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6 / Summer 1968—Bracing for the Enemy’s “Third Wave” Offensive 24 July 1968 It has now been two days, but the time blows by so quickly I seem to lose track. We experienced two rocket attacks at FLC that resulted in four killed and thirty-nine injured. Many of those injured, I understand, are from bunker injuries that happened when people ran from their huts through walls, stumped their toes, and so on. The Army unit next to us suffered two dead and some thirty wounded, and the Navy Seabees camp on the beach took one dead and two wounded. Two of our dead and nineteen of our wounded came when a bunker took a direct hit, exploding it like a deck of cards. When the attack began, everyone in that immediate area ran to that unlucky bunker, and there was a hundred-to-one chance that it would be hit. Another of our dead was killed on perimeter defense, and the fourth was killed by the accidental discharge of one of our own mortars. He was part of a motor crew firing illumination rounds when one of the rounds dropped in the tube had a hang fire. The crew kicked the tube and waited a minute to let it cool and then tilted it to let the round slide out of the tube where it could be disarmed. When the tube was tilted, it was so hot that the gunner could not hold it. Then, as he was letting it back down to the ground, he carelessly put his head over the barrel when the round cooked off. The shell took half of his head off. Apparently, most, if not all, of our fatalities have come from head wounds. People peek out to see what is happening and take a big chunk of shrapnel between the ears, or when the rounds begin to detonate, they start running instead of hitting the ground and are cut down. Bracing for the “Third Wave” Offensive 41 We received intelligence reports last night that the NVA and VC are ready to launch their long-awaited new offensive and that we should expect new attacks, but nothing has materialized as yet. The prevalent mood is pregnant with expectation, and I have used the time to have every man get his gear into shape and draw ammunition and pyrotechnics and to accelerate our training. Yesterday, I drove around in a jeep getting a firsthand view of the different designated penetration points that my company could be ordered to react to and familiarizing myself with the terrain. Going along the road, I passed long convoys of trucks, armored cars, and tanks. The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) camps were beehives of activity as they prepared for the attack. I drove out to the various combined action units in our tactical area of responsibility to gauge their ability to hold out and how best I could react to their defense. For the first time, I noticed many of the children were not laughing and waving at us but were frowning; some even threw small rocks. We drove over to First Marine Division, where I had an excellent briefing . Captured documents show the enemy objective to be Da Nang, which is the most important U.S./ARVN center in I Corps and the supply, command , and troop and communication center of this area. The enemy has plans for a twofold attack. First, they want to start their attack with sapper assaults by trained demolition experts on major installations in the city and around the air base, which are, second, to be followed by infantry attacks from NVA units, who will infiltrate the city and occupy key positions similar to the prior Tet attacks in Hue and Saigon. Their objectives include rendering the air base inoperable and occupying and destroying large areas of the dock facilities. They will mount attacks on the headquarters area of III Marine Amphibious Forces, the naval security administration headquarters , the town hall, the radio station, the main bridge, and the market area and then otherwise attempt to force a battle of destruction in the heart of the city. They have three possible approach routes; one is through the mountain passes from the west, another is out of the mountains to the southwest of the airfield, and the last is south down the coast through Ap Nam O village and FLC. If this third route turns out to be the...

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