BATTLE AT THE EMBASSY

The peace and goodwill of Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year celebration, were shattered on 30 January 1968 when Communist forces launched their surprise offensive in 13 cities across South Vietnam. Sudden and ferocious, the onslaught spread rapidly to engulf more than 100 towns and hamlets throughout the embattled country.

Nowhere was the shock of the Tet Offensive more keenly felt, or the reach of the communist regime in North Vietnam more powerfully demonstrated, than in the compound of the US embassy itself, situated in Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam. While preliminary reports of attacks from both the Viet Cong and regular units of the North Vietnamese Army flooded into the US embassy, the Tet Offensive came home in shocking fashion, early