Relief Force (Hue series #1) - Divided Ground - Vietnam

Hue Imperial City, Thua Thien Province, I CTZ (Play as USMC). On 30 January, a US Army radio intercept unit overheard Communist orders calling for an attack on Hue that night. Following standard procedure, it forwarded the message through channels. The Hue defenders did not receive the message in time. It was another in a long list of intelligence failures relating to the Tet offensive. When the attack came, the only regular garrison comprised the all-volunteer Hoc Bao (Black Panther) Reconnaissance Company, 1st ARVN Division. They guarded Brig. General Ngo Quang Truong's HQ in the northern corner of the citadel. Scattered throughout the rest of the city were support troops. Across the Perfume Perfume was the South Side, where a Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) compound housed American and Australian advisors and staff. These two strongpoints were to become islands of resistance when the 12th VC and Hue City Sapper Battalion, two NVA infantry regiments and a rocket battalion flooded the city. Amid the confusion, Brig. General Foster LaHue, assistant commander of the 1st Marine Division, failed to appreciate both the scale and the critical nature of events in Hue. But, responding to orders, he did send reinforcements. Two and a half platoons belonging to Alpha 1/1 boarded trucks at Phu Bai combat base and headed for Hue. Not knowing that close to a full division of enemy soldiers awaited them, the company was soon pinned down in a deadly maze of narrow streets and asked for help. Lt.Col. Marcus Gravel received the mission of taking another company, Golf 2/5, forward to retrace Alpha's steps and try to relieve them. He was then to proceed toward the beleaguered defenders of the MACV compound, cross the Perfume River and link up with the 1st ARVN Division HQ. The fiercest battle of the war was about to begin. NOTES: The medevac UH-1D is present for historical reference only, use it to evacuate the compound staff. SOURCES: Osprey Campaign Series vol. 4: Tet Offensive 1968 by James R. Arnold.