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00:52in april 1967
00:58north vietnamese army units opened their biggest offensive of the vietnam war
01:07their role was to draw american forces into the remotest parts of south vietnam far away from
01:14the populated areas the hope was that the main attacks scheduled for early 1968 would find the
01:24americans deployed in all the wrong places
01:38fighting began at the end of march when a strategic marine patrol ran into an ambush near one of the
01:44strategic hills that lay between the firebases of caisson and cantien dozens of marines were killed
01:51during this first brief and unforeseen combat the north vietnamese had by then assembled nearly 2 000
01:58men near the base at cantien and almost every day they hit the marines with artillery rockets and
02:04mortars in the rugged countryside around there were savage battles as patrols from each side clashed in
02:11what became known as the hill fights
02:16during these battles 160 marines were killed and 700 wounded the nva resisted with such courage that
02:26as a mark of respect the marines who usually called the vietcong charlie rechristened them mr pong
02:33but in the end it was the sheer weight of american firepower that turned the tables at cantien
02:42repeated nva assaults were broken and more than 900 north vietnamese soldiers were killed by marine
02:49artillery massive bombing and the guns of naval vessels offshore after the battles at cantien the next
03:07clashes were near the border with cambodia in the south
03:13at song bay in late october 1967 a south vietnamese army battalion was attacked by the north vietnamese 88th
03:22regiment the attackers were driven off with help from heavy american airstrikes
03:31two days earlier lough nin another provincial capital had been stormed by the elite 273rd regiment
03:38of the 9th vietcong division supported by the 65th regiment of the nva
03:46reinforcements from the south vietnamese 5th division and the american first fought for several days and
03:51shattered the nva regiment leaving over 850 nva and nlf dead
03:59the fiercest of all the border battles was near an american camp at dak to in the central highlands
04:05which had been massively reinforced following a tip-off from an nva deserter by november 1967
04:12the first nva division reinforced by two independent regiments faced the american 4th infantry division
04:19the 173rd airborne brigade and a mechanized task force bloody battles would rage around dak to for the whole
04:38of all the desperate encounters of the battle of dak to the most costly for both sides was the fight
04:45for hill 875 in the highlands whoever controlled the hills could rain down mortar and artillery fire on
04:59the valleys
05:03the task of taking hill 875 fell to two american battalions one airborne and one from the 4th infantry division
05:14supporting them were fighters b-52 bombers and artillery blasting the enemy defenses with high
05:21explosives and napalm 170 000 artillery shells were fired on the enemy during this battle and the fighter
05:29bombers flew 2 100 missions the north vietnamese defenders were so well dug in and so determined
05:37that the americans were forced to launch repeated assaults punctuated by yet more airstrikes before they
05:43could reach the crest of the hill
05:47it was a desperate and often nightmarish battle
05:59it took a full week to capture hill 875
06:05the assaults cost more than 150 dead and 400 wounded
06:10bringing american casualties at dak to to almost 350 with just under a thousand wounded
06:18the north vietnamese army had lost 1200 men
06:30in december 1967 the dry season had just begun in the southern provinces
06:36every year that was the signal for intense vietcong activity as the guerrillas moved troops and supplies
06:42into place for their next offensive
06:51at the headquarters of military assistance command vietnam near saigon general westmoreland and his senior
06:58officers ran a series of studies to try and predict where the enemy would strike in 1968
07:16the enemy's tet offensive though it had been predicted took the u.s command by surprise
07:22they suspected that the vietcong would concentrate their efforts on the northern part of the country
07:26the north vietnamese army might use up to five divisions to try and capture south vietnam's two northernmost
07:33provinces
07:37other attacks in the highlands and near saigon could provide the diversion
07:45to counter the expected northern thrust the americans decided to send up their most mobile reaction force
07:51the first air cavalry division
07:55in early january 1968 the division began the massive task of moving north together with other u.s and south
08:03vietnamese troops
08:11by now three quarters of the american battalions in the south of vietnam
08:15were deployed deep in the interior near the cambodian border
08:22unknown to them elements of the nlf's ninth seventh and fifth divisions along with other units
08:31were already heading towards the capital for the tet offensive
08:39the americans suspicious of increased nlf radio traffic behind them and the lack of activity in the border areas
08:46began a rapid redeployment back towards saigon
09:02american forces were pulled back from the border areas
09:12such incredible mobility was something the vietcong had never expected
09:17the ploy to use the battles on the borders to draw the americans away from the real targets of the
09:22tet
09:23defensive had failed although it had allowed nlf forces to get closer to saigon
09:33it was lieutenant general frederick wayand the commander of the u.s second field force
09:38that had requested the american redeployment
09:43soon more than half his battalions were again at bases close to saigon
09:53wayan ordered a series of sweeps to try and find the vietcong units that were surely somewhere within reach
10:09the americans were now convinced that a major offensive was coming soon
10:16however no one imagined that the vietcong were planning coordinated attacks across the whole country
10:22neither did anyone guess that they meant to break the traditional tet new year truce
10:32as a precaution the americans did ask the south vietnamese government
10:36to call off the truce and cancel army leave
10:40but for political reasons the request was refused
11:10the vietcong had almost completed the
11:13massive task of deploying 84,000 guerrillas for the Tet Offensive.
