 Therefore, another major aim of the operation was to destroy large parts of the vegetation through defoliants and bulldozers in order to make the Iron Triangle more easily accessible for future operations.Operation Cedar Falls was planned as a "hammer and anvil" operation.Under the cloak of deceptive deployments on seemingly routine operations, the 25th Infantry Division with the 196th Infantry Brigade attached to it was to assume blocking positions west of the Iron Triangle, along the Saigon River, while one brigade of the 1st Infantry Division was assigned the same task along the Thi Tinh River east of the area of operations.