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Operation CEDAR FALLS

January 8, 1967

1967-01-08_MG_7744_(2)
1967-01-08_MG_7744_(2)
Private Walt H. Cochran and Specialist Fourth Class Thomas D. Cathers hand explosives to Private First Class Ronald G. Piper while preparing to destroy a Viet Cong tunnel in the Iron Triangle during Operation CEDAR FALLS, January, 21, 1967. (National Archives)

Elements of the U.S. 1st and 25th Infantry Divisions, 11th Armored Cavalry, 173d Airborne Brigade, and one South Vietnamese infantry division begin Operation CEDAR FALLS. In the largest offensive of the war to date, allied troops use a “hammer and anvil” maneuver to sweep the Iron Triangle region, about 15 miles north of Saigon, and destroy a major Viet Cong base area. Allied personnel forcibly remove thousands of civilians from villages like Ben Suc to create free-fire areas. Engineers and infantry work in unison to deny the Viet Cong concealment, destroying hundreds of tunnels and capturing tons of supplies and a large store of documents.
 
The operation lasts until January 26 and temporarily curtails insurgency operations in the Iron Triangle. Despite the setback, the Viet Cong avoid the destruction of their major combat forces in the area and soon return. U.S. and South Vietnamese troops kill an estimated 700 guerrilla soldiers, and allied forces lose 83 killed and 345 wounded.1

1Graham A. Cosmas, MACV: The Joint Command in the Years of Escalation, 1962–1967, United States Army in Vietnam (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 2006), 407, 421–422; George L. MacGarrigle, Combat Operations: Taking the Offensive, October 1966–October 1967, The United States Army in Vietnam (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army, 1998), 96–112, see page 111 for free-fire areas; Spencer C. Tucker, ed. The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History, (2nd edition; Santa Barbara, CA: ABC CLIO, 2011), 100–101, 180–181. Operation CEDAR FALLS and the destruction of Ben Suc, while argued to be militarily justifiable, received critical coverage in the American media. The coverage of civilian deaths coupled with Communist propagandists’ charges of atrocity fed into growing opposition to the war. As American and North Vietnamese main forces met in combat more frequently, the toll of noncombatant casualties mounted. Many were the result of Communist terrorism and indiscriminate shelling, while allied operations also inflicted a major share. Despite MACV’s attempts to enforce strict rules of engagement, chaotic combat circumstances often negated these intentions, see Cosmas, MACV, 407.