Battle of Saigon Racetrack - VC Flag - Tet Offensive 1968 - Vietnam War - F.114 For Sale

The Battle of Saigon Racetrack, part of the Tet Offensive in 1968, was a significant event during the Vietnam War. The Tet Offensive was a coordinated series of North Vietnamese attacks on more than 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam. It began on January 30, 1968, during the lunar new year (Tet) holiday, which is one of the most important holidays in Vietnamese culture.

Location and Strategic Importance: The Phu Tho Racetrack, located in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), was a key site during the Tet Offensive. It was strategically important due to its location within the city and its potential use as a staging area for Viet Cong (VC) forces.

Initial Assault: On the night of January 31, 1968, VC forces launched a surprise attack on the racetrack. They aimed to capture and hold this position to create a stronghold within Saigon. The attack was part of a broader effort to incite a general uprising and collapse the South Vietnamese government.

U.S. and ARVN Response: The U.S. and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) forces responded quickly to the attack. Heavy fighting ensued as the VC attempted to hold their positions against superior firepower and air support from U.S. forces. The response included infantry assaults, armored vehicles, and airstrikes to dislodge the VC fighters.

Outcome: After intense combat, the U.S. and ARVN forces managed to recapture the racetrack. The VC suffered significant casualties and were forced to retreat. The battle at the racetrack was one of many fierce engagements in Saigon during the Tet Offensive.

Battle of Saigon - Tet 1968

The Battle of Saigon during the Tet Offensive in 1968 was a pivotal moment in the Vietnam War. The Tet Offensive comprised surprise attacks by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces on South Vietnamese and American targets during the lunar new year holiday.

In Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, the Viet Cong executed a well-coordinated assault on various sites, including government buildings, military installations, and the U.S. Embassy. The offensive commenced on January 31, 1968.

A significant event during the Battle of Saigon was the attack on the U.S. Embassy. Viet Cong commandos breached the embassy compound, leading to an intense firefight with U.S. and South Vietnamese forces. Although the attackers were eventually repelled, the assault had a profound psychological impact as it received extensive media coverage.

The Tet Offensive, including the Battle of Saigon, marked a turning point in the Vietnam War. While U.S. and South Vietnamese forces successfully thwarted the attacks, the scale and coordination of the offensive surprised many, prompting a reassessment of the war's progress. Despite suffering heavy casualties and failing to achieve immediate objectives, the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong strategic goals shifted perceptions.

The Battle of Saigon and the Tet Offensive contributed to increased anti-war sentiment in the United States, triggering a reevaluation of U.S. strategy in Vietnam. The events underscored the challenges faced by U.S. and South Vietnamese forces in countering guerrilla warfare tactics employed by the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong.

30th of January 1968 – First Night of the Tet Offensive

Whether by accident or design, the first wave of attacks began shortly after midnight on 30 January as all five provincial capitals in II Corps and Da Nang, in I Corps, were attacked.

Nha Trang, headquarters of the U.S. I Field Force (FFI), was the first to be hit, followed shortly by Ban Mê Thuột, Kon Tum, Hội An, Tuy Hòa, Da Nang, Qui Nhơn, and Pleiku.

During all of these operations, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese followed a similar pattern: mortar or rocket attacks were closely followed by massed ground assaults conducted by battalion-strength elements of the Viet Cong, sometimes supported by North Vietnamese regulars.

These forces would join with local cadres who served as guides to lead the regulars to the most senior South Vietnamese headquarters and the radio station.

The operations, however, were not well coordinated at the local level.

By daylight, almost all communist forces had been driven from their objectives.

General Phillip B. Davidson, the new MACV chief of intelligence, notified Westmoreland that "This is going to happen in the rest of the country tonight and tomorrow morning."

All U.S. forces were placed on maximum alert and similar orders were issued to all ARVN units. The allies, however, still responded without any real sense of urgency. Orders cancelling leaves either came too late or were disregarded.

NLF - National Liberation Front

The Việt Cộng, also known as the NationalLiberation Front (NLF), was a communist political organization with its ownarmy – the People's Liberation Armed Forces of South Vietnam (PLAF) – in SouthVietnam and Cambodia that fought the United States and South Vietnamesegovernments, eventually emerging on the winning side

It had both guerrilla and regular army units,as well as a network of cadres who organized peasants in the territory itcontrolled. Many soldiers were recruited in South Vietnam, but others wereattached to the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), the regular North Vietnamesearmy.

During the war, communists and anti-waractivists insisted the Việt Cộng was an insurgency indigenous to the South,while the U.S. and South Vietnamese governments portrayed the group as a toolof Hanoi. Although the terminology distinguishes northerners from thesoutherners, communist forces were under a single command structure set up in1958.

North Vietnam established the NationalLiberation Front on December 20, 1960, to grow insurgency in the South. Many ofthe Việt Cộng's core members were volunteer "regroupees", southern ViệtMinh who had resettled in the North after the Geneva Accord (1954).

Hanoi gave the regroupees military training andsent them back to the South along the Ho Chi Minh trail in the early 1960s.

The NLF called for southern Vietnamese to"overthrow the camouflaged colonial regime of the Americanimperialists" and to make "efforts toward the peacefulunification".

The People's Liberation Armed Forces of SouthVietnam (PLAF)'s best-known action was the Tet Offensive, a massive assault onmore than 100 South Vietnamese urban centers in 1968, including an attack onthe U.S. embassy in Saigon.

The offensive riveted the attention of theworld's media for weeks, but also overextended the Việt Cộng. Later communistoffensives were conducted predominantly by the North Vietnamese. Theorganization was dissolved in 1976 when North and South Vietnam were officiallyunified under a communist government.