 The offensive began on January 30 when communist forces attacked Saigon, Hue, and many regional capitals. The attacks caught us completely off guard, but eventually we turned the tide. Relaterally, this offensive was a disaster for the communists. By the end of March 1968, they'd not achieved any of their objectives and had lost 32,000 soldiers. We suffered 3,900 dead. South Vietnamese, 5,000. Over 14,000 South Vietnamese civilians died.