Word: xu
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Changed Tactics. The strategist behind the siege is Colonel Tran Dinh Xu, the Communist commander for the capital district. At night, his rocketeers slip to within range of the city, often using, for the sake of speed, crude earthworks and bamboo racks rather than unwieldy launcher tubes to aim their whispering death on Saigon. Easily broken down into sections-a 2-lb. fuse, a 41-lb. warhead and a 59-lb. motor section-the rockets can be carried by porters, are quickly assembled and fired by a crew of only three men. The missiles are not notably precise...
...Colonel Xu's infantry tactics reflect the lessons he learned during the Tet offensive when he threw whole battalions into the city only to see them badly battered. Now he slips small, squad-size units-ten infantrymen and two or three women who handle the cooking-past South Vietnamese defense perimeters and the cordons formed by the U.S. 9th and 25th Divisions. Once inside the city, the team deploys in three sections-one to fight, a second to dig a maze of underground tunnels for quick movement and escape, a third to rest. On a rotation basis, the system...