Osprey Trade Editions : The Tet Offensive 1968

The 1968 Tet Offensive was the decisive battle for Vietnam. Masterminded by the brilliant North Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap, it was intended to trigger a general uprising in South Vietnam. Detailing the plans and forces involved, James Arnold demonstrates how instead the bloody fighting for Saigon, Hue and other cities resulted in a catastrophic defeat for the North; and how, paradoxically, the American people and their leaders came to perceive the war for Vietnam was lost. All aspects of the war are investigated. The ARVN and American infantry are all examined, as are the Communists. Viet Cong guerrilla tactics before the Tet Offensive are looked at and Arnold not only contrasts the early fighting in the countryside with the urban warfare of the 1968 offensive but also shows how this change in Communist tactics surprised the Americans. US troops, having dropped their heavy weapons in favour of mobility during jungle-fighting days, suddenly found themselves virtually devoid of ground-based fire support. Inadequacies in American intelligence are looked at and the disastrous results recounted. The effect of such dramatic actions as the storming of the US embassy on the American public is also studied: reactions back home to press reports from the front were what made the Tet offensive an American defeat in spite of the body count being vastly in the US's favour by the end of the fighting. Text by James R. Arnold.