The Ardennes vs. Tet Offensive: How A Camera Crew Made the Difference

For all the tanks, men, firearms, rockets, artillery shells and armored vehicles, if history can teach us one thing, the Germans probably should have traded all that modern military equipment for one thing: a camera with an American news crew behind it. While the Third Reich launched its last, massive offensive against the Allies in the Ardennes Forest, they had all the makings of a great military comeback to force the United States and Britain into a favorable peace agreement. Woefully under-equipped and not expecting any reinforcements in the near future, the stage was set for a stunning and crushing defeat at the hands of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS.

Even in spite of mounting casualties and young men dying as frequently of easily treated illnesses as enemy fire it would have been an ugly sight indeed - saved only by the miraculous arrival of the 3rd Armored under General Patton. The battle was a turning point in the war - in the long run, for the better for the Allies. But as the tanks rolled and Airborne Infantry were dying in droves - mounting in total to 19,000 dead - many in the Allied Nations wondered how Germany had been able to mount such an offensive. All conventional thought suggested that they would be unable to mount such a conjoined attack; their supplies were even lower than that of the Allies', their tanks were taking a beating on the Eastern Front, disunity was the trademark of the Wehrmacht, and there had not been a German winter offensive in generations.

The sudden, surprise attack had all the same, fundamental trade marks of another famous battle in American history:

The Tet Offensive.

Much like the Germans, who had been dealt consistent defeats, the Viet Cong were in similarly dire straits. With support hanging by a thread for the guerrillas and no major victories to speak of, the only option to get the Americans out of Southern Vietnam - and thus make way for a North Vietnamese invasion - would be to strike the Americans hard and fast, showing that the South Vietnamese guerrillas were still in the fight.

For all intents and purposes, much like the Ardennes Offensive, the conditions were such that the American forces had no reason to suspect an attack. A temporary cease fire had been called so that the Vietnamese could enjoy their Tet New Year Celebration without the interruption of violence or warfare. To the West's chagrin however, they were assailed by a surprise attack with the objective of taking several military installations and silencing Soviet criticism of the war.

All at once, each of the objectives was attacked by the Communist Vietnamese forces.

To their horror, however, even though caught by surprise, the Americans and South Vietnamese forces put up a remarkable fight. Although considered excessive for twenty years, Hanoi finally acknowledged that over 45,000 attackers were killed in the attack and in several instances were forced into a disorganized rout. In every sense of the word, everything that could have gone wrong, did go wrong for the Communist North Vietnamese and their guerrilla allies. They were given faulty intelligence, units they were expecting to see weren't where they were reported...even in spite of their nativity to the terrain they were often times confused and poorly coordinated.

In Saigon, among the key targets was the American embassy - which was attacked with a 9-man sapper team who blew holes into the walls before trying to storm the building. This proved futile, however, as their officer was killed and in confusion they simply stood around idle until reinforcements swept them up.

Similar failures were marked all over the offensive - Hanoi's grave misunderstanding of American speed and deployment abilities resulted in reinforcing of positions that the guerrillas desperately hoped to attack while undefended. Meanwhile, the local populace, whom Hanoi hoped would join in open revolt at the sight of an attack, refused to join in uprising, leaving the NVA and Viet Cong troops left in a Bay of Pigs style scenario.

On the matter, General Tran Van Tra had this to say, "We did not correctly evaluate the specific balance of forces between ourselves and the enemy, did not fully realize that the enemy still had considerable capabilities, and that our capabilities were limioted, and set requirements that were beyond our actual strength."

Even the initial gains made by the North Vietnamese forces were taken from them in the Battle of Hue and the violent backlash against them by the locals who remained loyal to Saigon.

However, as several in Hanoi counted the war effort over - their military arm effectively extinguished, their forces overstretched, and with no end in sight - the photographs came in with the embedded reporting. And everything changed.

With calls not unlike the modern "General Betray Us" of MoveOn.org, the American people were unwilling to hear that the Tet Offensive had been a last ditch, failed effort. The offensive had happened at all - and what's worse, it must have been a defeat as seen by those photographs.

With a military victory more astounding than the success in the Ardennes, a single camera could have achieved the same effect on the Allied War Effort in World War II as it did during the Tet Offensive.

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/battle_of_the_bulge.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tet_Offensive
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hue_City
http://hometown.aol.com/dadswar/bulge/index.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tet_Offensive#_note-93
http://www.azure.org.il/magazine/magazine.asp?id=297
http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1965.html