11:21Most of the movement of troops and supplies had successfully been kept secret.
11:30Even villagers who didn't support the Viet Cong stayed neutral, and few reports of guerrilla
11:35activity reached the government's intelligence agencies.
11:47The traditional Viet Cong base areas around Saigon, districts like the Iron Triangle, played
11:53a vital part in the Viet Cong's preparations.
11:59Even the huge tunnel complex at Cu Chi, which the Americans had long believed had been completely
12:05destroyed, was still an important staging area in command center.
12:15Nearer the city, the growing crowds of travelers arriving for the Tet celebrations covered the
12:21infiltration of guerrillas and their weapons.
12:34As Tet drew closer, General Jap, the North Vietnamese commander and architect of the offensive,
12:40began to worry that his forces might not be in place on time.
12:46As it happened, dozens of attacks were launched a full day too soon.
12:51The North was still using the old calendar, which gave Tet as the 31st of January.
12:57January.
12:58In the South, the official New Year was the 30th of January.
13:14The wave of Viet Cong assaults in the early morning of January 30th, 1968 confirmed to the Americans
13:22that the suspected offensive was underway.
13:27General Westmoreland ordered all his forces to be on maximum alert.
13:35At the same time, the South Vietnamese Prime Minister, Nguyen Van Thieu, announced that the Tet
13:40Truce was over and canceled the army's leave.
13:44Thirty-six of the 44 provincial capitals were attacked, as were five of the nation's cities.
13:50The premature attacks should have been a disaster for General Jap's plan, but in fact they were
13:56a great success, and Jap still had at least some elements of tactical surprise.
14:02American attention remained fixed on the northern border, where Westmoreland expected the real offensive
14:08to come.
14:14There, the Marine combat base at Khe San had already been under siege for ten days.
14:26In the rest of the country, although headquarters had sent out warnings, alerts happened all the
14:31time, and there was no real sense of urgency.
14:36Half the South Vietnamese Army's troops were still away from their units on leave.
14:49Even in the capital, Saigon, the Viet Cong's most important objective, government forces were scattered
14:55and under strength.
15:16In the days leading up to Tet, eleven Viet Cong battalions, mostly local units, had assembled
15:23for the main assaults inside Saigon.
15:29The spearhead force was the C-10 local sapper commando battalion.
15:37Outside the city, elements of the 5th, 7th, and 9th Viet Cong divisions and two independent
15:44battalions were positioned to attack American bases, block roads, and reinforce the city units.
16:01The government forces responsible for the defense of Saigon were the South Vietnamese Army's
16:075th Ranger Group, three regional militia units, and two military police battalions.
16:20However, two elite airborne battalions were also in the city, at Tan Sanut Airport, on their way north.
16:30The only American units inside Saigon were the 716th U.S. Army Military Police Battalion and a Marine Security Guard
16:39detachment.
16:52The Viet Cong plan for the attacks inside Saigon had been worked out to the last detail.
17:01Most of the assaults were to be carried out by units of C-10.
