CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1968/01/31

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Tet Declassified
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 00809272
• Document Creation Date: July 27, 2018

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Approved for Release. 2018/07/26 C00809272
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Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 C00809272
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j'ariury .68
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Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 C00809272
!South Vietnam : Communist forces contintid their ,
unprecedenteWattacks against citieS.and,key.al.lied.civil
and militaryinstallations for the secbi'id,consecative clay
on 31 January.
! I I
� IActivity : Centered On the Saigon r
:a!rea;Whee some
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20 Viet Cong teri-oristS attacked and teMporaiily Occupied
'.; parts of ;the IUS,t mbassy compound diii-ing the. elarlY Moi7n-;
:lug'. US troats:'ejected the enemy by, d:00,AM.16ca1 time.
.- Nineteen Viet cong N11ere reportedlYrrkilled. Ini6al.re- L
,portS indicate US forces lost five killed iiii five wOundecl..'
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1Mortar and small arms fire also Arittek near the !!
Presidential, Palace andi at several bilierlo'cations in the
city as vveli as at the large Tan &nPt4hut.kirfield and
military headquarters Complex. Notlt. least! of the Capital
, .
the US bases at Bien Hoa and Long Binh i.anie under enemy :.
attaCk. At Bien :Hoa t WO US jet aircraft 1,Veire destroyed '
and ten aircraft damagd. There were few details on .
other i daniageorcasualties in the Saig'on,area. . ,
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i Elsewhere on 31 January, Viet'C rig; �Mortar fire ,
' struCk the eif.i,7 of Hue in northern I 'C' rpS and a number
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of provincial and district capitals in tl e Mekong Delta.'
The i TV Corps' headouart ers at Can Thi carne under mortar
and ground attack. � '11
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!Renewed mortar and rocket atta6 s were r !3 3(h)(21 .ported 1 , �
on 31 January at Ban Me Thuot and 1-).:1 Nang-both of which! :
had been hit hard the previous day-r
Sporadic fighting also appears to be!c ntinUing at several
other locations where Viet:Cong atta1s ocei.irrect on 30 Jan-
: uarY, including Qui Nhon and Nha Tranig along the central
coast and Kontum. city in the central 1,iighlands.1
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iAlthough.a complete account of,!c': sualt'ies dui ing the
init.:61 indications
oast. two days has not been. completed
31 .lan (58
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are that enemy killed may reach as high as 1,40G while
allied losses have been relatively light.
The enemy attacks during the pas- twoidayS--tar-
geted primarily against urban areas ahd major allied
installations--appear to be primarily designed for max-
imum psychological impact. The Conlimunists appar-
ently hope to demonstrate to the South,Vietnamese, to US
and world opinion--and probably to ,t14ir own forces--
that they can enter motor towns and blses and are a force
to be seriously reckoned with.
The widespread attacks also maY be preparatory to
an impending 'offensive in the Khe Sanh-DMZ area where
an ominous concentration of North Vietnamese Army
units is located., (Map)
3.5(c)
31 Jan (38 2
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3.5(c)