Tet Offensive

In the Vietnam War, a prolonged attack mounted by the Vietcong against Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) and other South Vietnamese cities and hamlets (including the US Marine base at Khe Sanh), which began on 30 January 1968. Although the Vietcong were finally forced to withdraw, the Tet Offensive brought into question the ability of the South Vietnamese army and their US allies to win the war and added fuel to the antiwar movement in both the USA and Australia. From this political perspective, the Tet Offensive might be considered the watershed of the Vietnam War.

Of 84,000 communist Vietcong who took part in the offensive, 32,000 were killed by mid‐February. The fighting in Saigon was especially fierce, and in Hué, which the Vietcong controlled for almost a month, 3,000 civilians were executed. The US Marine base at Khe Sanh was besieged for almost three months, and although the Vietcong were finally repulsed with heavy losses, the USA later abandoned the base.