1968 in the Vietnam War

1968 in the Vietnam War
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Cholon after Tet Offensive operations 1968
Cholon after Tet Offensive operations 1968
Location
Vietnam
Result The American war effort in Vietnam peaks in 1968 as the American public support takes a huge hit after the Tet Offensive
Belligerents

Anti-Communist forces:

 South Vietnam
 United States
 South Korea
 Australia
 Philippines
 New Zealand
 Thailand
Laos Kingdom of Laos
 Republic of China

Communist forces:

 North Vietnam
Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam Viet Cong
Cambodia Khmer Rouge
Laos Pathet Lao
 People's Republic of China
 Soviet Union
 North Korea
Strength

US: 536,100 [1]
South Vietnam: 820,000[2]
South Korea: 50,003[3]
Thailand: 6,005
Australia: 7,661
Philippines: 1,576

New Zealand: 516		 PAVN/VC: 420,000 [4]
Casualties and losses
US: 16,899 killed [5]
87,388 wounded[4]
South Vietnam: 27,915 killed [6]
172,512 wounded[4]		 U.S estimates: 191,000[7]: 914  – 181,149 killed [4][A 1])
North Vietnamese Records:
KIA: 44,842
Total casualties: 111,306 killed and wounded[9]

The year 1968 saw major developments in the Vietnam War. The military operations started with an attack on a US base by the North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the Viet Cong (VC) on January 1, ending a truce declared by the Pope and agreed upon by all sides. At the end of January, the PAVN and VC launched the Tet Offensive.

Hanoi erred monumentally in its certainty that the offensive would trigger a supportive uprising of the population. PAVN/VC troops throughout the South, from Hue to the Mekong Delta, attacked in force for the first time in the war, but to devastating cost as the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and American troops killed close to 37,000 of the ill-supported enemy in less than a month for losses of 3,700 and 7,600 respectively. These reversals on the battlefield (the VC would never again fight effectively as a cohesive force) failed to register on the American home front, however and fueled what would ultimately prove to be a propaganda victory for Hanoi.

U.S. troop numbers peaked in 1968 with President Johnson approving an increased maximum number of U.S. troops in Vietnam at 549,500. The year was the most expensive in the Vietnam War with America spending US$77.4 billion (US$ 678 billion in 2024) on the war. The year also became the deadliest of the Vietnam War for America and its allies with 27,915 ARVN soldiers killed and the Americans suffering 16,592 killed compared to around two hundred thousand PAVN/VC killed. The deadliest day of the Vietnam War for the U.S. was 31 January at the start of the Tet Offensive when 246 Americans were killed in action.

  1. ^ "Clark M. Clifford". United States Department of Defense. Archived from the original on 28 February 2010. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  2. ^ "Facts about the Vietnam Veterans memorial collection". NPS.gov. 2010. Archived from the original on 28 May 2010. Retrieved April 26, 2010.
  3. ^ Leepson, Marc; Hannaford, Helen (1999). Webster's new world dictionary of the Vietnam War. Macmillan. p. 209. ISBN 978-0-02-862746-5.
  4. ^ a b c d Smith, Ray. "Casualties – US vs NVA/VC". rjsmith.com. Archived from the original on 15 April 2010. Retrieved March 22, 2010.
  5. ^ "Vietnam War U.S. Military Fatal Casualty Statistics". National Archives. 15 August 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  6. ^ Smedberg, Marco (2008). Vietnamkrigen: 1880–1980. Historiska media. p. 196. ISBN 978-91-85507-88-7.
  7. ^ Asprey, Robert (2002). War in the Shadows: The Guerrilla in History, Volume 2. iUniverse. ISBN 978-0-595-22594-1.
  8. ^ Joes, Anthony (2001). The war for South Viet Nam, 1954–1975. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-275-96807-6.
  9. ^ "Tết Mậu Thân 1968 qua những số liệu – Báo Nhân Dân điện tử". Archived from the original on 2019-04-28. Retrieved 2018-05-30.


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