European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 01, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                \ monday february 1.1993n- a. % Onay. Eru. Pages a the stars and stripes world u tet turned Vietnam War around attack 25 years ago Shook . Resolve by Denis a Gray the associated press Twenty five years ago Urffer cover of darkness a Small band of Viet Cong commandos rounded a Corne Rinto Saigon s thong nut Boulevard and approached the . Embassy. Two. Military policemen guarded this slumbering Symbol of american Power in Vietnam. The suicide squad opened fire. Those shots at the Start of the 1968 act offensive proved  two months of carnage in Vietnam and anti War protests at Home Lyndon b. Johnson announced he would seek peace and would not run for another term As president. Although historians agree that tet was a military de feat for North Vietnam and its Southern allies its scale and Surprise dealt a decisive blow to the United states country weary of the Long costly conflict. The net effect of tet was to dishearten the Ameri cans who decided then that they had to get out. It was almost an acknowledgement of defeat. Lyndon in effect threw in the Towel said scholar Douglas Pike in an interview. After being told repeatedly there was alight at the end of the Tunnel in Vietnam  used the metaphor in 1962 american were shocked at reports of Viet Cong sappers inside the . Embassy compound and fierce fighting in every major South vietnamese  dawned dramatically on activists and pro War Citi Zens alike that winning the Viet Nani War would take Many More years and Many More lives a Price an0increasing number of americans were unwilling to pay. The tet offensive does not share the american historical limelight with Battles such As Yorktown or Gettysburg and it is not much recalled in Vietnam either. In both countries the offensive holds too Many bitter memories. Everybody lost. The North vietnamese and Viet Cong lot a Battle. The . Government lost something even More important the Confidence of its people at Home wrote Don Ober Durfer in his 1971 Book act. Some including the military commander in Vietnam at the time Gen. William c. Westmoreland argue that the communists were so badly mauled during the tet offensive that the United states should have pressed its advantage through All out military action this the theory goes would have forced Hanoi into accepting a de Facto division of Vietnam similar to that of North and South Korea. In Vietnam where communism s grip on Power is slowly loosening some re evaluation of the offensive appears to be taking place although an honest confrontation with the past has yet to occur. Seeking diplomatic ties with the United states andean end to Washington s crippling Trade embargo Hanoi s leaders Are not trumpeting tet As a great Victory. Neither arc they highlighting its mistakes and trag Edies. One was the decimation of a generation of the Viet Cong s finest fighters. From then on North Vietnam took Over the conduct of the War and the Southern communists were relegated to second ranked status after the conflict ended in 1975. According to . And South vietnamese statistics some 58,000 Viet Cong and North vietnamese died in the two month offensive. Also killed were 14,300 South vietnamese civilians 4,954 South vietnamese soldiers 3,895 americans and 214 troops from .-Alued nations. One key element of the communists strategy failed utterly South vietnamese citizens did not Rise against their government and the americans. In fact they provided the self styled liberators  support. But in other respects the plan for the War s biggest offensive was Brilliant it began during the lunar new year a time of family reunions and festivities when Many South vietnamese were off guard despite intelligence reports of major communist movements. Under the noses of the allies the Viet Cong were Able to smuggle and hide Large quantities of weapons in major cities sometimes carting them inside coffins and beneath piles of vegetables. In Saigon the weapons were drawn from secretes shortly after Midnight on Jan. 31, about the time Abolt 20 members of the elite c-10 sapper in were atan Auto repair shop preparing for their assault on the  were to be captured or killed along with five american soldiers inside the embassy during a 6v hour Battle. Altogether some 70,000 communist sol Diers were unleashed against cities and a dozen . The tet offensive  lunar new year known As tet to vietnamese the North vie manese forces swept South along the he Chi Nfn Trail and coordinated t an attack on South vietnamese strongholds throughout the country on Jan. 31,1968. North Vietnam Burma Vinh a a Thailand path of the tet offensive i Cambodia pin Oppenh c Kon turn Buon me thou Saigon seventy thousand North vietnamese and Viet Cong troops struck at More than three fourths of South Vietnam s 44 provincial capitals at $4 District towns scores of villages and a dozen american bases. R troop losses two weeks United states 1,113 South Vietnam and other allies 3,470 North Vietnam More than 30,000 source a research the eyewitness history of the Vietnam War. Vietnam and America Apfl lathe South vietnamese National police chief Brig. Gen. Nguyen Ngoc loan executes a Viet Cone officer in Saleon High a shot to the head on feb. 1,1968, during the tet offensive. Eddie Adams won a pjli25 be Fotss photo military bases. Quarters of Saigon were reduced to rubble. . Marines took 24 Days to Root out infiltrators within the Lovely former Royal capital of Hue where the communists killed More than 2,800 government officials teachers and clergy. Throughout the offensive shells rained Down on 5,500 marines in the besieged base of Khe Sanh. When the 77-Day ordeal ended every third Man among the defenders had been wounded or killed. My feeling at the time was it s Over. The Vietnam Ese have won " said William Whorton who served two combat Tours in Vietnam. Of course you continued to do your Iob but i knew that our society could t take that kind of  a former . Marine Captain living in Bangkok Whorton remembered giving cigarettes and talking to dying communist prisoners in the Lashau Valley of Cen trial Vietnam. I asked them How Long they had been in the Lashau and they said eight years. I had been there four weeks and was sick of it Whorton said. I had tears in my e is. Int land of courage and sacrifice was Inczedi