Tết Mậu Thân - Documentary photos provided by LIFE


LIFE Feb 16, 1968 - Một ngày đặc biệt ở Huế - Quân địch cho phép tôi chụp hình họ
A remarkable day in Huế - The enemy let me take his picture. by Catherine Leroy - LIFE Feb 16, 1968


A tense interlude in Huế. LIFE Feb 16, 1968


LIFE Feb 16, 1968


LIFE Feb 16, 1968


LIFE Feb 16, 1968


Quân Bắc Việt tiến vào thành nội Huế tết Mậu Thân 1968


Huế Feb 1968


Marines of Co. C, 1st Battalion, Fifth Regiment, are engaged in a fire fight in the streets during Operation Hue City. 19 Feb 68


Defense position – A Marine uses a tree for cover as he returns fire at a North Vietnamese position during street fighting in Hue.


Marines effectively use walls and buildings as cover during their advance against the enemy.


Street Shield - Marines use a M-48 tank as cover as they advance during street fighting in Hue, Feb. 3,1968.


US sharpshooters in Hue, South Vietnam monitor the streets below their tower for Vietcong targets. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


Under Fire – A Leatherneck moves out under intense enemy . 50 caliber machine gun fire during heavy street fighting taking place in the old Imperial Capital of Hue. Brigadier General Edwin H. Simmons Collection


After the Battle – “A” Co., First Battalion, First Regiment Marines leave church after successfully capturing it from North Vietnamese control during one of the bloody battles taking place in Hue. - Brigadier General Edwin H. Simmons Collection


U.S. Marines with machine guns ready, watch for enemy snipers on a street in Hue on February 7th. Allied dive bombers and U.S. warships bombarded a Communist suicide battalion in Hue’s walled fortress on February 15th, and American Marines and south Vietnam black panther troops charged into the flaming ruins to wipe out the Viet Cong. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


Throughout the city, buildings are still ruined from Tet. Hue City - Tommy Carver Collection


1968 Hue damage after Viet Cong attack - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


23 Feb 1968, Hue, South Vietnam. Marines smoke and chat as they relax at a command post in Hue. – Image by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS


A US Marine carries a seriously wounded Vietnamese child from the ruins of a home in Hue. - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


24 Feb 68 - in the streets of Hue on the north side of the Perfumed River - Peter Braestrup Collection





Hue 1968 - Marine armored vehicle, armed with 6 recoilless guns, patrols streets of Hue


25 Feb 1968, Hue, Vietnam – U.S. Army Patrol During Offensive on Hue – Image by © Christian Simonpietri/Sygma/Corbis


February 1968, Hue, Vietnam – Evacuation of wounded American troops during the battle for Hue, Vietnam’s third largest city, during the Vietnam War. – Image by © Christian Simonpietri/Sygma/Corbis


01 Feb 1968, Hue, South Vietnam – U. S. Marines are on the move here during street-to-street fighting against heavily entrenched Communist positions in the ancient royal capital of Hue. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


03 Feb 1968, Hue, South Vietnam – A marine machine gun position overlooks a part of the old imperial capital of Hue here, during a house-to-house battle with Viet Cong. American spokesmen said the Communist had lost more than 15,000 dead since they started their sneak offensive. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


01 Feb 1968, Hue, South Vietnam – Vietnamese Refugees Fleeing – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


01 Feb 1968, Hue, South Vietnam – US Marines Standing on Hue Streets – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


February 1968, Hue, South Vietnam – U.S. Marines charge through streets as fighting continues between Allied and Communist forces. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


February 1968, Hue, South Vietnam – U. S. Marine medics treat a wounded fellow Marine whose face is almost completely covered with blood. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


01 Feb 1968, Hue, South Vietnam – 2/1/1968-Hue, South Vietnam: Civlians carrying a white flag approach U.S. Marines, following a lull in street fighting between Allied units and the Viet Cong. Many civilians were driven from their homes in the bloody street fighting in this ancient city. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


02 Mar 1968, Hue, South Vietnam – A Final Farewell. Hue, South Vietnam: A bereaved South Vietnamese family watches as a grave is dug for a relative here. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


03 Feb 1968, Hue – Terrified Vietnamese Civilians in City of Hue 1968 – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


2/5/1968-Hue, South Vietnam: A U.S. Marine ducks for cover while radioing information during fierce fighting here. The Marines stormed in to enemy held houses, throwing canisters of tear gas and non poisonous nausea gas, but enemy forces donned gas masks and held onto most of the city. U.S. officers reported that the stiff resistance by the enemy meant that the battle for hue could drag on for days, perhaps even weeks. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


