The Tet Offensive
In late 1968, a series of diversion attacks by the Viet Cong (the Southern Vietnamese who sided with the Communists) gradually drew more American Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) soldiers away from the southern cities. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), National Vietnamese Army (NVA), People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN), and the Nation Liberation Front (NLF) coordinated with the Viet Cong for a planned attack on the first day of “Tet” (a lunar New Year holiday usually observed with a truce) against South Vietnam. General Vo Nguyen Giap hoped the offensive would spur a popular uprising against the South Vietnamese government, cause defections from the ARVN, and force the Johnson Administration to the bargaining table.
In late 1968, a series of diversion attacks by the Viet Cong (the Southern Vietnamese who sided with the Communists) gradually drew more American Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) soldiers away from the southern cities. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), National Vietnamese Army (NVA), People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN), and the Nation Liberation Front (NLF) coordinated with the Viet Cong for a planned attack on the first day of “Tet” (a lunar New Year holiday usually observed with a truce) against South Vietnam. General Vo Nguyen Giap hoped the offensive would spur a popular uprising against the South Vietnamese government, cause defections from the ARVN, and force the Johnson Administration to the bargaining table.
To prepare for the attack the NLF and PAVN were armed with improved weaponry from the USSR and China, including AK-47 rifles and B-40 rocket launchers. He reasoned if the South Vietnamese government and ARVN lost their support, that they couldn’t sustain the war regardless of the U.S. military support. People in the South reported when they first heard the explosions that they thought the New Year’s celebrations had begun with firecrackers.
North Vietnamese attacked the twenty-seven provincial capitals, five autonomous cities, fifty-eight district towns, and fifty hamlets. Most of the time, DRV, NVA, NLF, and PAVN failed to penetrate the cities targeted for attack. When did they make it through (i.e. Ban Me Thuot, Ben Tre Can Tho, and Kontum), fighting last a few days. And because the Viet Cong’s forces had no intention to withdrawal, they became trapped and suffered greater casualties. The Viet Cong lost over half of their eighty-four thousand attack forces, including many of their veteran leaders. Don Oberdorfer, a former Washington Post reporter, said, “There’s no doubt Tet was one of the biggest events in contemporary American history.”
The Offensive Continues
Fresh from their victory at Dien Bien Phu they planned to attack the U.S. Marines firebase at Khe San. Khe San, a Special Forces camp, and later a Marine base, was located near Laos, on the northwestern boarder of Vietnam. It was an important base because they could monitor the activity of the North Vietnamese along the DMZ and the Ho Chi Mihn Trail in Loas. Isolated in a valley surrounded by hills, it was vulnerable to North Vietnamese forces.
On January 21, the NVA assaulted Khe San. Their ground forces were unable to capture the base, but they did establish artillery positions. Eventually, they scored a direct hit on a Marine ammunition supply, killing fourteen Marines in the process. Operation Niagara, a sustained air assault on North Vietnamese positions near Khe San, prevent NVA from taking the base. Yet the Marines didn’t receive reinforcements until after April 15 when the monsoon season broke and area became accessible. To this day there’s a debate over whether the NVA meant to take Khe San or to just distract U.S. forces from the Tet Offensive. NVA lost almost fifteen thousand soldiers during the assault, while the Americans lost only two-hundred.
Assault on the Capital
Saigon or Hue, the ancient capital of Vietnam, was also attacked during the January 30-31 raid. The first day, the South Vietnamese President declared martial law in Saigon. They attacked the airport, the Presidential Palace, the ARVN Headquarters, and a local radio station. The Communists raised their flag in the Citadel on the first day of their occupation. During their occupation they went from house to house and arrested civil servants, religious leaders, Catholics, teachers, and soldiers, and then executed them on the spot. The bodies of civilians were lined up on their stomachs with their hands tied behind their backs. The NVA killed everything in Hue, even the water buffalo. When questioned about the executions, the North Vietnamese government denied any had occured. Nineteen Viet Cong commandos attacked the U.S. Embassy. Two American guards were killed at the beginning of the attack. By morning the commandos were dead and five Americans had also died. Marine Corps, the South Vietnamese, the 101st and the 1st Calvary went from different angles to liberate Hue. After twenty-five days, on February 5, fighting subsided. By the time Hue was retaken, thousands had died, and a hundred thousand were homeless. There was little left of the ancient capital, but rubble.
The View from Afar
With the unexpected attack on so many villages and cities in South Vietnam, Americans began to lose faith in the integrity of the military and President Johnson. On their TV’s they saw the devastation at Hue and wondered if we were losing the war. “For the first time in modern history,” wrote Robert Elegant of the Lost Angeles Times, “The outcome of a war was determined not on the battlefield, but on the printed page, and above all, on the television screen.”
After Tet and a visit to South Vietnam, even Walter Cronkite reported that “the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in stalemate.” President Johnson privately said, “If I lost Walter Cronkite, I have lost ‘Mr. Average American Citizen’.” American Spokespersons initially described the Tet Offensive as a failure for the Viet Cong pointing out their rapid retreat and terrible casualties. It was later believed that while it was a military defeat, it was still a psychological victory.
When General William C. Westmoreland reported that in order to defeat the Viet Cong they’d need two-hundred thousand more American soldiers (necessitating calling-up reserves, a step President Lyndon B. Johnson had avoided). American protests against the war swelled and pressure to pull out of Vietnam increased. Even supporters of the war felt there should be changes. To a growing number of senior policymakers, “Tet” demonstrated the resilience of the Viet Cong and the fragility of South Vietnam’s control over it’s own territory.
In March 1968, a disgraced Lyndon Johnson announced he wouldn’t seek the Democratic Party’s re-election nomination for presidency and hinted that he would go the bargaining table with the Communists to end the war.
