The FReeper Foxhole Revisits Tet 1968 - Jan. 31st, 2004

http://members.fortunecity.com/stalinmao/Vietnam/VietnamWar/tet.html ^

[snippy_about_it]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.


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TET OFFENSIVE


1968

Tet: The Turning Point

Four-star General Vo Nguyen Giap led Vietnam's armies from their inception, in the 1940s, up to the moment of their triumphant entrance into Saigon in 1975. Possessing one of the finest military minds of this century, his strategy for vanquishing superior opponents was not to simply outmaneuver them in the field but to undermine their resolve by inflicting demoralizing political defeats with his bold tactics.

Giap was prepared to take a gamble. His divisions had been battered whenever they met the American forces in conventional combat and the VC- if not exactly on the retreat -was at least being pushed backwards. Hanoi was perfectly aware of the growing US peace movement and of the deep divisions the war was causing in American society. What Giap needed was a body-blow that would break Washington's will to carry on and at the same time would undermine the growing legitimacy of the Saigon Government once and for all.

In one sense, time was not on Giap's side. While Hanoi was sure that the Americans would tire of the war as the French had before them, the longer it took, the stronger the Saigon Government might become. Another year or so of American involvement could seriously damage the NLF and leave the ARVN capable of dealing with its enemies on its own. Giap opted for a quick and decisive victory that would be well in time for the 1968 US Presidential campaign.



Giap prepared a bold thrust on two fronts. With memories of the victory at Dien Bien Phu still in his mind, he planned an attack on the US Marines' firebase at Khe Sanh. At the same time the NVA and the NLF planned coordinated attacks on virtually all South Vietnam's major cities and provincial capitals. If the Americans opted to defend Khe Sanh, they would find themselves stretched to the limit when battles erupted elsewhere throughout the South. Forced to defend themselves everywhere at once, the U~ARVN forces would suffer a multitude of small to major defeats which would add up to an overall disaster. Khe Sanh would distract the attention of the US commanders while the NVA/VC was preparing for D-day in South Vietnam's cities but, when this full offensive was at its height, it was unlikely that the over-stretched American forces would be able to keep the base from being overrun and Giap would have repeated his triumph of fourteen years before.

It's highly doubtful that the NVA/VC expected to hold all or even some of the cities and towns they attacked, but the NLF apparently did expect large sections of the urban populace to rise up in revolt. With a few exceptions, this didn't happen. South Vietnam's city dwellers were generally indifferent to both the NLF and the Saigon Government but the VC clearly expected more support than it actually got. The object of attacking the cities was not so much to win in a single blow as it was to inflict a series of humiliating defeats on the Americans and to destroy the authority of the Saigon Government.

When the US/ARVN forces finally drove the NVA/VC back into the jungle, there would be left behind a wasteland of rubble, refugees, and simmering discontent. Stung by their defeats, the Americans would lose heart for the war and what was left of the Saigon Government would be forced to reach an agreement with the NLF and Hanoi which - after a time - would simply take over in the South. This offensive would begin in January 1968 at the time of the Vietnamese Tet (New Year) holidays.



The village of Khe Sanh lay in the northwest corner of South Vietnam just below the DMZ and close to the Laotian border. Khe Sanh had been garrisoned by the French during the first Indochina war and became an important US Special Forces base early on during the second. Its importance lay in its proximity to the Ho Chi Minh Trail. From Khe Sanh, US artillery could shell the trail and observers could keep an eye on NVA traffic moving southwards. If necessary they could call in air-strikes or alert CIA/Meo raiding parties across the border in Laos. Special Forces working with local Montagnard tribesmen also harried NVA traffic in the area and were a definite nuisance to Hanoi. In 1967, the Marines took over Khe Sanh and converted it into a large fire base. The Special Forces moved their base to the Montagnard village of Lang Vei.



Towards the end of 1967, it was obvious that Giap was planning something. Broadcasts from Hanoi were speaking of great victories and of taking the war into the cities of South Vietnam. Two NVA divisions- the 325th and the 304th were spotted moving into the Khe Sanh area and a third was positioning itself along Rout#9 where it would be able to intercept reinforcements coming in from Quang Tn. The two NVA divisions near Khe Sanh had fought at Dien Bien Phu and the warning was clear. Westmoreland picked up the gauntlet and began to reinforce the base despite predictions of upcoming bad weather which could hinder air support and interfere with vital supply planes.

Appearances to the contrary, Westmoreland had no intention of duplicating the French mistakes at Dien Bien Phu. American airpower was capable of delivering devastating attacks on concentrations of enemy troops and - apart from anti-aircraft guns - was unopposed. Helicopters and parachute drops by low-flying cargo planes reduced the dependence on re-supply by road.



