 The 1st Cavalry counted more than 27,000 people displaced by the operation.While many people fled the fighting, others remained for fear that if they abandoned their homes, the VC would confiscate their land and redistribute it to more dedicated supporters.Although the U.S. Army maintained that the refugees were fleeing communism, an Army study in mid-1966 concluded that U.S. and South Vietnamese bombing and artillery fire, in conjunction with ground operations, were the immediate and prime causes of refugee movement into South Vietnamese government controlled cities and coastal areas.