February 3, 1968: There was no compelling reason for a U.S. infantry battalion to assault a fortified North Vietnamese Army force two hundred yards away with no artillery or air support. The defenders had every advantage.... A harrowing firsthand account of one of the earliest and bloodiest engagements of the Tet Offensive, this revised edition of Charles A. Krohn's masterwork of warfare gone tragically wrong remains as vital and incisive as when it first appeared, its lessons more relevant than ever. Why an ill-equipped U.S. infantry battalion was ordered to attack an overpowering North Vietnamese force -- a military foul-up resulting in more than 65 percent casualties for the 2d Battalion, 12th Cavalry -- is the bloodstained mystery Krohn lays bare even after the U.S. Army attempted to wipe the incident from official records. Captured here, too, are the supreme efforts of one bold commander to save the lives of his men and bring the doomed mission back from the brink of total disaster.