By late January, some 6,000 Marines had been flown in to reinforce the Khe Sanh garrison and thousands of reinforcements had been moved north of Hue. The NVA build-up also continued; 20,000 North Vietnamese were ultimately moved in around Khe Sanh but other estimates put the number at twice that. Initially, Giap would position his artillery in the DMZ and then send his assauIt troops against the fortified hills surrounding Khe Sanh which the Marines had captured in the dogged fighting in 1967.

Having captured the hill positions, Giap reasoned, the NVA artillery could be moved onto the heights above the beleaguered base. Then - as happened at Dien Bien Phu - waves of determined infantry would steadily grind away until the defenders were pushed into a corner and finally over-run. The White House and the US media became convinced that the decisive battle of the war had begun. TV news reports were so obsessed with Giap's threatened replay of Dien Bien Phu that day-to-day life at Khe Sanh became lead-story material even when it showed nothing other than anxious Marines waiting for something to happen.



The first attack began shortly before dawn on January 21st, when the NVA attempted to cross the river running past the base. It was beaten back but followed by an artillery barrage which damaged the runway, blew up the main ammunition stores, and damaged a few aircraft. Secondary attacks were launched against the Special Forces' defenses at Lang Vel and against the Marines dug-in on the hills surrounding Khe Sanh but these attacks were aimed more attesting the defenses than anything else. The next day, helicopters and light cargo aircraft flew in virtually every few minutes replacing lost ammunition but the weather began turning worse.



The NVA began a concentrated artillery barrage and moved their troops forward to begin building a network of entrenched positions in which they could prepare for further assaults on Khe Sanh's outer defenses. Anti-aircraft guns and the worsening weather made incoming supply flights difficult running skirmishes designed to break through on Route#9. Air and supporting US forces moved-up to engage the NVA in running skirmishes around Khe Sanh and were intensified and despite the weather- pounded the North Vietnamese hour after hour.

Electronic sensors of the types running along the McNamara Line surrounded Khe Sanh. Seismic and highly sensitive listening devices enabled the Americans to monitor everything from normal conversations to radio communications. Overhead, high-flying signal-intelligence (SIGINT) aircraft intercepted communications traffic over the entire front and to and from command centers in North Vietnam. While the world was watching the drama unfolding at Khe Sanh, however, NVA and VC regulars were also drifting into Saigon, Hue, and most of South Vietnam's cities.



They came in twos and threes, disguised as refugees, peasants, workers, and ARVN soldiers on holiday leave. In Saigon, roughly the equivalent of five battalions of NVA/VC gradually infiltrated the city without anyone informing or any of the countless security police taking undue notice. Weapons came separately in flower carts, jury-rigged coffins, and trucks apparently filled with vegetables and rice.

There was also a VC network in Saigon and the other major cities which had long stockpiled stores of arms and ammunition drawn from hit-and-run raids or bought openly on the black-market. It was also no secret that VC drifted in and out of the cities to see relatives and on general leave from their units. Viet Cong who were captured during the pre Tet build up were mistaken for regular holiday-makers or deserters. In the general pattern of the New Year merry-makers, the VC's secret army of infiltrators went completely unnoticed.

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FReeper Foxhole Armed Services Links

[SAMWolf]

Thanks Snippy. I knew the story behind this picture and was just gonna look it up. Thanks for covering for me, partner.

[Valin]

