Eddie Adams, "The Pictures that Burn in my Memory," Parade Magazine, May 15, 1983, pp. 4-6. Adams was the AP photographer who took the famous picture of Brigadier General Nguyen Ngoc Loan shooting a Viet Cong prisoner through the head, on February 1 during the Tet Offensive (see also items by Tom Buckley and Horst Faas, below).
"Eddie Adams Interview." A pretty bad transcription of a very interesting interview of Adams, about Khe Sanh, the Nguyen Ngoc Loan incident, and other things. The transcript does not have a date, or identify the interviewer, but I believe it was David Culbert, a historian at Louisiana State University. The text has been placed on-line in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University.
Agence France Presse, Vietnam: L'heure décisive. L'Offensive du Tet (fevrier 1968). Paris: Robert Laffont, 1968.
William Thomas Allison, The Tet Offensive: A Brief History with Documents. New York and London: Routledge, 2008. xviii, 266 pp. (The text is pp. 1-76; the documents are pp. 79-251.)
Thomas E. Anastasi, III, "Presidential Decision Making During Selected Foreign Policy Crises from 1950-1968 Analyzed Through the Use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator." Ph.D. dissertation, Political Science, Boston University, 2001. AAT 3010443. xvi, 402 pp. Chapter 10, "Johnson and the Tonkin Gulf Resolution and the Tet Offensive" (pp. 287-333) does not look very good. The full text is available online if you are browsing the Internet from an institution, such as Clemson University, that has a subscription to ProQuest "Dissertations and Theses: Full Text."
Dale Anderson, The Tet Offensive: Turning Point of the Vietnam War. Capstone Press, 2005. 96 pp. Intended for juvenile readers.
Robert C. Ankony, Lurps: A Ranger's Diary of Tet, Khe Sanh, A Shau, and Quang Tri. Lanham, MD: Hamilton Books (University Press of America), 2006. 306 pp.
Lt. Col. Robert Annenberg, "Intelligence Team Under Siege." Vietnam Magazine, February 2001, pp. 34-42. Annenberg was a human intelligence officer, stationed in Hue since the summer of 1967.
Michael Archer, A Patch of Ground : Khe Sanh Remembered. Central Point, Oregon: Hellgate Press, 2004. viii, 192 pp. Archer was a radio operator with the 26th Marines.
Army (monthly magazine). Washington, D.C.: Association of the U.S. Army. Articles on the Tet Offensive include:
April 1968 (Vol. 18, no. 4)
Robert L. Pisor, "Saigon's Fighting MPs" (pp. 37-41)
Douglas Pike, "The Tet Offensive: A Setback for Giap, But Just How Big?" (pp. 57-61)
May 1968 (Vol. 18, no. 5)
General Bruce C. Clarke (ret.), "Special Report from Vietnam" (pp. 18-24). [General Clarke had arrived in South Vietnam February 7, and departed February 14.]
November 1968 (Vol. 18, no. 11)
Lt. Gen. Frank T. Mildren, Deputy Commanding General, USARV, "From Mekong to DMZ: A Fighting Year for the U.S. Army's Best" (pp. 82-95)
James R. Arnold, The Tet Offensive 1968. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2001. 96 pp. Also published as Tet Offensive 1968: Turning Point in Vietnam. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004. 96 pp.
Garnett "Bill" Bell, "Predicting Tet: Chargin' Charlie at Bien Hoa." Vietnam, February 2000, pp. 48-52, 73. Lt. Col. Charles A. Beckwith, who if I understand the article correctly was G-2 of the 101st Airborne Division.
Jake Blood, The Tet Effect: Intelligence and the Public Perception of War. New York and Abingdon: Routledge, 2005. xv, 212 pp.
Walter J. Boyne, "Airpower at Khe Sanh." Air Force Magazine, August 1998 (81:8). The text has been placed online.
Brig. Gen. Zeb B. Bradford, "With Creighton Abrams During Tet." Vietnam Magazine, February 1998, pp. 42-49, 66. Bradford, then a major, was Abrams' executive officer. Interesting for its stress on how dissatisfied Abrams was over the lack of intelligence warning. Bradford says on p. 48, probably with some exaggeration, "In the immediate aftermath of Tet, Abrams wanted to fire every intelligence officer in Vietnam."
Peter Braestrup, Big Story: How the American Press and Television Reported and Interpreted the Crisis of Tet 1968 in Vietnam and Washington, 2 vols. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1977. xxxvii, 740, x, 706 pp. One-volume abridgment New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983. Updated one-volume abridgement (there is a new Introduction, and four pages of additions and corrections at the end of the volume) Novato, CA: Presidio, 1994. xviii, 613 pp. A very detailed study, with great amounts of documentation. Some of Braestrup's generalizations about the misdeeds of the media are not supported by the details he presents.
Richard L. Brown, Palace Gate: Under Siege in Hue City, Tet, January 1968. Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 1995. 192 pp. A firsthand account of the first seventeen days of the battle for Hue, by an Air Force Lt. Col.
Peter Brush, "Aerial Lifeline to Khe Sanh" Vietnam, Vol. 12, No. 4 (December 1999), pp. 30-36.
Peter Brush, "Home is Where You Dig It" Vietnam Generation, Vol. 4, No. 3-4 (Summer-Fall, 1992), pp. 94-98. Observations on life at the Khe Sanh Combat Base.
