From his Tactical Operations Center, most incredibly, Fred Weyand denied the Communists from taking Saigon. A perfect surprise attack, the jewel in the crown of the Communist offensive would have been the fall of Saigon. He "had prepared better than he could have known for a battle he could never have anticipated." The Tet offensive had the "will-breaking effect" on the American psyche, equivalent to that of Dien Bien Phu to the French. Up until this moment, the American offensive was actually gaining advantage. Regardless of the 40,000 Vietcong and NVA regular troops killed - after Tet - the whole National Liberation Front (NLF) was decimated and had to be rebuilt from scratch.