the Tet Offensive 1968 the Vietnam War a
celebration of the Lunar New Year the
Tet is an important holiday to
Vietnamese people it had been
established that the Tet holiday would
be used as a truce between the communist
forces and the South Vietnamese for the
Saigon government there was no reason to
believe otherwise as they announced a
ceasefire with the National Liberation
Front in January 1968 the North
Vietnamese and the Communist Viet Cong
forces would use the event to their
advantage to strategically launch an
offensive
when the enemy's guard was down most
Vietnamese would spend the holiday with
their families including the ARVN
soldiers who were on leave this made the
cities in the south less defended by
attacking major cities in the south such
as Wei at Saigon it was believed that
the morale of the Saigon government its
citizens and the ARVN would collapse and
then caused the United States to
withdraw their defense of South Vietnam
the Vietcong secretly moved into the
cities in preparation checking into
local hotels and blending in by
disguising themselves as civilians on
holiday they also smuggled their weapons
into the cities by hiding them in
delivery trucks holding rice and flowers
On January 21st 1968 in preparation for
the main offensive the North Vietnamese
Army attacked the US combat base of Khe
Sanh US troops mainly consisting of
Marines defended the base against two to
three NVA divisions and artillery
bombardments the attack would be
intended as a diversion by generals Yap
while the communist forces prepared for
their true objective of the Tet
Offensive attacking on the morning of
January 30th 1968 a day earlier than
scheduled tens of thousands of Vietcong
struck the u.s. an ARVN basis and
several cities including the major
cities of Wei at Saigon where fighting
was particularly fierce the defenders
within saigon were ARVN troops many who
were still returning to the city and
handfuls of US troops consisting of US
Marines or administrative staff
unprepared for combat the Vietcong
managed to hit many key targets one
particular target was the US Embassy in
Saigon where Vietcong sappers breached
through its fortified walls with
explosives
diplomats sought shelter inside while a
handful of US Marines and military
police exchanged shots with them
eventually the defenders of the embassy
were reinforced by US troops by
helicopter and soon the Vietcong sappers
were dead this particular attack was
captured by cameras and caused a media
firestorm back in America Quay city saw
intense close-quarters fighting around
the Citadel during the battle of way
5,000 North Vietnamese troops 150 US
Marines and 421 ARVN troops were killed
after the battle had cleared it was
discovered that the Vietcong had
arrested those associated with the South
Vietnamese regime executed them and
buried them in mass graves the first
phase of the Tet Offensive was followed
by a second phase on smaller cities on
May 4th and then followed by a third
phase in August to September eventually
u.s. and South Vietnamese forces
recaptured and secured the cities from
the enemy forces at the expense of heavy
civilian casualties but this did not
cause any rebellion against the Saigon
government the Tet Offensive stunned
America and president lyndon b johnson
who had claimed the Vietcong forces were
a week
amateur force although the United States
could claim victory because the Tet
Offensive caused incredibly high
casualties for the NVA and the Vietcong
it was also seen as a strategic victory
for the communist forces televised
footage of the Tet Offensive uncensored
and tuned in to by millions of Americans
back home shocked the American public
opinion and strengthened the anti-war
movement while support for President
Johnson's administration would fall to
an all-time low and he would give way to
the next US President Richard Nixon
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