17:07The Independence Palace, the offices of the South Vietnamese President, would be hit first.
17:15Next on the list was the Joint General Staff Headquarters of the South Vietnamese Army, near to the American's main
17:22headquarters in Vietnam.
17:28Tan Sanut Air Base was to be seized along with the South Vietnamese Navy headquarters and the American Embassy, the
17:36main symbol of U.S. power in Vietnam.
17:42The government radio station would also be occupied.
17:49After the initial assault by C-10, the main Viet Cong battalions were to sweep into the city from all
17:56sides to support the offensive.
18:08In the early morning of January 31st, 1968, Viet Cong units the length and breadth of South Vietnam surged into
18:17action.
18:24In more than a hundred cities and towns, shock assaults by Viet Cong sapper commandos were followed by wave after
18:32wave of supporting troops.
18:48In Saigon, as one attack after another had erupted, there was complete confusion.
18:54Neither the South Vietnamese Army nor the Americans had a plan to deal with anything like this.
19:10The Army's units were under strength and scattered, while the American MPs of the 716th Battalion had been left out
19:18of the alert issued the day before.
19:25Only 300 military police were on duty.
19:42Of the many attacks the Viet Cong unleashed in Saigon on the morning of January 31st, the assault on the
19:49government radio station was the best organized.
19:56The station was captured and the plan was to broadcast a tape of Ho Chi Minh calling for the population
20:02to rise up against the government.
20:11Ho's message never was broadcast.
20:15The station's electricity was cut off by the army in the first minutes of the attack.
20:26After a fierce six-hour battle, government soldiers, including paratroopers brought in from the airport, succeeded in forcing out the
20:33surviving Viet Cong.
20:39Barely a mile away, at the Independence Palace and the nearby Navy headquarters, the Viet Cong attackers had been driven
20:46away from their main targets within minutes.
20:52The sapper team had been forced to hole up in a nearby building.
20:57The fight lasted more than 15 hours.
21:04In the end, nearly all the Viet Cong inside were killed.
21:13Although U.S. military police were involved in firefights all over the city, in fact, very few American installations had
21:20been targeted in Saigon.
21:26The exception was the American Embassy, the ultimate symbol of U.S. support for South Vietnam.
21:38The assault on the American Embassy began at 2.30 a.m. on January 31st.
21:44Fifteen sapper commandos blew a hole in the wall of the compound and charged through the breach.
21:53The fighters had killed four American military police guards and a Marine, but their own officers had been killed almost
22:01at once.
22:06The sappers took cover and waited for reinforcements.
22:17Soon, the Viet Cong were trapped within the compound, under fire from all sides.
22:33The fight for the compound lasted for six hours, but the effects of the battle would last much longer.
22:41All around the world, an abiding image had been created.
22:44That of American troops battling to recapture their own embassy in the very heart of Saigon.
23:13The Viet Cong attack on the American Embassy, and most other targets in Saigon's city center, had been long-term,
23:20launched by the elite sapper commandos, launched by the elite sapper commandos of the C-10 battalion.
23:27The plan was that a follow-up force of 4,000 would arrive quickly.
23:34But time and time again, the main battalions had been bogged down in firefights and house-to-house battles.
23:55One of the sharpest clashes yet had happened near an American officer's quarters.
24:01The battle had quickly drawn in military police and any other U.S. personnel that could grab a weapon.
24:10During the night, a truck carrying 25 American military policemen to the fight was hit by a VC rocket head
24:17-on,
24:17and subsequent machine gun fire killed 16 Americans in a narrow street.
24:23Relief attempts had developed into a furious engagement which would go on for 12 hours.
24:38Only a few miles away, Thanh Sa Nhat Air Base was one of the most important centers of American power
24:44in Vietnam.
24:50The defenders of Thanh Sa Nhat were a squadron of U.S. Air Force police,
24:55two platoons of Army headquarters guards,
24:57and the only two companies of South Vietnamese Army airborne troops
25:01not yet committed to battle elsewhere in the city.
