search and destroy operations. The engineers continued to improve the road network and started to clear the jungle up to seventy-five yards from the sides of Route 4. Construction of the airfield at Katum also commenced.

Resistance was light and scattered throughout the day and into the night; however, six enemy base camps were located and destroyed. The bases contained a significant number of weapons, ammunition, rice, and miscellaneous supplies of all types, "from fish-sauce to dynamite." It was on this day that a series of base camps in an area three kilometers south of the Cambodian border began to be uncovered by one of the battalions of the 1st Brigade, 1st Division; and they had to fight their way in. It appeared that the camps were part of the military affairs section of the Central Office of South Vietnam. There were large mess facilities, lecture halls, recreational areas, and supply depots. Among some of the unusual items found in them were over 30 excellent portable tran-sistor radios made in Japan, over 4,500 batteries for such radios, reams of paper, 700 pencils, 500 ball-point pens, 1,750 erasers, a new Briggs and Stratton 3-hp. engine and generator, shower points, and ping-pong tables. A visit to one of these base camps revealed large underground living quarters and big, heavily built defensive positions. Above ground were some sleeping quarters and cooking areas with roofs made of leaves so they could not be seen through the jungle canopy. In one of these cooking facilities was a calendar pad nailed to a roof support. The date exposed was 23 February, the day U.S. forces first entered the general area of the base camps. The occupants had departed in a hurry, leaving behind food par-tially prepared in the kitchens as well as their livestock and chickens.

By the end of the third day of the operation, all was still going according to plan. Forty-two of the enemy had been killed and 1 prisoner and 4 ralliers taken; U.S. losses were 14 killed and 93 wounded.

End of Phase I, 25 February-17 March

During the rest of Phase I (which was officially terminated at midnight of 17 March) the units of both divisions continued their meticulous search of the operational area. Since the hammer forces had completed their operations, the units of the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, started leaving their portion of the horseshoe as early as 2 March when one battalion was airlifted to Quan Loi. A second battalion was lifted the following day to Minh Thanh, and on 4