The Tet Offensive

The Tet Offensive

The Tet Offensive took place from January 30, 1968 to September 23, 1968.  It was a large-scale attack led by the Vietcong forces against the U.S. and the South Vietnamese army.  The assault began during the lunar new year named Tet.  It is the most important holiday on the Vietnamese calendar.  In the past years it had always been time for an informal truce between the North and South Vietnamese.  The main objective of the offensive was to drive a wedge in between the U.S. and south Vietnamese and cause a rebellion among the south. 

The actual attack’s began on January 21, 1968 on remote Marine garrisons.  They also began an artillery barrage on the Khe Sanh garrison.  These attacks where bait for the Americans to distract them from the real Vietcong threat.  The Vietcong in under 24 hours of their attack had launched more than 120 attacks on various South Vietnamese targets.  The targets ranged from cities and villages to American bases.  A major attack the Vietcong launched was the attack on the U.S. embassy in Saigon this attack was quickly repelled by U.S. forces. 

The Tet Offensive was a major turning point in the war for the Vietcong.  Back home in the U.S. public moral and support for the war dropped.  This led to even more people being against the war.  It also had a psychological effect on the Soldiers and the U.S. it showed that the Vietcong were not as weak as they had been made to look.  This would lead to the slow withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam.

Because of the Tet Offensive both sides had suffered lots of casualties and both sides had victories.  On one hand the U.S. was able to repel the attacks and inflict heavy damage to the Vietcong.  On another the Vietcong failed to take over anything significant and thinned their forces out, but they caused a public outcry in the U.S. public that led to the demise of the U.S. in Vietnam.  It was a military victory for the U.S. and political defeat.  The Vietcong lost an estimated 50,000 of there 85,000 strong attacking force.  The U.S. lost roughly 4,000.  Overall the Tet Offensive was a turning point in the war that led to the U.S. pulling out of Vietnam.  It was arguably the biggest series of battles that took place in the war and what swayed the war into the way it ended.

Captured Vietcong Solider after Saigon embassy attack

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