Notes # 9 “Tet Offensive”

Operation Cedar Falls January 8–26, 1967 U.S. Forces discovered a massive fortress of underground tunnels near the South Vietnams capitol of Saigon. This place was called the “Iron Triangle”. Around 30,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese forces attacked this area using “search and destroy” tactics

However, most of the tunnels were empty, for the North Vietnamese and Vietcong had not yet occupied the tunnels.

More Protests Dr. King, the great Civil Rights leader, openly opposes the Vietnam War and its “waste” of human life. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara also admits that “Operation Rolling Thunder” has not worked in defeating the enemy. More troops are needed.

Tet Offensive January 30 – March 28, 1968 Named after the Vietnamese New Year when the first major attacks began. North Vietnamese troops and Vietcong assaulted several cities and towns in the south, capturing many of them, and catching most American troops off guard.

The American and South Vietnamese forces quickly react, and are able to retake all the land that was lost at the beginning of the offensive. The Communist forces suffered around 40,000 troops, almost half of the force they used, while the U.S. and their allied forces lost around 10,000.

The Tet Offensive ended up being a military success for the Americans. However, the fact that the Communists could mount such a large attack after a few years of fighting worried the American public that the war had no end in sight.

Hue Massacre One of the cities that the Communists had taken, and the U.S. retook was the site of the South Vietnamese city of Hue. When Americans reentered Hue, they dug up mass graves containing several thousand bodies that the Communist had killed due to their loyalty to the U.S.

???Time To Think???

More Troops However, though the Americans and their South Vietnamese allies had successfully beaten off the Tet Offensive, U.S. Generals request 206,000 more troops, adding further to the anti-war feelings back home.

My Lai Massacre March 16, 1968 While searching for Vietcong on “search and Destroy” missions, a unit of American Soldiers burns down a Vietnamese village, killing several hundred people.

villagehttp://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/my-lai-massacre

Initially kept quiet by military officials, it soon became wide spread propaganda for the anti war movement, sadly demeaning many U.S. soldiers as they travelled home.

Massacre? The My Lai Massacre was not right, whether or not the villagers were VC or not. However, the American massacre of a few villagers is more publicized and remembered today than the Hue Massacre, which saw several thousand people killed by the Communists. Not to mention the Vietcong tortured and killed whenever they went to an unfriendly village. (Or that when the Communists controlled all of Vietnam they killed thousands (perhaps millions) more, but we haven’t learned about this yet) Is this right? Or should everything be reported fairly?