Tet+Offensive

The Tet Offensive is considered by many to be the turning point of the Vietnam War.

Tet is the lunar new year celebrated by the Vietnamese. Tet was previously observed as a cease-fire until the North Vietnamese decided to launch an attack on South Vietnam in January 1968.

General Vo Nguyen Giap believed that if the American soldiers were in Vietnam for just one more year, then the NLF(National Liberation Front) would be seriously damaged. He planned an attack that would take place well before the Presidential election of 1968.

On January 21, 1968 the Communists started bombing the American base at Khe Sanh. This was just a diversionary attack, however. The real attacks began on January 30, 1968. That morning, the North Vietnamese(NVA) and the Viet Cong joined forces to attack 100 South Vietnamese cities.

__The Attack on Khe Sanh__ In January, the US sent 6,000 Marines to their base at Khe Sanh. They believed that the NVA had at least 20,000 troops stationed around the base. On the morning of the 21st, the NVA made their initial attack. The attack was an attempt to cross a river that ran through the base. However the Americans foiled that attempt so the NVA followed with an attack on a runway which damaged the runway, a few airplanes, as well as blowing up a couple of ammunition stores. In addition to the runway attack, the NVA attacked the Special Forces on the outskirts of the base.

The next day, the NVA began a concentrated artillery attack on the base. They also moved their troop closer to the base so they could prepare for further attacks on the outer defenses of Khe Sanh. At the same time, US forces moved forward to intercept the NVA.

The Americans thwarted Giap's dreams of a massive victory by launching a huge air attack on the NVA positions. American planes dropped bombs and napalm with deadly accuracy on the NVA positions. With the bad weather, the steady flow of supplies slowed, but the planes and helicopters carrying vital cargo kept on coming. This forced the NVA to focus on trying to stop the planes with anti-aircraft artillery. By now, both the NVA and the Americans had employed snipers to stop oncoming enemy soldiers.

The NVA launched more attacks on February 17th, 18th, and 19th. The Americans halted the first one with ease with artillery and air-strikes. However, the second required heavy fighting. By April, relief forces had arrived at Khe Sanh and by the 6th of April Khe Sanh was relieved. Fighting continued at the base but General Giap had given up on taking over the base. By this time, the Americans had begun to realize that the attack on Khe Sanh was just diversionary. media type="youtube" key="KiW5FXs1n6M" height="344" width="425" __The Battle For Saigon__ Saigon was the most heavily bombed of all the cities. The North Vietnamese attacked the Presidential Palace, the airport, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) headquarters and eventually made it to the grounds of the US Embassy.

In Saigon, the Viet Cong captured the western side of the city, known as Cholon. Cholon was the home of the Phu Tho Racetrack, an area which was good for landing helicopters. Captain Tony Smaldone and his "Cotton Balers" led the attack in order to win back Cholon as well as the Phu Tho. After they had gotten to within six blocks of the racetrack, an enemy soldier fired into the convoy. Smaldone led his men through the buildings. Once inside, the Cotton Balers used explosives to get from building to building. After two hours, Smaldone had led his men through five of the six blocks needed to get to the racetrack.

During a break in the action, Smaldone scouted out an area where they could reach the racetrack. At 1630(4:30 p.m.) Smaldone put his plan in action. All of Smaldone's soldiers were ordered to open fire with everything they had. Smaldone led his men onto the racetrack. The Cotton Balers had recaptured the Phu Tho Racetrack and established a landing zone for incoming helicopters.

The next morning, American forces began an attack on the rest of Cholon. They went building to buildng just like the the attack on the Phu Tho. However, the American forces tore them apart. Five days later, the Cotton Balers had rid Cholon of the Viet Cong. Just days after that, the Americans and the ARVN forces had a strong military prescence in Saigon. The South Vietnamese forces asked that the Americans stay so they could prove to the world that they could control their capital without help. The Americans honored their request and headed back to their base in Binh Chanh. But on February 10, the Cotton Balers were called back to Cholon because the Viet Cong had come storming back to kill many of the ARVN stationed in the city.

The American helicopters landed on Phu Tho Racetrack to find that the Viet Cong had retaken the track. However, the Viet Cong were caught off track and the Cotton Balers were able to take back the Phu Tho. The Cotton Balers repeated the same routine that worked for them the last time through and subdued the Viet Cong in four days. The American forces were able to defeat the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese in the Battle for Saigon.

__The Battle For Hue__ Where the Battle for Saigon lasted for only a couple of weeks, the Battle for Hue lasted nearly a month. Hue, like othe major Vietnamese cities, was attacked on January 31, 1968, the beginning of the Tet Offensive.However, unlike many of the other cities, the Viet Cong were able to hold their ground in Hue. American soldiers were unable to defeat the enemy soldiers until February 24, 1968. By that time, it was estimated that 2500 people were found dead, and another 6000 were missing. This portion of the Tet Offensive became known as "The Massacre at Hue."

__Aftermath of the Tet Offensive__ In terms of fighting, the American and ARVN soldiers won the Tet Offensive. But the Tet Offensive showed the Americans that the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong would not go away without a fight. After the Tet Offensive, General Westmoreland said that in order to win the war, the Americans would have to send at least 200,000 more soldiers to Vietnam. Also, the Tet Offensive showed the Americans that the South Vietnamese were unable to control their own cities, as well as turn nearly all of the citizens of America against the war (for more about the protests go here). Because of the NLF's seemingly unending supply of soldiers during the Offensive, President Johnson deemed the Vietnam War unwinnable.

__Casualties During the Tet Offensive__

(Killed in Action) || MIA (Missing in Action) || WIA (Wounded in Action) || CIA (Captured in Action) || Forces || 1,536 || 11 || 7,764 || unknown || media type="youtube" key="E3PIcbx35mM" height="344" width="425"
 * Force || KIA
 * US
 * ARVN || 2,788 || 587 || 8,299 || unknown ||
 * NVA/VC || 45,000 || unknown || unknown || 6,991 ||