FANK 5th Brigade Group advanced towards Phnom Santuk while Tang Krasang was retaken on 20 September. On 5 October, three FANK brigades were committed to capture the areas around Phnom Santuk. The fighting there grew in intensity as the Cambodians and the PAVN engaged in heavy hand-to-hand combat. Phnom Santuk was eventually retaken, and the first phase of Chenla II was declared officially concluded on 25 October, although real military success had not yet been secured. Victory celebrations had hardly started at Phnom Penh when on the night of 26 October, barely hours upon the conclusion of the consolidation efforts of the second phase of the operation, the PAVN 9th Division, reinforced by the VC 205th and 207th Regional Regiments, launched an all-out assault on the Cambodian positions located along Route 6 from the Chamkar Andong rubber plantation. At the same time, the FANK 14th Battalion at Rumlong was encircled and isolated. During the following days, the 118th, 211th and 377th Battalions were forced to retreat to Tang Kauk, while the 61st Infantry Brigade pulled back to Treal, held by the 22nd Battalion. The FANK launched an unsuccessful counter-attack on 27 October, and the Cambodian corridor along Route 6 was crushed by PAVN/VC troops after weeks of heavy fighting. Elements of the PAVN 9th Division then launched a final attack which ripped apart several FANK and Khmer Krom battalions, causing the disorganized Cambodian troops to abandon several key positions on 1 December. The operation was terminated two days later. Aftermath For the PAVN/VC forces the battle ended with a decisive victory, as they were able to secure their strongholds in northeastern Cambodia without having to expand their control inside Cambodian territory. On 8 December 1971, North Vietnamese propaganda boasted that "By October, that is, in two months, the operation was stalemated and 4,500 enemy troops were annihilated and hundreds more captured. The 2nd and 43d Brigades were badly battered. Ten battalions and seven companies of infantry and a tank company were mauled, 39 combat vessels were sunk or set afire, nine aircraft were downed and seven 105mm artillery pieces, many vehicles and large quantities of military equipment were destroyed".2 The official PAVN history claims that 10,000 enemy troops were killed or dispersed and 4,700 weapons captured. Indeed, the final attack on FANK positions during the month of December virtually wiped out ten infantry battalions (including the sacrifice of the best