ter at the small
             hours of January 31. Thus the offensive lost its element of total
             surprise that every tactician has to respect.
             But It surprised me that some in the American media were still
             The story started some 5 months previously. On August 8, 1967,
             the North Vietnam government approved a lunar calendar
             specifically compiled for the 7th time zone that covers all
             Vietnam, replacing the traditional lunar calendar that had been
             in use in Asia for hundreds of years.
             That old calendar was calculated for the 8th time zone that
             Beijing falls right in the middle. It was accepted in general by
             a few nations such as China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong and
             somewhat in Japan and Korea, mostly for traditional celebrations
             and religious purposes. South Vietnam used this calendar. With
             common cultural origin, these countries needed not have their own
             calendar, particularly it has not been used for scientific and
             The North Vietnam new lunar calendar differs from the common
             calendar about some dates, such as the leap months of certain
             year (1984 and 1987) and the Tet's Eve of the three Lunar New
             Years: Mau Than (1968), Ky Dau (1969) and At Suu (1985). South
             Vietnam celebrated the first day of the Mau Than lunar year on
             January 30, 1968, while North Vietnam celebrated it on Jan 29,
             It was obviously that the North Vietnamese leaders had ordered
             the offensives to be launched on the night of the first day of
             Tet to take the objectives by total surprise. By some reason, the
             North Vietnamese Army Supreme Command was not aware of the fact
             that there were different dates for Tet between North and South
             Vietnam. Therefore, most NVA units in the Communist 5th Military
             Region - closer to North Vietnam - probably used North Vietnamese
             calendar, and conducted their attacks in the night between Jan 29
             and 30, while their comrades farther to the south attacked in the
             Many in the intelligence branch of...