The Tet Offensive and the Fallujah Battle

      The Tet Offensive is a event that was named after the day in which it occurred, January 31, 1968. This was the lunar new year for the Vietnamese which was declared as a cease fire between sides. However, North Vietnam unleashed a full attack on South Vietnam by a mass amount of troops and the Vietcong. The Vietcong is a group of guerrilla warfare rebels which live in South Vietnam and is funded by the north. North Vietnam called it "Chien Tranh Chong My Curu Nuoc" or "The War against the Americans to save the nation". The north ended up attacking about 100 major cities and villages.
In the end the north was not successful in taking over a majority part of the south so it is said that the Americans and the south won the Tet offensive.
In more modern times there is the battle of Fallujah in Iraq. This was a two part battle with the first battle beginning on April 4, 2004 and the second battle starting on November 7, 2004. The first battle was a unsuccessful attempt to obtain the city of Fallujah in Iraq. It was initiated after the killing of four military contractors and 5 U.S. solders days before. Fallujah was home to thousands of insurgents and boomed economically under Saddam Hussein. However, the city was seen as pro-american so few troops were sent to the first battle. In the end 27 U.S Troops were killed with hundreds of civilian and insergent Iraqis.
The second battle of Fallujah is considered the heaviest urban combat since Hue city in the Vietnam war. By November 2004 the city was under insurgent control. The city contained a estimated four thousand insurgents. By this time they have dug tunnels and set traps and IEDs in perpetration for the attack. Much like in the Tet Offensive, the insurgents would use guerrilla warfare to fight. For the second battle about 90 percent of the population fled the city before the battle. This reduced the risk of civilian deaths. This was one of the bloodiest battles of the Iraq war and for the U.S since Vietnam. In the end 107 Coalition troops were dead with 613 wounded. The insurgents had a estimated 1,200-2,000 dead with 1,500 captured. There were about 800 civilians killed in the battle. The city was also greatly damaged in the battle.
There is controversy of this battle in that it is thought that the U.S used illegal war weapons in the fight. It is said that the U.S used weapons such as white phosphors, napalm like booms, and some other chemical warfare.