The Battle For Khe Sanh
The battle of Khe Sanh was one of the first battles that occurred right before the turning point of the war which was the Tet Offensive. Khe Sanh was a military stronghold for the United States. This base was located between Loas, North Vietnam, and South Vietnam. In 1962 President John F. Kennedy sent U.S. troops to Khe Sanh. The NVA and the U.S. fought in this battle and each party declared that they had won. Unlike Dien Bien Phu the NVA did not have a tactical advantage of having a control of high ground. The battle started as the U.S. army got word of the NVA attacking Khe Sanh in the summer of 1967. Then in 1968 the battle finally begun by the NVA attacking Hill 861 in Khe Sanh with heavy bombings of villages. The bombings continued into the next day as one shell hit a weapons cashe and set off 1,500 tons of explosives. During the battle the NVA had an unfair advantage because the marines were pinned down in trenches and bunkers and they had about 20,000 soldiers surrounding the base. This battle continued for 77 days until April 8, 1968 when it finally ended.