Operation Cedar Falls
The operation to commence on 8 January was to be known as Cedar Falls, it was to be multidivisional, and was to include a parachute assault. The goal of the operation is to throw out Viet Cong base camps in the Iron Triangle.
The plan assigned specific intelligence collection areas, tasks, and responsibilities to U.S. and allied units within the area; the objective was a closely integrated and coordinated effort by U.S. and allied agencies. Unit collection responsibilities were assigned on the basis of geographic areas. Close liaison was affected between U.S. and allied units from battalion level and between U.S. advisers and corresponding commanders of South Vietnamese Army units and district chiefs.
Operation Cedar Falls was the first large scale operation to benefit from pattern activity analysis, a system begun in mid 1966. This procedure consisted of detailed maps of information on enemy activity obtained from a variety of sources over an extended period of time. As more data were plotted, patterns of activity and locations emerged. It then became possible to focus prime attention on those areas of intensive or unusual activity. Aerial observation and photography, sensors, patrol reports, infrared devices, sampan traffic counts, enemy probes of Regional and Popular Forces posts, agent reports, civilian movement reports, reports of increased antiaircraft fire,
The operation to commence on 8 January was to be known as Cedar Falls, it was to be multidivisional, and was to include a parachute assault. The goal of the operation is to throw out Viet Cong base camps in the Iron Triangle.
The plan assigned specific intelligence collection areas, tasks, and responsibilities to U.S. and allied units within the area; the objective was a closely integrated and coordinated effort by U.S. and allied agencies. Unit collection responsibilities were assigned on the basis of geographic areas. Close liaison was affected between U.S. and allied units from battalion level and between U.S. advisers and corresponding commanders of South Vietnamese Army units and district chiefs.
Operation Cedar Falls was the first large scale operation to benefit from pattern activity analysis, a system begun in mid 1966. This procedure consisted of detailed maps of information on enemy activity obtained from a variety of sources over an extended period of time. As more data were plotted, patterns of activity and locations emerged. It then became possible to focus prime attention on those areas of intensive or unusual activity. Aerial observation and photography, sensors, patrol reports, infrared devices, sampan traffic counts, enemy probes of Regional and Popular Forces posts, agent reports, civilian movement reports, reports of increased antiaircraft fire,
