Major General Tran Do Describes the Objectives of the Tet Offensive (1981)

Interviewer: What was the objective of the Tet Offensive? Was it for a general uprising? Was it going to be the final liberation of the South? What were its aims? Tran Do: It was indeed called a General Offensive and Uprising. The aims were as follows: First of all, if it were possible to occupy the enemy's nerve centers and produce the disintegration of the American and puppet forces and a popular uprising, then the aim would be to liberate the South during Tet of 1968. Second, if this was not possible, then the aim was to weaken the American puppet command structures and to inflict heavy casualties to the American and puppet forces, producing more favorable conditions for the struggles later on. Interviewer: In terms of the first objective, which was, as I understand it, to stage a general uprising and liberate the South, is it considered that the Tet Offensive was not as successful as they hoped it would have been?

Tran Do: Looking back at it now, it is clear that the first objective was not accomplished. But at that time all the attacks were aimed at the nerve centers of the American forces and the puppet regime in the urban areas as well as in the provinces. We attacked the provincial headquarters, the Saigon Presidential Palace, the various secret police headquarters and the radio stations. And in Saigon we fought our way into the American Embassy, which was the most important command headquarters of the Americans in the South. We were able to occupy all these places, but we could not maintain them. Therefore, we did not gain enough time for the people to stage their general uprising. Hence, the decision was to inflict as much damage as possible to the American and puppet command structures and to cause the American and puppet troops to lose their morale. Interviewer: In attacking those nerve centers, was the intention only to deal the enemy with a psychological blow?

Tran Do: Not just a psychological blow. The main aim was to get rid of the nerve centers and cause the command machinery and the administrative machinery of the Americans and the puppet regime to disintegrate.