The Tet Offensive was one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War, launched on January 30, 1968, by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese People’s Army of Vietnam against the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam, the United States Armed Forces, and their allies. It was a campaign of surprise attacks against military and civilian command and control centers throughout South Vietnam. The attacks began on the holiday Tet, the Vietnamese New Year.
The offensive saw more than 80,000 North Vietnamese troops attacking more than 100 towns and cities, including 36 of 44 provincial capitals, five of six autonomous cities, and 72 of 246 district towns. The Tet Offensive was the largest military operation conducted by either side up to that point in the war.
The surprise of the attacks caused the US and South Vietnamese armies to temporarily lose control of several cities. They were able to quickly regroup, counterattack, and inflict heavy casualties on North Vietnamese forces.
During the Battle of Hue, the fighting lasted over a month and the city was destroyed. During the occupation, the North Vietnamese forces executed thousands of people in the Massacre of Hue. Around the US combat base at Khe Sanh fighting continued for two more months.
Although the offensive was a military defeat for North Vietnam, it had a profound effect on the US government and shocked to American public, which had been led to believe that The North Vietnamese were being defeated and were incapable of launching such a large scale attack. The Johnson administration was no longer capable of convincing anybody that Vietnam War was a major defeat for the communists.
1968 became the deadliest year of the war for US forces with 16,592 soldiers killed. On February 23 the U.S. Selective Service System announced a new draft call for 48,000 men, the second largest of the war.
Walter Cronkite stated during a news broadcast on February 27, “We have been too often disappointed by the optimism of the American leaders, both in Vietnam and Washington, to have faith any longer in the silver linings they find in the darkest clouds” and added that, “we are mired in a stalemate that could only be ended by negotiation, not victory.”
A wounded soldier is dragged to safety near the citadel’s outer wall during the fighting at Hue. HistoryA market in the Cholon District of Saigon is covered in smoke and debris after the Tet Offensive, which included simultaneous attacks on more than 100 South Vietnamese cities and towns. HistoryAn estimated 5,000 Communist soldiers were killed by American air and artillery strikes during the Battle of Hue. HistoryApproximately 150 U.S. Marines were killed along with 400 South Vietnamese troops at the Battle of Hue. HistoryMilitary policemen capture a Viet Cong guerrilla after the surprise attack on the U.S. embassy and South Vietnamese government buildings in Saigon. HistoryOn January 31, 1968, approximately 70,000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces began a series of attacks on the U.S. and South Vietnamese. historyOn the first day of the attacks, a Buddhist monk flees the damage and destruction behind him. HistoryThe attacks began on the lunar new year holiday, Tet, and became known as the Tet Offensive. historyU.S. forces posted at the outer wall of a citadel in the ancient city of Hue, the scene of the fiercest fighting of the Tet Offensive. HistoryVIETNAM. Hue. Civilian casualties. Many took refuge in the university. 1968. Philip Jones GriffithsVIETNAM. Hue. The grounds of Hue university became a graveyard. 1968. Philip Jones GriffithsUS. Marines. South Marines. Jan/Feb. 1968. During the Vietnamese New Year celebrations of the TET, the city of HUE, an ancient Mandarin walled city which stood on the banks of the perfumed river and near to the demilitarized zone, a force of 5000 VIETCONG and NVA (North Vietnamese Army) regulars took siege of the citadel. The Americans sent in the Fifth Marine Regiment to dislodge them. Philip Jones GriffithsVIETNAM. During the Vietnamese New Year celebrations of the Tet, the city of Hue an ancient Mandarin walled city which stood on the banks of the perfumed river and near to the demilitarized zone, a force of 5000 Vietcong and NVA (North Vietnamese Army) regulars took siege of the citadel. The American sent in the Fifth Marine Commando force to dislodge them. 1968. Philip Jones GriffithsVIETNAM. Hue. US Marines inside the Citadel rescue the body of a dead Marine during the Tet Offensive. 1968. Philip Jones GriffithsThe battle for the Cities. U.S. Marines. 