Operation Cedar Falls Maps

Location in South Vietnam

Operation Cedar Falls

The Iron Triangle

Operation Cedar Falls

In January of 1967 Westmoreland ordered a strike into the so-called Iron Triangle north of Siagon to hit VC transportation and communications coming from that area. The target would be the elusive VC headquarters, COSVN. The tactical technique was the "hammer-and_anvil" attack, with the anvil at the southwestern boundary of the Iron Triangle along the Siagon River and the hammer moving both from the east and north.

The goals of Cedar Falls were to destroy VC forces and facilities in and near the Iron Triangle, to remove all civilians so the area could become a free-fire zone; and to strip off concealment from crucial areas using bulldozers. The VC had networked the area with tunnels, some dating back to the First Indochina War, which were not easily discovered, either during Operation Cedar Falls or later.

Operation Cedar Falls was preliminary to the much larger Operation Junction City, which took place to the northwest of the Iron Triangle area from late February through mid-May of 1967. Official totals for the operation showed nearly 750 VC killed, many prisoners taken, and 3,700 tons of rice captured. While weakened, the Iron Triangle continued to serve as a Communist base area. This was an early indication of just how hard it would be to eliminate VC from entrenched areas in South Vietnam.

Resources:

Kolko, pp. 176-180

Web Site: Department of the Army Vietnam Studies--Cedar Falls

Web Site: Department of the Army Vietnam Studies--"Combined Arms Operations"

Web Site: Australian Commonwealth--VC Tunnels