Gal Giap, aged 102, is dead

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Did he lose the Tet-offensive?

IMHO, USA thought they had started to get things under control, when a green storm hit them.

I, for one, think the Tet-offensive played a major part as to why USA backed down like a dog with its tail between the legs.

Please remember, military victories are not counted in people dead - but counted in national success. Of course a WHOLE lot more VC would die in the battles compared to USAnians.

That's what happens when you give farmers make-do weapons and send them against the worlds premiere super powers military might.

But Gal Giap knew that you could lose a hundred battles, if you won the war. And he did.

My deepest respect. He had faults, of course. But it was a tough time and he needed to make tough decisions. And it's not like the US soldiers or generals behaved as saints.

RIP - a TRUE freedom fighter.

Giap, interviewed following the conflict, said that NV was within days of seeking terms (relatively favorable ones) after Tet. The VC was almost eradicated and much of the subsequent conflict was effected by NVA troops infiltrating South through Cambodia (hence Nixon's decision to attack into Cambodia in 1970).

They shifted from guerilla conflict to open attacks in Tet and got their heads handed to them tactically.

HOWEVER, and this was huge, Cronkite and others in the American media DID despair after the offensive and called it a shocking setback. They began to wonder if victory was possible short of using nuclear weapons. Essentially, we finally got the open battle we wanted, won it, and then had the media announce we had lost....and sell the FACT of that loss to the public.

Our willingness to wage the war was thereby sapped, allowing the USA to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Giap really was close to terms, saw the media reaction in the USA, and began to think that they could win simply by not quitting...that we would quit first. On that level it can be construed as a victory for the NV forces. Their victory was political, not military.

Of course, as history points out, it was enough for them to win, so.....