Tet! The Ten Thousand Day War : Season 1 Episode 15

Episode Fifteen covers the Tet Offensive. January '68, The Viet Cong attack throughout the country all at once. Almost every US installation sees some sort of assault. Television brings the attack to the living rooms of every American household. Two years since the involvement of ground troops in the war, the prevailing opinion was that the US was winning the war. The North decides to attack. 80.000 Viet Minh troops infiltrate the south led by the South Vietnamese communists known as the Viet Cong. They even penetrated the US embassy and set it afire. 4,000 Northern troops are fighting in Saigon itself. Casualties are heavy with no sign of ceasing. South Vietnamese cities are destroyed, one US army officer states on TV that "We had to destroy it to save it." For the first time the Viet Minh come out and fight a pitched land battle, they quickly take the provincial capital Hue from the South's troops. US Marines supported by tanks take it back throwing the Vietminh out and driving them back across the border but not without heavy casualties in hard street fighting. Both sides consider it a victory. For the South and US a tactical victory, for the North a strategic one. It was clear that the war was far from won. LBJ now sees the war as un-winnable and believes withdrawal as the only solution. He views the war as having destroyed his presidency and decides to not seek re-election.