Tet Offensive Failed, But Stunned Americans

The attack by North Vietnamese army and Viet Cong guerrilla forces in South Vietnam known as the Tet Offensive began fifty years ago on January 30th, 1968. It was one the largest and most important battles of the long Vietnamese war. During the Tet Offensive, provincial capitals, villages, and military bases in the U.S.-supported Republic of South Vietnam were overrun. Even the American Embassy in Saigon briefly became a battleground. Elsewhere, brutal combat virtually leveled the city of Hue during a month of fighting, and U.S. forces were under siege at combat base Khe Sanh for two months.