men and designated BD 5 and BD 222 respectively, which conferred the National Police the capacity to engage independently in either defensive or offensive actions according to its mission of operational defense. Based at Saigon, BD 5 was in fact an enlarged battalion since it fielded, in addition to one headquarters' (HQ) company, 12 to 14 combat companies of four platoons each. The battalion operated on the wider Saigon-Gia Định region, assigned to the Saigon Municipal Police Directorate (Vietnamese: Tổng cục cảnh sát thành phố Sài Gòn) which was encharged with the internal security and internal defense of the capital. During the Tet Offensive in January 1968 the unit was committed in the defense of President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu's residence, the Independence Palace alongside other National Police and ARVN units, distinguishing itself at the battles for the Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Cholon, the Phu Tho Racetrack and the Cha Tam Church, where they inflicted heavy losses on attacking VC units. Also headquartered at Saigon, BD 222, a smaller battalion with just six combat companies, was in turn assigned to the General Reserve (Vietnamese: Tổng dự trữ) of the National Police as a quick reaction unit that could be deployed nationwide, being tasked with specific missions and reinforcement duties. Engaged in Saigon during the Tet in 1968, the field policemen of BD 222 succeeded in flushing out the VC "Sappers" (Vietnamese: Đắc Cộng) entrenched in the National Radio Broadcasting Station building, located a few hundred meters away from the American Embassy, but also fought elsewhere. Between 1968 and 1975, the Battalion's combat companies were deployed at various times and locations throughout the country, engaging in defensive and offensive operations in conjunction with other National Police or ARVN units at Huế, Da Nang, Bình Định, Tuyên Duế, Gia Định, Long An, Biên Hòa, and Phú Quốc Island. When the city of An Lộc was besieged in April 1972 during the Easter Offensive by three People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) armoured divisions, BD 222 was rushed in to bolster the city's defenses and successfully held its ground against repeated assaults by enemy tanks. Police Special Recon Teams Reconnaissance and scouting missions were performed by the combat trackers of the Special Recon Teams – SRT (Vietnamese: Trịnh Sát Đắc Biêt – TSDB). Recruited from ethnic minorities such as the Khmer Krom, Cham, Nùng or the Degar hill tribes (a.k.a. Montagnards in French), they