Operation Junction City

Operation Junction City
Part of the Vietnam War
Cedar Falls/Junction City area of operations
Date 22 February - 14 May 1967 Location War Zone C, Tay Ninh Province, South Vietnam Result Strategic Allied failure
Belligerents
United States South Vietnam	Viet Cong North Vietnam
Commanders and leaders
William Westmoreland Jonathan Seaman Cao Van Vien	Le Duc Anh Dinh Thi Van
Strength
30,000	Unknown
Casualties and losses
282 killed 1,100 wounded	US claim: 2,728 killed and wounded

Air drop of supplies in Operation Junction City

Operation Junction City was an 82-day military operation conducted by United States and Republic of Vietnam (RVN or South Vietnam) forces begun on 22 February 1967 during the Vietnam War. It was the largest U.S. airborne operation since Operation Market Garden during World War II, the only major airborne operation of the Vietnam War, and one of the largest U.S. operations of the war.^[1]

The failure to gain surprise lay in discovery of the plans after NVA Col. Dinh Thi Van managed to place one of her agents in social circles that included ARVN Gen. Cao Van Vien and US Gen. William Westmoreland.^{[citation needed]} That agent further reported one ARVN staff officer's comment of the early phase of the operation: "(The Viet Cong) seem like ghosts. All the six spearheads of our forces have been attacked while we don't know exactly where their main force is. Even in Bau Hai Vung that is considered to be a safe area, we lost one brigade. It's so strange." (Van, p. 237)

References

• Summers, Harry G. Historical Atlas of the Vietnam War. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
• "Destroying the Haven". TIME. 3 March 1967. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,843442,00.html. Retrieved 11 July 2007. 
• "Psy-War Success". TIME. 3 March 1967. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,843443,00.html. Retrieved 11 July 2007. 

• Van, Dinh Thi, "I Engaged in Intelligence Work" The Gui Publishers, Hanoi, 2006.
• "The Lure of the Lonely Patrol: Forcing the Enemy to Fight". TIME. 14 April 1967. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,836945,00.html. Retrieved 11 July 2007. 

Further reading

• Rogers, Lieutenant General Bernard William (1989). Cedar Falls - Junction City: A Turning Point. Vietnam Studies. United States Army Center of Military History. http://www.history.army.mil/books/Vietnam/90-7/cont.htm. 

External links

• Article about original 173rd jungle jacket worn by Junction City vet
• Battlefield:Timeline, PBS
• After Action Report (Logistical)
• 1/4 Cavalvry After Action Report - JUNCTION CITY II - 26 Apr 67