[2][3] In the South, the 33rd Regiment was subordinate to the 304th Division/B3 Front in the Central Highlands, and later under Military Region 7 and the 5th Division in Bien Hoa, Long Khanh and Phuoc Tuy Province, and its strength averaged about 1,300 men.

Corporal Michael Fleming Folland smothered a PAVN hand grenade with his body and was later posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

[5] In late 1971 the 33rd Regiment, under the command of Colonel Nguyen Van Thuong, staged a major incursion into Phước Tuy Province which was the Tactical area of responsibility of the 1st Australian Task Force.

Acting on intelligence obtained from Viet Cong spies, the North Vietnamese believed that the Australian artillery had been sent back to Australia.

Thoung planned to stage incidents and ambushes to bait and lure the Australians from their base at Nui Dat and progressively annihilate them with his superior numbers.