Australia's Involvement in the Vietnam War: Tet Offensive to the end of the Vietnam War
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Tet Offensive Phase 1
The Viet Cong and the Communists launched a wave of attacks on the morning of 30 January in the I and II Corps Tactical Zones of South Vietnam. When the main communist operation began the next morning the offensive was countrywide and well coordinated, eventually more than 80,000 Communist troops striking more than 100 towns and cities, including 36 of 44 provincial capitals, five of the six autonomous cities, 72 of 245 district towns, and the southern capital. Largest military operation so far. -
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Tet Offensive Phase 2
To further enhance their political posture at the Paris talks, which opened on 13 May, the North Vietnamese opened the second phase of the General Offensive in late April. U.S. intelligence sources estimated between February and May the North Vietnamese dispatched 50,000 men down the Ho Chi Minh Trail to replace losses incurred during the earlier fighting. Basically, the North Vietnamese tried to influence the Paris Peace Talks and get the Americans out of there. -
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Tet Offensive Phase 3
A thrust against Da Nang was preempted by the U.S. Marines on 16 August. Continuing their border-clearing operations, three North Vietnamese regiments asserted heavy pressure on the U.S. Special Forces camp at Bu Prang, in Quang Duc Province, five kilometers from the Cambodian border. The fighting lasted for two days before the North Vietnamese broke it off; the combat resulted in the deaths of 776 Nth Vietnamese, 114 Sth Vietnamese, and 2 Americans. The August offensive "was a dismal failure".