Battle of Hue Campaign.Recapture Hue

DATE: 27/08/2026

TIME (GMT): 18:00

ERA: Vietnam

MAP(S): Cao Lao Nam

TYPE: COOP

TEAMSPEAK: ts1.biaarma.com

GAME: Arma 3

EVENT: Official

AUTHOR(S): Aris and Lord for Brothers In Arms

SLOTS: 76 / 96

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RATING: (17)

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The Battle of Hue (31 January 1968 – 2 March 1968) was a major battle in the Tet Offensive launched by North Vietnam and the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. Initially losing control of most of Hue and its surroundings, the combined forces of South Vietnam and the United States gradually recaptured the city after a little over one month of intense fighting. The battle was one of the longest and bloodiest of the war, causing it to negatively affect the American public perception of the war. The battle is widely considered to be one of the toughest and most intense urban battles ever fought.

By the beginning of the North Vietnamese Tet Offensive on 30 January 1968, which coincided with the Vietnamese Tet Lunar New Year, large conventional American forces had been committed to combat operations on Vietnamese soil for almost three years. Highway 1, passing through the city of Hue, was an important supply line for Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and United States forces from the coastal city of Da Nang to the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the de facto border between North and South Vietnam only 50 kilometers to the north of Hue. The highway also provided access to the Perfume River at the point where the river ran through Hue, dividing the city into northern and southern parts. Hue was also a base for United States Navy supply boats. Due to the Tet holidays, large numbers of ARVN forces were on leave and the city was poorly defended.

While the ARVN 1st Division had cancelled all Tet leave and was attempting to recall its troops, the South Vietnamese and American forces in the city were unprepared when the Viet Cong (VC) and the People s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) launched the Tet Offensive, attacking hundreds of military targets and population centers across the country, including Hue. The PAVN-VC forces rapidly occupied most of the city. Over the next month, they were gradually driven out during intense house-to-house fighting led by the Marines and ARVN. In the end, the Allies declared a military victory. The city of Hue was virtually destroyed, and between 5,800 and 8,000 civilians were killed, including more than 2,000 of them executed by the PAVN and VC. The PAVN-VC lost somewhere between 1,042 and 5,133 killed. Allied forces lost 708 dead and 4,254 wounded.

North Vietnam Forces Plan

 

Hue, the ancient imperial capital city of Vietnam, had a population of nearly 140,000, making it the third largest city in the Republic of Vietnam, commonly known as South Vietnam. The Citadel, or Imperial City, is the walled-in portion of Hue sitting on the north bank of the Perfume River. The walls of the Citadel form a square with sides of 2,500 meters. The outer stone wall is one meter thick, five meters high and is separated from the inner wall by dirt fill. The distance between the walls varies from 75 meters to 17.5 meters. Half the population lived within the Citadel in 1 or 2 story houses surrounded by stone walls.

On the south side of the river was the new city of Hue, which contained most of the government buildings, schools, and the university, set on wide boulevards. Connecting the Citadel and new city were the Trưong Tien Bridge, which carried Highway 1, and further west the Bach Ho Rail bridge.Hue had great symbolism, having been the capital of Vietnam from 1802 to 1945.

 

The North Vietnamese plan for the Tet Offensive was known as the General Offensive-General Uprising. The General Offensive was to comprise conventional and guerilla military action aimed primarily at the puppet South Vietnamese military and government, attempting to destroy their legitimacy among the South Vietnamese population. 

The General Uprising was the expectation that the oppressed South Vietnamese population would then spontaneously rise up and overthrow the Thieu-Ky government and that this would force the United States to withdraw in the face of the will of the people. The strategic objective at Hue was to capture and hold the city, leading to the establishment of a revolutionary government.While some senior PAVN leaders were skeptical about the plan, believing that the population was unlikely to rise up and that they could only hold out against the ARVN and U.S. forces for a few days before they would be forced to withdraw, they followed their orders.Younger soldiers were convinced by the party propaganda that they were on the verge of a great victory that would end the war.When the PAVN and VC forces left their base camps west of Hue to commence the attack they had no intention of returning.

The ARVN and Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) were largely unprepared for the Tet Offensive. MACV s focus was on the Battle of Khe Sanh, where a PAVN assault was believed to be imminent. In preparation for this, MACV was in the middle of Operation Checkers,moving the 1st Marine Division to Quang Trị Province in order to support Khe Sanh and defeat any other PAVN attack across the DMZ.

