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

The Vietnam War - The 1968 Tet OffensiveFor several thousand years, Vietnamese Lunar bracing Year has been atraditional celebration that brings the Vietnamese a sense of happiness,hope and peace. However, in recent years, It also bring back a virulentmemory full of tears. It reminds them the 1968 bloodshed, a bloodiestmilitary campaign of the Vietnam War the North Communists launched againstthe South.The general offensive and general uprising of the north marked the sharp squirm of the Vietnam War. Today there have been a great number of writingsabout this event. However, it seems that many key facts in the Communistcampaign are restrained misinterpreted or neglected.In the mid-80, living 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 command had imitated maven of the greatest heroes ofVietnam, King Quang Trung, who won the most outstanding victory over theChinese aggressors in the 1789 counter-attack - in planning the 1968operations.The book quoted King Quang Trungs tactic of surprise. He let the mancelebrate the 1789 Tet Festival one day ahead so that he could launch theattacks on the first 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, but jumped into conclusion with trigger-happy imaginationafter learning that the North Vietnamese attacking units also celebratedTet one day ahead before the attacks.In fact, the Tet Offensive skint 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 othercities to the south that included Saigon, were attack ed 24 hours later atthe small hours of January 31. Thus the offensive lost its element of totalsurprise that every tactician has to respect.But It surprised me that some in the American media were still oblivious(predicate) ofsuch tragic story.The story started some 5 months previously. On August 8, 1967, the NorthVietnam government approved a lunar calendar specifically compiled for theseventh judgment of conviction 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 8th time zone that Beijing falls