VIETNAM WAR

TET OFFENSIVE
1968
MEMBERS OF SYNDICATE
1.MEJ MOHD AZHAR LEE
2.MEJ AMINULLAH
3.MEJ ROZLAN
4.MEJ SYED ISLAM
5.LT COL VU HAI TUAN

SUPERVISING DS –
LT KOL ABDUL RAHIM B SAINON
 SCOPE
 PRELUDE TO OPERATIONS
 AIM
 BACKGROUND
 FACTOR
 ANALYSIS
 LESSON LEARNT
 CONCLUSION
 AIM
 To Study the most significant
battle during Tet Offensive
and abstract some lesson
learnt which are applicable in
MAF.
BACKGROUND TO
THE WAR
FORMAT OF PRESENTATION

* WHAT
* WHERE
* WHY
* WHEN
* WHO
 WHAT ?
 Tet is the Lunar New Year which comes in
late January or early February.
 WHEN ?
 Tet was launched
on January
31,1968.

 The campaign
lasted through
February before
U.S and ARVN
recaptured the
city.
 WHERE ?
 True
Battlefront
of two
primary city
as Saigon
and Hue.
 Throughout
South
Vietnam from
far north

 as Duang
Tri to small
villages of the
Mekong Delta
region.
 WHY ?
 Firstly to develop strategy in respond to
the intervention of US.

 Secondly a positive development from

communist perspective that cause US
defeat and withdrawal.

 Thirdly it was to destruct the US

search and destroy operation.
 WHO INVOLVED ?
 General Vu Nguyen Giap led
the North Vietnam Army
and Vietcong.

 Ho Chi Minh urged the

troops on to 'ever greater
feats of battle' in 1968.

 General Westmoreland,
supreme commander of US
forces and Major General
Nguyen Van Manh, the IV
Corps Commander of ARVN
PLANNING AND PREPARATION
 In January 1967, the North
Vietnamese resolved to embark on Tet
1968

 Tet holidays, would help to diminish

ARVN’s state of readiness

 Unfortunately the Americans and

ARVN did not believe such an attack
would take place.

 Plan of attack on Saigon was

completed in outline in October 1967.
CONDUCT
 The Khe Sanh Battle
 The attacks started on
21 January 1968 and
lasted until 14 April
1968. To the
Americans, this siege
was another Dien Bien
Phu.
 BATTLE OF SAIGON
 The morning of January 31,
1968, a 20-man NLF suicide
squad infiltrated Saigon.

 On the same Tet morning,

the whole of Saigon was
attacked by thirty five
battalions of communists

 The attackers held out only

six hours and never got
inside the embassy building,
but their daring raid sent
U.S. morale and prestige to a
new low.
 BATTLE OF HUE
 On the 31st
January 1968, the
NLF of 2,000 men
and 5,000 NVA
infiltrators
attacked Hue and
by 0500 hours, Hue
was captured.
 ATTACK ON MEKONG DELTA
 In the opening hours of the
Tet Offensive, thirteen of
the sixteen provincial
capitals of Mekong Delta
and many of the district
capitals were attacked by
NVAs and NLFs.
 OTHER CITIES
 In Kontum in the central highlands 600 VC infiltrated
the city
 In Ben Tre, south of Saigon, an estimated 1,000
civilians were killed and 1,500 wounded when allied
forces counter-attacked to blast out 2,500
Communists who were holding the city.

 In Nha Trang, Communist forces captured the radio

station but failed in their second objective of
capturing the prison when they got lost.
 FACTORS
* A victory could be useful as a
bargaining leverage at Paris peace
Talks.

* Remained at a normal or reduced

state of readiness when urban
attacks unfold.
 ANALYSIS
 Political Influent.

 Intelligent.

The impact of military

operational technique.

 Inexperience Soldiers.
 LESSON LEARNT
 Don’t under grade the
capabilities of enemy.

 Application on tactic
and strategy.

 Leadership.

 The important to value

the intelligence
information’s.
 CONCLUSION
The 1968 Tet
Offensive was the
turning point of the
Vietnam War and it
brought about the
realization that the
Vietnamese
revolution could not
be defeated that
easily.
7