"This well-documented narrative by former U.S. Army Captain George W. Smith is the most complete account to date of the longest continuous battle of the Vietnam War."--Jacket. "Charged with monitoring the huge civilian press corps that descended on Hue during the Tet offensive, Captain Smith, an information adviser to South Vietnam's 1st Infantry Division, was an eyewitness to the twenty-five-day struggle. He recounts the separate, poorly coordinated battles that were fought in the retaking of the city, documenting the little known contributions of the brave South Vietnamese forces who prevented the Citadel area of Hue from being overrun, and who then assisted the U.S. Marine Corps in evicting the North Vietnamese Army. He also tells of the social and political upheaval in the city, reporting the execution of nearly 3,000 civilians by the NVA and the Vietcong."--BOOK JACKET. "The tenacity of the NVA forces in Hue earned the respect of the allied troops on the field and triggered a sequence of attitudinal changes in the United States. It was those changes, Smith suggests, that eventually led the United States to abandon the war."--Jacket.

List of Photographs -- Preface -- Chronology -- Next Sop, Vietnam -- The Lotus Flower -- Staying Alive -- to the Rescue -- Help for the Citadel -- Facing the Unknown -- Total War -- The Tide Turns -- Live, from Hue -- The Citadel -- A Jump Start -- The Beginning of the End -- Credit the ARVN -- The Aftermath -- Selected Bibliography -- Index -- About the Book