April 1968 3rd Marine Division commander MG
Rathvon M. Tompkins sent the division deputy commander BG
Jacob E. Glick to Khe Sanh base to take control of the forces there comprising the
1st Marine Regiment which was relieving the
26th Marine Regiment, the
1st Battalion, 9th Marines and the
2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, this force was designated
Task Force Glick. The Task Force and Regimental command posts and
2nd Battalion, 1st Marines were located at the base,
1st Battalion, 1st Marines occupied Hills 558, 861, 881 South and
950, the
2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines provided security along
Route 9 and the
3rd Battalion, 4th Marines was deployed to secure Hill 689 (). On 16 April 1968, Company A
1st Battalion, 9th Marines began a patrol southwest of Hill 689, when it was ambushed by PAVN soldiers in bunkers concealed in the thick vegetation. Two more companies from 1/9 Marines were dispatched to save them, but they became ensnarled in this confusing battle and were unable to disengage until the early morning of 17 April. Casualties amounted to 38 Marines and three Navy Corpsmen killed, three missing and 32 wounded. The battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel John Cahill was relieved of duty. The Marines withdrew to evacuate their casualties and following air and artillery strikes resumed their assault on the PAVN positions. Company H moved in to attack the PAVN position from the north and also became heavily engaged but their fire eventually forced the PAVN to withdraw. Marine losses were 13 dead. On 12 December the Marines scoured the area but were denied permission to pursue the PAVN into the DMZ. Over the next two weeks 2/4 Marine searched the ridgeline but without engaging any more PAVN and on 26 December they were redeployed to the
Cửa Việt Base. The PAVN generally avoided contact throughout January as the Marines conducted sweeps across the Scotland II area to try to locate the PAVN and disrupt their logistical preparations. On 10 January a large bunker complex was discovered north of Firebase Neville indicating that the PAVN were preparing for operations in the area and on 1 February elements of the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion and 2/4 Marines swept the southern half of the DMZ north of Neville discovering further caches but without gaining any useful intelligence on PAVN plans. In mid-January the 9th Marine Regiment began
Operation Dawson River South (later renamed Operation Dewey Canyon) against the Đa Krông and
A Sầu valleys. In the early foggy morning of 25 February 1969 200 sappers from the PAVN 246th Regiment attacked Firebase Neville killing 12 Marines from Company H, 2/4 Marines and Battery G, 3/12 Marines and two Navy corpsmen for the loss of 36 PAVN dead. On the same morning the PAVN 27 Regiment attacked Firebase Russell 10 km east of Firebase Neville killing 29 Marines and Corpsmen for the loss of 25 PAVN. The PAVN remained deployed around Firebase Neville and continued to hit it with mortar fire for several more days despite air and artillery support, until swept from the area by Company G, 2/4 Marines. ==Aftermath==