Communist forces (both North Vietnamese and Viet Cong) in South Vietnam numbered about 131,000 conventional troops, 113,000 militia and 39,000 political cadre.
Westmoreland, the American commander in South Vietnam, could take the offensive.īy October 1966 American forces in South Vietnam had risen to 351,600 South Vietnamese forces numbered 735,900, and Allied forces from other nations numbered 32,600. After a prolonged period of building up American forces and shoring up the South Vietnamese defenses, Gen. With the goal of clearing dangerous communist concentrations north of Saigon, American forces launched Operations Cedar Falls (January 8-26, 1967) and Junction City (February 22 –May 14, 1967), arguably the largest American operations in the Vietnam War, in early 1967.
