Content #012

Nghĩa Trang Liệt Sỹ Huyện Hướng Hóa (Martyr’s Memorial). Khe Sanh, Vietnam. 2015
‘Whether the North Vietnamese People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) actually planned to capture Khe Sanh and whether the battle was an attempt to replicate the Việt Minh triumph against the French at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu has long been a point of contention. Westmoreland believed that the latter was the case and this belief was the basis for his desire to stage “Dien Bien Phu in reverse”.Those who agree with Westmoreland reason that no other explanation exists as to why Hanoi would have committed so many forces to the area instead of deploying them for the Tet Offensive. The fact that the North Vietnamese only committed about half of their available forces to the offensive (60–70.000), the majority of whom were VC, is cited in favor of Westmoreland’s argument. Other theories argued that the forces around Khe Sanh were simply a localized defensive measure in the DMZ area, or that they were serving as a reserve in case of an offensive American end run in the mode of the American invasion at Inchon during the Korean War. However, North Vietnamese sources claim that the Americans did not win a victory at Khe Sanh, but they were forced to retreat to avoid destruction. The PAVN claimed that Khe Sanh was “a stinging defeat from both the military and political points of view”: Westmoreland was replaced two months after the end of the battle and his successor explained the retreat in different ways.’ Bron: Wikipedia.