Celebrating 45th anniversary of 1968 Spring General Offensive and Uprising The order to launch campaign bears historic significance QĐND   PANO – 45 years ago, in order to realize the strategic resolve of the Politburo; to mobilize the utmost effort of the entire Party, Army and people in both the North and South to deal a strong blow to the enemy and break the will of the US invasion; and to create a fundamental change in the strategic balance, leading our revolutionary war to a period of achieving decisive victory, our troops and people in the South opened the 1968 Mau Than Spring General Offensive and Uprising. In the General Offensive and Uprising in 1968, our troops and people attacked the enemy simultaneously in 4 big cities, hundreds of towns and headquarters of central and local agencies, and units of the USA and the Saigon regime. Some resounding assaults included the attacks at the US Embassy in Saigon, Doc Lap Palace (the nerve-centre of the Saigon regime), the General Staff of the Saigon Army and Saigon Radio Station. Especially, the General Offensive and Uprising occurred when the enemy climbed up to the highest step of the war ladder: US and allied troops in the South totalled more than 500,000 and the Army of the Saigon regime mounted to over 700,000 troops. In the General Offensive and Uprising, our forces annihilated a large number of enemy troops, including high-ranking officers, destroyed a wide range of weapons, war vehicles and technical and logistics bases. In fact, the General Offensive and Uprising caused a big shock to the enemy, upturning the US force disposition and its general combat plan in the South, even shaking the White House, Pentagon and US society, bringing the reality of the war in Vietnam to meeting rooms of the US Senate, the House of Representatives and the Administration and American families. Thanks to mass media, tricks by the White House and Pentagon to deceive people in the USA and world were disclosed and strong movements to oppose the unjust war carried out by US imperialists in Vietnam and to support the Vietnamese resistance war continuously took place in many places across the world. With the great strategic significance of the General Offensive and Uprising, US President Johnson dismissed US Defence Secretary McNamara and General Westmoreland, the Commander of US forces in the South, and at the same time accepted sitting down for negotiations with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Paris. The victory of the General Offensive and Uprising also forced Johnson to announce not to run for his second term of office as the US President. The victory of the General Offensive and Uprising was proof of the talent and special warfare arts of the Vietnamese Army and people in the Ho Chi Minh era. Our Party and Army selected the Eve of the 1968 lunar New Year to open the campaign in order to create surprise for the enemy. This showed that our leadership and command carefully studied enemy situations and routine practices. In fact, to ensure the General Offensive and Uprising took place at the same time in all cities and towns in the South, our leadership and high command discussed the timing thoroughly in a series of meetings. Finally, Party and State leaders and military high commanders decided to choose President Ho Chi Minh’s reading the New Year poem on the Voice of Vietnam as the order for the General Offensive and Uprising. Under their careful assessment, the Voice of Vietnam could cover all parts of the South, so the moment when troops and people heard Uncle Ho’s poem on radio was the best time to simultaneously launch attacks at enemy targets. It could be said that the selection of the Eve of the lunar New Year as the opening time for the General Offensive and Uprising and Uncle Ho’s reading of the New Year poem as the order to launch the campaign were a unique tactic in the world.      Translated by Thu Nguyen