Operation Cedar Falls

Battle context

Operation Cedar Falls was one of the largest search-and-destroy operations of the Vietnam War, committing some 30,000 U.S. troops to an 18-day campaign from 8 to 26 January 1967. Its objective was the Iron Triangle, an area northwest of Saigon that had functioned as a major Viet Cong stronghold. The operation reflected U.S. strategy at that stage of the war: applying massive conventional force to deny the enemy a fixed base area close to the South Vietnamese capital. U.S. casualties reached 3,000, underscoring the cost of attempting to eradicate an entrenched insurgent infrastructure through large-scale sweep operations.