On this Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on January 31:
1601 Pieter de Bloot Dutch landscape painter
1612 Hendrik Casimir I count of Nassau-Dietz/mayor of Frisia
1614 Nicolas Saboly composer
1623 François-Xavier de Laval Montmorency, consecrated the first bishop of Québec Canada in 1674
1734 Robert Morris merchant (signed Declaration of Independence)
1734 Julien-Amable Mathieu composer
1750 Gerrit J Pijman Dutch minister of War (1798-1800, 1803-06)
1759 François Devienne composer
1797 Franz Peter Schubert Lichtenthal Austria, composer (Unfinished Symphony)
1810 Daniel Ruggles Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1897
1812 John Randolph Tucker Capt (Confederate Navy), died in 1883
1817 Antony Winkler Prins Dutch writer (Groiler Encyclopaedia)
1818 William Raine Peck Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1871
1830 James Gillespie Blaine West Brownsville PA, (Representative-R-ME 1863-76/Senator-R-ME 1876-81/Secretary of State 1889-92)
1868 Theodore William Richards chemist (atomic weights, Nobel-1914)
1872 Zane Grey American West novelist (Riders of the Purple Sage, Spirit of the Border)
1881 Irving Langmuir physical chemist/colloid researcher/inventor (tungsten filament lamp/Nobel 1932)
1886 Alfonso Lopez Colombia, statesman (President UN security council-1948)
1892 Eddie Cantor New York City NY, comedian (Eddie Cantor Comedy Theater)
1903 Gardner Cowles Iowa, publisher/founder (Look Magazine)
1903 Tallulah Bankhead Huntsville AL, actress (Lifeboat, Die Die Darling)
1905 John Henry O'Hara Pottsville PA, novelist (Butterfield 8, Pal Joey, Appointment at Samarra)
1905 Anna Blaman [Johanna P Vrugt], Dutch writer (Wife & Friend)
1914 Jersey Joe Walcott heavyweight boxing champ (1951-52)
1915 Thomas Merton France, Trappist monk/poet/essayist (7 Storey Mt)
1915 Garry Moore [Thomas Garrison Morfit], Baltimore MD, TV host (Garry Moore Show, I've Got a Secret)
1919 Jackie Robinson Georgia, 1st black major league baseball player (Dodgers)
1920 Stewart L Udall St Johns AZ, US Secretary of Interior (1961-69)
1921 Carol Channing Seattle WA, actress (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Hello Dolly)
1921 John Agar Chicago IL, actor (Fort Apache, Sands of Iwo Jima)
1921 Mario Lanza Philadelphia PA, actor/singer (Great Caruso, Toast of New Orleans)
1923 Norman Mailer New Jersey, New York City NY mayoral candidate/novelist (Naked & the Dead)
1925 Benjamin Hooks civil rights leader
1931 Ernie "Mr Cubs" Banks Chicago Cubs, Hall-of-Famer (1st baseman)
1934 James Franciscus Clayton MO, actor (Mr Novak, Longstreet, Hunter)
1937 Philip Glass Baltimore MD, composer (Einstein on the Beach)
1937 Steve Karmen Bronx NY, jingle writer (I Love NY, This Bud's for You)
1937 Suzanne Pleshette New York City NY, actress (The Birds, Emily-Bob Newhart Show)
1938 Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard queen of Netherlands (1980- )
1938 James G Watt Colorado, US Secretary of Interior (1981-83)
1940 Stuart Margolin Davenport IA, actor (Pockford Files, Love American Style)
1941 Richard A Gephardt (Representative-D-MO, 1977- )
1944 Charley Musselwhite blues musician (Stand Back, Louisiana Fog)
1947 Nolan Ryan pitcher (Mets, Angels, Astros) (7 no-hitters, 5,714 Ks)
1951 Phil Manzanera rock guitarist (The Doors)
1956 Johnny Rotten [John Lydon], rocker (Sex Pistols-God Save the Queen)
1971 Brandi Sherwood Miss Idaho-USA (1997, 2nd, succeeded Brook Lee)

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Deaths which occurred on January 31:
1606 Guy Fawkes convicted in the "Gunpowder Plot", executed at 35
1788 [Bonnie Prince] Charles E Stuart English pretender, dies at 67
1864 Hamilton Rowan Gamble US judge/Governor of Missouri (1861-64), dies
1891 Ernest Meissonier French painter/etcher/sculptor, dies at 75
1945 Eddie Slovik 1st US soldier executed for desertion since Civil War at 25
1954 Edwin H Armstrong US radio inventor (FM), commits suicide at 63
1955 John R Mott US theologist/founder (YMCA, Nobel 1946), dies at 89
1967 Chief Thundercloud actor (Ambush, Colt 45, Typhoon), dies at 100
1972 Bir Bikram Shah Deva Mahendra king of Nepal (1955-72), dies at 51
1974 Samuel Goldwyn Polish/English/US film magnate (MGM), dies at 91
1995 George Abbott playwright/actor/producer (Damn Yankees), dies at 105

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1966 HAMILTON EUGENE DAVID---PEPPERALL AL.
1967 BARDEN HOWARD L.---CAYAHOGA FALLS OH.
[CRASH SURVIV POSS BUT NO SIGN]
1967 BULLOCK LARRY A.---SOMERSET KY.
1967 KUBLEY ROY R.---GLIDDEN WI
[CRASH SURVIV POSS BUT NO SIGN]
1967 MIYAZAKI RONALD K.---WAIALUA HI.
[CRASH SURVIV POSS BUT NO SIGN]
1967 MULHAUSER HARVEY---CHARLOTTESVILLE VA
[CRASH SURVIV POSS BUT NO SIGN]
1967 WALKER LLOYD F.---MT ANGEL OR.
[CRASH SURVIV POSS BUT NO SIGN]
1968 BADUA CANDIDO C.---PHILIPPINES
[RELEASED MARCH 1973 NOT ON DIA LIST]
1968 COCHEO RICHARD N.
1968 KJOME MICHAEL
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY PRG INJURED, 1986 DECEASED]
1968 LACEY RICHARD J.---PITTSBURGH PA.
1968 YOUNG JOHN A.---CHICAGO IL.
03/16/73 RELEASED BY PRG]
1971 CARTWRIGHT PATRICK G.---RENO NV.

