In this War Stories podcast you are going to hear the story of a U.S. And allied tactical victory and a strategic defeat.

It was 1968. Here in the U.S. there were anti-war riots, anti-draft riots, the assasination of Martin Luther King - and even more riots. In Vietnam 500,000 U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines were fighting a war that was broadcast into American living rooms every evening on the nightly news.

On 17 January 1968, President Lyndon Baines Johnson delivered his State of the Union address - and reassured Congress and the American people that we were winning the war. Less than 2 weeks later - as the Tet new year celebrations began, the North Vietnamese army and the Vietcong launched a massive surprise assault on more than 100 cities and towns in South Vietnam.

The "Tet Offensive" shifted the fighting from the jungles and rice paddies of Vietnam to the streets of Saigon and the imperial city of Hue. The terrible images of dead and wounded seen back home had the effect on America that the North Vietnamese had wanted - despite their own terrible losses.

In this gripping War Stories podcast, you'll hear from the eyewitness participants in the bloody battle to re-take the U. S. Embassy; The Marines who weathered the pounding at Khesanh - and those helped pry the city of Hue out of enemy hands.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices