 The province now seemed secure and Graham saw the opportunity to continue pacification on a more methodical basis in Phuoc Tuy . Planning to attack the remaining Viet Cong where they were most vulnerable , the Australians returned to interdicting communist supply lines and bases , with 2 RAR conducting two search and destroy operations to the east of Dat Do — Operation Cairns in late @-@ July followed by Operation Atherton in mid @-@ August , both of which resulted in only minor contact . Meanwhile , the Hat Dich area had been quiet since US forces had swept of the area as part of Operation Akron ( 9 – 29 June ) , and Australian intelligence assessed that it was free of Viet Cong main force combat units . By late @-@ July communist rear services units and other supporting units were believed to have begun moving back into the area , in an attempt to rehabilitate their base areas that had been destroyed in the earlier fighting . Yet in reality the location of communist forces was largely unknown to the Australians . In mid @-@ July , the Viet Cong 274th Regiment — now believed to be commanded by Ut Thoi — had been forced to move from the Hat Dich towards its north @-@ eastern base areas due to Operation Paddington and Australian signals intelligence had been able to effectively track the regiment 's movement due to the location of its transmitter . However , 1 ATF intelligence officers had then lost track of the unit . 