25:14On the perimeter of Thanh Sa Nhat,
25:17the Viet Cong had seized several key buildings as springboards for their main assault
25:21and attacked the compound containing the villas of senior officers of the South Vietnamese general staff.
25:30The guerrillas meant to hit the base from three sides with more than a thousand troops.
25:37A large textiles plant was occupied as the base for their heavy machine guns and rockets.
25:53Only the arrival of an armored reconnaissance unit of the 25th Infantry Division
25:57that had raced to the scene from its base 15 miles away save Thanh Sa Nhat.
26:06The tanks and APCs hit the attackers from behind,
26:10and in furious fighting had split the Viet Cong force.
26:33In the hours that followed, the guerrillas were hammered by American helicopter gunships and fighter bombers.
26:44The attack on Thanh Sa Nhat was soon completely broken.
27:03Fifteen miles north of Saigon was the massive American logistical complex at Long Beach.
27:12Nearby was the U.S. base at Ben Hoa,
27:15and between them the headquarters of 2nd Field Force and 3 Corps,
27:21from which the American and South Vietnamese battles in the Saigon area were being coordinated.
27:31The main attacking forces were two full regiments of the Viet Cong 5th Division.
27:40After a heavy rocket and mortar barrage, the 275th assaulted Long Binh from the north side,
27:46while a local force battalion mounted a diversionary raid,
27:50and sappers blew up part of a massive ammunition dump outside the main complex.
28:01At the same time, the 274th hit Ben Hoa,
28:05and a local battalion tried to seize 3 Corps headquarters.
28:16The American 199th Flight Infantry Brigade, defending Long Binh,
28:20was attacked by a mechanized reserve which hit the flank of the Viet Cong attacking Ben Hoa.
28:31A unit of the 101st Airborne Division was airlifted in while helicopter gunships
28:37and more mechanized units joined the day-long battle,
28:40eventually driving the Viet Cong away from all their objectives.
28:56For American commanders faced with the huge scale of the Viet Cong assault in and around Saigon,
29:02Thet had been an extraordinary test of nerve.
29:11It had seemed as if the enemy was everywhere at once.
29:21Throughout the day, General Weyand had been directing the American battle,
29:26even as his own headquarters at Long Binh was under attack.
29:35In the first two hours of the Thet offensive,
29:38Weyand had deployed 5,000 airborne and armored reinforcements.
29:42More than 500 armored personnel carriers,
29:45mounting their deadly .50 caliber machine guns,
29:48had been sent into combat.
29:59So far, all the main Viet Cong assaults had been at least contained.
30:07But no one doubted there was still hard fighting ahead.
30:18How would you assess the enemy's purposes yesterday and today?
30:22The enemy very deceitfully has taken advantage of the Thet truce
30:29in order to create maximum consternation within South Vietnam,
30:39particularly in the populated areas.
30:41In my opinion, this is...
30:43In spite of the temptation to throw everything he had into the battle against the guerrillas,
30:48General Westmoreland was determined to hold back.
30:52He was still convinced that the Thet attacks were a diversion from the main effort,
30:56which he expected to come in the northern border areas.
31:04He was deeply reluctant to commit his most mobile forces to street battles.
31:16By now, Westmoreland knew that the Viet Cong attacks were being countered successfully all over the country,
31:23but at a great cost to American lives.
31:28The South Vietnamese Army was standing up well.
31:32The next stage would be to defeat the guerrillas town by town and battalion by battalion.
31:52In the far south of Vietnam, in the heavily populated Mekong Delta,
31:57the Thet offensive had seen Viet Cong assaults on nearly all of the 16 provincial capitals.
32:09Can Tho, the South Vietnamese Army's four corps headquarters, was also hit.
32:15Route 4 was cut in 62 places.
32:27In the central and northern provinces,
32:30eleven cities, towns and bases, including two corps headquarters,
32:36had been attacked in the premature offensive of January 30th.
32:44Eight more had been hit the following night.
32:49All the major attacks would be repulsed within a week, except in one city.
32:58The assault on the old Vietnamese imperial capital of Hue would lead to the biggest and bloodiest battle of the
33:05whole Thet offensive.
33:13The city of Hue was the third largest in South Vietnam and the ancient capital of its former emperors.
