The Tet Offensive was a series of battles in the Vietnam War. It was a major offensive by the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and the National Liberation Front (NLF) beginning on the night of January 30-31, 1968, Tết Nguyên Đán (the lunar new year day). It involved military action in most of the major cities in southern Vietnam and attacks on the US firebase at Khe Sanh. The attacks on Khe Sanh is usually considered separate from the actual Tet Offensive occurring at approximately the same time. The objective of the 1968 Tet Offensive was to take the Nationalist and the US armies by surprise since the North Vietnam's government proposed a ceasefire for the celebration of the Lunar New Year.

The US military response was uneven in the face of much conflicting intelligence. The belief that Khe Sanh was about to be a major battle was well established, MACV staff being certain that a decisive clash was imminent. The US base was reinforced and thousands of unattended ground sensors were scattered in the surrounding jungle in Operation Niagara . US intelligence identified at least 15,000 NVA troops in the vicinity.

Contents

1 Origins of the Tet Offensive 2 Battle of Khe Sanh 3 Battle of Hue 4 Saigon 5 Aftermath

Origins of the Tet Offensive

In 1967 the North Vietnamese politburo had decided that the war must be won militarily. The reasons for this are obscure, but it is thought that the military sufferings at the hands of the Americans during the past two years should not be sustained forever. In addition, Ho Chi Minh was approaching the threshold of death and the communists felt they needed a victory before that occurred.

General Giap's plan, which he himself opposed, was divided into three phases. In the first phase, the PAVN would launch attacks on the border regions of South Vietnam to draw American forces away from South Vietnamese cities. Giap knew he would pay dearly for this, but reasoned that it would be worth the cost. Phase two saw widespread attacks by the Vietcong all over South Vietnam's cities, which would prod the civilians into full fledged revolt against the 'hated' Americans and the South Vietnamese government. With the South Vietnamese government overthrown, the Americans would have no choice but to head to the coast and evacuate. Phase three would then begin as the Vietcong and NVA would inflict a bloody slaugter on the evacuating Americans.

This government also convinced the NLF that the offensive would stimulate an uprising. Had this been a success it would have been announced as a convincing argument that the NVA always honoured the Geneva Treaty but the people of South Vietnam rose to overthrow the oppressors themselves. The Viet Cong (VC) was disappointed that no uprising ensued. Instead, they had to pay for the crime committed by the NVA in Hue.

Giaps's plan was deeply flawed. When he launched the border battles that culminated into the Battle of Dak To the Americans were able to use their superior mobility to get back to the cities. Also, the South Vietnamese people had no general hatred against the Americans or the GVN. Indeed many fought energetically when the Tet Offensive was launched.

Battle of Khe Sanh

Main article: Battle of Khe Sanh

To the south the fighting began on January 29 as a number of NLF units began their attacks prematurely in four provincial towns. The rest of the NLF/NVA attacks began on the night of 30-31st. All but eight provincial capitals were attacked, five of the six autonomous cities, and 58 other major towns. Major attacks were aimed at Ban Me Thuot , Quang Nam, Dalat , My Tho , Can Tho, Ben Tre , Nha Trang, and Kontum. It was only in Huế, the ancient capital, and Saigon that the NVA had any significant success. The hope for popular uprising (khởi nghĩa) almost completely failed to occur, many South Vietnamese demonstrated stronger support for the ARVN.

Battle of Hue

Main article: Battle of Hue

The city of Hue was attacked by ten NVA battalions and almost completely overrun. Thousands of civilians believed to be potentially hostile to Communist control, including government officials, religious figures, and expatriate residents, were executed in what became known as the Massacre at Hue. The city was not recaptured by the US and ARVN forces until the end of February. The historical and cultural value of the city meant that the US did not apply air and artillery strikes as widely as in other cities, at least initially. Instead, US Marines, filmed by the US media, cleared the city street-by-street, heading gradually towards the fortified Citadel, the imperial palace, which was recaptured from NVA troops after four days of struggle. The US and ARVN lost 482 men and the NVA around 7,500.

Today, the Battle of Hue is perhaps best remembered from its cinematic depiction by director Stanley Kubrick in the 1987 film, Full Metal Jacket.

Saigon

There were a number of attacks in and around Saigon; around five battalions of NLF had infiltrated the city. Tân Sơn Nhất airbase, the headquarters of the ARVN and MACV, was attacked by around 700 men and there was heavy fighting but only 110 American casualties. Bien Hoa airbase was also attacked and twenty aircraft were destroyed. The Vietnamese casualties in these two assaults and other actions in Saigon were over 1,100 men but they took control of large parts of the city. Fighting lasted almost a week and some sections of the city were badly damaged by US airstrikes and artillery, the suburb of Cholon was very badly damaged as fighting there lasted into mid-February. One especially potent assault was on the US Embassy by twenty NLF commandos. While quickly contained, it was a highly symbolic incident that produced memorable images.

Aftermath

The NLF and the NVA lost around 35,000 men killed, 60,000 wounded and 6,000 POWs for no military success. The US and ARVN dead totalled around 3,900 (1,100 US). But this was not the conflict as the US public saw it. US media reports of the battles shocked both the American public and its politicians. Apparently the depth of the US reaction surprised even the North Vietnamese leadership.

The NVA suffered a heavy military defeat but it is widely seen to have been an enormous psychological and propaganda victory. Until the Tet Offensive, General William Westmoreland's now-infamous public reports of the progress of the Vietnam War were highly fictionalized and exaggerated to appear positive for the American public, often using exaggerated bodycounts and other inflated numbers. Developing reports of the Tet Offensive severely undercut the upbeat war propaganda of the Johnson administration and The Pentagon, and served to unite previously divided public opinion towards opposing the war. When the news broke that a squad of VC had gained access to the American Embassy in Saigon, the event quickly came to epitomize the disparity between the facts and official statements, despite the squad's ineffectiveness and rapid subdual. Support for the Vietnam War began to steadily erode from that point on, until the release of the Pentagon Papers largely confirmed the deliberate practice of "covering-up" various facts about the progress of the war. After the Tet Offensive, the main issue of public debate would be "how to securely withdraw" from the war without losing a "hearts and minds" Cold War battle against then-enemy Soviet Union and its system of communism.

The heavy US shelling of Ben Tre produced the famous quote, "it became necessary to destroy the town in order to save it."

Khe Sanh was abandoned by the US on June 23,1968.