The Tet Offensive Strikes Cities Across South Vietnam

In the early hours of 31 January 1968, more than 80,000 troops from the North Vietnamese People's Army and the Viet Cong launched an unprecedented wave of simultaneous assaults across South Vietnam. Timed to exploit the Lunar New Year holiday known as Tet, when many South Vietnamese soldiers were away on leave, the coordinated operation hit more than one hundred urban centers, including thirty-six provincial capitals, five autonomous cities, and the capital of Saigon. The offensive shattered an informal holiday truce and marked the largest military operation undertaken by either side up to that point in the Vietnam War.

The campaign was the culmination of fierce strategic debates inside the North Vietnamese Politburo. A militant faction led by Communist Party First Secretary Le Duan had steadily consolidated authority over moderates who preferred protracted guerrilla tactics and diplomatic talks. Le Duan and his allies believed that South Vietnamese society had grown so fragile that a massive urban assault would trigger spontaneous public uprisings and provoke widespread defections within the armed forces of South Vietnam. Based on that assessment, northern planners scheduled countrywide attacks on populated cities and military headquarters, accompanied by diversions around border bases such as Khe Sanh.