Sweeping the Triangle
Tuesday–Monday
February 6–February 12
As the battle enters its second week, the National Liberation Front still occupies most of Hue. Civilians are increasingly taking to the streets in search of a safe haven, of which there are few. In the triangle, Colonel Cheatham’s marine battalion continues its punishing sweep, battling building by building, block by block. In the countryside northwest of the city, meanwhile, the army has stalled in its effort to march to the Citadel walls. A second cavalry battalion begins retracing the route taken by Colonel Sweet’s, which fled the field after being reduced by half. The army is moving toward a climactic collision with thousands of enemy soldiers at the village of La Chu.
Civilians in Hue photographed by Kyoichi Sawada.
Marine Captain Ron Christmas, commander of Hotel Company 2/5,
posing with a toy rifle given to him by his men as a joke.
Captain Christmas’s marines defiantly raise the American flag
over the provincial headquarters building.
Lieutenant Andy Westin, whose daily letters home to his wife Mimi
offered a diary of his cavalry unit’s mission.
