Phu Loi Battalion, and a Viet Cong company (the 63d) might be operating in the area.

NIAGARA FALLS terminated at 1500 on 7 January without major incident. As with the 25th Division units, a deceptive move had resulted in tactical units being positioned, in this case, in Blocking Position ZULU. Enemy escape routes to the east were now closed. Elements of Task Force DEANE would form part of the hammer forces swinging west through the triangle on D plus 1.

Among the accomplishments of NIAGARA FALLS, perhaps the most noteworthy was that of the 1st Engineers. Working with a task force of fifty bulldozers, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph M. Kiernan, Jr.'s troops cleared 365 acres of dense jungle containing many Viet Cong installations and serving as an access route to the Iron Triangle.

The 2d Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division was to seal and search the village of Ben Suc, prepare to evacuate the inhabitants and their possessions, and eliminate the village as a center of Viet Cong operations. The tactical command post along with one infantry battalion left Di An early on 7 January for a road march to the airfield at Bien Hoa. From there the units were airlifted to Dau Tieng. Also on the 7th, the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry, the unit designated to make the actual assault on Ben Suc, was air transported from Phuoc Vinh to Dau Tieng and came under the operational control of the 2d Brigade. As D-day approached, elements of the 2d Brigade waited in readiness, and the tension mounted.

The third major element of the 1st Division, the 3d Brigade, was slated for search and destroy operations around and through the Thanh Dien forest as a part of the hammer. The operations order was issued to participating battalions of the brigade on 5 January, and the subsequent days were used for planning and preparation. On 8 January the brigade's direct support battalion moved from Lai Khe to Artillery Base I, two kilometers from Ben Cat at the northeast corner of the Iron Triangle. The 3d Brigade was almost ready for its H-hour on D plus 1- 0800, 9 January 1967.

The "Blue Spaders" of the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry, were set for their raid on Ben Suc; the anvil was ready for emplacement and the hammer was poised. CEDAR FALLS time had arrived.