05 Feb 1968, Hue, South Vietnam – A US marine fights from a ditch in Hue, South Vietnam as other marines drag a wounded colleague to safety. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


06 Feb 1968, Hue, South Vietnam – U.S. Marines hold a Viet Cong flag they ripped down from atop the Thua Thien Province headquarters, and then replaced it with the stars and stripes. The leathernecks recaptured the Communist stronghold after seven days of street fighting. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


2/10/1968-Hue, South Vietnam- A sobbing Vietnamese girl hobbles down a Hue Street after being treated for wounds she suffered when her home came under fire in battle between well-entrenched communist forces and US Marines trying to root them out. Them communists have shown their greatest tenacity of the current offensive at Hue. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


11 Feb 1968, Hue, South Vietnam – With a wounded baby in her arms, an elderly Vietnamese woman makes a plea for help as she arrives at a U.S. Marine aid station. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


11 Feb 1968, Hue, South Vietnam – South Vietnamese Woman Carrying Her Wounded Son – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


07 Feb 1968, Hue, South Vietnam – Residents of Hue, South Vietnam sift through the rubble of their destroyed homes after a week of fighting in the Vietnam War. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


13 Mar 1968, Hue, South Vietnam – Children Trip Viet Cong Mine. Hue, South Vietnam: Two miles south of here March 9th, a group of Vietnamese children accidentally tripped a Viet Cong mine meant to blow up vehicles carrying 82nd Airborne troops into Hue. Here a member of the 82nd stands near site of the blast while Vietnamese woman in foreground tries to aid her husband injured by mine fragments. A number of the children also were seriously injured in the explosion. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


13 Feb 1968, Hue, South Vietnam – U.S. Marines and South Vietnamese troopers on street with refugees soon to be evacuated. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


13 Feb 1968, Hue, South Vietnam – U.S Marines eat a bowl of rice which was served to them by a South Vietnamese woman. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


16 Feb 1968, Hue, South Vietnam – A U. S. Marine fires his M-16 over the crest of the wall near the Citadel of Hue after fighting for hours to gain the top. The battle for Hue has already run 18 days and the Communist apparently intend to hold out to the last man. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


17 Feb 1968, Hue, South Vietnam – Hue, South Vietnam: The charred remains of a Viet Cong soldier lie amid rubble in street where a U.S. Marine stands on the alert for further confrontations with Communist forces. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


19 Feb 1968, Hue, South Vietnam – U.S. Marine medics treat the head wound of a North Vietnamese soldier who was found below an outer citadel wall. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


Hue damage after Viet Cong attack - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


19 Feb 1968, South Vietnam – A mother clutches her child as she makes her way through the crowds of refugees, crossing the wreckage of a bridge, on the Perfume River. – Image by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS


19 Feb 1968, Hue, South Vietnam – Two US marines lean against the wall of a destroyed home in Hue, Vietnam near the bodies of two Vietcong soldiers who were inside at the time of the attack. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


Huế - Tết Mậu Thân 1968


Huế - Tết Mậu Thân 1968


Huế - Tết Mậu Thân 1968


Huế - Tết Mậu Thân 1968


Huế - Tết Mậu Thân 1968


Huế - Tết Mậu Thân 1968


ARVN Forces and civilians aid a woman wounded in Hue during the communist Tet offensive in the imperial city - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


A U.S. Marine machine gunner fires on communists positions across the Perfume River in the imperial city of Hue - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


Thành cổ Huế đổ nát tan tành trong trận đánh tết Mậu Thân 1968


Cửa Hiển Nhơn trong trận chiến Tết Mậu Thân 1968


Civilians run to escape enemy fire during the 26-day battle for Hue Citadel - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


Refugees fled from communist-controlled areas of the city... - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


1968 Refugees crossing the Perfume River at Truong Tien Bridge outside of Hue - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


refugees fled from communist-controlled areas of the city


Hue- Aftermath (June 1968) Bridge still down but much else rebuilt. MACV compond is in lower left corner, Citadel bastions on other side of Perfume River - Peter Braestrup Collection


Citadel Hue City Feb. ‘68 - Barry Brown Collection


Walter Cronkite and CBS Camera Crew use jeep for dolly, during interview with Commanding Officer of First Battalion, First Marine Regiment during battle of Hue City. Marines furnish CBS with camera dolly (jeep), supporting cast (riflemen), and interviewee (battalion commander) - Peter Braestrup Collection


Colonel Lê Văn Thận, young and competent mayor of Hue and chief of Thừa Thiên Province is the sparkplug behind the rehabilitation of Huế following the communists’ February 1968 attack. He is a native of Hà Đông, 20 kilometers from Hanoi. - photo by Francois Sully


