Operation Geronimo (Vietnam)

The operation commenced on the evening of 31 October and the 2 U.S. battalions deployed without incident. The following morning they began their push to the east but only engaged scattered Viet Cong units. Captured documents indicated that the 18B Regiment had left the area one month earlier.^{[1]: 80–1}

Despite this apparent intelligence failure, new intelligence indicated that the PAVN 95th Regiment had moved into a mountainous base, jungle-covered base area northwest of Tuy Hòa known as "the Hub". BG Pearson devised a new plan where the 1st Brigade would be landed by helicopter northwest of the Hub and sweep east against blocking positions established by the 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division in the east and the ARVN 47th Regiment in the south.^{[1]: 81–2}

The second phase of the operation began on the morning of 6 November. On 8 November the 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment was added to the sweep forces. On 10 November the U.S. forces located a PAVN base camp and engaged in a battle with the entrenched forces of the 5th Battalion, 95th Regiment that lasted throughout the night and into the next day. An Army psychological warfare team persuaded 35 PAVN soldiers to surrender and the base camp was subsequently overrun. By 24 November signals intelligence indicated that the 95th Regiment had evacuated the area to the west.^{[1]: 82–3}

Operation Geronimo officially concluded on 4 December, PAVN losses were 150 killed and 76 captured, U.S. losses were 16 killed.^[1]: 83

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History.