 Several companies of PAVN armed with mortars, machine guns, recoilless rifles and RPGs were strongly entrenched along the south side of the Sau Canal, a deep waterway that
ran toward the Citadel perpendicular to the Perfume River.On 23 February, the 2/12th Cavalry and the 2/501st Infantry, resumed their battle at the Sau Canal.The PAVN occupied a rectangular slice of land between the canal and the Perfume River that was approximately fifteen hundred meters wide and less than a kilometer deep, however U.S. efforts to overrun this position were repeatedly repulsed as the PAVN fought to keep open their escape route from the Citadel.