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But, except for the continuing murderous antiaircraft fire, which continued to claim U.S. helicopters, A Shau proved to be lightly defended on the ground. The men of North Viet Nam's 559th Supply and Transportation Regiment did not put up much of a fight, retreating into the hills. Steady allied advance over the valley floor became a treasure hunt for the enormous caches of hardware that the Communists had to leave behind when they fled. It included Soviet tanks, trucks and bulldozers, vast quantities of rockets, mortars, artillery, small arms, flamethrowers, gas masks—and enough electronic equipment and tapes to furnish a powerful radio station.
Whether the allied force of some 12,000 men would attempt to root out the North Vietnamese gunners dug into the hills above them remained to be seen. But, in any case, the allies are not likely to elect to stay in A Shau, given the weather and the number of men who would be tied down in de fending it. Instead, Operation Delaware aimed to even an old score for the men of the Special Forces who fell there in 1966—and to destroy all the equipment and tools of war the Communists have so painstakingly assembled in the valley. In both, it succeeded.