The Vietnam War - The 1968 Tet Offensive :: Vietnam War Essays

The Vietnam War - The 1968 Tet OffensiveFor several thousand years, Vietnamese lunar New Year has been atraditional celebration that brings the Vietnamese a sense of happiness,hope and peace. However, in recent years, It also bring confirm a bittermemory full of tears. It reminds them the 1968 bloodshed, a bloodiestmilitary causal agency of the Vietnam War the northwest Communists launched againstthe South.The general offensive and general uprising of the atomic number 7 marked the sharpturn of the Vietnam War. Today there have been a great number of writings about this event. However, it seems that many key facts in the Communistcampaign are still misinterpreted or neglected.In the mid-80, animated in Saigon after being released from the Communistre-education camp, I read a book published in the early 1980s in Americaabout the story of the 1968 Tet Offensive. It said that the NorthVietnamese Army supreme prevail had imitated whizz of the greatest heroes ofVietnam, business l eader Quang Trung, who won the most spectacular success over theChinese aggressors in the 1789 counter-attack - in planning the 1968operations.The book quoted King Quang Trungs tactic of surprise. He let the troopscelebrate the 1789 Tet Festival one day ahead so that he could launch theattacks on the outgrowth three days of the lunar new year while the Chinesetroops were still feasting and not ready to organize their defense.Those who claimed the similarity between the two campaigns certainly didnot know the whole truth, precisely jumped into conclusion with wild imaginationafter learning that the North Vietnamese attacking units also celebratedTet one day ahead onward the attacks.In fact, the Tet Offensive broke out on the Tets Eve - in the earlymorning of January 30, 1968 at many cities of Central Vietnam, such as DaNang and Qui Nhon, as well as cities in the central coastal and highlandareas, that lied within the Communist 5th Military Region.. The another(prenominal)citie s to the south that included Saigon, were attacked 24 hours later atthe small hours of January 31. thus the offensive lost its element of totalsurprise that every tactician has to respect. that It surprised me that some in the American media were still unaware ofsuch tragic story.The story started some 5 months previously. On August 8, 1967, the NorthVietnam government approved a lunar schedule specifically compiled for theseventh time zone that covers all Vietnam, replacing the traditional lunarcalendar that had been in use in Asia for hundreds of years.That old calendar was calculated for the eighth time zone that Beijing falls