1968. Philip Jones GriffithsVIETNAM. Hue. Refugees flee across a damaged bridge. Marines intended to carry their counterattack from the southern side, right into the citadel of the city. Despite many guards, the Vietcong were able to swim underwater and blow up the bridge, using skin-diving equipment from the Marines. Philip Jones GriffithsVIETNAM. This operation by the 1st Cavalry Division to cut the Ho Chi Minh trail failed like all the others but the U.S. military was shaken to find such sophisticated weapons stockpiled in the valley. Officers still talked of winning the war, of seeing “the light at the end of the tunnel.” As it happened there was a light, that of a fast-approaching express train. 1968. Philip Jones GriffithsVIETNAM. The battle for Saigon. U.S. policy in Vietnam was based on the premise that peasants driven into the towns and cities by the carpet-bombing of the countryside would be safe. Furthermore, removed from their traditional value system they could be prepared for the imposition of consumerism. This “restructuring” of society suffered a setback when, in 1968, death rained down on the urban enclaves. 1968. Philip Jones GriffithsVIETNAM. The battle for Saigon. Refugees under fire. Confused urban warfare was such that Americans were shooting their staunchest supporters. 1968. Philip Jones Griffiths
SOUTH VIETNAM. Saigon. 1968. Refugees fleeing during military action in Saigon in May 1968. Philip Jones GriffithsVIETNAM. The battle for Saigon. American G.I’s often showed compassion toward the Vietcong. This sprang from a soldierly admiration for their dedication and bravery; qualities difficult to discern in the average government soldier. This VC had fought for three days with his intestines in a cooking bowl strapped onto his stomach. 1968. Philip Jones GriffithsVIETNAM. Called a “little tiger” for killing two “Vietcong women cadre” – his mother and teacher, it was rumored. 1968. Philip Jones GriffithsThe battles for Saigon. At Tet and again in Mai, the Viet Cong struck Saigon. They aimed for the middle-class districts which were duly destroyed by United States firepower. Looting was extensive, so people fled with everything they could carry. Philip Jones GriffithsVIETNAM. The battle for Saigon. 1968. Philip Jones GriffithsSOUTH VIETNAM. Civilian victims of US firepower fleeing over the Y Bridge in Saigon, May 1968. Philip Jones GriffithsVIETNAM. The battle for Saigon. 1968 Philip Jones GriffithsVIETNAM. The battle for Saigon. Scared looking marines crouch at a wall during Tet offensive. 1968 Philip Jones GriffithsVIETNAM. The battle for Saigon. Pity the poor fighting man in Vietnam. The problem was always too much water or too little. In the early days of the war, water was shipped from California, the indigenous sort considered unsafe. Later it was made “palatable” with huge quantities of chlorine. Wiser men know to fill up with the natural variety. 1968. Philip Jones GriffithsVIETNAM. The battle for Saigon. The problem with “close” artillery support was that it was often too close. on this occasion shells called in by these troops had landed among them. The officer’s desperate message to halt the bombardment was not received; he had taken up refuge inside an armored personnel carrier where his frenzied transmissions could not penetrate the metal hull. 1968. Philip Jones GriffithsVIETNAM. Hue. US Marines inside the citadel in Hue during the Tet offensive. 1968. Philip Jones GriffithsVIETNAM. The battle for Saigon. A refugee from US Bombing. 1968. Philip Jones GriffithsFebruary 2, 1968. An M-60 machine-gunner fires in support of advancing members of the 2d Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment during street fighting in Hue City. NATIONAL ARCHIVESFebruary 24, 1968. Members of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment move through a secured part of Hue as the battle for the city winds down. NATIONAL ARCHIVESFebruary 6, 1968. A Navy corpsman treats a member of the 2d Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment during the battle for Hue. The Marines suffered nearly 1,000 casualties (killed and wounded) in the encounter. NATIONAL ARCHIVESFebruary 1968. Marines scale a mound of rubble as they fight their way into the NVA stronghold in the Citadel – the ancient Imperial capital’s fortress – during the battle for Hue. NATIONAL ARCHIVESOn February 1, 1968–during the Tet Offensive–General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, director of South Vietnam’s national police force, executed a Viet Cong prisoner on the streets of Saigon. so1blogPresident Johnson meets with Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and other advisors following the Tet Offensive, which marked a crucial turning point in America’s involvement in the war. HistoryIn October 1969, relatives gather at a mass funeral for recently-discovered victims of the Tet Offensive. HistorySouth Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu speaks at the funeral for those killed. History
