 Except at Huế and mopping @-@ up operations in and around Saigon , the first surge of the offensive was over by the second week of February . The U.S. estimated that during the first phase ( 30 January – 8 April ) approximately 45 @,@ 000 PAVN soldiers were killed and an unknown number were wounded . For years this figure has been held as excessively optimistic , as it represented more than half the forces involved in this battle . Stanley Karnow claims he confirmed this figure in Hanoi in 1981 . Westmoreland himself claimed a smaller number of enemies disabled , estimating that during the same period 32 @,@ 000 PAVN troops were killed and another 5 @,@ 800 captured . The South Vietnamese suffered 2 @,@ 788 killed , 8 @,@ 299 wounded , and 587 missing in action . U.S. and other allied forces suffered 1 @,@ 536 killed , 7 @,@ 764 wounded , and 11 missing . 