Victory At Hue - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


Victory At Hue - 1968 Exuberant soldiers unfurl their national colors on the south wall of the Citadel, overlooking the Perfume River - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


Vietnamese soldiers celebrate their victory over the North Vietnamese invaders of Hue with the raising of their national colors on the 200-foot flag pole - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


Victory At Hue - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


Hue Flagpole at old citadel


Bia chiến sĩ trận vong phía trước trường Quốc Học
The Old Imperial Palace of the Vietnamese Emperors at Hue City - Tommy Carver Collection


Nhà ga Huế
Hue Railroad Station - Curtis Knapp Collection


Hue refugees, people in front of building - Louis Weisner Collection


Hue refugees, people in front of building - Louis Weisner Collection


Students arriving in Hue to help with the refugee work. Mar. 1968 - Photo by Francois Sully


An old woman and daughter evacuating Hue, Mar. 1968 - Photo by Francois Sully


Hue 1968 - Nguyen Van Winkle
Ông lão này tại một ngôi làng gần Huế há hốc miệng ngạc nhiên khi biết được về cuộc tổng tấn công thành phố Huế trong tháng trước đó. Ngôi làng của ông đã bị cắt đứt với thế giới vì các hoạt động của quân địch và không nghe biết gì về những tin tức xảy ra trước đó.


Hue, South Vietnam – Refugees whose homes had been wrecked during the bloody 25-day battle for this ancient imperial city start building a crude shelter here.


Hue, South Vietnam – Residents, refugees and soldiers file through the messy ruins of a street in Hue. The crowd came to inspect the damage after South Vietnamese troops blasted their way through a gate of the Imperial Palace to win the bloody 25-day battle for the ancient imperial city. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


22 Mar 1968, Hue, South Vietnam – Bridging a River. Hue, South Vietnam: When the Communists retreated across the Perfume River during the recent battle for Hue, they blew up the bridge as they went. Once the city calmed down after the Allies regained control, a set of temporary bridges on pontoons was built across the downed middle section of the span. Here, Vietnamese start their trip from the old section of Hue to the new by walking down the shattered span. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


Hue Massacre Major Body Finds. MAP12090311 Vietnam Archive Map Collection - Vietnam Center and Archive


Hue 1969 - Dedication - The white obelisk, a memorial to the PSDF members of Thua Thien Province killed while defending their fellow villagers - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


Populace watches as officials arrange coffins in front of memorial obelisk. 14 October 1969 - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


Lễ cải táng các nạn nhân tết Mậu Thân 1968 tại Huế


Than khóc khi tìm được xác người thân bị tàn sát dịp Tết Mậu Thân 1968 tại Huế


People assembled on hillside to mourn Tet Offensive victims. 04 October 1969 - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


Family and friends prepare the body of Mr. Le Ngoc Ky, 50, a prominent citizen of Hue and leader of the influential Quoc Dan Dang political party. He left 10 children. - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


1969 - Label on the shrouded remains of a Tet Offensive victim describing teeth, color of hair, foot wear, and other possessions found with the body. - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


1971 Shrouded remains of Tet Offensive victims prepared for reburial. - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


Weeping Women – Two grieving women walk through a school yard where remains of 250 victims found in a mass grave near Hue were spread for identification - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


Rows of coffins of victims of the 1968 Tet Viet Cong offensive. Bereaved relatives mourn their dead during mass funeral of 250 persons killed by Viet cong. Funeral was held October 1969 as bodies were only recently discovered. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


Rows of coffins of victims of the 1968 Tet Viet Cong offensive.


Rows of coffins of victims of the 1968 Tet Viet Cong offensive.























1971 Vietnamese women cleaning a grave - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


Women examining wire used to bind the hands of Tet Offensive victims. - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


Hue ‘Death March’ Victims Found at New Atrocity Site - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


Mass grave of Communists victims was uncovered in Khe Da Mai (Hue) - Patrick J. Honey Collection - Vietnam Center and Archive


Hue - Volunteer Civil Defense workers unload some of the 136 bodies of VC hostages recently found along the sandy beaches south of Hue. - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


Mass grave of Communists victims was uncovered in Khe Da Mai (Hue) - Patrick J. Honey Collection


The people of Hue held a mass funeral recently for the 136 victims of the 1968 Tet offensive. - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


Mass grave of Communists victims was uncovered in Khe Da Mai (Hue) - Patrick J. Honey Collection


Mass funeral for 136 victims of Communist Tet offensive (1968) in Hue. - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


