Global InformationOperation Cedar Falls information
| Operation Cedar Falls | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Vietnam War | |||||||
 Operation Cedar Falls | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 United States South Vietnam |
 North Vietnam Viet Cong | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 30,000 | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
3,000 casualties |
US body count: 720 killed 280 captured 512 suspects detained 540 defected 590 individual and 29 crew-served weapons recovered | ||||||
Operation Cedar Falls was a military operation of the Vietnam War conducted primarily by US forces that took place from 8 to 26 January 1967. The aim of the massive search-and-destroy operation was to eradicate the Iron Triangle, an area northwest of Saigon that had become a major stronghold of the Viet Cong (VC).
It was the largest American ground operation of the Vietnam war:[1] Two Army divisions, one infantry and one paratrooper brigade, and one armored cavalry regiment participated in the operation.[2] Altogether, it involved 30,000 US and South Vietnamese troops.[1] The VC, however, chose to evade the massive military force by fleeing across the border to Cambodia or by hiding in a complex system of tunnels. Still, the Allied forces uncovered and destroyed some of the tunnel complexes as well as large stockpiles of VC supplies. In the course of the operation, so-called tunnel rats were introduced to infiltrate the Viet Cong's tunnel systems.[3]
In an attempt at the permanent destruction of the Iron Triangle as a VC stronghold, Operation Cedar Falls also entailed the complete deportation of the region's civilian population to so-called New Life Villages, the destruction of their homes, and the defoliation of whole areas. Following this, the area was declared a free-fire zone and adults who were found in the zone following deportations were considered "enemy combatants" afterwards.[4]
Most senior officers involved in planning and executing the operation later evaluated it as a success. Most journalists and military historians, however, paint a bleaker picture. They argue that Cedar Falls failed to achieve its main goal since the VC's setback in the Iron Triangle proved to be only temporary. Moreover, critics argue that the harsh treatment of the civilian population was both morally questionable and detrimental to the US effort to win Vietnamese hearts and minds and drove many into the ranks of the VC instead. Therefore, some authors cite Operation Cedar Falls as a major example for the misconceptions of the US strategy in Vietnam and for its morally troublesome consequences.
- ^ a b Addington, Larry (2000). America's War in Vietnam: A Short Narrative History. Indiana University Press. p. 100. ISBN 9780253213600.
- ^ Stanton, Shelby (1985). The Rise and Fall of an American Army. US Ground Forces in Vietnam, 1965–1973. Ballantine Books. p. 142. ISBN 9780891418276.
- ^ Cold War Files
- ^ "Operation Cedar Falls: Search and Destroy in the Iron Triangle | HistoryNet". www.historynet.com. 6 July 2012. Retrieved 2018-06-11.