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Operation Lam Son II (Vietnamese: ''chiến dịch Lam Sơn II'') was a combined United States and South Vietnamese military and public relations operation in the village of Tân Phước Khánh, Tân Uyên District, in III Corps around 40 km north of the capital Saigon staged from June 2 to June 5, 1966 during the Vietnam War. It was done in order to simultaneously win public support (hearts and minds) for the government of South Vietnam by holding a village fair and providing social services while simultaneously screening the congregated area to arrest and remove Viet Cong guerrillas operating in the area. On the night of June 1, the eve of the village fair, elements of the US 1st Division and the South Vietnamese 5th Division arrived on the outskirts of the village by foot and helicopter and sealed it off. Early the next morning they entered the village and screened the inhabitants, before taking adult males away for brief questioning, detaining communists and South Vietnamese military deserters or conscription evaders and returning the rest to the village. At the fair, the village of 9,000 were entertained by South Vietnamese and American military bands, while the South Vietnamese military cultural troupe performed plays, folk singing and dancing. Games for children, lotteries and a free lunch of unfamiliar western food were provided to the villagers. In addition to the festivities, Vietnamese leaders, from civil servants to the province chief, Lieutenant Colonel Lý Tòng Bá attended the fairs and made speeches and spoke to the villagers individually about government policies and initiatives such as agricultural assistance. Personnel from US and South Vietnamese medical units did health checks on villagers, providing medicine and organizing appointments for further treatment in the city where required. The festival was considered highly successful by the anti-communist organizers to they added a third day of activities to the schedule after the festival had started. The Americans and South Vietnamese deemed the mission to have been very fruitful due to the change in the disposition of the villagers as well as the fact that during an immediately after the fair, some of the populace gave intelligence that resulted in some communists being arrested, while other Viet Cong defected and revealed the location of weapons and documents. Later, Viet Cong sources revealed that they had lost half of their support in the village and that their political losses would take two months to recover. Operation Lam Son II was then replicated in various villages in the area. ==Background and planning== Operation Lam Son II was the second such operation in Bình Dương Province north of Saigon. A week earlier, another hamlet search and festival was held on 26 May 1966 in Binh Chuan and was deemed to be very successful.〔 The village in question, Tân Phước Khánh was located about 40 km north of the capital Saigon and 10 km east of the town of Thủ Dầu Một, and it was located in the Iron Triangle a communist stronghold. The mission was to pacify the village, conduct a thorough search, uncover and root out the Viet Cong infrastructure, gather intelligence,〔 and "win the hearts and minds of the people."〔 Planning and execution involved close teamwork between U.S. and Vietnamese forces. A combined staff of both Vietnamese and U.S. personnel from the two division headquarters was formed to plan and command the operation together.〔 Because of the wide publicity, the cordon and seal of Tan Phuoc Khanh had to be completed as quickly as possible to minimize the loss of surprise to communist suspects. The helicopter would be pivotal in providing the necessary speed.〔 The operation was conducted by the US 1st Infantry Division and the South Vietnamese 5th Division.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Operation Lam Son II」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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