33:21It was split in two by the perfumed river, over which ran key rail and road bridges.
33:28On the north side of the river was the citadel, a walled city within the city, surrounded by a maze
33:35of streets and originally the home of the emperor.
33:39Near the citadel was the headquarters of the 1st South Vietnamese Army Division.
33:44On the other side of the river was the American headquarters compound.
33:49The only South Vietnamese unit inside Hue was the elite Black Panther Reconnaissance Company.
34:01The assault on Hue was launched by two local Viet Cong battalions,
34:05elements of the 6th Regiment of the 325th NVA Division and the 4th Independent Regiment.
34:18Within 24 hours, Hue fell to 5,000 NVA troops who were quickly reinforced by a further 7,000.
34:27They instantly raised the North Vietnamese flag over the citadel.
34:32Thousands of NVA troops ranged through the streets, mopping up pockets of resistance, and most of Hue was quickly secured.
34:41The exceptions were small areas around the American and South Vietnamese headquarters.
34:49There, the defenders held out and had been reinforced by small units rushed in from outside the city.
35:01The U.S. Marines and South Vietnamese troops that had come to the aid of their beleaguered headquarters
35:07had run a gauntlet of NVA forces to get into the city.
35:11Bigger units were battling to follow them,
35:13but it would be days before they would get inside Hue in any strength.
35:29Meantime, it was clear that the North Vietnamese Army meant to remain and would not be dislodged without a major
35:35battle.
35:53By the second day of the Tet Offensive, it was clear to Viet Cong commanders that the attacks in Saigon
35:59were in trouble.
36:05The assault teams had been driven out of most of their main objectives.
36:12The promised reinforcements had rarely arrived, and even nearby units had often failed to support each other.
36:25Secrecy meant they usually knew nothing of any orders but their own.
36:38The fight for Saigon had, by now, settled into a large number of separate battles raging in different parts of
36:45the city.
36:50Often, the Viet Cong were completely surrounded by government forces.
36:57Isolated units now faced concentrated assault from armored vehicles, planes, and helicopters.
37:15In spite of the setbacks, the Viet Cong had succeeded in winning control of huge areas of Saigon.
37:28To many Viet Cong fighters, it seemed that victory was at last in sight.
37:42They had been promised that the people of Saigon would rise up to support them.
37:50If they did, the war could be won soon, whatever happened on the battlefield.
38:12At the same time as the attacks on Saigon, the Viet Cong had launched powerful assaults on the surrounding towns.
38:22The headquarters of the 18th South Vietnamese Army Division was also hit.
38:30The headquarters had held out, and the town had been retaken after fierce fighting by American, South Vietnamese, and Australian
38:36units.
38:46As part of an attempt to surround Saigon and cut off the capital from reinforcements, the Viet Cong 273rd Regiment
38:53launched a massive assault on the town of Tu Duc,
38:56which contained one of the two South Vietnamese military academies.
39:01The regiment took heavy losses, but the following day, it seized the Newport Bridge over the Saigon River.
39:09Together, South Vietnamese and American units recaptured the bridge after a violent battle.
39:24At the high point of the Viet Cong assault on Saigon, the guerrillas occupied whole tracts of the west and
39:31south of the city.
39:36They used the Fu Tho Racetrack as a major assembly area.
39:42The American 199th Light Infantry Brigade launched an all-out assault on the racetrack buildings, driving the Viet Cong into
39:49the streets around.
39:56By the fourth day of the Tet battles, the Viet Cong were being squeezed into the sprawling and crowded district
40:01of Cho Lan.
40:14The drive to clear the Viet Cong from their last strongholds in Cho Lan and other parts of Saigon
40:20would last more than a month.
40:22Like the battles to clear residential districts all over South Vietnam, the fighting would be immensely costly in lives.
40:44Everywhere, instead of surrendering in mass, the guerrillas were fighting back with determination and skill.
40:55Most Viet Cong units committed to the Tet Offensive had made no plans for a possible retreat.
41:01The hopes of Viet Cong leaders were now fading fast.
41:07They were forced to accept that the Tet Offensive was failing.
