Question

Which statement below best describe the TET offense that had occurred during the Vietnam War? A. It was an attack on US ships that led to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. B. It was a bombing campaign that sought to weaken North Vietnam. C. It was a guerrilla warfare campaign against US ground forces. D. It was a sudden series of attacks by North Vietnam on bases and towns.

Answer 1

D. It was a sudden series of attacks by North Vietnam on bases and towns.

Answer 2

The correct answer is D. The Tet Offensive was a sudden series of attacks by North Vietnam on bases and towns.

The Tet offensive was a military operation planned by the government of North Vietnam and executed by the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong in 1968, against the US-led allies, especially the Army of the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

During the Vietnamese New Year holiday, known as the Tet, the forces of the north along with the Viet Cong guerrillas launched a surprise attack on several strategic points, including the capital, Saigon.

The planning of the offensive was meticulous and the execution well done; but the military results were disastrous; not so the political consequences, especially in the United States. The large number of US soldiers killed during the offensive, about 14,000, was not digested by the American people. The rejection of the war in the United States increased and this meant a turn of the war towards the defeat of the coalition.

Although the US troops recovered the lost territory again, the repercussions of that offensive made vanish any idea of victory installed in the American imagination.  And with it, popular support for the presence of troops in Vietnamese territory.