On 31 January the VC attacked 13 of the 16 provincial capitals in the
Mekong Delta and captured large sections of Mỹ Tho,
Cai Lậy, Bến Tre,
Cái Bè and
Vĩnh Long. Within 16 hours of the first attack, the VC controlled virtually the entire city and a string of fishing villages on the south bank of the Bến Tre River. The only territory still in Allied hands was a four-square-block area surrounding the MACV compound, the Provincial headquarters, the main
Republic of Vietnam National Police station and an ARVN logistics compound. Two battalions from the ARVN 10th Regiment were trying to fight their way into town, but the regimental commander had been killed leading an attack. With the U.S.
Mobile Riverine Force (MRF) focused on saving Mỹ Tho, Bến Tre's defenders had to rely mainly on airpower and naval gunfire support from
Patrol Boat, Rivers (PBRs) of
U.S. Navy River Section 534 to keep the VC from completely overrunning their positions. PBRs 7-20 and 7-21 were patrolling along the
Hàm Luông River not far from Bến Tre when they heard gunfire coming from the city. They first thought that Vietnamese soldiers might be celebrating Tết, but soon noticed the telltale green VC
tracer rounds and moved down the Bến Tre River to investigate. About down the river they came across six
Republic of Vietnam Navy LCVPs along the north bank firing at targets on the south bank. Shortly thereafter, the MACV Compound requested gunfire support from the PBRs, and the boats headed up the river to assist. They soon came under fire from the VC, but low tide and high riverbanks made it difficult for the VC gunners to hit the PBRs, and most of the rounds passed harmlessly over the boats. The PBRs'
.50-caliber machine guns returned fire with a combination of full-metal jacket, red tracer and
armor-piercing incendiary (API) rounds at the VC. Less than a minute after the firefight began the VC guns went silent and the shooting subsided. The two PBRs then idled offshore from the MACV compound before being relieved by PBRs 7-13 and 7-14, and they headed to , anchored on the Hàm Luông River, for more fuel and ammunition. PBRs 7-13 and 7-14 got as far as the Bến Tre Bridge when they were hit by fire from the south bank of the canal. A rocket or mortar round hit PBR 7-14, lightly wounding several crewmen. Other PBRs, some from other river sections, soon began arriving on-scene, and their gunfire began killing VC trying to cross the bridge from the south to the north bank near the Bến Tre Marketplace (). PBR 7-18 a Mark II PBR outfitted with a 60mm mortar, shelled targets near the MACV compound with
white phosphorus and high explosive rounds. Sailors equipped with
M72 LAW rockets fired on VC hiding in buildings, setting them on fire. Other buildings were burned down with API and tracer rounds. VC
Rocket-propelled grenades hit PBR 7-18, knocking out its controls. PBRs 7-17 and 7-16 soon rushed to the aid of the crippled boat, expending nearly all of their machine-gun ammunition trying to neutralize fire from the south bank. All boats were hit by small arms fire, and the 7-18 took over 40 hits before it was finally towed to safety by PBR 7-16. Air support began arriving just after the marketplace attack. Among the first to reach the scene were Navy helicopters from
HA(L)-3, which immediately began attacking VC positions near the MACV Compound. Other aircraft soon followed, including
U.S. Air Force AC-47 Spooky gunships. USS
Harnett County also lent firepower to the effort by attacking targets near the confluence of the Bến Tre and Hàm Luông Rivers. During the course of the offensive, the
Harnett Countys
Bofors 40 mm guns delivered over 20,000 rounds of API shells in the Bến Tre area, destroying 30 structures, three bunkers, a sampan, and a brick factory. At 18:10 on 1 February, reinforcements from the US
9th Infantry Division began arriving at Bến Tre. Company B, 3rd Battalion,
39th Infantry Regiment and Company B, 2nd Battalion,
60th Infantry Regiment landed by helicopter in the MACV Compound to bolster its defensive perimeter. On the morning of 2 February the rest of the 3/39th Infantry was landed at the MACV Compound and the 2/39th Infantry was landed east of the city and moved west in an attempt to link up with the 3rd Battalion, which was supposed to break out from its defensive position and begin moving east. Both units encountered fierce opposition. Unfamiliar with urban warfare, the 3rd Battalion fought a slow, house-by-house advance, until it stalled near the main highway on the eastern edge of the city unable to advance further and link up with its sister battalion. The 2nd Battalion encountered a battalion-size force of VC, forcing it to move from its landing zones to the northern edge of the city. By this point the two battalions had lost 16 soldiers and were completely pinned down, unable to advance. Air support was called in on the eastern portion of the city with seven sorties going into one eight-block area. These strikes broke up the VC formations and forced them to flee across open rice fields, where they were attacked by helicopter gunships, artillery and fixed-wing strikes. With the air support, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions began making significant progress. The brick factory, near the mouth of the Bến Tre River (), was one of the last structures destroyed. A group of VC holdouts had retreated to the beehive-shaped structure and the Army tried to negotiate a surrender, but the VC refused. Rather than sending troops into the building, the Army requested 40mm gunfire support from the
Harnett County, which destroyed the building. After three days of relatively light fighting, these units cleared the area of VC and on 5 February returned to
Dong Tam Base Camp. As the 3rd Brigade's after-action report stated, "With the enemy in control of virtually the entire city, it became a matter of door-to-door, street-by-street advance under constant sniper fire to drive him [the Viet Cong] out in the open." ==Aftermath==