Peter Brush, "Operation Niagara." Vietnam Magazine, December 1999. The very heavy U.S. bombing operation that helped the defense of Khe Sanh. Peter Brush has placed a slightly different version, with footnotes, online.
Peter Brush, "Reassessing the VC Role after Tet." Vietnam Magazine, February 2002, pp. 34-43, 64. Argues against the widespread view that the Viet Cong were essentially eliminated in the Tet Offensive.
Peter Brush, "Recounting the Casualties at Khe Sanh." Vietnam Magazine, 20:1 (June 2007), pp. 28-37. A version that has footnotes is online at the author's web site.
Peter Brush, "Perspectives--Khe Sanh Could Have Been Another Dien Bien Phu if the NVA Had Cut Off the Marines' Water Supply." Vietnam Magazine, August 1997, pp. 58-60. Peter Brush has also placed online a slightly different version, with footnotes, titled "The Unexploited Vulnerability of the Marines at Khe Sanh.
Tom Buckley, "Portrait of an Aging Despot," Harper's Magazine, April 1972, pp. 68-72. Profile of Nguyen Ngoc Loan, including Loan's comments on his motives for the famous killing of a prisoner February 1, 1968.
J.R. Bullington, "Trapped Behind Enemy Lines." Vietnam Magazine, February 1999, pp. 18-24. Bullington, a Foreign Service officer assigned to CORDS, was in Hue when the Tet Offensive hit.
Dick Camp, Jr., "Remembrances: The Siege of Khe Sanh, 1968." Leatherneck, LXXXVI:3 (March 2003), pp. 34-39.
George A. Carver, Jr., "Culture and Politics in Vietnam." Lecture presented at the National War College, 29 February 1968. 34 pp. Carver, the Special Assistant for Vietnam Affairs (SAVA) to the Director of Central Intelligence, added a discussion of the Tet Offensive to the overall discussion of the history of Vietnam and Vietnamese politics that had been his originally intended topic. He indicated (p. 32) that it was not yet clear which side would end up as the winner from the Tet Offensive. The text has been placed on-line in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University.
Douglass Lee Chatfield, "Dateline Saigon: The San Jose 'Mercury' and San Jose 'News' Report on the Tet Offensive, January-February 1968." M.A. Thesis, San Jose State University, 1993. 148 pp. AAT 1353000.
Bruce B.G. Clarke, Expendable Warriors: The Battle of Khe Sanh and the Vietnam War. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2007. xix, 167 pp.
John Corbett, West Dickens Avenue: A Marine at Khe Sanh. Novato, CA: Presidio, 2003. 208 pp. pb New York: Presidio (Ballantine), 2004. xii, 256 pp. Corbett, a Marine private, arrived in Vietnam at the beginning of January, 1968, and was immediately sent to Khe Sanh, where he served in the 81mm mortar platoon of Headquarters & Service Company, 26th Marine Regiment. He was in Vietnam until January 1969, but the book is mainly devoted to his time at Khe Sanh, January to April 1968.
Sergeant Major William T. Craig, "Armored Assault on Lang Vei." Vietnam Magazine, February 1995, pp. 30-36.
"Dinh Moul" (pseud.), interviewed by Philip Cargill, "Montagnard's Lang Vei Ordeal." Vietnam Magazine, April 1998, pp. 26-32.
Drew Dix, The Rescue of River City. Fairbanks, Alaska: Drew Dix Publishing, 2000. xiv, 241 pp. Special Forces Staff Sergeant Dix, an advisor to the Provincial Reconnaissance Unit of Chau Doc province, won the Medal of Honor for his actions in the defense of Chau Phu in the Tet Offensive.
David Drake has written two science fiction novels based on the Tet Offensive, interesting in that the two present diametrically opposed interpretations of it.
Ronald J. Drez and Douglas Brinkley, Voices of Courage: The Battle for Khe Sanh, Vietnam. New York: Bullfinch, 2005. 186 pp.
Michael Ewing, Khe Sanh. Toronto and New York: Bantam, 1987. 158 pp.
Horst Faas, "The Saigon Execution", The Digital Journalist, October 2004. The killing of a Viet Cong prisoner by Gen. Nguyen Ngoc Loan in Cholon, during the Tet Offensive.
Richard A. Falk, Appropriating Tet. Princeton: Center for International Studies, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, 1988. 47 pp.
Thomas Fensch, ed., [Top Secret]: The Vietnam War: Confidential Files on the Siege and Loss of Khe Sanh. New Century, 2001. 332 pp. The words "Top Secret" on the cover do not seem to be generally regarded as part of the title.
John W. Flores, "Marine's Sacrifice in the Battle of Hue." Vietnam Magazine, February 1999, pp. 26-32. Sergeant Alfredo 'Freddy' Gonzalez won the Medal of Honor, posthumously, after being killed Feb. 4, 1968, in the battle for Hue.
John W. Flores, When the River Dreams: The Life of Marine Sgt. Freddy Gonzalez. Authorhouse. Sergeant Alfredo Gonzalez Went into Hue as acting commander of 3d Platoon, Company A, 1/1 Marines. He was killed February 4, 1968, and awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously.
Ronnie E. Ford, Tet 1968: Understanding the Surprise. London: Frank Cass, 1995. xxi, 218 pp. Forewords by Gen. William Westmoreland, George Allen.
