Operation Beaver Cage was a U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy Joint Operation in North Vietnam

North Vietnam

The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...

 along the coastline of the Ben Hai River

Ben Hai River

The Ben Hai River is a river in central Vietnam which became an important landmark in the partition of the country into a northern and a southern zone along the 17th parallel by the Geneva Accords of 1954...

 in the Quang Nam province. The Operation took place 23 August, 1966, through 5 September, 1966.

Intent

The United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 and the U.S. Navy conducted joint operations in search of rat tunnels leading in from and near the coast line of the Bon Hai river. The rat tunnels were believed to be created by the 4th Division of the North Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

 led by Pham Ngoc Thao

Pham Ngoc Thao

Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo, known to friends as Albert Thảo , a major provincial leader in South Vietnam and infiltrator of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, was a communist agent of the Vietminh and later the Vietnam People's Army...

. The tunnels were used in transport of supplies, and small attacks on forward American patrols. Secondary objective of Operation Beaver Cage was to infiltrate the tunnels, pushing the enemy out into ambushed locations.

U.S. Army

Bravo Company 7th Cavalry Division led the operation, ambushing over ten locations and demolishing over eighteen tunnel

Tunnel

A tunnel is an underground passageway, completely enclosed except for openings for egress, commonly at each end.A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers...

s.

Outcome

Small fire fights lasted the duration of Operation Beaver Cage. Three soldiers and four sailors were killed. It was estimated that forty Viet Cong were killed. The American soldiers seized a variety of guerrilla warfare

Guerrilla warfare

Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...

 provisions ranging from AK-47

AK-47

The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...

and ammo to AKM's and improvised grenades. The Operation was considered a success.