Operation Sunrise was the codename for the military operation launched by the South Vietnamese Army against the National Liberation Front forces (Viet Cong), in Ben Cat, in Binh Duong Province, on March 22, 1962, during the Vietnam War. Supervised by American military advisers, it was the first phase of a long-range counter-offensive against the Viet Cong. The objective of Operation Sunrise was to clear key areas of VC guerrillas, establishing new strategic hamlets, and providing the inhabitants with government services and facilities for self-defense.
Strategic Hamlet Resettlement Program
Operation Sunrise also started the Strategic Hamlet resettlement program. This programm was implemented by president Ngo Dinh Diem and consisted in relocating the rural populations in South Vietnam, displacing them from their ancestral farmlands and then resettling them into fortified villages defended by local militias. Nevertheless, 50 of the hamlets had already been infiltrated and easily taken over by Viet Cong guerrillas who killed most of the village leaders. As a result, Diem launched air raids against suspected Viet Cong-controlled hamlets. The South Vietnamese Air Force strikes were supported by U.S. pilots, who also carried out some of the bombings. Civilian causalities erode popular support for Diem, resulting in growing peasant hostility toward South Vietnamese troops.
