TET Offensive Line and the End of the Vietnam War

By Jimbun

  • First Day of TET Offensive

    Janurary 31: Half past midnight, on a wednesday morning, is the first day of the Tet Offensive.

  • Prisioner Shot

    February 1: A vietnamese security official shot a Viet Cong prisioner while being caught on film.

  • Reporters Arrive at Ben Tre

    February 7: Reporters arrive at the city of Ben Tre.

  • Casualties

    February 18: The most casualties occured on this date. 543 Americans were killed the previous week.

  • aftermath of the TET Offensive

    February 27: Walter Cronkite reports on the recent trip he took to Vietnam. He talked about the aftermath of the Tet Offensive.

  • US Troops Rampage

    March 16: US troops rampage through the hamlet of My Lai and kill over 500 vietnamese people. They varied from small newborns to the oldest of them all.

  • USSD

    April 11: The USSD, the United States Secretary of Defense call 24,500 military reserves to fight for a 2 year commitment.

  • Peace Talk Agreement

    May 3: The US and North Vietnamese leaders agree to talk about peace later in the month.

  • Returning Home

    3RAR returned home in October 1971 followed in December by 4RAR and the Royal Australian Air force’s No. 9 Squadron.

  • Logistics Personnel

    Some logistics personnel and the last of No. 35 Squadron’s Caribou aircraft left early in 1972.

  • Last Unit to Leave

    Second Lieutenant Bill Denny, 86 Transport Platoon, RAASC, was with one of the last Australian units to leave Vietnam in February 1972.

  • Bombing Campaign

    South. United States airpower, rather than the ARVN, stopped the North Vietnamese. A massive United States bombing campaign against the North followed in December 1972.

  • Transportation of Humantarian

    In 1975, when the North Vietnamese Army again launched a major offensive against the South, the ARVN forces, this time without United States air support or supplies, were overwhelmed. South Vietnam descended into chaos as civilians fled and thousands of ARVN troops and officers deserted. RAAF personnel returned to Vietnam during these fraught days to help evacuate civilians and transport humanitarian supplies. They counted among their number the last Australian service personnel to leave Vietna

  • The capitulatation of the South

    The South capitulated in late April 1975, bringing the war in Vietnam to an end and ushering in an era of Communist rule.