The Citadel of Hue resembled nothing so much as the ruins of Monte Cassino after allied bombs had reduced it to rubble. An avalanche of bricks littered the streets and open spaces, and loose piles of masonry provided cover for both sides in the battle for the fortress. With every explosion of bomb or shell, the air turned red with choking brick dust. Having fought through Hué block by block, house by house, then yard by yard, the U.S. Marines were now engaged in what a company commander called a “brick-by-brick fight” to drive the North Vietnamese the Citadel.

TIME, Friday, Mar. 01, 1968