The Battle of Cedar Falls, which began from January 8 to 26, 1967, was the second large-scale operation in the US strategic counter-offensive in the dry season 1966 - 1967 into the "Iron Triangle" area of ​​Ben Suc - Cu Chi - Ben Cat.

Unit of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division during Operation Cedar Falls in Ben Suc, Binh Duong (January 1967).

To strengthen the defense line north of Saigon, set up a white belt to separate the liberated areas of Gia Dinh and Binh Duong, prepare for the second major operation to hit the resistance base in Tay Ninh, the US set a task to destroy the "Iron Triangle" area, destroy the main army and the headquarters of the Saigon - Gia Dinh Military Region based here.

The US mobilized 30,000 troops to fight directly, including units: 1st Infantry Division, 3rd Brigade of 4th Infantry Division, 2nd Brigade of 25th Infantry Division, 196th Light Infantry Brigade, The 173rd Airborne Brigade, 11th Armored Regiment and a part of the 5th Division of the Saigon government and some New Zealand soldiers with more than 400 tanks, armored vehicles, 800 battle boats on the river, more than 100 guns artillery and many aircraft, including B-52s. The reinforcement force consisted of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, 08 Artillery Battalions of 105th, 02 Artillery Battalions of 155th.

In this operation, the US military was tasked with encircling and sweeping, and used chemical engineering units to destroy houses, fortifications, tunnels, etc. American officers said: "If the tunnels are solved, the guerrilla war will be solved". The engineering and chemical forces mobilized up to 900 troops. Engineers built a bridge for M-48 tanks to cross the Thi Tinh river, built rafts to make fire points next to the river. The main task of engineering and chemical forces in this operation is to destroy underground tunnels, especially Cu Chi tunnels.

In addition to the B-52 task of "peeling the ground", the US military reinforced the engineer with 200 bulldozers, many heavy tanks, and 200 becgie dogs to search for tunnels. The US organizes tunnel-breaking teams called "tunnel rats" from 8 to 10 people selected from the most reckless volunteer soldiers.

The US used B-52 aircraft to spread bombs and fire continuously, using 200 bulldozers to level 11km2 of forests, destroying most of the villages and houses in the area (6,000 houses were razed and burned), one some resistance agencies were damaged, 3,700 tons of rice were robbed, nearly 1,000 people died and were injured, and nearly 15,000 people in Ben Suc, Cu Chi were moved to other places.

General Westmoreland of the US army said proudly: "The trees and bushes were burned, the Viet Cong had nowhere to hide". Colonel Dave Richard Palmer said that "The Iron Triangle has turned into a large flammable tinder". As J.P.Harrison described: “There were some areas that were bombarded with an average of 27 bombs per square meter.”

At 8:00 a.m. on January 8, 1967, 60 UH-1 helicopters flew in the sky over Ben Suc town. In 90 seconds, 420 soldiers of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division (Big Red One) landed at Ben Suc. Meanwhile, the loudspeaker from the helicopter called out: "Attention Ben Suc compatriots, you are under the control of the army of the Republic of Vietnam and the United States. Don't run or you will be shot. Everyone stays at home and waits for new instructions!"

American soldiers landed at Cu Chi

A platoon of American soldiers from the division base in Cu Chi went on a helicopter raid.

The American troops encountered no resistance. As the aerobatic planes bombarded and dropped napalm bombs on the surrounding forests, the interrogation of the population began. In two hours of interrogating 6,000 people, they found 28 suspected Communists, after which the evacuation began.

First, men between the ages of 15 and 45 were herded into Chinook helicopters for interrogation and then mobilized into the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. Women, children, and the elderly were taken by military vehicles to the Phu Loi refugee camp. The camp was cramped and lacked like a concentration camp, but in front of the camp was a banner "Welcome to the Communist refugee reception center".

After that, all houses in Ben Suc burned down, bulldozers plowed everything. In the center of town, they buried 10,000 pounds of dynamite and 1,000 gallons of napalm and blew it up…Operation commanders reported “Step One Cedar Falls was an unexpected success”.

After heavy bombardment on the northern communes of Cu Chi, the US army sent the 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division into several attacks to attack the communes of An Phu, Phu My Hung, East Phu Hoa, Nhuan Duc , Trung Lap Thuong, East An Nhon, West An Nhon. The US military found all ways to be able to "peel the ground", breaking the tunnel system. The US sent giant bulldozers to excavate each piece of tunnels, used heavy tanks to crush the tunnels and used becgie dogs to hunt for the tunnel gates, pumped water from the Saigon River, and released toxic gas into the tunnels. Troops of "tunnel rats" of specially trained small-sized American soldiers went into the tunnels to find the Viet Cong and lay mines to destroy the underground tunnels.

Soldiers of the 173rd Brigade spent 12 days patrolling the forest near Ben Cat in 1965.

However, the efforts of the US military did not bring the desired results. In addition to the achievement of destroying the "Iron Triangle" area, destroying Ben Suc, this operation did not achieve the main goal of destroying the headquarters and forces of the Saigon - Gia Dinh Military Region, removing the threaten point and attacked Saigon. General Marshall admitted: “It didn't turn out the way we expected. Very few guerrillas were driven out or killed. The underground tunnel system was not destroyed, only damaged. The bomb crater was filled with holes, rows of land were plowed up with an excavator. But there were no bombs, no excavators digging deep enough to destroy the bunker. If we believe the surveying engineers are telling the truth, they will definitely say "indestructible". The difficulty is not only because the underground tunnel system is too deep, but because it runs diagonally without a straight place. The doorways and vents are numerous, which limits the possibility of destruction”.

Operation Cedar Falls ended on January 26, 1967, with about 2,500 American troops, 200 South Vietnamese troops and 54 New Zealand soldiers being eliminated from the battle, 149 military vehicles including many M- tanks. 41, armored vehicles M-113 and M-118 were destroyed, damaged, 28 aircraft of all kinds were shot down and injured.