion based at Long Binh Post arrived at BOQ3 and the MPs were then able to recover the remaining survivors and most of the dead. The VC remained in their positions until 1 February when South Vietnamese forces overran them killing 10 and capturing the rest.^[2]: 341

At 07:00, approximately 200 VC from the 2nd Go Mon Battalion attacked Gate 2 of the JGS compound (10°48′00″N 106°40′32″E / 10.8°N 106.6756°E / 10.8; 106.6756) with B-40 rockets, killing the sentries and entering into the southeast corner of the JGS. The VC occupied several empty administrative buildings, instead of moving 500 meters northwest to attack the actual headquarters building. On learning of this latest attack, Viên ordered the 8th Airborne Battalion which was fighting the VC at Tan Son Nhut Air Base to send two companies to the JGS to expel the VC. At 09:00, U.S. helicopters dropped the Airborne companies at Viên’s headquarters and he deployed them to pin the VC in place until more reinforcements arrived. The 2nd Marine Battalion and the 6th Airborne Battalion were deployed several hours later and moved to engage the VC, forcing them to abandon their positions by nightfall and disperse into the city.^{[2]: 342–3}

The PAVN claim to have killed "hundreds of enemy troops" in the attack before being forced to withdraw due to heavy casualties and low ammunition.^[3]

Later on 31 January a US helicopter collected South Vietnamese President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu from his family home in Mỹ Tho and landed him at the JGS where together with Vice-President Nguyễn Cao Kỳ (whose home was located nearby) and Viên they coordinated the South Vietnamese response to the Tet offensive over the following days.^[4]

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History.

• Video of the fighting near BOQ3