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

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On this day...
0314 St Silvester I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1504 By treaty of Lyons, French cede Naples to Ferdinand of Aragon
1578 Battle of Gembloers
1596 Catholic League disjoins
1627 Spanish government goes bankrupt
1675 Cornelia/Dina Olfaarts found not guilty of witchcraft
1696 Revolt of undertakers after funeral reforms (Amsterdam)
1779 Charles Messier adds M57 (Ring Nebula in Lyra) to his catalog
1842 John Tyler's daughter Elizabeth marries in the White House
1849 Corn Laws abolished in Britain
1851 San Francisco Orphan's Asylum, 1st in California founded
1851 Gail Borden announces invention of evaporated milk
1861 State of Louisiana takes over US Mint at New Orleans
1862 Telescope maker Alvin Clark discovers dwarf companion of Sirius
1863 1st black Civil War regiment, SC Volunteers, mustered into US army
1865 Congress passes 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery in America (121-24)
1871 Millions of birds fly over western San Francisco, darken the sky
1874 Jesse James gang robs train at Gads Hill MO
1895 José Martí & others leave New York City NY for invasion of Spanish Cuba
1901 Chekhov's "Three Sisters" opens at the Moscow Art Theater
1901 Boer General John Smuts & De la Rey conqueror Mud river Transvaal
1905 1st auto to exceed 100 mph (161 kph), A G MacDonald, Daytona Beach
1906 Strongest instrumentally recorded earthquake, Colombia, 8.6 Richter
1915 1st (German) poison gas attack, against Russians
1917 Germany notifies US that U-boats will attack neutral merchant ship
1920 Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, at Howard University, incorporates
1925 Premier Ahmed Zogu (Zogu I) becomes President of Albania
1927 International allies military command in Germany disbands
1927 National League President John Heydler rules Roger Hornsby can't hold stock in the Cardinals & play for the Giants
1928 Scotch tape 1st marketed by 3-M Company
1929 Leon Trotsky expelled from Russia to Turkey
1932 US railway unions accept 10% wage reduction
1933 French government of Daladier takes power
1933 Hitler promises parliamentary democracy
1934 FDR devalues the dollar in relation to gold at $35 per ounce
1935 30.5 cm (12.0") of rain falls, Quinault RS WA (state record)
1936 "Green Hornet" radio show is 1st heard on WXYZ Radio in Detroit
1941 Anti-German demonstration in Haarlem Netherlands
1941 Joe Louis KOs Red Burman in 5 for heavyweight boxing title
1943 General Friedrich von Paul surrenders to Russian troops at Stalingrad
1944 Operation-Overlord (D-Day) postponed until June
1944 U-592 sunk off Ireland
1944 US forces invade Kwajalein Atoll
1945 Eddie Slovik, 1st American executed for desertion since Civil War
1946 Yugoslavia adopts new constitution, becomes a federal republic
1948 Magnetic tape recorder developed by Wireway
1949 1st daytime soap on TV "These Are My Children" (NBC in Chicago)
1950 President Truman reveals that he ordered the Atomic Energy Commission to develop the hydrogen bomb
1953 Hurricane-like winds flood Netherlands drowning nearly 2,000
1955 RCA demonstrates 1st music synthesizer
1957 Liz Taylor's 2nd divorce (Michael Wilding)
1957 Trans-Iranian oil pipe line finished
1958 "Jackpot Bowling" premieres on NBC with Leo Durocher as host
1958 James van Allen discovers radiation belt
1958 US launches their 1st artificial satellite, Explorer 1
1961 Ham is 1st primate in space (158 miles) aboard Mercury/Redstone 2
1961 USAF launches Samos spy satellite to replace U-2 flights
1961 David Ben-Gurion resigns as premier of Israel
1961 Houston voters approve bond to finance luxury domed stadium
1962 General Charles P Cabell, USAF, ends term as deputy director of CIA
1964 US report "Smoking & Health" connects smoking to lung cancer
1968 Record high barometric pressure (1083.8 mb, 32"), at Agata, USSR
1968 Viet Cong's Tet offensive begins
1970 Grateful Dead members busted on LSD charges(SHOCKING NEWS!)
1971 Apollo 14 launched, 1st landing in lunar highlands
1971 Jake Beckley, Joe Kelley, Harry Hooper, Rube Marquard, Chick Hafey & Dave Bancroft & George Weiss elected to baseball Hall of Fame
1974 McDonald's founder Ray Kroc buys San Diego Padres
1975 Barry Manilow's "Mandy" goes gold
1978 Israel turns 3 military outposts in West Bank into civilian settlements
1981 38th Golden Globes Ordinary People, Coal Miner's Daughter
1982 10 Arabian oryx (extinct except in zoos) released in Oman
1985 South African President PW Botha offers to free Mandela if he denounces violence
1990 1st McDonald's in Russia opens in Moscow, world's biggest McDonald's
1992 Sportscaster Howard Cosell retires

