Scattered attacks in South Vietnam opened the Tet Offensive in the early hours of January 30, 1968. Major fighting started on the following night of January 30–31 and continued through March 28. A combined force of 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers from the North Vietnamese People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and from their National Liberation Front (NLF—often called, in a derogatory manner, the Viet Cong [VC] by American and South Vietnamese government officials) allies in the South attacked more than 100 towns and cities throughout South Vietnam, including most provincial capitals and the national capital of Saigon. U.S. and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) bases were also attacked in the largest coordinated operation to that time by communist forces.

The Tet Offensive takes its name ...