Tet

The Tet offensive was an offensive military action taken by the VC/NVA (Viet Cong / North Vietnamese Army) during the celebrations of the Chinese lunar new year (TET) in 1968. This action was taken in violation of a truce between the US/ARVN and Hanoi. The offensive was a simultaneous attack on the major population centers of South Vietnam with particualarly strong attacks on the Provincial capitol of Hue and on Saigon itself. The US embassy grounds themselves were attacked in Saigon. The overall military outcome of the offensive was a complete disaster for the communist forces. The effect on the American people, with the help of a leftist media, was that the war was not winnable if the streets of Saigon could not be protected from communist attacks. It was in effect the beginning of the end of US committment to the war.