Page 25 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

Suddenly, Last Spring Time

A11 of a sudden the sounds of big and srnall guns were
heard in the rnidst of the ghost-scaring firecraeker erplosions. The
peace of South Vietnarnrs secured areas was shattered. A series of
wild and confusing battlelines were drawn through back gardens, The
Cornrnunists achieved this feat because of the careless abolishrnent
of the curfew and they did it through violating their self- pr oc lairned
holiday tr uc e.
)
On New Yearrs eve (night of 29-30 Feb. the Viet Cong
launched a series of thrusts against five localities. eui Nhon was at-
tacked at 0410 hours, Konturn at 0200, Pleiku at 0440, Darlac at 0l3O
and Nha Trang at 0035 hours. During that fateful night, a little before
dawn,the Cornrnunists also rnortared and penetrated the headquarters
of I Corps in Danang. They also assaulted rnilitary installations in
the srnall town of Hoi An, rnortared the city of euang Tri, the air base
of Danang, and the neighboring Non Nuoc airport,while launching a
series of ground attacks on rnany isolated outposts throughout the
country.

The enemy was quite successful in the initial phase of
his offensive carnpaign. In all the five townships rnentioned above,his
troops could be seen fighting in downtown areas. The V.C. pressure
in Qui Nhon, Nha Trang,and Pleiku was eli.rninated rather quickly and
it took the I Corps headquarters garrison only a few hours to dislodge
the intruders. It took rnany days for the garrisoning troops in Ban-rne-
thuot and Konturn to get their situations completely under control,

A bare twenty-four hours after the first holiday strikes
the Viet Cong launched a rnuch larger offensive which concentrated on
Saigon and the Mekong delta. In the rneantirne the central governrnent
had warned provincial authorities of an irnpending C ornrnuni st offen-
sive. On the very first day of the Year of the Monkey (Jan. 30), Radio
Saigon denounced the Cornrnunists for their bLatant violations of the
holiday ceasefire and announced the abrogation of the truce order.

In the joy of Tet, nonetheless, little attention was paid
to these developrnents. Particularly in Saigon, where rnernbeis of
local garrisons were ordered back to their barracks, there were
rnany who failed to listen to the radio and did not have the slightest