Captain Ronnie E. Ford, USA, "Window of Opportunity." Vietnam Magazine, February 1995, pp. 38-45, 74.
John L. Frisbee, "The Battle of Bunker Hill 10." Air Force Magazine, January 1985 (68:1). The defense of Bien Hoa Air Base against enemy attack, January 31, 1968. The text has been placed online.
John L. Frisbee, "Hero of Bien Hoa." Air Force Magazine, February 1993 (76:2). The defense of Bien Hoa Air Base against enemy attack, January 31, 1968. The text has been placed online.
Lieutenant Colonel John R. Galvin, "The Relief of Khe Sanh" Military Review, January 1970, pp. 88-94.
Marc Jason Gilbert and William Head, eds., The Tet Offensive. Westport: Praeger, 1996. xiv, 286 pp. The full text is available online to paid subscribers of Questia.
Russell W. Glenn, et. al., Ready for Armageddon: Proceedings of the 2001 RAND Arroyo-Joint ACTD-CETO-USMC Nonlethal and Urban Operations Program Urban Operations Conference. CF-179-A. Santa Monica: Rand Corporation, 2002. xx, 112 pp. The section particularly relevant to the Tet Offensive is Appendix B: "Lessons Learned, Operation 'Hue City'" (pp. 95-112), focused on the actions of C Company, 1/5 Marines.
Captain Wynn A. Goldsmith, "River Rats to the Rescue at Ben Tre." Vietnam Magazine, February 1998, pp. 26-32. PBRs of River Section 534.
Kendall W. Gott, Breaking the Mold: Tanks in the Cities. Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press, 2006. xii, 132 pp. Chapter 2 (pp. 23-45) covers the battle for Hue in 1968.
Eric Hammel, Fire in the Streets: The Battle for Hue, Tet 1968. Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1991. pb New York: Dell, 1992. xxviii, 371 pp.
Eric Hammel, Marines in Hue City: A Portrait of Urban Combat, Tet 1968. Zenith, 2007. 168 pp. Heavily illustrated.
Eric Hammel, Khe Sanh, Siege in the Clouds: An Oral History. New York: Crown, 1989. x, 508 pp.
Glenn E. Helm, "Surprised at Tet: U.S. Naval Forces in Vietnam, 1968." Pull Together, vol. 36, no. 1 (Spring/Summer 1997), pp. 1-5. Text also on a Naval Historical Center website.
Albert Hemingway, "Seventy-Seven Days in Hell," Vietnam Magazine, June 1990, pp. 30-37.
Ho Khang, Tet Mau Than 1968 tai Mien Nam Viet Nam. Hanoi: NXB Quan Doi Nhan Dan, 1998. 226 pp.
Ho Khang, The Tet Mau Than 1968 Event in South Vietnam. Hanoi: The Gioi, 2001. 146 pp.
Ho Khang, Tet Mau Than 1968, buoc ngoat cua cuoc khang chien chong My cuu nuoc. Hanoi: NXB Quan Doi Nhan Dan, 2005.
Col. Hoang Ngoc Lung, The General Offensives of 1968-69. 1981. McLean, Virginia: General Research Corporation, 1978. v, 157 pp. Written on contract for the U.S. Army. The text has been placed on-line in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University, in three parts: Front matter and pp. 1-43, pp. 44-95 and pp. 96-157.
Hue xuan 68. Hue: Thanh uy Hue, 1988. 353 pp.
Lt. Col. Frederick F. Irving, USA, "The Battle of Hue" Military Review, January 1969, pp. 56-63.
Brig. Gen. Albin F. Irzyk, Unsung Heroes, Saving Saigon. Raleigh, NC: Ivy House, 2008. xiv, 212 pp. Irzyk commanded the U.S. Army's Headquarters Area Command in Saigon, from September 1967 onward.
Dominic Johnson and Dominic Tierney, Failing to Win: Perceptions of Victory and Defeat in International Politics. Cambridge:, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006. The chapter "The Tet Offensive" is pp. 127-163. I have skimmed this briefly; the authors appear to me to be exaggerating the extent to which the Tet Offensive was perceived as an American defeat.
General Walter T. Kerwin, interviewed by Lt. Col. James Jay Carafano, "Desperate Hours During Tet: Inside MACV Headquarters." Vietnam Magazine, February 2001, pp. 27-32. Kerwin was General Westmoreland's chief of staff. Interesting for the discussion of planning for the possible use of nuclear weapons in the aftermath of Tet.
Charles A. Krohn, The Lost Battalion: Controversy and Casualties in the Battle of Hue. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1993. 224 pp. Rev. ed. The Lost Battalion of Tet: Breakout of the 2/12th Cavalry at Hue. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2008. The 2/12 Cav (1st Cav Division), sent without adequate support to attack a strong PAVN force on the outskirts of Hue, Feb. 3 1968. Author was the battalion's intelligence officer.
Berneice Lanier, "Personality: For a civilian logistics specialist working at Long Binh, the harsh realities of war were difficult to accept." Vietnam, February 2000, pp. 12, 66-70.
Major Marilynn K. Lietz, "Why the North Vietnamese Launched a Major Military Offensive During Tet 1968." Thesis, Master of Military Art and Science, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, 1978. viii, 228 pp. [Not recommended; the research seems careless.] The text is online in the Combined Arms Research Library of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.
