Vietnam Research: The Tet Offensive, Derrick Thompson

 The Tet Offensive occurred in 1968 all across cities in Vietnam. The Tet is the beginning of the lunar year for Vietnamese culture. During this time, it was understood that when the Tet came around there would be a cease-fire for both North and South Vietnamese troops. Unknown to the South Vietnamese and U.S. soldiers, the Viet-Cong launched their largest ambush on many U.S. and south Vietnamese strongholds. Most notably, the U.S. Embassy in Saigon was attacked. All of the Viet-Cong troops were wiped out, but the U.S. and South Vietnamese received heavy causalities as well. The north Vietnam's strategy was not to win these battles. They instead, believed that the battles would lower if not completely diminish the enemy's confidence. This was in fact the turning point of the war, but not because The Viet-Cong secured any land. The battles of the Tet Offensive were recorded and shown uncensored to many Americans back at home. The public opinion of the war in the U.S. reached an all time low after these battles. This opened the door for a eventual withdraw from Vietnam, occurring a few years after this event. I learned about a gruesome story from the battle at the U.S Embassy. There was an official stuck on the second floor the of the building. He told soldiers outside, after most of the battles had ended, that he believed there was at least one other person at least a floor below him. To help him, one of the U.S. soldiers tossed him a pistol and then began to pump gas into the basement. This caused the the Viet-Cong soldier to begin moving upstairs, only to end up getting into a firefight with the official that ended up killing the Viet-Cong Soldier .


The U.S. Embassy located in Saigon, Vietnam


Link: https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/tet-offensive