Reply To: The Tet Offensive

Good brief summary of the initial phase of the General Offensive. Interestingly, the 1968 General offenses consisted of 3 large offensives, with the offensives taking place around the Tet celebrations being the first phase of them. The second phase was called ‘mini tet’, where Cities around Vietnam were struck simultaneously,  and began in May 1968. This, like the initial phase, was also a tactical failure for the North Vietnamese forces, in fact NVA forces suffered worse losses than the Tet offensives given the preparedness of ARVN and American forces in the wake of the January offensives. The final phase was in August and was yet another tactical failure for North Vietnamese forces, which suffered devastating casualties. The NVA was effectively crippled in their major offensive capabilities. The NVA took years to reorganize and consildate their forces, where they launched the next major offensives in 1972, the Easter offenses, which saw heavy use of conventional military tactics echoeing that of World War 2, with heavy use of modern battle tanks such as the T-54 and other heavy military equipment. The NVA again suffered massive losses and South Vietnamese forces prevailed. However, North Vietnam was able to gain some territory in Northern South Vietnam south of the DMZ, which they held for the remainder of the war.