Video: 'Tet Offensive 1968, US Embassy & Saigon fighting'

(Wednesday, January 31, 1968, 3:00 a.m. Saigon Standard Time; during the Vietnam War, part of the Indochina Wars and the Cold War) — After some sporadic attacks on bases the day before, the Tet Offensive was unleashed this morning by forces of the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese army on nearly all of South Vietnam’s military bases and major cities simultaneously, including the U.S. Embassy in Saigon.

U.S. Army soldiers counterattacked and retook the embassy compound by 9:15 a.m. (8:15 p.m. EST on Jan. 30, 1968).

The 1,000 guerrillas who had infiltrated Saigon also seized the government radio station and surrounded, but did not capture, the presidential palace.

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