41:11The South Vietnamese Army had been meant to collapse or even join the guerrillas, but instead most of its units
41:17had bravely chosen to fight.
41:20According to General Jap, it was their skill and determination that largely blunted the North's Tet Offensive.
41:42Even more disastrous, the uprising that was supposed to have seen thousands of civilians storming government buildings and proclaiming the
41:49revolution had not happened.
42:00On February 17th, 1968, the Viet Cong launched sudden mortar and rocket attacks all over South Vietnam.
42:12The attacks were no more than a symbolic gesture.
42:17A few days later, the Viet Cong High Command ordered its units to pull back from the cities to regroup
42:23and refit their remaining forces.
42:47When the Viet Cong High Command ordered its guerrilla units to withdraw from the cities, it made one clear exception.
42:56The city of Hue was not to be abandoned.
43:03Although South Vietnamese Army and American forces had launched a determined counter-assault, Hue was too valuable a prize to
43:10lose.
43:16By the fourth day of the Hue battle, a thousand more South Vietnamese Army troops had been airlifted to the
43:22city.
43:26The Americans had been reinforced by 1,200 Marines.
43:34Fierce assaults had been launched on the gates of the citadel and into the streets of the southern city.
43:42By now, the 12,000 NVA and NLF troops, in and adjacent to Hue, had fortified almost every city block.
43:52The attackers were forced to advance down narrow streets and through gardens, fighting their way from house to house.
43:59Around every corner were strong points bristling with heavy weapons.
44:10Any house or wall could conceal a heavily armed NVA assault group.
44:21At the start of the battle, in the hope of saving the Imperial City from complete destruction, the South Vietnamese
44:28had insisted that the Americans not use artillery or aircraft to destroy enemy fortifications.
44:39After five days of fierce and bloody fighting, most restrictions were lifted.
44:50Bombers and artillery support were called in to hit NVA strong points.
44:58Most devastating of all, the guns of American warships joined the battle.
45:03Directed by marine spotters, the ships fired thousands of shells into the city from 14 miles away.
45:29Meanwhile, in spite of frantic American efforts, U.S. reinforcements west of the city were still struggling to reach the
45:37battle zone.
45:53When the Tet Offensive had begun, it had caught the American 1st Air Cavalry Division in the middle of its
46:00redeployment from further south.
46:04The division was split with its headquarters and 3rd Brigade at Camp Evans and its main logistical base at Phu
46:12Bai.
46:17When the North Vietnamese had begun their attack on Hue, they had cut Highway 1, the vital road link between
46:24the Air Cavalry's fighting units and its stocks of fuel and ammunition.
46:35Meanwhile, the NVA had a clear supply line running from the Aosho Valley into Hue and a ring of anti
46:42-aircraft defenses around the city.
46:50The Air Cavalry could send only a single battalion to advance on Hue.
46:55It was dispatched without artillery support and with air cover impossible because of bad weather, the battalion was cut off
47:03and only just escaped annihilation.
47:07It would take nearly three weeks for the 1st Cavalry Division to assemble the men, fuel and ammunition it needed
47:14to start cutting the North Vietnamese Army's supply lines into Hue.
47:30By the 12th day of the battle for Hue City, South Vietnamese units had reoccupied parts of the citadel.
47:40The Americans had almost cleared the city south of the river and had been reinforced by 500 more Marines.
47:57The North Vietnamese still had open supply lines to the west and were able to launch aggressive counterattacks.
48:04But with the Marines now pressing into the old city, the NVA position was deteriorating fast.
48:25To help defend the citadel, the Truong Tinh Bridge across the perfumed river had been blown up by a Viet
48:32Cong demolition team.
48:35Supplies and reinforcements for the South Vietnamese Army and the U.S. Marines fighting inside the citadel had to be
48:41sent by landing craft.
48:51It was a hazardous journey.
48:53The boats had to go away.
48:55The boats had to skirt an enemy-held area and sail under the guns of NVA troops.
49:07During the following week, as the Americans and the South Vietnamese blasted their way deeper into the city, the sheer
49:15weight of firepower began to tell on the NVA.
49:20Their commander asked for permission to pull out.