Major Jonathan S. Lockwood, USA, "The Failure of Intelligence." Vietnam Magazine, February 1995, pp. 22-28.
John C. McManus, "Battleground Saigon." Vietnam Magazine, February 2004. Particular focus on the 3/7 Infantry, 199th Infantry Brigade.
James I. Marino, "Strategic Crossroads at Khe Sanh." Vietnam Magazine, December 1999, pp. 38-46.
Peter Maslowski and Don Winslow, Looking for a Hero: Staff Sergeant Joe Ronnie Hooper and the Vietnam War. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005. 688 pp. Sergeant Hooper won the Congressional Medal of Honor for an action of February 21, 1968, near Hue; he was with D Company, 2/501 Infantry, 101st Airborne Division.
Theodore F. Meyer III, "Fighting Forces: A member of the 219th Military Intelligence Detachment had his baptism of fire during the Tet Offensive." At Long Binh. Vietnam, February 2000, pp. 16-20, 71.
James M. Mueller, "Tet in Hue." Vietnam Magazine, February 1997. Mueller was a clerk-typist for MACV Advisory Team 3 (the advisors to the ARVN 1st Infantry Division).
Lien-Hang T. Nguyen, "The War Politburo: North Vietnam's Diplomatic and Political Road to the Tet Offensive." Journal of Vietnamese Studies, Vol. I, nos. 1-2 (February/August 2006), pp. 4-58. It is temporarily available online (I don't know for how long) as a University of California Press web page.
Keith W. Nolan, Battle for Hue: Tet 1968. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1983. The full text is available online to paid subscribers of Questia. Pb New York: Dell, 1985.
Keith W. Nolan, The Battle for Saigon: Tet 1968. New York: Pocket Books, 1996. xiii, 274 pp.
Don North, "VC Assault on the U.S. Embassy." Vietnam Magazine, February 2000, pp. 38-47, 72. North was there, as a reporter for ABC News.
Don Oberdorfer, Tet. New York: Doubleday, 1971. pb New York: Avon, 1972. 397 pp. Reprinted, with a new preface added, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. A good overall account of the battle, by a reporter for the Washington Post.
Don Oberdorfer, "Tet: Who Won?" Smithsonian, November 2004, pp. 117-123. Quite good.
Major General David E. Ott, "The Tet Offensive 1968", Field Artillery, March-April 2006, pp. 22-27.
Ltc. Pham Van Son, ed., The Viet Cong "Tet" Offensive (1968). A study written in 1968 by the Military History Division, Joint General Staff, RVNAF. 490 pp. (Available in a reprint from the Dalley Book Service, Christiansburg, VA.) The text has been placed on-line in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University, in nine parts: pp. 1-54, pp. 55-106, pp. 107-156, pp. 157-206, pp. 207-256, pp. 257-306, pp. 308-357, pp. 358-407, pp. 408-459, pp. 460-490. The text is more consistently legible in Dalley's reprint, but the illustrations are clearer in the online version. The text is also available online in the Combined Arms Research Library of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.
William R. Phillips, Night of the Silver Stars: The Battle of Lang Vei. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1997. xv, 179 pp. PAVN attack on the Special Forces camp near Khe Sanh, Feb 6-7, 1968.
Robert Pisor, The End of the Line: The Siege of Khe Sanh. New York: Norton, 1982. pb New York: Ballantine, 1983. xii, 306 pp. pb New York: Norton, 2002. 319 pp. A big conventional battle out in the hills, that occurred at about the same time as the Tet Offensive (early 1968).
Victoria Pohle, The Viet Cong in Saigon: Tactics and Objectives during the Tet Offensive. RM-5799-ISA/ARPA. Santa Monica: Rand Corporation, 1969. x, 75 pp or xv, 75 pp. (published in two slightly different versions, both dated January 1969, both designated RM-5799-ISA/ARPA, but differing in that the longer one has a Foreword and a Bibliography of Related Rand Reports added on pp. iii-vi, which expand the overall length of the front matter from x to xv pp.). The text of the shorter version has been placed on-line in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University, in two parts: pp. i-x, 1-40 and pp. 41-75.
John Prados and Ray W. Stubbe, Valley of Decision: The Siege of Khe Sanh. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991 (pb New York: Dell, 1993).
John Prados, "Khe Sanh: The Other Side of the Hill." VVA Veteran, July-August 2007, pp. 23-26, 45.
Merle Pribbenow, "General Vo Nguyen Giap and the Mysterious Evolution of the Plan for the 1968 Tet Offensive." Journal of Vietnamese Studies 3:2 (Summer 2008), pp. 1-33.
Major Dale S. Ringler, How the North Vietnamese Won the War: Operational Art Bends but Does Not Break in Response to Asymmetry. Ft. Leavenworth: School of Advanced Military Studies, 2001. iii, 54 pp. Theoretical analysis of the Tet Offensive of 1968.
Brenda Rosen Rodgers, "A Civilian in Tet '68." Vietnam Magazine, February 1997, pp. 43-48. Brenda Rosen was a public health education adviser, working for AID in Saigon.
Gordon Rottman, Khe Sanh 1967-68. Osprey, 2005. 96 pp.
Sai Gon duoi nhung tank khoi: Ky niem 30 nam tong tan cong va noi day dong loat Tet Mau Than 1968: truyen va ky. TP Ho Chi Minh: Nha Xuat Ban Van nghe TP Ho Chi Minh, 1998. 296 pp.
