Tet Offensive

Tet Offensive, attacks staged by North Vietnamese forces beginning in the early hours of January 31, 1968, during the Vietnam War. The Tet Offensive consisted of simultaneous attacks by some 85,000 troops under the direction of the North Vietnamese government. The attacks were carried out against five major South Vietnamese cities, dozens of military installations, and scores of towns and villages throughout South Vietnam. The offensive was a crushing tactical defeat for the North, but it struck a sharp psychological blow that eroded support for the war among the American public and political establishment. The offensive derives its name from the Vietnamese New Year holiday, during which the attacks occurred.

The North Vietnamese attack

In July 1967 North Vietnam’s communist leaders decided to gamble upon a course of action that would ideally break the stalemate between North Vietnam and U.S.-backed South Vietnam. For the North Vietnamese government, the best result would be a galvanizing of discontent in the South that would, in turn, force the collapse of the government and army of South Vietnamese leader Nguyen Van Thieu. Alternatively, the offensive could convince the United States that it could not win the war.

By December 1967 there were indications to U.S. military commanders in the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) that the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese were preparing for a major military campaign. The offensive was preceded by broadcasts from the clandestine “Liberation Radio” network, in which the Alliance of National, Democratic, and Peace Forces—an urban front group established by the Viet Cong—exhorted the South Vietnamese people to rise in open revolt against the Saigon government. Citizens were called on “to side with the ranks of the people and to give their arms and ammunition to the revolutionary armed forces.” In the event, this cooperation largely failed to materialize.

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Vietnam War Events

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Gulf of Tonkin incident

August 2, 1964 - August 4, 1964

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

August 5, 1964

Battle of Ia Drang

November 14, 1965 - November 18, 1965

Tet Offensive

January 31, 1968

My Lai Massacre

March 16, 1968

Fall of Saigon

March 4, 1975 - April 30, 1975

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Despite these advance warnings, when the North Vietnamese offensive began in the early morning hours of January 30–31, 1968, it was larger and more intense than U.S. intelligence had anticipated. In sudden attacks on urban areas throughout South Vietnam, North Vietnamese forces struck and briefly held portions of Saigon and 36 of the country’s 44 provincial capitals. In Saigon, attackers penetrated both the presidential palace and the compound of the U.S. embassy. North Vietnamese units in Cho Lon, a historically Chinese district west of Saigon, were blasted out in prolonged fighting that demolished large portions of the area. Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops occupied the walled fortress of Hue, Vietnam’s ancient capital, until they were finally driven out by U.S. and South Vietnamese forces on February 24. It was estimated that only 7,000 of Hue’s 17,000 homes were left standing after the battle for the city.

Outcome and casualties

The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong paid dearly for their deviation from the guerrilla warfare strategy that had so frustrated U.S. commanders. Initial United States Information Agency estimates placed the number of communists dead at 60,000 (a figure that was subsequently revised down), with 24,000 weapons captured. Never before had the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong suffered such casualties. Moreover, the South Vietnamese people rejected the North’s call to rebellion.

U.S. and South Vietnamese casualties numbered 12,727, including more than 2,600 fatalities. Although U.S. commanders generally held a low opinion of the Army of the Republic of South Vietnam (ARVN), South Vietnamese soldiers fought with bravery and tenacity during the Tet Offensive. This was especially true during the battle for Hue, where ARVN troops and U.S. Marines liberated the city after engaging in some of the fiercest close-quarters combat of the war. The South Vietnamese government reported that 7,721 civilians were killed in the fighting during the offensive, while an additional 18,516 were wounded. Throughout the country, some 75,000 homes were damaged or destroyed. More than 670,000 people were declared refugees, raising the total number of internally displaced persons in South Vietnam to some 1.5 million.

U.S. and South Vietnamese officials declared that the communists had suffered a resounding military defeat, and this was certainly the case. Communist leadership in Hanoi had gambled on a conventional assault that they thought would sweep aside ARVN forces and topple the “puppet” government in Saigon. Instead, the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong advance was checked by surprisingly resilient ARVN defenders, and most cities—with the notable exception of Hue—were liberated within days of the initial attack. In addition, the widespread loss of life and destruction of property triggered a decline in support for the Viet Cong among the South Vietnamese populace.

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The American response

During the initial phase of the offensive, the U.S. death toll in Vietnam increased to more than 500 per week, and, as the casualty numbers rose, U.S. public support for the war effort declined. Much of the American public viewed the Tet Offensive as a sign of the undying North Vietnamese aggression and will. The role of the U.S. media in fostering and furthering this belief in North Vietnamese strength during that period has been a topic of study and argument, and the Tet Offensive certainly produced some of the most enduring images of the war. Associated Press photographer Eddie Adams captured the summary execution of a suspected Viet Cong officer by South Vietnamese Gen. Nguyen Ngoc Loan on the streets of Saigon, and his photo would bring the brutality of the war to the front page of newspapers around the world. Whatever the impetus, the American public grew increasingly vehement in its opposition to the continued presence of U.S. soldiers in Vietnam, and the gulf between the inevitably politically driven administration and what the military saw as the most effective means of fighting the war became even larger.

On March 10, 1968, The New York Times ran a story under the headline “Westmoreland Requests 206,000 More Men, Stirring Debate in Administration.” This request galvanized the public and convinced them that, rather than a Vietnamization of the conflict, America’s involvement was increasing at the cost of American lives in the face of an unfaltering and seemingly unbeatable enemy.

The U.S. military, however, had grown more optimistic following the Tet Offensive. They saw in the successful rebuke of their enemies’ attacks an undeniable weakening of communist forces and strength. By departing from classical guerrilla tactics and assaulting southern cities, the North Vietnamese had unwittingly pitted themselves against their opponents’ greatest strengths. American organizational, material, and logistical superiority was quickly demonstrated in the early hours of the offensive, and the traditionally unreliable South Vietnamese infantry fought with surprising effectiveness. U.S. commander Gen. William C. Westmoreland viewed the post-Tet situation as an opportunity for an American offensive that would further debilitate the enemy and deny any future resurgence. With the encouragement of Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Earle Wheeler, Westmoreland renewed an earlier request for more troops. His request was initially denied, however, as Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson did not desire any expansion of the ground war.

Increasingly vocal antagonism against any escalation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam put greater pressure on the Johnson administration and the U.S. Congress. In mid-March 1968, 139 members of the House of Representatives sponsored a resolution asking for congressional review of U.S. policy in Vietnam. Secretary of State Dean Rusk was called before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and questioned for 11 hours. On March 22 Johnson approved only a small increase of troops. At the same time, he announced that Westmoreland would be recalled to the United States to become chief of staff of the army. Westmoreland was replaced by Gen. Creighton Abrams, who aggressively pursued the Vietnamization program and oversaw the reduction of the U.S. presence in Vietnam to fewer than 30,000 troops.