August Offensive (17 ago 1968 ano – 27 set 1968 ano)

Descrição:

Phase III of the Tet Offensive of 1968 (also known as the August offensive or Third offensive) was launched by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and Viet Cong (VC). The offensive was divided into two waves of attacks from August 17th to 31st, 1968 and from September 11th to 27th, of that same year.

The beginning of the first wave involved attacks in I, II and III Corps. Significantly, during this series of actions only North Vietnamese forces participated and targets were military in nature, with less concise attacks against city-targets. The main offensive was preceded by attacks on the border towns of Tây Ninh, An Lộc, and Loc Ninh, which were initiated to draw defensive forces from the cities.  A thrust against Da Nang was preempted by the U.S. Marines' Operation Allen Brook. Continuing their border-clearing operations, three PAVN regiments asserted heavy pressure on the U.S. Special Forces camp at Bu Prang, in Quang Duc Province, five kilometers from the Cambodian border. The fighting lasted for two days before the PAVN broke contact; the combat resulted in US/ARVN claiming 776 PAVN/VC casualties, 114 South Vietnamese and two Americans. 

Saigon was struck again during this phase, but the attacks were less sustained and once again repulsed. As far as MACV was concerned, the August offensive "was a dismal failure".  In five weeks of fighting and after the loss of 20,000 troops, the previous objectives of spurring an uprising and mass-defection had not been attained during this "final and decisive phase". Yet, as historian Ronald Spector has pointed out "the communist failures were not final or decisive either"..

The significant casualties and suffering endured by PAVN/VC units during these sustained operations were beginning to have a wider effect. The apparent lack of military gains made that could possibly justify the casualties and effort exacerbated the situation. During the first half of 1969, more than 20,000 PAVN/VC troops defected to allied forces, a threefold increase over the 1968 figure.

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