CA

With a few exceptions, the Burns/Novick handling of Tet is pretty conventional fare — the communists sought a general uprising with hopes of immediate victory, but failed, taking enormous casualties in the process, particularly among the ranks of the southern forces (the “Viet Cong” or Peoples Liberation Armed Forces). However, the enormity of the attacks produced a major political and psychological shock that ultimately turned the tide of the war.

What the documentary fails to capture fully, however, are the devastating consequences of the US counteroffensive — the massive and indiscriminate bombing and shelling of populated areas of South Vietnam to drive back the Tet attackers. The counteroffensive killed many thousands of South Vietnamese and provided the hardest possible evidence that the US was not a reliable ally and, in moments of crisis, would treat the South Vietnamese just like the enemy. In other words, the Tet Offensive disillusioned not only the American public but millions of South Vietnamese as well. One of the best accounts of the counteroffensive comes from the writer Tobias Wolff, a former Special Forces officer, in his memoir, In Pharoah’s Army. He was in My Tho during the Tet Offensive and the US counteroffensive: