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Tet Offensive

Tet Offensive. January 31, 1968. Tet Offensive. 80,000 NVA/VC launched the offensive that attacked 150 hamlets, district capitals, provincial capitals, and autonomous cities Main fighting was at Saigon, Hue, and siege of Khe Sanh

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Tet Offensive

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  1. Tet Offensive January 31, 1968

  2. Tet Offensive • 80,000 NVA/VC launched the offensive that attacked 150 hamlets, district capitals, provincial capitals, and autonomous cities • Main fighting was at Saigon, Hue, and siege of Khe Sanh • Goal was to create a general uprising in South Vietnam and overthrow the government

  3. Saigon

  4. Attack on the embassy • VC commandos blew a hole in the wall surrounding embassy and killed several MPS • The rest of the US MPs moved into building and locked it • The VC milled around and when US reinforcements arrived the VC were killed • 19 VC bodies littered the embassy • Had a huge impact on public opinion in the US

  5. Khe Sanh • NVA/VC lay siege to it • 40,000 troops vs. 5,000 Marines • Marines received aerial resupply to help outlast the siege • Marines had close air and artillery support • 300 Marines were killed in 3 month siege • 15,000 NVA/VC killed

  6. Battle of Hue • Lasted 25 days • Old imperial city • NVA lost 5,000 soldiers • 210 Americans killed • Hue Massacre – soldiers killed 3,000 residents and dumped their bodies in a mass grave

  7. My Lai-March 16, 1968

  8. 1st Platoon William Calley - Lieutenant who led C-Company, the only person convicted David Mitchell - Sergeant Charles Sledge - Radio Operator - testified he saw Calley deliberately kill a young child Paul Meadlo - Private First Class - testified he was afraid of being shot if he didn't participate Dennis Conti - Private First Class - stated he was originally lost and had to find his company Robert Maples - Private First Class, stated to have refused to participate Varnado Simpson - Private First Class, committed suicide in 1997, citing guilt over My Lai Harry Stanley - claimed to have refused to participate

  9. Intervention Hugh Thompson, Jr. - Warrant Officer Lawrence Colburn - Helicopter Gunner Glenn Andreotta - Helicopter Crew Chief

  10. Effects of Tet Offensive • Militarily it was a huge US victory -NVA/VC lost 45,000 killed • An increased credibility gap back home- American people felt politicians were lying about the war • President Johnson lost the political and moral will to continue fighting -when Johnson lost faith in the war, why should the public support it

  11. Irony of the Tet offensive • The VC were virtually destroyed • The remaining VC were attacked by the Phoenix Program – hired assassins (figures are that they killed 9,000 VC) • NVA had to take over all of the fighting in South Vietnam

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