Death in the Imperial City: U.S. Marines in the Battle for Hue 31 January to 2 March 1968

Within the context of the Vietnam War, the battle for Hue City stands as an example of urban warfare and how the U.S. military and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam were able to secure victory in the face of severe odds. This commemorative begins with an overview of the city and its geographical, political, and cultural importance to the region. According to Buddhist myth, the picturesque city of Hue, the provincial capital of Thua Thien Province and the former imperial capital of Vietnam, sprang to life as a lotus flower blossoming in a puddle of mud.* Hue is located on a bend of the Huong or Perfume River, a major waterway running from the western foothills to the sea. The river provides an excellent supply route from the South China Sea only seven kilometers northeast of the city. The mountain slopes of the Annamite Chain (or Giai Truong Son) begin an equal distance away and the Laotian border lies another 50 miles farther west. In between the mountains and the border are the A Shau Valley and the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the major North Vietnamese infiltration and supply route to the south. The narrow 25-mile long A Shau Valley, known as Base Area 114, served *Some of the content in the following work was originally published in 1997 by Jack Shulimson, LtCol Leonard A. Blasiol (USMC), Charles R. Smith, and Capt David A. Dawson (USMC) in U.S. Marines in Vietnam: The Defining Year, 1968. as an arm of the Ho Chi Minh Trail and provided an important sanctuary from which Communist forces could launch their attacks on the population centers along the coast. The Annamite Chain presented a formidable obstacle that prevented allied forces from penetrating into the interior of the country except by helicopter.