Before Offensive
- 1965 — 1967: official view in US was that → war was going well
since fight against Viet Cong insurgency had no clear territorial goal to capture
- US and SV forces used “body count” → means of measuring success.
- goal → kill as many Viet Cong soldiers as possible → wear the enemy down
Tet Offensive
- This confidence shattered → early in 1968
- during Vietnamese New Year (Tet) holiday → Viet Cong fighters attacked more than 100 cities + other military targets.
- leading up to attack → Viet Cong → Used Ho Chi Minh trail → move war material + fighters from NV to SV
this attack known as Tet Offensive
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Tet offensive → involved ard 80000 Viet Cong + NV troops
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particularly bitter fighting over northern part of SV
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offensive → costly for communists → Viet Cong badly weakened
- lost ard 10000 experienced fighters
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ppl of SV did not rise up and join Viet Cong as hoped
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despite that → TO turned out to be turning point in war → raised hard questions in US
- 1st → US had nearly 500000 troops in Vietnam + was spending 20 billion a year on war.
- so why had communists been able to launch major offensive that took US forces completely by surprise
- 2nd → US and SV forces quickly retook towns captured in offensive.
- however in order to do so → they required large amts of artillery and air power.
- many civilians killed + ancient city of Hue destroyed
- 1st → US had nearly 500000 troops in Vietnam + was spending 20 billion a year on war.