William E. Rowe, "Defending Long Binh." Vietnam Magazine, February 1995, pp. 46-52. The 856th Radio Research Detachment.
Scenes of the General Offensive and Uprising. Hanoi: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1968. 82 pp. The text has been placed online in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University.
David F. Schmitz, The Tet Offensive: Politics, War, and Public Opinion. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005. xvii, 183 pp.
Jack Shulimson, Tet--1968. Illustrated History of the Vietnam War, no. 18. New York: Bantam, 1988. 158 pp.
George W. Smith, The Siege at Hue. Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1999. pb New York: Ballantine, 2000. xv, 270 pp. Smith, a U.S. Army captain, was an information adviser to the ARVN 1st Infantry Division.
Colonel Jack Speedy, "Charlie Company to the Rescue." Vietnam Magazine, June 1990, pp. 22-28. 3d Platoon, C Company, 1/502 Infantry, was sent to land on the roof of the U.S. Embassy during the fighting in Saigon. The author, then a captain, was the company commander.
David B. Stockwell, Tanks in the Wire: The First Use of Enemy Armor in Vietnam. Canton, Ohio: Daring Books, 1989. 205 pp. New York: Jove, 1990. The PAVN attack on the Lang Vei Special Forces Camp, 1968. The accuracy of this book has been questioned.
Tong tan cong va noi day xuan Mau Than (1968) o Sai Gon-Gia Dinh. TP Ho Chi Minh: Nha Xuat Ban TP Ho Chi Minh, 1988. 86 pp.
Tong tien cong va noi day xuan Mau Than (1968) o Sai Gon-Gia Dinh. TP Ho Chi Minh: Nha Xuat Ban TP Ho Chi Minh, 1995. 93 pp.
Robert Tonsetic, Warriors: An Infantryman's Memoir of Vietnam. New York: Presidio (Ballantine), 2004. x, 198 pp. Tonsetic was in Vietnam October 1967 to October 1968, a captain assigned to the 199th Light Infantry Brigade (Redcatchers). He commanded C Company, 4/12 Infantry (Warriors) January to June 1968. There is a fairly detailed account of the unit's involvement in the Tet fighting.
Robert L. Tonsetic, Days of Valor: An Inside Account of the Bloodiest Six Months of the Vietnam War. Casemate, 2007. 304 pp. This appears to be a more detailed account of the events covered in the preceding item.
Robert J. Topmiller, Red Clay on My Boots: Encounters with Khe Sanh, 1968 to 2005. Kirk House, 2007. 208 pp. Topmiller was a Navy Corpsman at Khe Sanh in 1968.
Tran Van Tra, Can nhan ve xuan Mau Than, 1968. TP Ho Chi Minh: Nha Xuat Ban Tre, 1998. 228 pp.
"The Uncertain Oracle: Some Intelligence Failures Revisited." Published electronically on the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Center Huachuca History Program web site. 18 pp. The cases considered include the Tet Offensive and the Son Tay POW rescue mission.
Erik B. Villard, "Battle for Kontum," Vietnam Magazine, February 2003, pp. 28-33, 64.
Nicholas Warr, Phase Line Green: The Battle for Hue, 1968. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1997. xxv, 235 pp. 2d Lieutenant Warr commanded a platoon of C Company, 1/5 Marines, in the battle for Hue.
Major Claudius E. Watts III, USAF, "Aerial Resupply for Khe Sanh." Military Review, December 1972 (vol. LII, no. 12), pp. 79-88).
General Frederick C. Weyand, interviewed by Col. Harry G. Summers, Jr., "Troops to Equal Any." Vietnam Magazine, 1:1 (Summer 1988), reprinted in Vietnam Magazine, August 1998, pp. 34-41. Includes considerable discussion of Tet, and the role of the media.
James H. Willbanks, The Tet Offensive: A Concise History. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006. xxvii, 264 pp. I have read only a short part of this, but that part looked very good.
David T. Zabecki, "Battle for Saigon." Vietnam Magazine. Zabecki treats the Tet Offensive as having ended by late April 1968, but his description of the results of the offensive represent a wild exaggeration of the losses the Communists had suffered by that date: "The guerrilla infrastructure, so carefully developed over many years, had been destroyed with a single throw of the dice. From that point on, the war was entirely run by the North. The VC were never again a significant force on the battlefield."
The Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University, is placing online a huge quantity of U.S. Military documents, and some from quasi-military and non-military agencies such as CORDS. Some of those relating to the Tet Offensive and the Battle of Khe Sanh:
NSC Histories: The March 31 Speech. Members of the Johnson Administration's National Security Council staff compiled short historical summaries of several key turning points in the Vietam War between 1964 and 1968, accompanied by collections of relevant documents; these are now in the LBJ Presidential Library, in the collection National Security Files, NSC Histories. One of these turning points was President Johnson's speech of March 31, 1968, in which he announced major policy changes, and his decision not to run in the 1968 presidential election. The NSC history of this event of course contained much information and documentation on the Tet Offensive and Khe Sanh. It is in the LBJ Library as nine "volumes" (actually unbound folders of papers). Volume I is the narrative history written retrospectively by NSC staff; Volumes II-IX are source documents.
"The March 31 Speech" 25 pp. This is Volume I. The text.
