A SURPRISE HOLIDAY ATTACK

For North Vietnam and the Viet Cong, the idea was to break their stalemate with South Vietnamese and U.S. forces with a surprise attack, timed with the traditional Lunar New Year festivities.

They couldn't hope to defeat the U.S. military. But they could plant enough doubt into the heads of the South Vietnamese to foment discontent and rebellion and to cause the U.S. to give up its fight in the region.

Wheels were put into motion on Jan. 21, with a massive bombardment of the U.S. Marine garrison at Khe Sanh, near the border with Laos. American military officials zeroed in on that attack, leaving them off guard for what would come nine days later.

Jan. 30, 1968: North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops launch simultaneous, coordinated attacks throughout South Vietnam, hitting U.S. Marine and Army outposts and South Vietnamese army bases.

Jan. 31: The offensive spreads with attacks against 39 provincial capitals and major cities, including Saigon and Hue. There would be more than 120 attacks in total. In Saigon, Viet Cong troops seize the U.S. Embassy and hold part of it for six hours before they are eliminated by Marine embassy guards and Army policemen. The attack stuns Americans back home, who watch footage of the battle on TV.

Feb. 1: Army and South Vietnamese troops successfully defend the city of Quang Tri while Marines run into some of the heaviest fighting of the entire war in the ancient Imperial capital, Hue.

During its occupation of Hue, Viet Cong soldiers go door to door, arresting and then executing civil servants, religious leaders and teachers. More than 2,800 bodies would be found later, and an additional 3,000 residents would turn up missing.

Feb. 5: A battalion-sized force of North Vietnamese troops attacks the Marine base at Khe Sanh.

Feb. 7: North Vietnamese troops overrun an Army Special Forces base at Lang Vei, west of Khe Sanh.

Marines and Army units engage North Vietnamese troops around Da Nang, which Marines had begun calling “the rocket belt” because of heavy shelling they received from North Vietnamese artillery.

Feb. 9: Marines are successful in halting the North Vietnamese offensive in Da Nang.

Feb. 23: North Vietnamese artillery gunners and mortars fire more than 1,300 shells at the Marine garrison in Khe Sanh.

Feb. 24: Marines and South Vietnamese troops wrestle control of the ancient Citadel in Hue from the North Vietnamese.

Feb. 25: American officials declare the city of Hue secure. The Tet Offensive is over.

Civilians flee fighting in Hue despite this destroyed bridge over the Perfume River.

Smoke covers Saigon as firetrucks rush to put out fires caused by the attack.