[1]: 438 The operation commenced on 7 December with the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines being landed by helicopters from HMM-165 and HMM-364 into the Arizona Territory to act as a blocking force for the ARVN Rangers.

[1]: 438 On 9 December control of the operation passed to Colonel Michael M. Spark, commander of the 3rd Marine Regiment which had recently redeployed from Quảng Trị Province.

[1]: 439–41 On 18 December 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines was landed on Hill 375 4 km southwest of Firebase Spear and established Combat Operations Base Mace (15°40′37″N 107°57′29″E / 15.677°N 107.958°E / 15.677; 107.958).

[1]: 441 [2]: 318 Having established their operating bases the Marines began patrolling west into the eastern part of Base Area 112, while they found numerous abandoned bunkers, barracks and support facilities no major encounters with the PAVN/Viet Cong occurred and Phase 2 of the operation ended on 31 December 1968[1]: 442 On 1 January 1969 3/5 Marines was landed at Combat Operations Base Javelin (15°42′07″N 107°52′16″E / 15.702°N 107.871°E / 15.702; 107.871)[3]: 88  and proceeded to bombard Hill 508 (15°44′20″N 107°53′06″E / 15.739°N 107.885°E / 15.739; 107.885) however heavy PAVN fire prevented a landing there and the 3/3 Marines was landed on Hill 728 and fought their way to Hill 508 seizing it by 15 January and establishing Firebase Maxwell there.

[3]: 89 On 15 January an Army UH-1H carrying Colonel Spark and his command group was hit by machine-gun fire near Firebase Maxwell and crashed, killing all on board.

[3]: 91–2 After midnight on 23 February, PAVN mortars hit An Hoa Combat Base triggering explosions in the ammunition dumps, followed by a sapper attack which was repulsed with gunship and artillery fire.