 On 16 February the 1/5 Marines advanced approximately 140 meters for a cost of seven Marines killed and 47 wounded and 63 PAVN killed.That day at a meeting at Phu Bai between Generals Abrams, LaHue, Trưởng and South Vietnamese Vice President Nguyễn Cao Kỳ, Kỳ approved the use of all necessary force to clear the PAVN-VC forces from the Citadel, regardless of damage to historic structures.On the night of 16 February a radio intercept indicated that a battalion-size PAVN force was about to launch a counterattack over the west wall of the Citadel.