On the afternoon of 6 May 1968, in the aftermath of the Battle of Dai Do and ongoing fighting with People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) forces near Nhi Ha, 3rd Marine Division commander Major general Rathvon M. Tompkins requested Provisional Corps commander Lieutenant general William B. Rosson that the 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division be redeployed from the Scotland II operational area around Khe Sanh Combat Base into the Napoleon/Saline operational area.

[2]: 2 At 08:00 on 9 May, about 5 km southeast of Firebase Gio Linh (16°52′30″N 107°05′35″E / 16.875°N 107.093°E / 16.875; 107.093), a PAVN force heavily engaged two companies of the 1/5th, cutting off one and preventing the other from coming to its assistance.

[2]: 2 On 12 May, after overnight artillery and airstrikes, the 1/5th swept the area finding an additional 35 PAVN dead and eight individual and one crew-served weapons.

[2]: 4–5 On 14 May 2/5 conducted another company-size night ambush near MGRS YD 243693 (16°53′46″N 107°06′22″E / 16.896°N 107.106°E / 16.896; 107.106) resulting in 20 PAVN killed and five individual and one crew-served weapon captured.

The companies broke contact and artillery and airstrikes were directed onto the area for the next two days, but the battleground wasn't swept due to the termination of the operation.