US Forces

 

The Marines Phu Bai Combat Base,south of Hue on Highway 1, included the 1st and 5th Marine Regiments of 1st Marine Division. The U.S. Army 1st and 3rd Brigades, 1st Cavalry Division and the 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, operated out of a series of firebases and landing zones between Phu Bai and Quảng Trị. Both the Marine and the airmobile units operating near Huế were in a state of flux as the Tết holiday began. The 1st Cavalry Division was in the midst of relocating from Bình Định Province in II Corps to Quảng Trị and Thừa Thiên Provinces in I Corps. By the last week of January, most of its combat units had arrived, but many of the division s logistical components were still in transit. When the headquarters of 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division arrived at Camp Evans, 27 kilometers northwest of Hue on 26 January, it found that the site held no stocks of ammunition or fuel. Supplies would remain tight for the next week as the Division s helicopters tried to build up a reserve of materiel. Within Hue, approximately 100 U.S. Army advisers and administrative personnel, as well as a few Marine guards, were headquartered in the new city in the lightly defended MACV Compound a block and a half south of the Perfume River on the east side of Highway 1.Other advisers were in the countryside accompanying ARVN units.

 

PAVN and Vietcong Forces

At least two PAVN regiments, two sapper battalions, and an assortment of VC local forces were based in Thua Thien Province. The headquarters of the PAVN 6th Regiment and two of its battalions were thought to be in Base Area 114, 30 kilometers  southwest of Hue, while the third battalion from the regiment was approximately 35 kilometers northwest of the city, operating on the coastal flats. The Hue City Sapper Unit and the 12th Sapper Battalion were also located in Base Area 114. Several local force companies operated in the districts surrounding Hue. The 804th Battalion of the newly created 4th Regiment was reported to be near Phu Loc District, 30 kilometers southeast of the city. A second unit from the regiment, the 810th Battalion, and several local force companies roamed the coastal plain north and east of Hue. Unknown to Allied intelligence, the PAVN had recently shifted several more regiments and support units from Quảng Trị Province to the vicinity of Hue.

 

On 28 January, the PAVN/VC units tasked with attacking the new city began moving into position 48 hours earlier than the northern wing tasked with attacking the Citadel, because it had a longer distance to march and more difficult terrain to cross. The 804th Battalion, 4th Regiment, began marching from Phu Loc to a mountain camp 20 kilometers south of Hue.Also on 28 January, the 810th Battalion, 4th Regiment and the 2nd Sapper Battalion began marching toward the city from locations along the coast east of Hue. On the afternoon of 29 January, the main body of the southern wing, the 804th Battalion, the 1st Sapper Battalion, the 815th and 818th Battalions of the 5th Regiment, the southern wing command group, and various supporting units descended from their mountain staging area and headed for the Ta Trạch River, which stood between the attacking force and Hue. The units intended to use a ferry station 10 kilometers south of the city to cross the river. The lead elements of the southern wing, the 1st Sapper Battalion and part of the 804th Battalion, arrived two hours ahead of schedule, which meant that they reached the crossing well before the sun had set. An allied aircraft spotted the units and reported their position.

 

Prelude

At evening, the PAVN-VC northern attack wing began moving towards Hue from base camps in the western hills. A VC company armed with 82 mm mortars and 57 mm recoilless rifles veered north and took up a position near PK–17 outpost to shell the ARVN airborne and armored units stationed there once the offensive began. 2 kilometers to the northwest, an engineer unit moved within sight of its target, the An Lo Bridge that spanned the Bo River, as it did, the 806th Battalion, one company from the 800th Battalion and a sapper platoon of forty men, all from the 6th Regiment, quietly occupied a forward staging area in a graveyard 2 kilometers northwest of the Citadel. Around that time, the 802nd Battalion from the 6th Regiment, the remainder of the 800th Battalion, the 12th Sapper Battalion, and several heavy weapons companies marched down from the mountains to a spot on the Perfume River several kilometers west of Hue before turning toward the Citadel. The sappers mission was to scale the Citadel s wall near the Mang Ca compound, open and hold the Hau and An Hoa Gates and assist the infantry company.The PAVN-VC could not afford to engage in a firefight at this point, and they succeeded in sneaking away without raising further alarms. After a few minutes, the RF soldiers stopped shooting, and some began to wonder whether they had seen enemy troops or had been firing at shadows. Shortly before midnight, the reconnaissance team hiding in the bushes on the north bank of the Perfume River saw a long column of PAVN soldiers emerge from the darkness. The allied platoon stayed out of sight as the 800th, 802nd and 12th Sapper Battalions marched past its position, heading east along the river toward the city. The patrol commander reported by radio what he had seen.Immediately dispatched a light observation airplane to look for the enemy force. Flying through overcast skies, the aircraft returned two hours later, its pilot having seen nothing out of the ordinary.

It is the dawn of February 21, 1968.After we have captured all the forts around Hue and have cut off the enemy from reinforcements, we are ready for the final attack on the city and the Citadel.Our effort will be aided by a force of Navy Seals who will infiltrate the city to sabotage critical infrastructure.