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Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Lerwick, Shetland Islands : Up-Helly-Aa/Norse fire festival
Nauru : Independence Day (1968)
Surrey England : Dicing for Maid's Money Day
US : Westerns Are Wonderful Day
USA] Meat Week Ends
Wheat Bread Month

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Religious Observances
Roman Catholic:Feast of St Marcella
Roman Catholic:Commemoration of St Peter Nolasco, French founder
Roman Catholic:Commemoration of St Francis Xavier Bianchi, Apostle of Naples
Roman Catholic:Memorial of St John Bosco, confessor/priest

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Religious History
1538 French reformer John Calvin wrote in a letter: 'I pray the Lord to keep you in His holy protection, and so to direct you that you may not go astray in that slippery path whereon you are, until He shall have manifested to you His complete deliverance.'
1752 The profession ceremony for Sister St. Martha Turpin was held at Ursuline Convent in New Orleans, LA. She was the first American-born woman to become a nun in the Catholic Church.
1839 Two months before his premature death at age 39, Church of Scotland clergyman Robert Murray McCheyne wrote in a letter: 'Is not a Christian's darkest hour calmer than the world's brightest?'
1911 In Falcon, NC, the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church (FBHC) and the Pentecostal Holiness Church (PHC) officially merged. In 1915, the Tabernacle Pentecostal Church (TPC) joined the merger. In 1975, the name of this body officially became the International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC).
1949 American missionary and Auca Indian martyr Jim Elliot wrote in his journal: 'One does not surrender a life in an instant Ä that which is lifelong can only be surrendered in a lifetime.'

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

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Thought for the day :
"A cynic is a person searching for an honest man, with a stolen lantern."

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Question of the day...
If a parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages?

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Murphys Law of the day...(Babcock's Law)
If it can be borrowed and it can be broken, you will borrow it and you will break it.

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Amazing Fact # 820...
There are more chickens than people in the world.

[SAMWolf]

Morning EOD.

[Professional Engineer]

Howdy ma'am. Interesting reading today. Thanks

[SAMWolf]

Yes dear. ;-)

[U S Army EOD]

Reading your tag line you seem to be in control of some D-crystals, may I have them for my coffee?

[Professional Engineer]

Hiya Sam

[SAMWolf]

1970 Grateful Dead members busted on LSD charges

WHAT!! The Dead were in to drugs!!!!!!! Tell me it ain't so!!

[SAMWolf]

No problem. PE wanted some too. I've got plenty.

[SAMWolf]

Morning PE.

[U S Army EOD]

There are more chickens in the world than people



And they are trying to increase the gap by bio-terror and killing us with avian flu.

[The Mayor]

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. —Psalm 90:12

Don't just count your days, make your days count.

[U S Army EOD]

By the way, I just sent a E-mail to Sen John Kerry asking him if he was going to seek the endorsement of Jane Fonda in his run for the White House. I will let you know what he says if he replies.

My next e-mail to him will ask him to explain why that I heard his political stand was "To the left of Ted Kennedy and behind Barney Frank".

[The Mayor]

I'm looking fwd to reading this thread and I'll have my so read it to.

thanks for posting it.... : )

[SAMWolf]

Morning Mayor. Got any hot tea?

[SAMWolf]

By the way, I just sent a E-mail to Sen John Kerry asking him if he was going to seek the endorsement of Jane Fonda in his run for the White House. I will let you know what he says if he replies.

LOL! I wish I had thought of that.

[U S Army EOD]

That would be a good FReeper sign at any of his rallies.

[SAMWolf]

We were resilient to that kind of propaganda, but so many people in the west seemed to have believed them without any doubt.

There are still people in the US and our government who miss the "good old days" of the Soviet Empire. With them gone they now fawn all over Castro. Makes me sick to my stomach.

[SAMWolf]

OOOOOO! I like the way you think.