"Khe Sanh". A collection of reports by CJCS Wheeler to President Johnson on events in the Khe Sanh area; reports from General Westmoreland; and cover memos (occasionally an actual substantive memo) from National Security Advisor Walt W. Rostow. This looks to me as if it probably represents about the first half of Voume VI. List, showing reports dated 3 February to 30 March 1968; actual texts of reports dated 3-12 February 1968; reports dated 13-22 February 1968; report of 22 February, continued; reports dated 23 February 1968; reports dated 24 February to 7 March 1968; report of 7 March, continued; reports dated 8-30 March 1968.
Directorate of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, "The Situation in South Vietnam No. 3 (As of 4:30 A.M. EST)", 30 January 1968. The text, sanitized.
Directorate of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, "The Situation in South Vietnam No. 5 (As of 12 Noon EST)", 31 January 1968. The text, sanitized.
Directorate of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, "The Situation in South Vietnam No. 8 (As of 7:00 A.M. EST)", 2 February 1968. The text, sanitized.
Directorate of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, "The Situation in South Vietnam No. 11 (As of 8:30 A.M. EST)", 3 February 1968. The text, sanitized.
The Situation in South Vietnam No. 15 (as of 7:00 A.M. EST). February 5, 1968. 4 pp. The text (sanitized).
The Situation in South Vietnam No. 16 (as of 12:30 P.M. EST). February 5, 1968. 4 pp. The text (sanitized).
General William Westmoreland, assessment of enemy activity and strategy, with cover memo by Walt Rostow passing Westmoreland's assessment to President Johnson, February 8, 1968. The text, sanitized.
CJCS Earle G. Wheeler to Secretary of Defense McNamara, "Emergency Reinforcement of COMUSMACV," 12 February 1968. 5 pp. plus 32 pp. of annexes. Online in two version, incomplete in different ways: Annexes included, but main text sanitized; and Annexes omitted, but main text complete.
CJCS Earle G. Wheeler to President Johnson, "Reinforcements for South Vietnam," 12 February 1968. Wheeler summarized his discussions, both by cable and by telephone, with General Westmoreland on the question of troop reinforcements for South Vietnam. He attached the texts of two important documents: Wheeler's urgent message querying Westmoreland on this subject (I have seen this identified elsewhere as JCS 01695, 120108Z Feb 1968, but I do not see any clear identification on this copy) and Westmoreland's message to Wheeler, MAC 1975, 120612Z Feb 1968, in which Westmoreland said he needed reinforcements "desperately." Text, with annexes
CJCS Earle G. Wheeler to President Johnson, "Telephone Conversation with General Westmoreland," 13 February 1968. The text
CJCS Earle G. Wheeler to President Johnson, "Telephone Conversation with General Westmoreland," 16 February 1968. The text
CJCS Earle G. Wheeler to President Johnson, "Telephone Conversation with General Westmoreland," 19 February 1968. The text. Communist forces were still occupying about one-third of the town of Phan Thiet, but they had been driven out of Vinh Long. "General Westmoreland stated that the enemy continues to hang in close to the cities." Attached to this memorandum was the report of General Bruce C. Clarke (retired) on his trip to South Vietnam; he had arrived there February 7 and left February 14.
U.S. Mission in Vietnam, Vietnam Documents and Research Notes, No. 21, Organizations and Committees Formed by the Viet Cong During the 1968 Lunar New Year Offensive. March 1968. 8 pp.
Press Briefing, BGeneral Winant Sidle, Saigon, 27 February 1968. Mainly discussion of the rules about what can be revealed to the press about the results of enemy attacks on US bases. The text.
Henry Owen, “How Wars End – With a Bang, Not a Whimper”. Owen, head of the State Department’s Policy Planning Council, compared the Tet Offensive to the Battle of the Bulge and two other incidents in past American wars, in which “the losing side threw everything it had into one last all-out offensive.” The text is accompanied by the cover memos with which Walt Rostow sent it to President Johnson on February 28, and to Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford on March 4, 1968.
Headquarters 7th Air Force, "Lessons Learned from the Enemy Offensive During TET," 3 March 1968. 8 pp. The text.
A.W. Thompson and C William Thorndale, Air Response to the Tet Offensive: 30 January - 29 February 1968. vi, 93 pp. A USAF Project CHECO report. Front matter and pp. 1-34, pp. 35-73, and pp. 74-93 (endnotes, appendices, and glossary).
Strategic Research and Analysis Branch, Combined Intelligence Center Vietnam (CICV), The Role of the Viet Cong Infrastructure in Enemy Offensive Preparations, Newsletter #9, 7 December 1968. 11 pp. The role of the VC Infrastructure in the Tet 1968 and May 1968 offensives. The text has been placed online in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University.
I Corps
ACofS, J-5, MACV, "Strategic/Tactical Study." March 1968. A comparison of Khe Sanh with Dien Bien Phu. On-line in two parts: front matter, main text, Annex A ("Study of Dien Bien Phu Battle"), Annex B up to page B-1-22; Annex B from page B-1-23 onward; Annexes C, D, E, F, G, H; Part II, "Enemy Alternatives 1968".
Major General William E. DePuy, SACSA, "Comparison of the Khe Sanh Campaign with Dien Bien Phu," undated (no earlier than January 29, 1968, maybe not until February). Includes some details on order of battle and numbers of weapons that I have not seen elsewhere. With a cover memo from Walt Rostow to President Johnson, February 21, 1968, recommending that Johnson read DePuy's analysis. The text.
