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.