Operation Quyet Thang
After losing the initiative with the failure of the Tet Offensive, about 10 enemy units attempted to withdraw through the 25th Infantry Division's tactical area for reinforcement and resupply. To keep Charlie on the move and deny him rest, Operation Quyet Thang (Resolve To Win) was drawn up, and on 11 March Tropic Lightning, Infantry, Armor and artillery under the 2nd and 3rd Brigades pounced upon the “infiltrating” Viet Cong. Billed as the largest combined operation of Free World forces since the war began, Quyet Thang covered all of III Corps tactical zone.
Second Brigade was first into headlines with the 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Golden Dragons who, on 14 March, uncovered a major cache of small arms in the lower Hobo Woods. Two days later they found another cache, this one including 120 82mm mortar rounds and 12 complete 122mm rockets. And, in another eight days, on 24 March 1968, they found Charlie himself.
Spilling out of their helicopters at 8:15 a.m., two companies of Golden Dragons came under automatic weapons fire from an enemy force entrenched in hedgerows near Sa Nho village, eight miles northwest of Cu Chi. The Golden Dragons returned fire, called in air strikes and gunships, and then assaulted the enemy, killing 66 and capturing two. The enemy turned out to be the 7th Cu Chi Viet Cong Infantry Battalion. When questioned, villagers said there had been as many as 400 Viet Cong soldiers in the village.
Next day it was the turn of the Tomahawks of the 4th Battalion (Mech), 23rd Infantry. Shortly after 10:00 a.m. near Trang Bang the Tomahawks brushed up against a well equipped but green enemy force, newly infiltrated into the south. While the Tomahawks were administering severe on-the-job training to the new arrivals, the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Dreadnoughts were moving to the sound of Tomahawk guns to get a piece of the action.
The Dreadnoughts, however, found another infiltration group and pitched into them. At the end of the day, the two units had the field, two prisoners, 33 weapons and a body count of 111 Viet Cong. Two of the dead were women who had been armed with RPG-2 rocket launchers.
On 26 March 1968 the golden Dragons and the Dreadnoughts pursued the remnants of the infiltration units, and, by early afternoon, were again engaging the enemy. After artillery, air and infantry assaults routed the Viet Cong with practiced professionalism, all the enemy who weren't dead on the ground, and 108 were, was rapidly going somewhere else.
Operation Quyet Thang continued another 12 days to 7 April, but Charlie had had enough of 2nd Brigade. There were no more significant contacts.
Meanwhile the 3rd brigade had experienced less contact, but had not been idle by any means. On 11 March the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry White Warriors, the 1st Battalion (Mech), 5th Infantry Bobcats and the 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regulars began pushing into the hedgerows and paddies around Hoc Mon and Tan Binh. Over the next few days other units joined the sweep.
In addition to rooting Charlie out of the area, one of the objectives was to neutralize part of the “rocket belt” around Saigon, and ease the 122mm rocket threat to Tan Son Nhut Air Base.
Even though the Viet Cong tried to keep well clear of 3rd Brigade units, 153 bodies were counted and 10 prisoners taken after 35 engagements. However, the chief blow landed by 3rd Brigade hurt the Viet Cong in matters of food, ammunition and shelter.
As the operation began, a task force from the 3rd Battalion, 4th Cavalry found a cache containing 1,500 pounds of rice.
On 13 March 1968 a company of the 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry found 12 122mm rockets buried in a dike, and the next day a task force headed by 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry drove about 20 Viet Cong from an entrenched position in a small but hot firefight.
Found in small caches, the totals of material taken from the enemy began to mount. After the operation Charlie had 11,000 fewer pounds of peanuts, 12,000 fewer pounds of peas, 16,000 pounds less rice, and 10,000 pounds less salt. He was even short 100 pounds of canned tuna fish, and every shelter and bunker in the path of the 3rd Brigade's thrust was destroyed.