Page 471 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

- The date and tirne of the of{ensive had been delayed
without all units being inforrned, resulting in discrepancies that
reduced the initial surprise factor.

- Ttre general offensive and general uprising plan was
carried out at a tirne when the ARVN and allied {orces were in a
trshakytr position (?) and not entirely depressed a6 they still had
1, 200, 000 rnen availablb (sic).

The sarne docurnent presented a po6t-offensive VC
reasoning as {ollows :
rr The General Offensive was an operation, a continued
fighting phaBe that will last until the final victory. How long it would
Iast depends on our efforts and leadership rt.

The operation as envisaged by the VC irnplied three
po e sible developrnents:
1. General offensive and general uprising at the sarne
tirne.
2, General offensive first, followed at a certain point
by general upri sing.

3. General Offensive without auccess in inciting the
population into general uprising : in this case, the troops rnust
withdraw and regain strength to 6tart all over again,

The Viet Cong said the first developrnent did not occur,
the second developrnent was obtained in Hue, and the third developrnent
was what happened in all the other cities and townships.

The C ornrnunists were defeated in both thei.r strategic
and tactical schernes, but they were clever enough to conceal their
defeat under sorne new terrninology, a field in which they had been
specialized, Unsuccessful as it was in achieving what it had been
intended for, the trGeneral Offensive - General Uprisingrt now had
its decisiveness substituted by the notion of protracted, flexible
pursuit of the sarne goal. This was to boost the rnorale of Cornrnunist
soldiers which had been on the verge of collapse following the bloody
Tet frontal assaults. Cornrnunists leaders knew only too well that
their troop u.nits were good only for guerilla and countryside warfare,
and their participation in frontal attacks against the cities would
cause resentrnent and perplexity arnong the regional. cadres.

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