Operation Masher

Operation Masher was a combined U.S., ARVN, and ROKA operation that began on January 28, 1966. The name "Operation Masher" was changed to "Operation White Wing", because the name was deemed too crude for 'nation-building'.

The mission was a search and destroy mission, and had little to do with nation-building. The operation was divided into four Phases.

Masher/White Wing lasted 42 days and ended on March 6. As many as 1,342 enemy soldiers had been killed by the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) at the cost of 288 United States' troops killed and 990 wounded. The ARVN and ROKA forces killed an additional 808 enemy soldiers. The 3rd NVA Division was pronounced destroyed, but later was back in action elsewhere on the battlefield. Along with the operation Tay Vinh massacre and Go Dai massacre occurred.

Statistics
The US Government summarized the amount of firepower deployed during Operation Masher/White wing. 1352 strikes coupled with 1126 fighter sorties unloaded 1.5 million pounds of bombs. 292,000 pounds of Napalm was also used and Operation Masher left over 1884 refugees. By 1967, the amount of Communists captured in Vietnam numbered 17,000 but there were over 1.2 million civilian refugees.