The long-term effect of the Tet Offensive still reverberates throughout the provinces of Quang Binh and Quang Tri, which sit either side of the former DMZ. Speaking to residents today, most have known at least one friend or relative injured or killed by a leftover item of UXO, items that are often older than the lives they destroy.
The Vietnam War was fought between 1964 and 1975 on the ground in the south of the country, along the borders of Laos and Cambodia and in bombing runs in the north.
The Tet Offensive, which began in late January 1968, so called because it was planned to coincide with the Vietnamese New Year known as the festival of Tet, was a plan by the Communist People’s Army of North Vietnam (PANV) and the Viet Cong to attack South Vietnamese army and US strongholds in the major cities in the south.
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| This 90mm projectile and fuse were found in a villager’s garden close to his home in Tien Kim Village, Quang Tri |
Tet was chosen because it had traditionally been a period of truce during war in Vietnam; the North hoped to catch the South and US by surprise with the attacks. As planned thirty-six provincial capitals and five major cities including Saigon and Hue were targeted on, or following the 31st January 1968. Fighting was fierce, but relatively short-lived with the North and Viet Cong suffering terrible losses and ultimately defeat.
However, this is not how the global public saw it. Readers and viewers around the world were presented with a near military disaster on the part the South and US. The West had been led to believe that the PANV and Viet Cong were incapable of launching any kind of attack on this scale. When the offensive came, western journalists based in the country reacted with shock.
The first stories were written in a state of panic, expressing their own confusion rather than what was actually happening and, instead of contradicting what they’d originally presented most journalists stuck with their original reports. It was the first time in history that the news media overturned a victory won by forces on the ground.
Although the war continued for a further seven years many people see the Tet Offensive as the moment when America’s commitment to the conflict changed, as the media coverage destroyed public and eroded political confidence in the war effort. In fact, as early as February 1968 Robert Kennedy declared that the war was “unwinnable”.
Other sections:
» Introduction
» Thousands of bombs
» The luck of the gods
» Deadly trade
» Clearing for the future
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