49:26But he was told he had to fight on.
49:42The battle continued through to the night of February 23rd with days and nights of savage fighting, before the NVA
49:50were finally driven from their last redoubt in the citadel's imperial palace.
49:57And the stars and stripes was raised above it.
50:09Retaking Hue cost nearly 400 South Vietnamese Army and more than 140 U.S. Marines lives.
50:245,000 NVA and Viet Cong died in the city and a further 3,000 in the adjacent fighting.
50:325,800 civilians were caught in the crossfire or killed by NVA forces in the first days of the occupation.
50:40American firepower, bombs and artillery had reduced 80% of the city to rubble.
51:00By the end of the city battles, 37,000 Viet Cong troops deployed for the Tet Offensive had been killed.
51:13Many more had been wounded or captured and the fighting had created more than half a million civilian refugees.
51:22The casualties had included most of the Viet Cong's best fighters and many political officers and secret organizers.
51:31For the guerrillas, it was nothing less than a catastrophe.
51:35But for the Americans, who lost two and a half thousand men, it would prove to be a most severe
51:40blow to public support.
51:44Viet Cong leaders were now forced to claim that Tet had always been intended as a series of offenses, not
51:50just one push.
51:53To keep up some kind of momentum, two more waves of attacks were planned, one for May and another for
52:00the following September.
52:06The guerrillas also meant to tighten their grip on the countryside, now mostly abandoned by government forces drawn into the
52:13city fighting.
52:21In the battles, the Americans had lost more than 2,500 men and nearly 8,000 had been wounded.
52:36The South Vietnamese Army had suffered much worse.
52:40Its best units had been hit so hard, they would be useless for up to a year.
52:49Meantime, American forces would spearhead follow-up operations against the Viet Cong.
53:08Starting March 11th, 1968, massive search and destroy sweeps were launched against the Viet Cong remnants around Saigon and in
53:17other parts of the country.
53:19On March 16th, one of these operations resulted in the now infamous massacre by U.S. Charlie Company of over
53:26200 civilians at the hamlet of My Lai.
53:31Altogether, nearly 20,000 Americans and 9,000 South Vietnamese troops ranged throughout the Iron Triangle,
53:40Cu Chi District and other long-time Viet Cong strongholds.
53:44In three weeks, possibly 3,500 Viet Cong were killed,
53:50and their ability to pose a serious threat to the capital was delayed for the foreseeable future.
54:03The Tet battles had delivered a massive victory to American military leaders.
54:08What they wanted was an all-out push to win the war, including ground offensives into Laos and Cambodia.
54:18The Joint Chiefs of Staff asked for 206,000 extra men, half for Vietnam, the rest to boost the reserves.
54:28The answer from the White House was no.
54:32Tet had changed everything.
54:55To the American public, already disillusioned with the war, the Tet battles had come as a dreadful shock.
55:04If the Communists were close to defeat, as the President and the military had claimed so often,
55:09how could they have launched a nationwide offensive on such a scale?
55:22By now, support for President Johnson's handling of the war was at an all-time low.
55:29He faced a re-election battle in the fall, and inside his own party,
55:33Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy were opposing him on an anti-war platform.
55:44Even his own advisers, especially Clark Clifford, the new Defense Secretary, were coming out against the war.
55:51The pressure on Johnson was overwhelming.
56:00On March 31st, 1968, on national television, the President announced a new American peace initiative.
56:08He invited the North Vietnamese to negotiate and stated that as a goodwill gesture,
56:14he was curtailing the bombing campaign against the North.
56:25He also made a dramatic announcement about his own future.
56:31I shall not seek and I will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your President.
56:44Within days of the President's speech,
56:47Clark Clifford ordered officials to start planning for a new American strategy in Vietnam.
56:56The South Vietnamese army would be built up so it could gradually take over the fighting itself.
57:05Meanwhile, the U.S. would work for a negotiated peace with the North.
57:12For the United States, it was the beginning of a new phase in the war.
57:17The start of a long and costly battle to disengage from Vietnam.
57:24The Next Week
57:24And the First Week
57:51Indian
57:51& Sentence
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