short of Base 82. There it fought a battalion of the 271st Regiment, killing 30 and capturing 10 while taking light casualties. The prospects seemed bright for recapturing Base 82 by the following day and General Thuần told BG Đảo that Rach Bap should be taken by 15 June. But on 10 June Task Force 318, advancing very slowly in two columns, one north of Route 7 and one south was struck by a battalion of the 271st Regiment supported by 4 tanks and a heavy concentration of mortar, howitzer and rocket fire. Four of Task Force 318's tanks and one or its personnel carriers were knocked out but personnel losses were light. By nightfall only 200 meters had been gained, the PAVN's minefields and 82-mm. recoilless guns having stopped the task force 800 meters short of Base 82. No progress was made on 11 June, but ARVN artillery and RVNAF pounded the base. Antiaircraft fire was intense and kept the RVNAF fighter-bombers above their most effective attack altitudes. Meanwhile, General Thuần, determined to get the attack moving again, directed BG Khôi to assemble the 315th Task Force at Bến Cát and send it across the Thi Thinh to reinforce the attack. The 315th was to move southwest and attack Base 82 from the south, while the 318th continued its frontal assault. Farther south, another change was taking place, detecting that all but one of the PAVN 2nd Regiment's battalions had moved north toward Route 7, BG Đảo left only one of his 43rd Infantry battalions in the Phu Thu area, placing the balance of the regiment in reserve. By noon on 12 June the 315th Task Force had reached a position about 1,600 meters southeast of Base 82. At this point, BG Đảo changed the original concept of a two-pronged attack from the east and south. As soon as the 315th was ready to attack, he would withdraw the 318th to defend the eastern approaches to Bến Cát that had been weakened by the commitment of the 315th against Base 82. Thick brush, rough terrain, and accurate PAVN artillery fire prevented the 315th from making any gains on 13 June. In fact, as the 318th withdrew from contact, it left positions much closer to the objective than those reached by the 315th. In another change in plans. BG Đảo proposed to General Thuần that two battalions each from the