Headquarters, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry (Golden Dragons), "Combat After Action Report." 57 pp. Dated 13 April 1968; covers the period February 3-28 1968, when the 1/14 established Landing Zone Hardcore, about 25 km south of Danang, as part of a U.S. effort to cut off elements of the PAVN 2d Division, which were in the Danang-Hoi An area as part of the Tet Offensive, from their base area east of An Hoa. The battalion later penetrated southward into the base area, inflicting, according to the report, heavy damage on the PAVN forces. Online in two parts: pp. 1-34, and pp. 35-57.
1st Battalion, 8th Artillery, Daily Staff Journal or Duty Officer's Log, February 1-29, 1968. Online in three parts: February 1-16, February 16-29, and errata. A very detailed recounting (about 100 pages) of incidents involving this battalion, and the various infantry battalions it was supporting in the area near Cu Chi, during the Tet Offensive.
Commanding General, 1st Marine Division, "Combat After Action Report, Operation HUE CITY." The operation ran from 31 January to 2 March 1968. The main report is dated 14 April 1968, but there are some addenda with later dates.
Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 262, Command Chronology; period 1 February to 29 February 1968. HMM-262, belonging to Marine Aircraft Group 36, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, FMF Pacific, flew CH-46A helicopters and was based at Quang Tri.
Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 265, Command Chronology, period 1-29 February 1968. HMM-265, belonging to Marine Aircraft Group 16, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, FMF Pacific, flew CH-46A helicopters and was based at Marble Mountain.
Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 364, Command Chronology for February 1968. HMH-364, belonging to Marine Aircraft Group 36, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, FMF Pacific, was based at Phu Bai.
Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463, Command Chronology for February 1968. HMH-463, belonging to Marine Aircraft Group 16, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, FMF Pacific, flew CH-53A helicopters and was based at Marble Mountain Air Facility. A huge collection of individual after-action reports, February 1-16 and February 17-29 was probably originally attached to this chronology.
Warren A. Trest, Khe Sanh (Operation Niagara), 22 January - 31 March. v, 132 pp. A USAF Project CHECO report. Front matter and pp. 1-39, pp. 40-84, and pp. 85-132.
HQ, IFFORCEV, "Press Briefing: 1968 Tet Offensive in II CTZ," 17 April 1968. 8 pp. The text.
Headquarters, 52d Combat Aviation Battalion, "Enemy Attack on US Installations After Action Report," 31 January 1968. 8 pp. The text. The attack against Camp Holloway, Pleiku, by mortars and an estimated 50 to 60 men of the PAVN 408th Sapper Battalion, that began at 0230 hours on 26 January 1968.
Headquarters, 52d Combat Aviation Battalion, "Enemy Attack on US Installations After Action Report," 4 February 1968. 4 pp. The text. The 82mm mortar attack against Camp Holloway, Pleiku, that began at 1040 hours on 30 January 1968.
Headquarters, 52d Combat Aviation Battalion, "Combat Operations After Action Report," 11 February 1968. 2 pp. The text. The mortar attack against Camp Camp Coryell [adjacent to Ban Me Thuot Airfield], which began at 0250 hours on 30 January 1968 and damaged six parked helicopters.
4th Infantry Division, "Operational Report: Lessons Learned." 1 April 1968. This is the title on the cover sheet. The actual document is "Chronological Summary of Significant Activities, Operation MacArthur," covering the period 1 February to 30 April 1968, in a fairly wide area of the Central Highlands. 27 pp. The text.
1st Battalion, 22d Infantry, 4th Infantry Division, "Combat Operations After Action Report: Battle of Kontum / Tet Counteroffensive. 301122 January 1968 - 121200 February 1968." 6 pp., plus numerous maps and a 5 pp. annex on fire support. The text.
31 January Naval Operations Center Watch Officer's Log. 13 pp.
01 February Naval Operations Center Watch Officer's Log.
02 February Naval Operations Center Watch Officer's Log.
LTG Frederick C. Weyand, CG II Field Force Vietnam, "Tet Offensive After Action Report." The offensive is defined as having lasted from 310001 January to 182400 February 1968. Online in three parts: pp. 1-28; list of appendices and annexes; Annex A: Intelligence.
LTG Frederick C. Weyand, CG II Field Force Vietnam, "Combat Operations After Action Report (RCS: MACJ3-32) (K-1)," The Tet Offensive, defined as lasting from 31 January to 18 February 1968. The text.
"Operational Report - Lessons Learned, Headquarters, 1st Infantry Division, Period Ending 31 January 1968," 24 May 1968. Overall division report, and reports from 1st, 2nd, and 3d Brigades. Reports from division artillery, the division chemical section, the 1st Aviation Battalion, the 1st Engineer Battalion, and the 121st Signal Battalion. The one from the Chemical Section has considerable detail on the use of CS.
"Operational Report of 1st Infantry Division for Period Ending 30 April 1968," 27 May 1968. The text.
"Operational Report of 2d Brigade, 1st Infantry Division for Period Ending 30 April 1968," 19 May 1968. The text.
"Operational Report Lessons Learned of the 3d Brigade, 1st Infantry Division for Period Ending 31 April [sic] 1968," 5 May 1968. The text.