Elderly couple standing under umbrella in cemetery. [14 October 1969] - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


Hue - 1968


Bodies exhumed after 3 weeks internment in shallow graves in the Gia Hoi primary school in Hue lay covered with available material await proper burial - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


Wife, family, and friends of Le Ngoc Ky, 50, a prominent citizen of Hue mourn as he is prepared for proper burial after body was located in field of shallow mass graves - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


Lt. Le Kim Ngoc (left) held paper lining of casket as his father who was arrested and assassinated by VC forces in Hue is laid to rest in proper burial - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


Young woman holding photo of Vietnamese soldier. [14 October 1969] - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


4 tình nguyện viên Y khoa người Đức gồm GS Alois Altekeestar, giáo sư y học tổng quát; Horst Krainer, GS nhi khoa; cùng vợ, Elizabeth; và Raimund Discar, GS nội khoa, đang cộng tác giảng dạy tại ĐH Huế đã bị sát hại trong cuộc tấn công tết Mậu Thân. Thi thể của họ được tìm thấy trong một hố chôn cạn cách phía nam Huế khoảng 1,5 km vào ngày 5/4/1968. - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


Buddhist Rites in Tu Dam Pagoda also commemorated the dead. Both Buddhist and Catholic faiths are strong in Hue, and both lost thousands of members in the massacre - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


1971 Buddhist monks praying before an altar. - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


1971 Vietnamese catholic woman in mourning - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


1971 Vietnamese woman in mourning. - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


1971 Day of Mourning – Third annual commemoration ceremonies for the 5,000 victims of the 1968 Hue Massacre began in Phu Cam Catholic Church - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


Buddhist mourn Lives Lost at Hue During Communist Tet Offensive - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


Banners noting commemoration of the victims of the Tet Offensive in Hue on 20 February 1968 behind a memorial flanked by two traditionally uniformed soldiers 20 Feb 1971. - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection


Hue 1968 - Colonel Le Van Than, province chief in Hue - Photo by Francois Sully


Hue 1968 - Colonel Than with Army of the Republic of Vietnam officer; Hue - Photo by Francois Sully


Hue 1969 - Worked In Shifts - Province Chief, Colonel Le Van Than (right), visited the sea-wall repair site frequently during the rally - Douglas Pike Photograph Collection





Father Bửu Đồng’s funeral


Hue 1968


Huế 1968 - Chiến tranh, nhưng việc vặt hàng ngày vẫn phải làm


25 Feb 1968, Hue, South Vietnam – South Vietnamese return to their war-ruined homes following the end of the month long Communist offensive. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


25 Feb 1968, Hue, Vietnam – Corpses in Rubble During U.S. Army Offensive on Hue – Image by © Christian Simonpietri/Sygma/Corbis


25 Feb 1968, Hue, Vietnam – Injured Vietnamese on Street During Army Offensive on Hue – Image by © Christian Simonpietri/Sygma/Corbis


22 Mar 1968, Perfume River, Hue, South Vietnam – Pedestrians make their way up the existing span of the Bach Ho Bridge after carefully crossing the makeshift center span. The bridge near Hue, South Vietnam, had been partially destroyed during the Tet Offensive of the Vietnam War. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


22 Mar 1968, Hue, South Vietnam – Pedestrians carefully cross the makeshift center span of a bridge that has been partially destroyed during the Vietnam War near Hue, South Vietnam. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


19 Feb 1968, South Vietnam – Hoards of Vietnamese make their way across the wreckage of a bridge which spans the Perfume, or Huong, River. – Image by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS


Vietnamese Woman And Baby, Two Of The Refugees Crossing The Perfume River. – Image by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS


1968, Hue, South Vietnam – Refugees flee across this bridge over the Perfume River to escape Tet fighting in Hue. The bridge was soon dropped into the river by the Communists. Vietnam, 1968. – Image by © CORBIS


1968, South Vietnam – Young and elderly Vietnamese flee across a pontoon bridge, erected beside the wreckage of a previous structure, which spans the Perfume, or Huong, River. – Image by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS


1968, near Hue, South Vietnam – The old and the young flee Tet offensive fighting in Hue, managing to reach the south shore of the Perfume River despite this blown bridge, 1968. – Image by © CORBIS


06 Feb 1968, Hue, South Vietnam – Vietnamese refugees cooking and washing outside Hue University where they sought shelter after Allied forces entered the imperial capital to battle Communists. – Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS


1968, Hue, Vietnam – A father carries a yoke on his back containing his two sons as he returns to the rubble of Hue, Vietnam. – Image by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS