The Battle of Khe Sanh: The History and Legacy of the Major Battle that Preceded the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War

By the end of 1967, with nearly half a million troops deployed, more than 19,000 deaths, and a war that cost $2 billion a month and seemed to grow bloodier by the day, President Lyndon Johnson's administration faced skepticism regarding the Vietnam War. 

Regardless, by then, both sides were preparing to take the war into a new phase. General William “Westy” Westmoreland, commander of American forces in the theater, planned an aggressive strategy to send forces into Laos and Cambodia to sever the “Ho Chi Minh Trail” and other lines of supply.

However, unbeknownst to the Americans, the North Vietnamese were planning their own major and hopefully decisive campaign for early 1968. This would come in the form of the Tet Offensive, a coordinated surprise assault on many key locations throughout the conflict zone. 

Key to both sets of plans was an American base in the extreme northwest region of South Vietnam, close to Laos. It was a part of a chain of US and ARVN (South Vietnamese military) bases designed to screen the South from direct invasion by the North. This base bore the name of a town at its location, Khe Sanh. A long siege punctuated by shorter, bloodier encounters developed in the early days of 1968.