Maj. A. W. Thompson, The Defense of Saigon. 14 December 1968. ix, 88 pp. Covers the Tet Offensive that hit Saigon in January 1968, and the second offensive in May and June. Includes information on Communist rocket attacks against the Saigon area. A USAF Project CHECO report. Front matter and pp. 1-33, pp. 34-70, and pp. 71-88 (endnotes, appendix giving detailed data on rocket and mortar attacks in May and June, and glossary).
COMRIVFLOT ONE, Daily Internal Information Summary No. 01-29, 281127Z Jan 68. 1 p. Daily information summary of the Mobile Riverine Force. Preparing for the Tet Truce. The text.
COMRIVFLOT ONE, Daily Internal Information Summary No. 01-30, 291310Z Jan 68. 1 p. Preparing for the Tet Truce. The text.
COMRIVFLOT ONE, Daily Internal Information Summary No. 01-31, 301330Z Jan 68. 2 pp. The Tet Truce was cancelled because of enemy truce violations. The text.
COMRIVFLOT ONE, Daily Internal Information Summary No. 02-01, 311330Z Jan 68. 1 p. The Tet Offensive had begun. The text.
"Province Report, Chau Doc Province, Period Ending 31 January 1968," and "Province Report, Sadec Province, Period Ending 31 January 1968," both very abbreviated reports, which the province senior advisors did not get around to signing, because they were rather busy with the Tet Offensive when the reports were written. The texts of both reports are online as a single .PDF file.
Richard K. Davis, Acting Province Senior Advisor, Sadec Province, Province Report, Sadec Province, Period Ending 29 Feb 1968. Includes reports from individual districts as attachments. Sadec had not been hit too hard by the Tet Offensive.
LTC Ronald A. Roberge, Province Senior Advisor, Sadec Province, The Province Report, Vinh Long Province, Period Ending 29 February 1968. Includes reports from individual districts as attachments.
LTC Lester M. Conger, Province Senior Advisor, Phong Dinh Province, "Province Monthly Report, Phong Dinh Province, Period Ending 29 February 1968," and John V. (Swango?) [name partially illegible], "The Province Report, Go Cong Province, Period Ending 29 February 1968," with district reports attached. The texts of both reports are online as a single .PDF file.
Headquarters, US Army Advisory Group, IV CTZ, Advisory Team 96, "Historical Summary of VC Tet Offensive IV CTZ," 8 April 1968. 30 pp. The text.
U.S. Mission in Vietnam, Vietnam Documents and Research Notes, No. 30-32, After Tet: Three Viet Cong Assessments. April 1968.
Vietnam Press Number 4460 (Single) Sunday March 31, 1968, "Circular from COSVN Current Affairs Committee and Military Affairs Committee of SVNLA Headquarters Concerning Preliminary Assessment of the Situation" 6 pp. The circular summarized the way the situation was evaluated at a meeting that occurred on the evening of 31 January 1968.
"Recapitulative Report [Phase of attack on Huê from 31 January to 25 February 1968]" (CDEC Doc Log No. 05-2470-68). US government translation of a captured document; the original document had been dated 30 March 1968.
"Information on the victory of our armed forces in Huê from 31 January to 23 March 1968" (CDEC Doc Log No. 05-1131-68). US government translation of a captured document, which has become famous for the passage "We eliminated 1,892 administrative personnel, 38 policemen, 790 tyrants,..." There is no date on this version of the document, but other sources indicate it was captured in April 1968. The 37-page translation is followed by eight handwritten pages in Vietnamese, which in the online version are badly blurred. These logically should represent the original captured document, but eight pages are not nearly enough to be the complete original.
"COSVN Report Outlines Viet Cong 'Second Offensive' Tactics". Press Release # 120-68, June 26, 1968, United States Mission Press Center. A summary (2 pages) followed by a translation (3 pages) of a COSVN directive of 21 February 1968, signed "Bay Hong" (believed to be Pham Hung), on continuing the Tet Offensive. [The summary in Braestrup, Big Story, volume 1, p. 140, makes this document look much less aggressive in tone than it actually was.]
"All for Total Victory". Translation of an article in Hoc Tap, January 1968, pp. 3-10. I deduce from the code "CSO: 3520-D" on the last page that this probably comes from a JPRS report in the series Translations on North Vietnam.
"New War Situation Brings New Priorities," editorial, Hoc Tap, March 1968, pp. 1-6. I deduce from the code "CSO: 3520-D" on the last page that this probably comes from a JPRS report in the series Translations on North Vietnam.
"Assessment of General Offensive Discussed". Translation of an article in Hoc Tap, March 1968, pp. 7-16. I deduce from the code "CSO: 3520-D" on the last page that this probably comes from a JPRS report in the series Translations on North Vietnam.
SEE ALSO The Order of Battle Dispute and the Westmoreland Lawsuit. Most of the works listed there either deal directly with the Tet Offensive or are HIGHLY relevant to it. They deal with accusations (well founded, in my opinion), that U.S. intelligence was seriously underestimating enemy strength in South Vietnam, in the months leading up to the Tet Offensive.
Next section: The Huê Massacre
Copyright © 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, Edwin E. Moise. This document may be reproduced only by permission. Revised September 4, 2008. Opinions expressed in this bibliography are my own. They could hardly be the opinions of Clemson University, since Clemson University does not have opinions on the matters in question.